Great news! Congress has voted to extend the tax deduction for mortgage insurance (MI) through 2016.
If your mortgage requires mortgage insurance, you can deduct it on your federal income taxes this year and next year.

Who qualifies for the tax deduction?

Borrowers with adjusted gross incomes up to $100,000 can deduct 100% of their borrower-paid MI premiums. Deductions are reduced by 10% for each additional $1,000 of adjusted gross income, phasing out after $109,000.
The threshold for married borrowers filing separately is $50,000 of adjusted gross income per person. Deductions are reduced by 5% for each additional $500 of adjusted gross income, phasing out after $54,500.

Source: money.cnn.com By Chris Isidore

In an effort to make owning a home more affordable, the Federal Housing Administration will dramatically cut the costs associated with the mortgages it backs.

Premiums for FHA mortgage insurance, which is designed to protect the agency in case a borrower defaults on a loan, will be cut from 1.35% of a loan's value to about 0.85%, the White House said in a statement Thursday.

As a result, a typical first-time homebuyer will save $900 a year on their mortgage payments. Existing homeowners who refinance into an FHA loan will see similar savings.

"Too many creditworthy families who can afford -- and want to purchase -- a home are shut out of homeownership opportunities due to today's tight lending market," the White House said.

The White House estimates that the lower premiums will enable up to 250,000 new buyers to purchase a home.

To continue reading click here

source: time.com

Love the culture and excitement of urban life, but loathe the congestion and cost? One of these “Second Cities” could be your first-choice retirement spot.

Does the thought of retiring to a sleepy beach town or country hamlet bore you silly? Spending your post-work years in a city has plenty of perks, including easy access to the arts, cutting-edge health care, and a diverse set of neighbors. That said, the cons of urban living (like cost) can be daunting.

There is a happy medium. We set out to find places that won’t ding your nest egg with high taxes and nosebleed prices, yet still have great attractions and plenty of your peers. Read on for five affordable small cities (populations of 150,000 to 500,000) you may one day want to call home.

Click Here To See the 5 Best Cities

source: KTVB.com by Stephanie Zepelin

Here is a helpful article sent to us by our ever-helpful lender friend Terry Heffner, Branch manager at Guild Mortgage Company:

Friends:

Only one month into the year, and we are seeing the effects of the new Dodd-Frank Qualified Mortgage Rule, otherwise known as QM-3.

I believe in 2014 it will be imperative that borrowers understand the importance of getting their finances in order, WAY in advance of making decisions to sell, buy, relocate, etc…. Now more than ever, buyers need to specifically understand that the rules have changed. Whether your buyer is self-employed, a physician, or even a rocket scientist, there are real reasons to get the financing piece figured out, sooner rather than later.

This has always been the case, but with new underwriting pressures coming down from all the agencies and filtering down to mortgage lenders, nothing should be left to chance or assumed in the qualifying process. Please remember, many of your borrowers may not have been down this road since PRIOR to 2007, when everything changed. When you add in the most recent retractions and limitations put down by Dodd Frank and the CFPB, the process can be light years from what many buyers remembered it being! Preparing them for the process can make life easier on all parties and lead to smoother transactions! Making sure they are working with a reputable lender, with local processing, underwriting, and funding is a must as well!

That said, we want to offer some tools for you all to make sure you are prepared to emphasize the importance of the pre-qualifying phase, to ALL your buyers. Attached is an article originally put out by Forbes magazine, it accurately describes the detail of assembling a complete mortgage loan file. This is a great article to share with your savvy buyers, and first timers alike. After reading this article, they will understand what to fully expect when applying for a home loan. It’s so important for buyers to be accurately prepared for the process of buying a home. In fact, their satisfaction with their lender, AND Realtor depend largely on how smooth this process goes. Think for a moment of flying on an airplane. If, for instance, the pilot warns you the take-off will be bumpy, whether it is, or it is not, you are typically ok with the take-off. If he does NOT prepare you for a bumpy take off, and you hit massive turbulence on take-off, your flight is ruined and it’s hard to look back on that experience as positive, regardless of the outcome.

Make sure your next deal takes off smooth and lands smooth!