Are you eligible for a VA Loan?
Posted By Admin on August 3, 2009
If you’re one of millions of veterans and service personnel who are eligible to participate in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ Home Loan Guarantee Program, you can apply for a Certificate of Eligibility for the VA Loan program.
Visit the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Home Loan website and click on “Am I Eligible for a Home Loan?” , http://www.homeloans.va.gov/,
Pledge Your Support!
Posted By Admin on July 24, 2009
Saturday, August 22nd from 7am-10am is the 2009 Walk-a-thon presented by Hale Aloha O Hilo Habitat for Humanity.
This is a great organization that helps our local families achieve pride and home ownership.
For more information about participating or donating to the cause, you can go to their website www.hilohabitat.org
Go Team Island Home Loans!!
$8,000 First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit Expires December 1, 2009
Posted By Admin on July 23, 2009
If you’re planning to claim the credit and haven’t started looking for a home, your clock is now officially ticking. You must be closed on your new home on or before December 1.
Based on a purchase closing of 60 days; your $8,000 is in jeopardy unless you go under contract prior to October 2, 2009. That’s 71 days from now.
Use it or lose it. The First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. In it, Congress authorized a first-time homebuyer tax credit of up to $8,000 for home buyers meeting certain qualifying criteria. The program’s goal was to stimulate entry-level home purchases.
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Now, the IRS definition of “first-time home buyer” may be different from what you expect. According to the IRS, a first-time home buyer is anyone who has not owned a “main home” in the last 3 years with “main home” defined as a home in which a person has lived “for most of the time”. Main homes can include traditional homes, trailers, and other residence types.
For couples, married or otherwise, both home buyers must be first-timers to be tax credit-eligible.
Moreover, not every first-time home buyer is eligible for the $8,000 First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit. Some notable exclusions include first-time home buyers who:
File taxes separately and whose adjusted gross income exceeds $95,000
File taxes jointly and whose adjusted gross income exceeds $170,000
Acquire property from a mother, father, sibling or child
Acquire property from an entity in which they’re a majority owner
Acquire the home by gift or inheritance
And then, the First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit may not deliver the full $8,000.
The tax credit is limited to 10% of the home’s purchase price and it also diminishes as home buyer income rises. Tax credit phase-outs start at $75,000 for homebuyers filing separately and $150,000 on joint returns.
Assuming you qualify, the good news is that it’s easy to claim your tax credit.
Buy and close on a new, “main” home before December 1, 2009.
Submit IRS Form 5405 with your 2009 tax returns in April 2010.
That’s it.
Meanwhile, the program does come with some “catches”. For example, if you sell your home, or cease to use it as your “main home” within 36 months of purchase, the IRS will require a full payback. There are only a few allowable exceptions to this policy and you shouldn’t count on being granted one.
Not moving in the next 3 years? No worries!
Mortgage Applications on the Rise Again
Posted By Admin on July 22, 2009
Mortgage applications are on the increase despite borrowers concerns of unemployment.
Click on the link above to read the article from CNN Money.com
Financing and Lava Zones 1 and 2
Posted By Admin on July 20, 2009
Mortgage giant Fannie Mae officially declared in its June selling guide that it would no longer purchase or securitize mortgage loans in the Big Island’s lava zones 1 and 2, where the probability of lava flows is greatest.
Here is a link to the full article in the Star Bulletin
http://www.starbulletin.com/business/20090719_Lava_loan_meltdown.html
New home appraisal rules create an uproar in the industry
Posted By Admin on July 15, 2009
Latest news on the new appraisal rules
Click on the link above for more information on what is happening now.
Freddie Mac puts Education on YouTube
Posted By Admin on July 14, 2009
Stop Foreclosure YouTube
Here is a kind of educational video that can be both worthwhile and necessary to people facing financial trouble and possibly foreclosure of their home.
Remember lenders don’t want to own your home, they have enough of them already. If people are prepared when they call for assistance, it will most likely make the process smoother. Not necessarily easier, but at least smoother.
Where’s Our Hawaii Tribune-Herald Ad?
Posted By Gary Young on June 30, 2009
Don’t worry! Island Home Loans is still here and offering many new financing options! We are working on revising our advertising and did not get it completed before our old ad finished. Just as soon as we complete our new advertising brochures, flyers, mailers and newspaper ads, we will have the smiling faces of Island Home Loans printed in the newspaper again. We are sorry if this has caused any questions, but feel free to visit us through our website or call any of our mortgage planners to discuss what loan programs would be best for you. We look forward to helping you enjoy home ownership!
Money to Help Build Your Home
Posted By Gary Young on June 26, 2009
Are you in the process of building your dream home and things get a little more expensive than you had budgeted? If your are afraid of running out of money or to have your credit cards to their max, NOW is the time to get a Construction Completion loan. You can get enough money to finish your home with all of the glamour you had imagined. Don’t let it sit empty while you are waiting to save more money. With a Construction Completion loan, the payments would be at a low interest rate and allow you to get all of the materials, pay your sub-contractors and relieve the worry of how you are ever going to finish your home. Give Island Home Loans a call now and we will help you find the solution to have you be able to move into your Hawaiian dream home.
Rising Interest Rates
Posted By Gary Young on June 19, 2009
