Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (April 1, 2015)
Wednesday, April 1, 2015 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon R e a l E s t a t e S p e c i a l 17 R e p o r t Be proactive in lining up financing to buy a home Jim Cornelius News Editor Everybody knows that nowadays it’s really hard to get a loan, and you have to have 20 percent down to buy a house, right? Nope. There’s a lot of mythology and misinformation out there about the lending climate for homebuyers. Cort Horner of Directors Mortgage in Sisters is down in the trenches of the mortgage lending world, and he knows the lay of the land. Certainly the pendulum has swung away from the extremes of pre-recession lending, when anyone with a pulse was quali- fying for a loan, but things aren’t as tight and as difficult as people assume. “Right now we’re kind of in that balanced place in the middle,” Horner told The Nug- get. “There’s a lot more oppor- tunity out there than people realize.” The fundamentals of lend- ing are still in play: Credit; capacity (the ability to repay a loan); and collateral (the mar- ket quality of the home). “If you check off those boxes, the loan’s going to work,” Horner said. And there are a variety of options available to suit a variety of needs and circum- stances. The key for a prospec- tive homebuyer — including those who washed out of the housing market during the recession and want to get back in — is education. Know what you need to do to get your ducks in a row, and know the difference between reality and myth. “One of the myths is the down-payment,” Horner said. There is a widespread assumption that you need to put 20 percent down to get a loan going, but Horner says there are other options as low as 5 percent down and in some cases (like a VA loan for veter- ans), no money down. The Sisters area is eligible for USDA (Department of Agriculture) rural-develop- ment loans for qualifying buy- ers. That’s true even inside the Sisters urban growth bound- ary. Depending on income and size of a family, it is entirely possible to qualify for a USDA loan that can get you into a home in Sisters or in a rural subdivision. “It’s a loan that a lot of peo- ple can qualify for,” Horner says. “If you’re looking at the $350,000 home in Tollgate, that’s a great qualifier.” Now more than ever, get- ting your financing aligned before you get into the market is critical. “Go and learn what your true financial situa- tion is through a lender’s eyes,” Horner says. “To buy a house, go out and get pre- approved. Not pre-qualified — pre-approved.” In Sisters Country and across the nation, many people lost their homes in the finan- cial crisis and recession that fell like a hammer in 2008. Many of those people are now in a position to get back into the housing market. The lend- ing situation for those folks is far from hopeless. Loan products have dif- ferent “seasoning periods” for people who have adverse credit situations like a short sale or foreclosure — a time period they must wait before they can again be eligible for a loan. For conventional loans that can be four to seven years, but for many products its in the three-year range. “I’ve got, I think, six people who are in that waiting period oto.C Ckph isto t o m e e t their seasoning requirement,” Horner reported. “We’re already prepping them for it.” You can spend that seasoning period wisely, cleaning up your credit. Get a real credit report and a true score and find out where you stand. There are resources to help you take care of problems, and Horner rec- ommends using them to get ahead of the game. “I have personal experi- ence with using credit repair,” he said. Once you understand your credit situation, you can for- mulate a plan to get into the best position to act, knowing what your true credit score is, lb om/i usCa what you can reason- ably pull off in terms of your all-important debt- to-income ratio, what price range you should be looking in, and what kind of monthly pay- ment you can afford. “My whole thing is, come in and talk to me,” Horner says. “Maybe you can, maybe you can’t.” If you can, you can jump into the market. If you can’t, you’ll know what it will take to get there. The second-home market used to be a pretty lively one in Sisters Country. Realtors report that that market is pretty quiet, though it is showing signs of life. “I think the public has become much more fiscally responsible,” Horner says. See FINANCINg on page 23 Just what you’re looking for! 290 E. Cascade Ave., Sisters Mon-Fri, 9 am-5 pm | Sat 10 am-4 pm 541-588-6614 | Fax: 541-549-6339 www.metoliuspropertysales.com SISTERS 708 S. Birch St. ! ow Village Pine Mead Beautiful building lot On The C is located adjacent to open space, water features,o ando walkingo paths.o Oneo of o Pineo Meadowo Village’so larg- esto lotso ando willo allowo ao 2-storyo homeo witho greato mountaino views.o Closeotootown.o$149,500 354 E. Wapato Loop Fully land- reek! scaped half acre in private setting in the sought-after Buck Run neighborhood! Large deck in backyard to enjoy the creek. Master on main, 2 bedrooms upstairs, 500 sq. ft. bo- nus room!o$495,000 — Custom/Acreage/Views! — 18276 Fryrear Ranch Rd., Sisters Estate home on 10 acres features greatroom architecture, and huge Cascade mountain views from all living spaces! $1,088,000 New Price! BLACK BUTTE RANCH Glaze Meadow 287 ¼ share This home ailable! 4 Shares Av 1/ is an architecturally designed gem in the ponderosas in a pri- vate setting adjacent to public land. Gourmet kitchen, 3 bedrooms (2 masters), open fl oor plan, fi replaces, decks. 2 shares avail. $195,000 Jeff Jones Linda Brooksby Ross Kennedy 541-480-7201 541-977-4488 Principal Broker Broker Glaze Meadow 243 Charming 3-bed- Lodge Condos ! 27/28/29 Clearoviewo Great Buy iews! Cascade V room, 2.5-bath home within easy distance to Glaze Meadow Golf Course. Completely furnished. Beautiful, spacious deck area for entertaining. Located on a hillside lot in the pines. $378,500 too snow-cappedo Threeo Sisterso peaks.o Twoo fioreplaces,o upgradedo kitchen,o privateo decks,o furnished.o Threeo unitso combineo foro 4o bed- roomso ando 3o bath- rooms,oorocanobeorent- edoseparately.o$419,000 Ellen Wood Suzanne Carvlin Lana Labuda Kimberly Gorayeb Chuck Harper Doug Roberts Carol Zosel 541-408-1343 541-588-0033 541-595-8707 541-408-4144 541-639-5551 503-915-9417 541-280-6199 503-616-8712 Broker, CDPE Broker, GRI, ABR Broker, RSPS E-PRO, GRI Principal Broker MBA. GRI, SFR Broker Broker Principal Broker GRI, CRB Broker, SRES