Cape Coral Florida's Real Estate Guide

preparing to buy a house or cleaning up your credit after a foreclosure, you should check your credit report today. Why? There may be inaccuracies on your credit report that are lowering your credit score unnecessarily. By simply reviewing your credit report and disputing any inaccuracies with the credit reporting agencies, you can raise your FICO score and increase your chances of obtaining credit without spending any money to do so.

Every person is entitled to a free copy of their credit report from each of the nationwide credit reporting agencies, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, each year. To get your free credit reports, visit annualcreditreport.com or call 1-877-322-8228. Review these reports and identify any inaccuracies. Then follow the steps below to dispute these inaccuracies with the credit reporting agency.

The following has been excerpted from the Federal Trade Commission website. View this article, Credit Repair: How To Help Yourself, in its entirety by clicking here.

Step 1: Tell the consumer reporting company, in writing, what information you think is inaccurate. Include copies (NOT originals) of any documents that support your position. In addition to providing your complete name and address, your letter should identify each item in your report you dispute; state the facts and the reasons you dispute the information, and ask that it be removed or corrected. You may want to enclose a copy of your report, and circle the items in question. Send your letter by certified mail, "return receipt requested," so you can document that the consumer reporting company received it. Keep copies of your dispute letter and enclosures.

Your letter may look something like the one below.

Consumer reporting companies must investigate the items you question within 30 days - unless they consider your dispute frivolous. They also must forward all the relevant data you provide about the inaccuracy to the organization that provided the information. After the information provider receives notice of a dispute from the consumer reporting company, it is required to investigate, review the relevant information, and report the results back to the consumer reporting company. If this investigation reveals that the disputed information is inaccurate, the information provider has to notify the nationwide consumer reporting companies so they can correct it in your file.

When the investigation is complete, the consumer reporting company must give you the results in writing, too, and a free copy of your report if the dispute results in a change. If an item is changed or deleted, the consumer reporting company is not permitted to put the disputed information back in your file unless the information provider verifies that it is accurate and complete. The consumer reporting company also must send you written notice that includes the name, address, and phone number of the information provider. If you ask, the consumer reporting company must send notices of any correction to anyone who received your report in the past six months. You also can ask that a corrected copy of your report be sent to anyone who received a copy during the past two years for employment purposes.

If an investigation doesn't resolve your dispute with the consumer reporting company, you can ask that a statement of the dispute be included in your file and in future reports. You also can ask the consumer reporting company to provide your statement to anyone who received a copy of your report in the recent past. You can expect to pay for this service.

Step 2: Tell the creditor or other information provider, in writing, that you dispute an item. Be sure to include copies (NOT originals) of documents that support your position. Many providers specify an address for disputes. If the provider reports the item to a consumer reporting company, it must include a notice of your dispute. And if you are correct - that is, if the information is found to be inaccurate - the information provider may not report it again.

Mortgage rates have been falling recently. If you, like many homeowners today, are wondering how you can take advantage of these new, low rates pay close attention. Consider refinancing your home to get a lower mortgage rate on your Cape Coral home. Refinancing is like buying your home all over again so many of the requirements you needed to meet in order to purchase your home will need to be met in order to refinance.

First of all, you will need credit. A score of 760 or higher will ensure that you get the best mortgage rate available. You will also need proof of income. If you have become unemployed recently, you will need to establish new employment in order to refinance. Lastly, you will need collateral in the form of equity in your home. If you can meet all of these requirements, then you should take the next step and talk to your mortgage lender about refinancing your home. It could mean a huge savings for you and make your home that much affordable to you.

Congressional democrats are mad and they are letting the U.S. Treasury know it. The $700 billion dollars granted to Congress in an effort to stem a full-fledged economic meltdown has been used in appropriately, claim some members of Congress. They feel money was freely given to banks and other large financial institutions with no substantial aid given to struggling homeowners. House democrats are demanding that the Treasury commit to the rollout of a massive loan modification plan if they want to have access to any more of the bailout money.

With $350 billion dollars hanging in the balance, the Treasury has taken action and begun to work on a loan modification plan. Some democrats want to make the Treasury implement the loan modification plan proposed by FDIC Chairwoman Shelia Bair. Her proposal is to systematically reduce mortgage payments and soften loan terms for homeowners struggling to keep up with their mortgage payments. Those who oppose this plan say this would cost billions and may not really help reduce foreclosure rates. It is a fact that over half of homeowners that receive modifications to their home loans default on the modified mortgage within six months. Plan supporters feel that by not just lowering interest rates, but actually reducing the balance of the loan, a more successful modification can be made that will have lasting results. That, and the fact that a federal guarantee is built into the plan to protect lenders in the event that homeowners redefault on their mortgages, helps to make this plan more attractive to all parties involved.

It is hard to say whether loan modification would be the best way to solve the housing crisis, especially without it ever being done on a large scale as proposed by Congress. What is true, however, is that any help is welcomed by the homeowners who are hurting and it could be one of many tactics used to help stimulate the housing market and the economy overall.

For the past month, the National Association of Realtors and the National Association of Home Builders have been pushing a plan for a wide-scale mortgage rate reduction plan to be provided by the U.S Treasury. Sure it will mean more affordable home loans but there are many other benefits to this plan. The main goal of a mortgage rate reduction plan will be to push large amounts of people into the real estate market in order to drastically reduce the existing home inventory and spur a need for new construction. By doing so, home prices will stabilize and a very important part of the economy will be strengthened.

Additionally, other industries will benefit from a sharp increase in home sales. When people buy homes they buy new things for their homes like furniture and appliances. Those industries will be flooded with new sales, spurring the creation of new jobs in those sectors. This is not the first time a plan of this kind has been used to overcome tough economic times. Back in the 1970's, The Tandem Plan was used to get the housing market out of a slump. Plan proposals for today vary and some even have the government making money by enacting a rate reduction plan.

A rate reduction plan is very necessary to help revive our economy. It may very well provide an instant remedy for many of the issues plaguing our economy today and will allow more people in the U.S. to become homeowners. Rates are low today in the mid-fives but a more significant decrease may be the answer we have been looking for.

Last quarter, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac posted multi-billion dollar losses. This scared investors and triggered them to require ultra high premium returns in exchange for buying the Fannie/Freddie debt. So what did that mean for the real estate & mortgage markets? Well, mortgage rates increased to above 6%, stifling new and existing home sales.  Luckily, the U.S. government stepped in and reassured investors that their backing of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is no joke, causing investors to relax and take lower premiums. Lower premiums for investors mean savings on mortgage rates for home buyers like you. Let's take a look at the current mortgage rates.

Currently, the rate for a 30 year fixed rate mortgage is 5.47% and the rate for a 15 year fixed rate mortgage is 5.13%. Rates for a 30 year fixed rate mortgage have dropped by a full half of a percentage point! With rates in the 5% range and home prices at an all-time low, many people understand that this is the time to buy and/or invest in real estate. People have already begun to take advantage of this situation-mortgage applications are on the rise. There has been a 37% increase in conventional loan applications and a 39% increase in FHA-insured loan applications according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

As I have said before, now is the time to buy real estate in Cape Coral. Now that mortgage rates are at an affordable level, there is no better time to take advantage of the current real estate market. Beautiful homes in Cape Coral, Ft. Myers, Bonita Springs, and Estero are available for a fraction of prices. Take a look at homes for sale in these areas using the FREE property search provided here or contact me for a personal consultation today!