SOME THINGS BUYERS SHOULD KNOW (but often don't!)

A recent survey indicates that there are many aspects of the home buying process that continue to elude prospective home buyers. Here are some of the more surprising results of the findings, along with five things home buyers don’t know, but should:
Mortgage rates vary daily
A whopping 55 percent of prospective home buyers don’t realize that mortgage rates, which are determined by a slew of factors, can – and do – change daily (and sometimes more than once a day if certain economic reports are released.) To get the best rates, you have to monitor them (watch the movement of the 10-year Treasury bond; that’s your best indicator.) and shop around. After all, a change in a rate of a mere .125% to .25% could mean thousands of dollars in savings each year.
Lender fees are negotiable
When you apply for a mortgage, the bottom line is that you’re going to have to pay lender fees. And these fees — from origination fees to credit report fees to appraisal fees and more — can add up quickly. But the good news — and what 34 percent of prospective home buyers don’t know — is that fees not only vary from one lender to the next, but that they’re negotiable. All the more reason to shop around for different mortgage rates from various lenders.
FHA loans are available to all buyers
More than two in five (42%) prospective home buyers think that only first-time buyers qualify for an FHA loan, a mortgage insured by the Federal House Administration. That’s not the case. In fact, these loans are available to all buyers who meet eligibility requirements. Among the key benefits: minimal down payments, relaxed credit score requirements, low costs, and attractive interest rates.
Interest rates on ARMs don’t always reset higher
While interest rates on 5/1 ARMs do commonly increase after 5 years, rates could decrease. Prospective home buyers may not realize this because so many of us — some 57 percent, in fact – simply don’t know how adjustable rate mortgages work. FYI: the interest rate on this product is made up of two parts — the margin, which is fixed percentage; and the index, which goes both up and down with the general movement of interest rates.
Pre-qualified doesn’t mean much
Just because you’ve been “pre-qualified” for a loan doesn’t mean you’ve secured financing, yet 37 percent of prospective home buyers think it does. When a lender “pre-qualifies” you, they simply approximate how much you can afford, but don’t run your credit or request any sort of documentation to verify the information you provide. It is not until a lender has approved your loan application without conditions that you’ve got a firm commitment.

AB EXERCISES

Quick-fix exercises are generally poor substitutes for hard work, but the following exercises are simple enough to do in the comfort of your own home without sacrificing effectiveness. If you perform these easy ab exercises a few times a week, you will stimulate your abdominal muscles enough to keep your core strong. But beware: You probably won’t see the results you’re hoping for unless you combine these easy ab exercises with a healthy diet and a regular cardiovascular regimen.

For all of the following easy ab exercises, make sure to suck in your stomach, which will activate your transversus abdominis, the muscle that should always fire before any other core muscle.

Crunches

Lie flat on your back on the floor. Take a deep breath, suck in your stomach, keep your eyes focused on the ceiling, and raise your upper body off the ground until it is at a 45-degree angle with the floor. Don’t pull on your neck, as this can lead to forward head posture, neck pain and, in extreme cases, migraine headaches. Hold the contraction for 2 to 3 seconds and slowly return to the starting position. Perform 3 sets of 10 to 15 reps.

Standing side bends

Stand up straight and suck in your stomach. Keeping your legs straight and your arms at your sides, lean from left to right. Make sure you don’t rotate at the hips; rather, keep your upper body in a forward-facing position and simply tilt your body left and right. This easy ab exercise primarily works the obliques, but it also engages the entire abdominal wall and some of the lower back muscles. Perform 3 sets of 10 to 15 reps.

Torso twists and double crunches will engage your obliques and your lower abdominal region in the next set of easy ab exercises…

Torso Twists

The torso twist is one of our favorite routines for tightening up the midsection and it's among the best easy ab exercises. Stand up straight, suck in your stomach and rotate your upper body from left to right while keeping your legs straight. As you turn, you will engage both the internal and external obliques, which are very important core muscles. The contraction produced in this exercise will hit the obliques from a different plane of motion than the side bends. Perform 3 sets of 10 to 15 reps.

Double Crunches

Whenever you do a crunch, you work the entire abdominal area, but there are ways to add a little more emphasis to certain sections of the abdominals. The double crunch combines the crunch and another exercise called the knee raise, which will place more emphasis on the lower abdominal region.

Lie flat on your back against the floor with your legs in the air and your knees bent at a 90-degree angle so that your calves are parallel with the floor. Take a deep breath, suck in your stomach, keep your eyes focused on the ceiling, and raise your upper body off the ground until it is at a 45-degree angle with the floor. Once again, make sure not to pull your neck. Hold the contraction for 2 to 3 seconds and slowly return to the starting position. Perform 3 sets of 10 to 15 reps.

Easy Abs

If you follow these easy ab exercises, you will effectively work your core muscles. In combination with good nutritional and cardiovascular plans, they will help you achieve those chiseled muscles in no time. Also, don’t forget to include stretching in your regimen, as resistance training exercises tighten up the muscles.           

MORTGAGE RATE DROPS TO 4.71%

Rate on 30-year fixed mortgage drops to 4.71 %

Janna Herron / / Associated Press

Fixed mortgage rates dipped to the lowest level of the year last week. The third straight weekly decline comes at the start of the peak buying season.
Freddie Mac said the average rate on the 30-year loan fell to 4.71 percent from 4.78 percent the previous week. That matched this year's low reached in January. But it is above the 40-year low of 4.17 percent hit in November.

The average rate on the 15-year fixed mortgage slipped to 3.89 percent from 3.97 percent. It reached 3.57 percent in November, the lowest level on records dating back to 1991.
Mortgage rates tend to track the yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which fell last week after the report showed slower growth last month in the service sector, which employs nearly 90 percent of the U.S work force. That bolsters the case for the Federal Reserve to maintain its policy of keeping interest rates low to fuel the economy.

To calculate average mortgage rates, Freddie Mac collects rates from lenders across the country on Monday through Wednesday of each week. Rates often fluctuate significantly.
The average rate on a five-year adjustable rate mortgage fell to 3.47 percent from 3.51 percent. The five-year adjustable rate loan hit 3.25 percent last month, the lowest rate on records dating back to January 2005.
The average rate on a one-year adjustable rate loan fell to 3.14 percent from 3.15 percent. That marked the lowest level on the one-year ARM in the last year.
The rates do not include add-on fees, known as points. One point is equal to 1 percent of the total loan amount. The average fee for the 30-year fixed loan and 15-year fixed loan in Freddie Mac's survey was 0.7 point. The average fee for the five-year ARM and the one-year ARM was 0.6 point.

TO THE WEEKEND WARRIOR!

You're the folks who work hard all week, don't have or don't make the time to exercise/play but you find the time to play hard on Saturday and/or Sunday....And on those 2 days you try to make up for the week's worth of inactivity, right?
You're a WEEKEND WARRIOR and there's not a thing wrong with that!
BUT.....
If you only work out/exercise 2 days a week, try to space out your active days to avoid a "deconditioning effect" from being inactive for such a long stretch of time. Instead of exercising on Saturday and Sunday, try for Saturday and Wednesday or Monday and Thursday. Try to find the time to do this.
AND....
Take some precautions to avoid injury. You have to be more sensible about your approach. If you're planning a Saturday afternoon filled with 18 holes of golf or a game of basketball with friends, make sure to warm up first and cool down afterward.
AND....
Don't overdo it. Remember that because you don’t do this regularly you have to keep some tabs on the intensity.
AND....
Listen to your body! If something hurts, lay off.
SO.....
Here's to all the WEEKEND WARRIORS! Have fun!

5 THINGS A SELLER CAN DO KILL THE DEAL

1. Talking to or meeting with the buyers without the knowledge of your realtor.... If you are speaking with the other party and no one else knows about it, promises can be made verbally that are not reflected in the written contract and this is a big NO!  The reason you hire a real estate agent is so they can communicate with the buyers' agent to ensure the transaction goes smoothly. Do not talk to the other realtor without your agent present either.
2. Not disclosing material defects of the property- If you are aware that the roof leaks or about the black mold in the bathroom upstairs, it is wise to disclose the information to your agent  and on the seller's property disclosure form you fill out. Think you're off the hook after you walk away from the closing table? Wrong! The buyer can take you to small claims court. Disclose all material defects with the home, it's the right thing to do and the buyer deserves to know!
3. Refuse to repair a big problem in the home- Sure it's your right to refuse repairing items requested by the buyer after an inspection and I am not saying you should agree to repair everything but think twice before saying "no" to a large or serious repair. If the roof has hail damage and needs replacement and you refuse to repair it for the first buyer, the next buyer who comes along will more than likely request the roof be replaced also. If the item is serious enough to come up in the future with another buyer again, you should probably fix it.
4. Not being honest with your realtor- You and your realtor work as a team during the transaction so if you withhold certain information from them that could affect the transaction, you may have a big problem. Keep it simple and be honest with your agent.
5. Not having permits for work completed in the home- You didn't get a permit for the basement, bathroom, or deck you built and now you are under contract with a buyer for your home. If you try to acquire permits for work completed after you finished a project while you are under contract you may have to make corrections in order to bring the work completed in the home up to building code. Not only can that become costly, but also very time consuming. In some circumstances, the buyer may have issues with their lender or homeowner's insurance due to the absence of permits. The buyer also knows when they go to sell the home in the future, they have to obtain permits (which may involve making corrections at their expense) and that just may be enough to steer them away from the deal. It is wise to obtain permits for work completed before you list your home for sale.