Need Down Payment Money?

As a Realtor who is part of the Pacific West Association of Realtors (PWR), I am entitled to offer all of my first time buyers, or anyone who has not owned residence for the past three years, the opportunity to apply for PWR Opening Doors Down Payment assistance Program. The program will contribute funds towards the down payment of their home. In order to qualify for the funds the following requirements must be met:

1) Maximum income levels (2 buyers) $111,600 for Orange County & $90,960 for Los Angeles County.

2) Maximum purchase prices is $729,750 for Orange and Los Angeles Counties.

3) Buyer must contribute 1% of the sales price from their own funds towards the down payment.

4) Buyer may not have owned any residence within the past 3 years.

5) Minimum credit score of 620.

6) Pre-approval from a direct lender, not a broker.

7) Minimum five-year fixed-rate loan, full documentation (no stated income).

8) Buyer must be represented by a PWR Realtor® member who contributed to the PWR Charity Foundation in 2009.

9) Property must be located within PWR’s jurisdiction.

10) Short-sales excluded.

Click here to apply for the Opening Doors Program:

Fax in applications to (714) 780-1353

Economic Update

Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho, It's Off to Work We Go! If ever there was a week to sing that old Disney® song, it was last week when Americans received some good employment news. Despite a worse-than-expected ADP National Employment report - which isn't known for its accuracy - the Initial Jobless Claims report came in on Thursday with some good news. According to the report, Americans filing for unemployment benefits came in at 550,000, versus the 580,000 expected. In addition, the four-week moving average declined for the sixth consecutive week.

The markets received more evidence of an improving job market on Friday. The Labor Department reported 247,000 jobs lost in July versus economists' expectations of 328,000 jobs lost. As you can see in the chart below, this is down pretty sharply from June's lower, revised 443,000 jobs lost and the smallest loss since August 2008. Even better, the Unemployment Rate dropped to 9.4%, from the prior month's reading of 9.5%. This reading broke a streak of 9 straight monthly increases and gave a lot of credibility to the good news in the job market.
-----------------------Chart: US Non-Farm Payroll (jobs losses shown in thousands)










The employment news is good news for the economy because it may signal that the worst recession in our lifetime could be ending. That said, the Obama Administration agreed on Friday that we're seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, but cautioned that the country still has a lot further to go and that the US will not have a true recovery as long as job losses continue.

A stronger job market can also signal improvement in the housing market. We saw indication of that last week as the Pending Home Sales Index came in at 3.6%, which was much better than the 0.7% that was expected. The National Association of Realtors also reported that Pending Home Sales rose in June for the fifth straight month, fueled by low home loan rates and bargain home prices. Overall, the news was a strong indication that the housing market may be looking to improve.

Overall, the economic news helped boost Stocks, as the Dow gained 114 points to close the week at its highest level of the year. The economic news and increase in Stocks last week, however, put pressure on Bonds, which ended the week lower, putting upward pressure on home loan rates


The material contained in this newsletter is provided by a third party to real estate, financial services and other professionals only for their use and the use of their clients. The material provided is for informational and educational purposes only and should not be construed as investment and/or mortgage advice. Although the material is deemed to be accurate and reliable, we do not make any representations as to its accuracy or completeness and as a result, there is no guarantee it is not without errors.

Tips to Improve Your Credit Score

As you all may know, Your credit score plays an important role when applying for a loan, whether it be a house, car, or even furniture. The higher one's credit is, the lower interest rate they will receive. Here I will give you a few pointers to raise your credit.


1) Point per payment - For every bill payment you send in on time, the credit agencies will add one point to your score.


2) $1 extra = 1 point extra- Agencies will grant you an extra point if you send in more than the minimum payment, even if it's just a dollar!


3) Credit used VS. Balance- If you are using more than half of your available credit, chances are you are getting points deducted from your score every month. If you have a well established credit card and owe $5,000 on an $8,000 credit limit you can

a)Pay down balance to $4,000 or less

b) Ask creditor for credit raise to $10,000The whole point is to watch your ratios.


4) Enroll in the DO NOT MAIL list (free)- IF you enroll to this service you will not receive any credit card offers in the mail. Credit Agencies will grant you anywhere from 10-20 points to your FICO score. Go to http://www.optoutprescreen.com/ and click on "opt in" do 5yrs to receive max points. (You can always "opt out" or if you apply for new credit you might automatically get "opted out)


Maximise your points every month by dividing your payments in half and sending atleast an extra dollar to your minimum payment. So if you have five credit cards and you apply these rules you can receive 15 extra points per month.



REMEMBER......... Don't ever close an account! By closing an account you will erase all the good transaction history. Pay it off, don't close it.