Blog Post 2

Blog Post 2

Fresno association of realtors has been a great experience, the atmosphere there is so welcoming. Even though everyone that attends these meetings may have different roles in Real Estate, they are still able to relate. They choose to be apart of this association so they can share their experience with others.  The knowledge passed on is meant to help out their fellow colleague’s when they encounter the same  situations. It’s also a place for information sharing, such as new properties going on the market, or explaining new law’s that are taking place. This course helps me understand some of the abbreviations that are being discussed. I was also able to understand what they were talking about or wanted to know when dealing with an investment in real estate. However this class is just the basics for what is taking place in these meetings.

During the meeting its very easy to get off topic and start a new topic that was related, this is either because someone needs more of an understanding or because it brings up a disagreement. Therefore it was pretty difficult at times for me to follow along. We started out the meeting where we left off last week, Reverse Mortgage, An article titled “ rich people are getting mortgages cheaper than you, and C.A.R. Newline. I will be giving a brief summary of each of the following topics that were discussed during our unusually long but informative meeting.

During the previous meeting Mr. Risch from Open Mortgage had mentioned how reverse mortgage is a great financial strategy, this meeting he brought in some brochures and was able to elaborate even more. According to our textbook Reverse annuity mortgage (RAM) is “ A mortgage product designed to meet the needs of elderly homeowners by providing an annuity or line of credit secured by a mortgage to be paid off when the house is sold or refinanced or estate probated.” RAM is meant for seniors to offset expenses, pay off high interest rate loans, or need of income. How is this possible you may ask? Well the homeowner will have no monthly mortgage payments on their primary residence and maintain property taxes and homeowners insurance. Mr. Risch also stated the misconceptions people have about reverse mortgages; such as “The Bank or the Government owns my house” or “ if i owe more on the house than what it is worth my heirs will have to pay it back.” He says that the homeowners will always maintains ownership and title to the property.

The following discussion was brought up by Mr. Hyatt and he wanted to discuss a few articles that were brought to his attention. One was from CNN Money titled, “ Rich people are getting mortgages cheaper than you”.  Lenders are offering rates more than a quarter of a percentage point lower for jumbo mortgages than the conforming loans and its backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Conforming loans are loans below $417,000 or in high cost areas $625,500, therefore jumbo loans exceed those limits. For example Wells Fargo advertised a 30- year jumbo mortgage at a rate of 4.125% compared to a 4.5% rate conforming loan for a 30-year fixed rate. The reasoning behind this was discussed, that lenders want to attract wealthy clients and hang on to them.

Finally to end the meeting there was some brief topics that were discussed fairly quick and that came from the C.A.R. Newsline. The first topic consisted of the Homeownership rates rising in the third quarter. The national homeownership rate rose 0.3 percent to 65.3 percent compared to the second quarter, reported by the Department of Commerce’s Census Bureau. However on a year over year comparison the national homeownership rate has declined 0.2 percent. On that note, brought up the topic of housing affordability falling for the sixth consecutive quarter. We then moved on to the topic on how foreclosure rates continue to increase. The third quarter has the lowest foreclosure inventory rate that we have seen since 2008. The loans in which foreclosure actions were started in the third quarter is 0.64 percent and is the lowest level since early 2007.

These meetings have so much valuable information that I was able to learn from things, but there is so much more to learn. I am behind in my knowledge and terminology in real estate, but I think after a few more meetings and helpful class sessions I will start to see the big picture. These people here are very nice and helpful as far as explaining their point that they are trying to get a cross, not only for me to understand but for everyone. Even though i am a construction management major I see knowledge that I can gain in my industry by attending these meetings. With that being said I cant wait for the next meeting I am able to attend.