FINANCING YOUR HOME IN FAIRFAX COUNTY, VIRGINIA

Real Estate Assessment Notices

• Fairfax County has an annual assessment program where all real property, residential and commercial, is assessed at 100% of the estimated fair market value as of January 1 of each year.
• Real Estate Assessment values may increase or decrease due to a variety of reasons including changes in economic conditions, structural changes, land divisions, and rezonings. If you believe that your property has been over-assessed, you may appeal your assessment.
• The annual real estate tax is based on the January 1 assessed value and a real estate tax rate determined each year by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.

What's in a home loan?? P.I.T.I.

Principal: Monthly payments that reduce your loan balance in small increment.

Interest: Monthly payments to the lender based on the interest rate for your loan charged on the unpaid balance.

Taxes: Real estate taxes paid from an escrow account held by the lender through a 1/12th of the annual real estate taxes included in your monthly payment.

Insurance: Hazard insurance, fire, theft, liability insurance paid to the mortgage company in payments of 1/12th of the annual premium each month.

WHERE WOULD WE BE WITHOUT MORTGAGE LENDERS??

Lenders do good things for home buyers. They lend large sums of money. In exchange for lending large sums of money, they place a lien (mortgage) on the deed to your home. Later, when you decide to sell the home, the lender's lien must be paid off. That's the easy part. The rest gets complicated because there are now so many types of loans and sources of funds to from which to borrow, it takes an encyclopedia to keep up with them. We'll try to make it easy for you. The following are the types of loans popular in the Maryland and Virginia real estate marketplace.

FHA LOANS - These loans are insured by the Federal Housing Administration and permit buyers to finance some of their closing costs, thereby reducing the amount of cash that you need to buy. This loan is very popular for first time home buyers. Anyone can use the FHA loans. FHA loans are very popular with first time home buyers.

VA LOANS - These loans are guaranteed by the Department of Veterans Affairs. Primarily available to active duty and military veterans can use this loan. This loan requires no down payment and the seller can pay up to 100% of the buyer's closing costs. The VA mortgage loan is the best loan on the market but limited to eligible borrowers.

TERM FOR LOANS that conform to the Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac guidelines. These loans are non-jumbo loans that are elegible for resale to Fannie and Freddie to keep money flowing from Fannie/Freddie to the lenders and make funds available to borrowers. With higher loan limits, FHA has garnered a larger percentage of the mortgage market since the mortgage crisis in 2006 forward. Yet, for buyers with significant down payments, 10% or more, the conventional 30 year fixed loan is still very popular due to the low interest available to many borrowers with high credit scores.

JUMBO LOANS - We work with lenders who specialize in the Jumbo or Portfolio loans for special people like you who are in the luxury home market. You will not have to lift a finger. Our lenders will communicate and process your loan by electronic means or, if you are local, will meet with you at your convenience in your office or home. Loans up to over several million are available and special long lock loans, up to 9 months, are also available. This may be important if you decide to build and it appears that rates may be on the increase. We follow loan programs with long term locks, float-down features, short term locks, fixed, ARMs, no documentation or low documentation loans, or any type that is best for you. We have Jumbo Loan lenders with rates of up to 1/2 % lower than market. We can save you real money on your Jumbo loan and it is a local company.

For more information about home loans, contact us and we will gladly explain the following:

• Points
• Fixed or ARM?
• Lock or float?
• PMI/MIP
• First & Second mortgages
• Qualifying/Pre-approval
• Loan Calculator
• Application/procedures
• No documentation loans
• Assumption loans

Email Homefinders.com or telephone at 800-711-7988. We'll analyze your home loan needs and recommend local lenders who will get the job done for you. We do not own or have a monetary interest in any lender or loan. We are interested in helping you, our home buyer, obtain the very best loan for your needs. To that end, we sell over 100 homes every year and meet and evaluate local lenders regularly. We only recommend lenders that have done a good job for our buyer clients.

HOMEFINDERS.COM makes every attempt to find financial help for our home buyers. We know how hard it is to save money for down payment and closing costs with today's high cost of living. However, we can often help with grant, closing cost assistance from sellers, tax rebates and the always popular mortgage interest tax deduction which puts money in your pocket each payday to help make your mortgage payments.

USAA APPROVED HOME BUYERS. IF YOU HAVE APPLIED FOR USAA FOR HOME LOAN FINANCING, PLEASE CONTACT US BEFORE SELECTING A REAL ESTATE BUYERS AGENT.

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