Millage Rates in Michigan

Here is more on millage rates in Michigan.
The first year you are taxed on the SEV value and then from then on you are taxed on the taxable value. Taxable value can rise up to 5% or inflation which ever is less. But remember inflation on the house can be negative so sometimes taxable value and SEV can go down.

In a market where property values are rising SEV becomes less and less important to you after the first year because the taxable value should be less than the SEV. Usually when you are buying a house you will notice that if somebody has lived in the house a long time the taxable value is much lower than the SEV. That is because of Proposal A limits the increase in taxes per year. The estimated market value according to the state has risen faster than the taxable value. Proposal A saved us money!

However if values fall as they are now the assessor should lower the SEV. (they should but they don’t always do it because the city loses tax revenues). Let’s say you bought it for $300,000 in 2005, then the SEV is $150,000 in 2005. The assessor may say that the house is now worth 145,800 now so your taxes will go down in 2006. So let’s say you bought the home in 2005 at the peak of the housing market. Now two years later your house is worth less. It should reflect that in your SEV and taxable value. They both should have gone down.

The way you have to fight it is first get your facts. You need houses that have sold in the neighborhood and in the city that are comparable to yours. I.E. roughly same square footage, roughly same age, same style. They need to have sold for less than what your bought yours for and what your taxable value is. You need more than one house to support your claim. The more houses you have and the closer they are to your home the better chance you have of getting the assessor to agree with you and reduce your taxable value. Then you have to call the assessor’s office and find out the procedure to protest your taxes. Sometimes you can only do it once a year, sometimes you have to put it in writing, sometimes you have to go in front of a board.

It is worth the hassle! It will save you money for years to come when you get it corrected.
Want to figure out what your taxes are going to be? Here is the formula :

Value determined by assessor divided in half = SEV (State equalized value)

SEV X Millage rate = taxes

For example a you are buying a $400,000 house in Brighton. Let's say the SEV by coincidence corresponds to the purchase price. So the assessor estimated the house value at $400,000 too. So $400,000 X 50% = $200,000. So SEV is $200,000

$200,000 X .0361558 = $7,231.16 a year in taxes.

Two things to remember SEV can be less or more than the purchase price of the home or the offer that you are going to put in. But you are most likely going to pay based on the SEV unless you fight it with the tax board or assessor after you move in ( usually when you get your tax bill).

Remember this is only for homesteaded taxes. A homestead exemption, now known as a principal residence exemption may be used by a person who owns and occupies a home as their principal residence. If this is true, the person may claim an exemption from the 18 mills levied by local school districts for operating purposes. Again in English - Homesteaded taxes are a reduction in taxes based on that you use a home for your primary residence.

So Non-homesteaded taxes are on vacation homes, rental properties, and investment properties.

If you are not living there full time, you can not claim it. You cannot claim one house, and your wife, claim another. If you claim a homestead in another state you can not claim it here. If you try to cheat the state and they catch they can take away the homestead deduction on all your homes and make you pay back the taxes you should have been paying and penalty interest.

If you wish to search Michigan Homes or need more information on mortgages or real estate in Michigan go to my website http://www.russravary.com/
I hope this information on millage rates helped you. Russ Ravary

FHA Mortgages

I believe a FHA Mortgage is great for most first time home buyers that do not have 5% or more to put down. The reason I say this is that they allow people with past bruised credit to buy a home. They allow people with limited credit history to buy a home. They allow you to buy a home with very little down and allow the seller to pay closing costs. And the best reason a FHA mortgage is great is that the rates are good. You are not usually going to pay an exorbitant rate!
FHA is home buyers program that allows you to get a good rate if you had bad credit in the past. FHA usually wants you to have good credit for the past year. FHA loans are sometimes the stepping stone between bad credit and excellent credit.
If you are thinking of buying a home whether it is the first time or you have bought homes before I would ask your mortgage person about them. It may be the way for you to go and get into a home at a great rate. Visit my Michigan mortgage information page for more information or email me at my website http://www.russravary.com/ to see if I can get you a great rate.
Hug your children just for no reason and tell them how much you love them.
Russ Ravary

No Money Down Purchase

Are you thinking of buying a home but you have no money to put down? There are still no money down mortgages. What that means to you is that you can actually still buy a home and not have any money in the bank or need money for closing. And it is perfectly legal!!! The banks will lend you the money at a higher interest rate (not much higher than normal).
The banks categorize you, the new home buyer as a higher risk since you do not have money, so they charge a little more. You will have to have good credit in this market to get a 100% financing loan.
Do you know what closing costs are? There are fees associated with closing on a home. You have to pay the seller of the home back for taxes he paid in advance, you have to pay for an appraisal, bank fees, and title costs. Depending what state you are closing in those costs can range from $1500 -$3000. But don't worry those costs can be covered too if you have a good real estate agent. Your real estate agent can put in the purchase agreement that the seller will pay 3% of the selling price towards your closing costs. You can actually buy a home with no money what so ever!!!
However it is better to put money down to buy a house. You will get a better rate, and most of all you will truly feel home ownership because you have something invested. You can get an FHA mortgage with only 3% down! I will go into that in my next blog.
If you are interested in finding out whether you qualify to buy a home, go to my web site on Oakland County Homes www.russravary.com You can email me from the site or fill out one of the many forms for information.
Also if you want to Search for Michigan homes free go to the site. Or click on search for Michigan homes free.
Drive safely and if you break a traffic law by accident may there be no policeman around to give you a ticket! Russ Ravary

Buying floreclosures

I am picking up where I left off on my last post. To reiterate a point. Just because it was a foreclosure does not make it a deal.
Your real estate agent should be doing some leg work for you. If you like the house then they should be telling you what other homes in the area are selling for. He may be able to tell when it was last sold, how much of a mortgage is on it, and how long it has been on the market.
All this information should be helping you to determine how much to bid on the house.
Banks want to get it sold but they don't necessarily want to give it away. Remember you are buying it as is. The bank is not going to do anything or fix anything (most likely).
I always tell clients to put in a purchase offer in with a price you can live with. On one end. I have had agents tell me that their clients have told them. "why hasn't anybody put even a low ball bid in on my house?" Then when we did put in a low ball bid they only come back with a 4% lower counteroffer. In this market it is not that great. If you are shopping for a bargain then it should be 10% plus in this market.
On the other end we have put in a 12% below market bid and it is accepted without a counteroffer. The sellers had a bigger mortgage than that. They just wanted to get out of the house.
Signs to look for when looking for a deal: empty house, low mortgage on home, house on market a long time, people have relocated, people are getting divorced. Check the house value against what has sold in the six months (not a year). Good luck and happy hunting. Search Michigan Homes free on my website www.russravary.com Russ Ravary

Are you selling or aren't you?

My pet peeve of the week is sellers who won't let people in. Last weekend we set it up an appointment through another real estate office. We showed up at the house and the seller told us we could not come in. She wanted to know if 3 days from then would be okay!!! Duh. The seller just got the buyer mad and they are not coming back to look at that house. She supposedly does not empty her messages off the answering machine to know when the appointments are scheduled. Not the smartest seller in the world.
I have two more. Another one we called to see tomorrow they said how about next week towards the end of the week. This was a lease. The people need to move. They will be looking elsewhere.
Another one we called to see tomorrow (a different buyer and seller) the seller said not tommorrow but how about Sat between 12-1 or Sun 4-5. 3 days later again and to at thier convenience.
If you are going to sell your house make a committment to yourself and let it be shown whenever possible. It is a slow market you can't afford to let a buyer go by. There are some houses that are not getting lookers but once a month. I can understand if you have out of town guests, birthday party, a child sick, but let your agent show it as much as he can. Even if it short notice, even if it is not perfect.
I sold one house this way. Another agent was in front of my buyers house and called me. They wanted to get in right then. They liked the looks of the house. I called my buyer. He ranted and raved about no notice. I told him to quickly make the bed and apologize to the prospective buyer on how it was not totally cleaned up. That buyer bought the house. They put in a bid that night!!!
If you are thinking of selling your home. Don't let the buyer get away. Don't let the buyer get away. Don't let the buyer get away.
They are far and few between right now. They will put your house on the back burner like you did them. There are so many houses on the market to look at. Make it available. Make it easy to show all the time. I know it is work to keep it clean and pretty. But if you truly want to move and sell the house then you might have to pack up the kids, the dog and run out of the house. Go to my website and do one of the March things to do in Michigan. If you want to search for Michigan Homes go to my website www.russravary.com

Upside down in a Michigan home

What do you do if you are upside in a home?. What do I mean by being upside down?
With Michigan's economy and housing market we are seeing more and more people in this predicament. What has happen is that your house value has fallen below what you owe on the mortgage.
Upside down means that you owe more on the house than the house is worth. It does not mean anything if you are staying in the home and you can afford the mortgage payment. You just have to ride out our poor housing market and continue to pay down the mortgage.
The problem is if your payment is going to rise beyond what you can afford or you have to relocate. Or if you can't keep up and you are going into foreclosure. Then you have a problem. First you need to contact the bank and try to work something out with them. Either a lower payment or giving the home back to the bank(They call it deed in lieu of foreclosure) you are giving the house back to the bank and moving out right away. If you truly have financial problems the bank will try to work with you. However there are some banks out there that are hard noses.
If you can't work out something with the bank then you need to consult with a bankruptcy lawyer next.
The last choice if nothing else works out if that you may have walk away from the house. If you can't sell it, you can't afford the payment, you have to move to get a job, you can't work out a deal with the bank, you can't file bankruptcy, then you may have to walk away from the house. If you want to talk about your options go to my website and contact me. I'll try to help you on what to say to the bank. Or to see if you have any options. www.russravary.com
If you are upside down and are staying the house start paying a little extra each month to lower the mortgage balance. Do you know if you make one extra payment a year on a 30 year mortgage that you will cut it down to about 22 years. Even a little bit each month helps. Good luck and have a great week.

Second Mortgage Rates

I'm a loan officer at a mortgage broker. We usually can get better deals than a bank can give you. But on second mortgages I tell people to shop the big banks and credit unions. They usually have the best rates and lowest closing costs for second mortgages. When you are shoping for a second mortgage you want to find out what the rate is, is it fixed or variable, is it a home equity line of credit, and how are the closing costs are. Usually you want to go with the lowest closing costs and the lowest rate. Also ask if you can lock the rate later on.
Second mortgage rates usually depend on how much you are borrowing (including the first and second loan amounts) compared to how much you house is worth. If you are only borrowing 70% of what your house is worth the rate will be cheaper than if you were borrowing 90% of what your house is worth. It is a bigger risk for the bank to loan you 90% of the house versus 70% loan. That is why they charge more for the higher risk.
If you want more information on mortgages or would like to apply for a mortgage go www.russravary.com We can help you get pre-approved for a mortgage and start searching for a home. Have a great St. Patricks Day.. May the luck of the Irish be with you all year Russ Ravary

Mortgage meltdown

If you have been reading the newspaper or watching Good Morning America this morning. You would have heard about the mortgage meltdown. What does the mortgage meltdown really mean to the average consumer?
Let's start with why it happened. Banks, and lenders began loosening lending guidelines about 6-7 years ago. They made it easier for almost anybody to get a loan. You did not have to show employment sometimes, sometimes you did not have to verify income, and sometimes you did not even need one dime to buy a house. It was easy to get a loan even if you were self-employed, had a recent bankruptcy, or even a prior foreclosure.
The gurus in the back room thought they had figured out the projected default rate. They factored that into the interest rate. So if 10 out of a 1000 people were going to default as they guessed then they charged a little higher rate to everybody. Just like they do with credit cards. The good payers subsidize the losses of the non-payers. That is the way of business.
Well unfortunately the gurus in the back room under figured the losses. So long as the real estate market is going up all was well. The foreclosures are huge right now. Especially Michigan foreclosures, we are near the top of the list. The banks, the lenders, and investment portfolios are taking losses. Yes investment portfolios, mortgages were being bundled up and sold on wall street. They are in various mutual funds and hedge funds now. So those funds are going to lose a little value here and there.
But the major consequence of what is happening is that lenders are going out of business, there is a tightening of loan criteria. No longer can anybody just sign and get a loan. There are less choices and less programs for loan officers. Less choices for consumers. So some people that could have bought a house last year with no money down, may need money or may not even be able to get a loan. Before lenders could sell those loans on wall street, now wall street wants nothing to do with them because of all the losses. It's not profitable.
Less people on Wall Street to sell to, less companies able to stay in business, less choices and fewer easy options for Mortgages for the average consumer.
Interest Rates are going to be higher for non-conforming people. People with bruised credit, self-employed people with no verifiable income, people with no reserves are non-conforming people.
Where the biggest danger is that some of adjustable rate mortgages may rise quickly. Good Morning America was saying that you needed to be in a 30 year fixed rate mortgage if you could be. I think that is a great idea. We are near the low point of mortgage rates. Rates may come down a little but the possibility of them going up is greater.
So if you are thinking of selling to get out from under your mortgage, or just thinking of moving out of state.... you can check your houses value at www.checkmyhousesvalue.com
I always thought people should have a little reserves when they buy a home. What happens if the furnace fails or the roof leaks. Sure it's nice to buy a home, but I would like my clients to be able to afford the home. So they can be in it 5 -10 years down the road and not lose it to foreclosure. If you want more information on mortgages, want a good rate feel free to call me at (313) 310-9855 or go to my website at www.russravary.com May life treat you and your family well today. Russ Ravary

What does getting pre-approved mean to a first time home buyer? It means talking to (preferably sitting down) with a mortgage person. You want to bring your last two years tax returns or w-2's with you.
The mortgage person will ask you questions:

about how much you make a year?

where have you been living?,

are you paying rent?,

if so how by check?, by cash?,

how long you have on the job?,

how much savings you have?,

how many other bills do you have?,

how much do they add up to?,

the price range of house you would like to buy?,

how much do you want to put down?,

who is going to be on the loan?,

how big of a payment you want to have?.

They will take the time to pull your credit and look at it. The important things on your credit report is your 3 credit scores, the amount of debt you have, and your actual credit. How many lines of credit do you have, are you paying them on time, do you have any collections?
These are all things a mortgage person looks at.
But do not be scared. There are many people who think and have thought they would never qualify for a house and they own one now. Many people are approved to buy a home with little or no money down. You have to take the time to pre-approved and pre-qualified. Call me at (313) 310-9855 to get pre-approved for a mortgage or go to my website www.russravary.com