On August 31, 2007, ACC Capital Holdings announced that it was closing Ameriquest (Argent Mortgage was the wholesale division) by no longer taking loans and selling its loan servicing unit to Citigroup.

Does this mean on September 1st 2009 all of the 2/28 (2 year fixed) loans will have been weeded out of various loan servicing portfolios?

If it does, we will have to wait until September 1st 2010 for the 3/27 (3 year fixed) loans!

The middle of 2007 was when we saw just about every mortgage wholesaler shut down their operations. Some went out of business and some shut down their mortgage wholesale division. If you consider that the majority of the current foreclosures being sold right now are the end result of some of these loans then it would be simple to say that once we pass this period of fixed loans we should see some improvements to the real estate market.

What is the difference with this market compared to markets of the past? When this market turns the availability of financing will never likely reach the levels we have recently experienced. Let’s say that we start to see considerable improvements in the early part of 2010 that would mean that we still have another 1.5 years of a rather gloomy real estate market from today.

My feeling is that the market will slowly start to improve once we work through this cycle of mortgage loans. Even when this happens it will take time and there is no telling what other negative economic factors will come into play such as inflation, the war and the overall condition of the economy. There are so many factors that will play into this real estate recovery.

I hope that you aren’t expecting a quick recovery to this real estate market. The reality is that it’s going to continue for another couple years.

Let’s walk away from the real estate market for a few moments and talk about Wall Street. What was the big news today on Wall Street? Wall Street experienced huge gains today in the markets. The Federal Reserve announced that they would provide $200 billion in Treasury securities for 28 days in return for mortgage back securities. What does this mean?

Mortgage Backed securities have not been very desirable with all of the uncertainty in the mortgage market. This will help increase the demand for mortgage backed securities and supply liquidity to help revive a market that appears to be really locked up by the fear of where mortgage back securities may be heading.

By no means does this mean we are coming out of the current housing crises but it could be considered a small step in the right direction. It’s very important to restore confidence to mortgage back securities and make investors feel comfortable investing in them again.

This will be a short term fix and be in effect for 28 days. We will see how things go and over time the real estate market will come back and be stronger then ever but it will also take time to get past this current run of loans that are experiencing default rates higher then investors hoped for.

What are you waiting for? There is not a better time then right now. Spending as much time out in the market as we do, you can quickly see that it has become a buyers market. Over the last few years the real estate market has been very strong and it has allowed homeowners to capitalize on their gain in value. It was not long ago when all you needed to do was put a for sale sign up in front of your home and you would have it sold in a few weeks if not sooner. This made many real estate agents think that it was easy to make money selling real estate.

With the real estate market in San Diego and most of the country taking a downward turn, it is now time for buyers to start calling the shots!!! Homes for sale may only receive 1 or 2 offers and sellers will be much more likely to accept your offer. With the market being much more attractive for buyers, you need to take advantage. The question you may ask is what do I purchase and where? Well, purchasing real estate can be fairly difficult and knowing what the best market to purchase in may be difficult.

Some of the markets in San Diego that are strong and will continue to remain strong are the Carmel Valley, Del Mar, Downtown areas of San Diego County. Many of the areas that have prices in the lower range which would be considered suitable for 1st time home buyers will also be very attractive and a strong area to purchase in.

What we will do here at Team Aguilar is look at what your needs are and find out what makes the most sense for you. If you are buying your fist home you will have different needs then if you were looking to purchase for investment.

Whatever your needs may be, the key is to get in the real estate game and purchase some real estate. This is the time and may be your best opportunity to do this.

Also, please consider some of the Bank Owned real estate that we have for sale in San Diego. We work with many different banks and have access to Bank Owned real estate for sale in many different markets. Please make sure you consider this option before purchasing anything.

Carlos Aguilar
Team Aguilar
Purchase Bank Owned Real Estate in San Diego

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should be allowed to play a greater role in easing the mortgage lending credit crunch, and alllow them to raise the conforming loan limit.

A bill passed by the House this spring overhauling oversight of the government-sponsored entities, or GSEs, should have gone farther in raising the conforming loan limit — the maximum-size loan Fannie and Freddie normally purchase or guarantee.

A bill the House sent to the Senate in May, HR 1427, would leave the conforming loan limit at $417,000, but allow Fannie and Freddie to securitize and sell loans up to 150 percent over the limit in areas where the median home price exceeds the limit.

We cannot afford a ‘wait and see’ approach when it comes to a credit crisis that threatens to derail our economy. The Bush administration continues to ignore one tell-tale sign after another that the subprime woes are threatening the broader mortgage markets. Fannie and Freddie are uniquely positioned to inject badly needed liquidity into the economy, but President Bush won’t let them do their job.

Bush, when asked about a larger role for Fannie and Freddie at an Aug. 9 press conference, said he would only consider such moves after Congress passes a GSE reform bill.

Alex has built a great database of Realtors and been able to bring value to these relationships by being much more then a typical loan officer. Alex has spent a lot of time going through coaching and 1 on 1 training for the mortgage business and as a result of what he has learned he spends a lot of his time using that information with his realtors. Real Estate training has been very easy for Alex Aguilar because the way you market yourself and build relationships in the mortgage business is very similar in real estate.

Real estate training is just another added benefit that Alex brings to his agents and he really enjoys meeting with his real estate agents on a monthly or quarterly basis to complete a 3 page quarterly review that has the agents define their goals for the next 90 days and gives them a breakdown of how they will accomplish these. The important thing to note is that Alex not only puts these goals and plans in writing with his Realtors but he gives them details, ideas and suggestions on how to accomplish these goals.

If you are a real estate agent that is really interested in taking their loan officer relationship to a whole new level please call Alex today because his Real Estate training could really help bring you the results you deserve.