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Magnolia area foreclosures offer a good buy
  
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By TANA ROSS
Rosalia Villarreal needed to reduce her mortgage payment. Even working multiple jobs to fill her family’s needs, the divorced mother of three was nearing foreclosure on her home in Clear Creek Forest. In January she talked to Michele Williams of Keller Williams of Magnolia and decided to look for another home.
“I sold my home and bought this home in the Lakes of Magnolia for a very good price,” Villarreal said.
In fact, Villareal was able to avoid foreclosure and buy a home for about $20,000 below market value. The Housing and Urban Development financed home Villareal purchased was in foreclosure and it afforded her the home she wanted in the neighborhood she desired.
“I got a really good deal on my home,” she said. “I have already been told I have increased value in it.”
View through the window:
Villareal recalled the first time she saw her new home, through the windows.
“I drove up, it was locked and I looked in and saw it was the home for me,” she said. “I always wanted a brick home and this is it.”
Just like Villareal a lot of wannabe homeowners area looking through the windows of recent foreclosures and wondering if they can get financing in the wake of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act and last summer’s Housing and Economic Recovery Act. While both acts strive to stabilize the U.S. economy and turn the tide of depression activities, most potential home buyers don’t know exactly how they can benefit.
Qualified buyers, name of the new game:
As news of stable lenders spreads, caution is the word and qualified buyers are a must. And, as the real estate market across the country corrects itself and prices readjust, many are finding they can afford the home of their dreams sooner than anticipated. In Magnolia, new lending programs are helping make dreams come true.
Barbara Gardner of Olde Homestead Properties in Magnolia said a $100 down payment program is offering a lot of first-time homebuyers help. The program is available for qualified buyers purchasing a HUD home with a Federal Home Administration loan.
“These are not Section 8 or HUD built homes,” she said. “Many of these homes are brick homes in nice neighborhoods. But the buyer must be qualified.”
Williams is excited about a 100 percent rural housing loan program guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which is gaining popularity with lenders in the Magnolia area.
“For so long we did not have a lot of different loans to work with,” she said. “Now with this program, aimed at rural areas, we have a new tool for buyers. But they must qualify.”
Applicants for one USDA single-family home loan program may have an income of up to 115 percent of the median income for the area and be able to afford the mortgage payments, including taxes and insurance, which are typically within 22 to 26 percent of an applicant's income.
Foreclosures going fast in Montgomery County:
Gardner said there were 168 foreclosures in the Magnolia area since January, compared 309 in the Tomball area. Of these 123 sold in Magnolia and 151 sold in Tomball.
“They are not staying on the market too long, people are buying them,” she said.
Gerald Steward with Genesis Mortgage Company of The Woodlands said foreclosures are down in the area because real estate prices never spiraled as they did in other states like California and Florida. Stewart said the “three C’s” of lending apply now more than ever: collateral, credit and capacity.
“Right now is a good time to buy, and there may be a small pocket with foreclosures, but prices are stable and interest rates are still low,” he said. “With decent credit and decent credit scores lenders will loan.”
“I sold my home and bought this home in the Lakes of Magnolia for a very good price,” Villarreal said.
In fact, Villareal was able to avoid foreclosure and buy a home for about $20,000 below market value. The Housing and Urban Development financed home Villareal purchased was in foreclosure and it afforded her the home she wanted in the neighborhood she desired.
“I got a really good deal on my home,” she said. “I have already been told I have increased value in it.”
View through the window:
Villareal recalled the first time she saw her new home, through the windows.
“I drove up, it was locked and I looked in and saw it was the home for me,” she said. “I always wanted a brick home and this is it.”
Just like Villareal a lot of wannabe homeowners area looking through the windows of recent foreclosures and wondering if they can get financing in the wake of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act and last summer’s Housing and Economic Recovery Act. While both acts strive to stabilize the U.S. economy and turn the tide of depression activities, most potential home buyers don’t know exactly how they can benefit.
Qualified buyers, name of the new game:
As news of stable lenders spreads, caution is the word and qualified buyers are a must. And, as the real estate market across the country corrects itself and prices readjust, many are finding they can afford the home of their dreams sooner than anticipated. In Magnolia, new lending programs are helping make dreams come true.
Barbara Gardner of Olde Homestead Properties in Magnolia said a $100 down payment program is offering a lot of first-time homebuyers help. The program is available for qualified buyers purchasing a HUD home with a Federal Home Administration loan.
“These are not Section 8 or HUD built homes,” she said. “Many of these homes are brick homes in nice neighborhoods. But the buyer must be qualified.”
Williams is excited about a 100 percent rural housing loan program guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which is gaining popularity with lenders in the Magnolia area.
“For so long we did not have a lot of different loans to work with,” she said. “Now with this program, aimed at rural areas, we have a new tool for buyers. But they must qualify.”
Applicants for one USDA single-family home loan program may have an income of up to 115 percent of the median income for the area and be able to afford the mortgage payments, including taxes and insurance, which are typically within 22 to 26 percent of an applicant's income.
Foreclosures going fast in Montgomery County:
Gardner said there were 168 foreclosures in the Magnolia area since January, compared 309 in the Tomball area. Of these 123 sold in Magnolia and 151 sold in Tomball.
“They are not staying on the market too long, people are buying them,” she said.
Gerald Steward with Genesis Mortgage Company of The Woodlands said foreclosures are down in the area because real estate prices never spiraled as they did in other states like California and Florida. Stewart said the “three C’s” of lending apply now more than ever: collateral, credit and capacity.
“Right now is a good time to buy, and there may be a small pocket with foreclosures, but prices are stable and interest rates are still low,” he said. “With decent credit and decent credit scores lenders will loan.”
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