I wanted to give a nod to Dean Ouellette over at Thompson Realty. Dean has been very good at collecting great articles on Real Estate and created the Top 10 Real Estate Posts of the day on his blog www.deansellsaz.com. This is a great resource to bookmark or subscribe via RSS feed and of course a great guy to call if you are moving to Arizona.

Tuesday – I learned that both Lawyers and Chicago Title Insurance Companies had simplified their rates. I see this as a great move on the part of these two title companies. What they have done is made their short term rate now the standard rate. Previously, the short-term rate was a discounted rate homeowners would receive if they used the same company to rewrite a title policy typically within five years. For example, Mr. Smith, a Simi Valley homeowner refinances his house. At the time of the refinance ,new title insurance is ordered. Three years later Mr. Smith decides to sell his house, if he uses the same title company that was used at the time of his refinance, then a discounted or known as the short-term rate would apply.
RESPA changes enacted January 16, 2010 will benefit Simi Valley home buyers and help them understand the costs of their financing on the new good faith estimate (GFE) and HUD-1 settlement statements.
Beside being the song title of a 1980s new wave band (Fun Boy Three), the title of this post may be more accurate than even I realize.

New York Attorney General, Andrew Cuomo investigated Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac appraisal practices. Fannie and Freddie (with the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (aka – OFHEO) agreed to adopt new changes to how appraisals are processed in the mortgage industry in exchange for an end to the investigation. The HVCC arose out of this agreement and contains many positive and needed guidelines to clean up the industry. Unfortunately as with most bureaucracy, the agreement contains changes to how brokers and agents are able to work with appraisers. These changes will significantly impact the value of your Simi Valley home, impact the process of selling your Simi Valley home, possibly raise the costs to the buyer of your Simi Valley home and create higher risk for a buyer to enter into an escrow on a Simi Valley home purchase. 





