Bothell Assistant City Manager Terrie Battuello informed the public that the city would be taking advantage of an economic grant of $500,000 dollars that the city won last year.  The first course of action that Battuello says the city plans to make is to construct a nonprofit organization that will oversee the creation of the planned MedTech Discovery Center in Bothell, a center whose purpose is to promote the city’s already sizable medical device industry. » Continue reading “Bothell Earns $500,000 Grant”

It seems Jack Frost forgot us this year. The Seattle-area northwest is the warmest it’s been for quite some time. With all this warm weather, it gives us time to not only enjoy the relative warmth, but also to go out and look at houses or spruce up the yard for those that are selling! » Continue reading “Where’s Winter!?”

Dear friends,

We encourage you to participate in STAND WITH HAITI. Please donate now to help Partners In Health’s efforts in Haiti: https://donate.pih.org/page/contribute/haiti_earthquake?source=earth

We appreciate your support!

SREA Development Team

Fannie Mae is stuck with a growing number of REO (real estate owned) houses.  However, in a recent new policy announcement, the lending giant has made plans to expedite the process of buying an REO home.  Fannie will now be accepting purchase offers immediately after the home is listed.  Under Fannie Mae’s previous policy, they gave lenders fifteen days to find a better purchase offer for new REO houses they sent to the company following a foreclosure. » Continue reading “Fannie Mae Looking To Move REO Inventory Quickly”

Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARMs) – Mortgages which can go up or down as interest rates change.

There could be trouble. In the next several years, many adjustable rate mortgage loans will be scheduled to reset and will most likely have the monthly payment increase. This is not good news for those who are already starting to struggle with the current economic situation. Many subprime adjustable rate mortgages (borrowers who borrowed with a sub-par credit score), have already been removed from the market. Some may have been able to sell their home, many of which they may have been unable to refinance as many home owners now owe more on their home than they’re home is worth. This spells disaster in the form of foreclosure.

However, the alarming part is that the adjustable rate mortgages are about as low as they’ve been for many years. The worry is that another round of misfortune and stagnation in the housing market may occur when these mortgages reset and start increasing. Prime borrowers won’t be affected as quickly as those with subprime loans in the next year, but several years down the road, as the market regains it’s footing, the mortgage rates will rise and we may go through another round of foreclosures.

Usually, if interest rates adjusted as an increase, borrowers would be able to refinance their homes to reduce their monthly payment. However, in combination with a housing market that is extremely depressed. Home values for many of these borrowers are less then what they owe, preventing them from refinancing their home. In further addition to the economic woes of the housing market, the job market has seen very little job creation in the last decade. This means that families who have lost some of their income are having extreme hardship trying to pay their loans. The result is people walking away from their homes.

Borrowers seem to be getting the message now that adjustable loans can have devastating consequences. Applications for adjustable rate loans peaked at 36 percent at the climax of the 2005 housing boom, according to the Mortgage Bankeres Association. Now, applications are down to 6 percent.