Is there anyone who doesn’t know about the real mess that housing has been in lately? The values of homes has been declining at a rapid, steady pace for almost three years. That has not been good for our economy. There is nothing good that comes out of it for current homeowners.

But if yo are considering buying your first home, there is no better time than now. With home prices bottoming and mortgage rates at all time lows, this is a real opportunity to get in at a great savings.

People who purchase in 09 will even receive a generous tax bonus from the Fed. Put it all together and you have yourself one heck of a home buying opportunity on your hands.

And forget what you have been hearing on the news about needing 20% down, yo can buy with as little as 0% down payment. With the help of Uncle Sam who is offering easy mortgage money as well as grants, there is no need to put much if any money at all as a down payment

Bad credit however, will no longer be tolerated. Make sure that your credit report is in good shape. By keeping an eye on it, you can insure that there are no issues that make borrowing a problem. Another piece of advice is to get rid of as much personal debt as possible. The less debt on your balance sheet, the more quickly you can get your mortgage approved. Try to buy a home that will have payments that will be no problem for you to make. Some banks may be willing to give your mortgages for more than you can easily pay. Even if they do, I recommend staying within a budget that you can handle with no problem. I do not recommend fixer uppers for first time home buyers. The cost of repairs usually far exceeds what your original estimate was.

I repeat, this is the best time in many many years to buy a house. Do your homework before you make any moves. Owning your own home is still a great investment.

The total number of mortgage approvals for March this year has risen by 4% on the previous month and reached 39,230, and according to new figures released by the Bank of England, the rise in mortgage approvals might carry on going up.

With the extra 4% approved mortgages, the total cost of all the mortgages in March came to £4.6 billion which is an increase on the previous month of £900 million, however, this is only a small amount compared to the estimated montly average of £1.6 billion, it didn’t even meet the increase that was seen in February of £1.5 billion, however, the total amount of money approved through mortgages in March, £4.6 billion, was well over the 6 month average.

There was also some encouraging news from the building societies, the amount of mortgages that have been approved in March has risen to £1,542 million compared to the amount in February of £742 million.

And finally, the British Bankers Association has also released some figures, regarding lending rates to small businesses. Their figures showed how lending from banks to small businesses had risen by £271 million in March. However, these figures do not match with the results that the Treasury Committee released saying how small businesses are finding it harder to borrow money from the banks.

These figures may sound good, however, mortgage approvals is forward thinking, we should be more concerned with actual mortgage lending, which in March rose by £800 million, however, this is much less than anticipated, and a lot less than the monthly average.2 billion.

All these figures may be good news for the economy and housing market, there are still a range of concerns about house prices and how they could slump again, however, even if they didn’t the economy is still in a delicate state of balance.

Are you wanting to move house in London? Discover one of the best South West London Estate Agents or maybe you are after Balham Estate Agents.

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Our current mortgage and real estate debacle has resulted in a huge boom in the private lending business (Mortgage Notes created by owner financing). Desperate home sellers are increasingly having to act as the lender by necessity as lending institutions have gone in the opposite direction in lending practices. In the haydays of mortgage lending, lenders would give you a mortgage, in many cases for 100% of the home’s value if you simply had a pulse. Now, except for government backed loans (FHA, VA, USDA), you need twenty percent down, almost perfect credit and 100% proveable monthly income via federal tax documents. Sadly, these extremely rigid loan practices have left many high quality, low risk homebuyers out of the market. This is particularly true for millions of self-employed home buying prospects who in many cases have plenty of cash for a down payment along with good credit scores. These homebuyers just may not be showing sufficient taxable income so as to keep their taxes to a minimum. Their aggressive tax strategy means they can’t get a a mortgage loan. As a result, the home seller needs to step up to the plate to save their day.

I understand that many homeowners will not have this option, but it could be a great alternative for a lot of homeowners. {It is a great option for homeowners who have some equity in the property as opposed to those where the mortgage is equal to or greater than the value of the home.|It will work best for homeowners that have a lot of equity in their home where as it won’t work for people with little to no equity.} Interestingly, a lot of home sellers are not even aware that it’s possible to sell this owner financed note, which is a highly valued marketable asset. They can even sell their note to a mortgage buyer (also known as a note buyer) in just 3 or 4 months after the home closes when the note accrues some “seasoning’. Many note buyers will be willing to turn the note into a lump sum of cash. This essentially gives the seller an all cash deal and while the homeowner takes a discount on the private mortgage to sell it (a dollar today is of more value than a dollar tomorrow), the result is it moves the home fast, almost always results in the seller getting a top price and the property can often be sold with no real estate commissions. The net result is a win/win.

So while the Fed is showering trillions of our money at the big banks, these banks still are not lending. Most of these banks are just stock piling this ultra cheap or even free money or using it for acquiring other companies. As a result the home seller is having to take charge of their own destiny, just as entrepreneurial Americans have always done.