I guess the biggest question I would ask is, "why do you want to sell the current home you are in?" Is it no longer meeting your needs? Have you outgrown it? Or do you just want to get out from underneath the mounting debt from the Heloc and adjustable rate mortgage? Interest lates are very low right now and you may be able to finance a new home for less or refinance all of you existing loans into a new loan if you want to stay in your home. As much as I would like to make money from selling your home and buying a new one, that might not be the best for you. I can offer to determine what I think your home may sell for and then you can decide from there what to do. I am a top producer in the Woodstock area and I live in Woodstock! It's a great place to live. If you haven't already hired a realtor, I'd love to at least offer my opinion on your homes value and what your options are. If you need to discuss some of the financing options, I have some great friends at Home Savings of America in Woodstock who can answer all your questions about what loan options there are for you. Look them up at HSOAGA.com

Sincerely,
David Brower, Assistant Manager/Realtor
Crye-Leike Realtors
678-982-9600
david@davidwbrower.com

Amy,

Just to touch on the FHA limits, Here in Georgia they FHA limits are $ 346,250 which were just recently raised from the 252,890.

One more thing as well, you do not have to buy a foreclosure to gain equity, there are great deals across the board and foreclosures can be good but can also be bad. Again to keep in mind that with a foreclosed property you do not receive any seller disclosure statements. Very importatant to get a good inspector out there to make sure there are no major defects with the property that may end up costing you in the future. As stated below, you can also get a FHA 203K Streamline loan to escrow your repairs on the home.

It's also very important to get an agent to work for you so they can help you through this entire process.

Let me know if I can be of further assistance.

You should be able to purchase a FHA loan using The Ameridream program for the downpayment. You don't need to buy a foreclosure. You just need to be within the FHA qualifying home price for the area. In the Sarasota, FL area, you can purchase a home with FHA if it's priced under $443,000. The seller contributes to the closing, etc. and you can buy for no money down. If you buy a foreclosure, they are not difficult purchases and you can get a great deal. FHA also has a program that you can add money to fix up the home but there are restrictions.
You need to find a realtor or a mortgage lender who understands FHA. Let me know if you need further assistance.
Best of luck!
Kristin Triolo
REMAX Alliance Group
2000 Webber St.
Sarasota, FL 34239
1951 58th Drive East
Lakewood Ranch, FL 34202
941-725-2486
Kristin@KristinTriolo.com

Hi Amy,
You have asked excellent questions. I agree with the other Realtors, you first need to know the market value of your home. You probably have a general idea of the value but you should contact a Realtor and get a detailed market analysis. Right now with $150k debt on your home you need to know if you will get cash from your home, break even or have to go to closing with cash. Sometimes going to closing with cash is not the worst thing that can happen because it will clear you from the $1600 monthly payment.

As far as purchasing a home, your credit scores are great and there are certainly good loan programs out there for you. It is good to know what your options are so contacting a mortgage loan officer would be the best solution. You will get the best and most accurate information right from the source.

As a full time/full service agent I would be happy to answer all of your questions.
Please call or email me.
Barbara Carrio
Prudential Georgia Realty
678-576-1110
bcarrio@prudentialgeorgia.com http://www.barbaracarrio.com

Amy,

The first important thing to do is to figure out the market value on your home at the present time. The way we are going to do this, is by pulling comparables for the last 3 to 6 months in your neighborhood. We need to look at what has sold for this time period. We also need to look at things such as foreclosures, are there several foreclosures or just a couple. This is starting to effect pricing. And of course the condition of your home

Once we have this, we can sit down and do a sellers net sheet so we can see exactly what your bottom line is going to be after paying commission etc.

You both have great credit scores so that will not be a problem area for you.

As far as the 100% loans, you do have options here. One being a down payment assistance program, so if you have a 97% loan the down payment assistance could kick in the other 3% for you, and actually pay up to 6%. My best suggestion here would to be to speak to my lender at SunTrust - Her name is Kim King and her number is 770-617-6694. She would be more than happy to help you in determining the best mortgage for your specific needs.

The other program I am about to suggest is a fantastic program, I have several clients that have closed with this program and several clients currently going through the program. It is a 100% loan with a 30 year fixed interest rate (rate as of 3/16/08 is 5.375), No closing costs, No PMI, No down payment. What we do with this is ask for closing costs to buy down your rate even further. I just closed a transaction on Friday and she had an interest rate of 3.25 for 30 years, and yes that is fixed. Now this is a 10 step program and it might take about three months to get through the program but it is well worth it.

I can answer all your questions about the program if you want to give me a call.

Good luck if I do not speak with you!

Hi Amy, I Live and work as a realtor here in Woodstock. We are in a great area.
The 1st question I have is do you have an idea of what your current home is worth? If not, I would be happy to help you with that. Let me know and I’ll send you recent solds in your community. You do have some options to think about. You can rent your current home out and wait for the market to improve then sell.
You are correct, it has become much more difficult to get financing now. You have a great credit score on your side. You need to speak with a lender but the FHA with down payment assistance might be just what you’re looking for. You can ask for up to 6 % down payment assistance. Feel free to go to my blog
http://woodstockgahomesforsale.com I just posted about the FHA program.
The area has a lot of foreclosures right now. I have been selling a lot of them. (great deals) Something to keep in mind is the foreclosure property may need work. Are you prepared for that? If you are and you get the go ahead from you lender let me know I would love to help you. Call or email if you would like me to answer any other questions. 404-219-6488 or cathypinkston@gmail.com