Archive for December, 2007

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19

Northwest Crab Lasagna – A Very Rich Holiday Meal

Posted by Mark Clawson No Comments »

I thought I would share this recipe with you. Remember, I come from Seattle and fresh seafood is alot easier to come by. This is not for calorie counters. It will knock your soxs off, it is that good. 

 

Have a Merry Christmas!

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18

Reverse Mortgages and Your Home

Posted by Mark Clawson No Comments »

 

First of all, you have to look at where you are in your life. You may have the means to restructure your assets and avoid the use of a reverse mortgage. There are many things to consider and it is important to take your time before you jump.

That being the case, to qualify for a reverse mortgage  you need to be 62 years of age. Your home needs to be your principal residence, and it should be free and clear or have a small mortgage that can be paid off with the proceeds from the reverse mortgage.  You have to make sure that your property meets the standards set by HUD and you will need to need to discuss the program with a HUD approved counselor.

I think the counselling program makes a lot of sense, you need to know what you are doing and feel comfortable.  

I have been referencing the HUD program because I think it makes more sense than a privately insured reverse mortgage.  The HECM Reverse Mortgage loans (HUD program loans) generally provide the largest loan advances of any reverse mortgage. They also give you the most choices in how the loan is paid to you and you can use the money for any purpose. They can be costly, but HECMs are generally less expensive than privately-insured reverse mortgages. Other reverse mortgage may have smaller fees, but they generally have higher interest rates which means less money to you.

Many retirees are cash poor and home rich. The idea behind a reverse mortgage is unlocking the value in your home. Your payments of principal have created an equity pool that you can access.

A reverse mortgage is not an inexpensive loan. That is why it is important to review all of your other options. If those other  options are not available then it can make sense.  The loan fees are based on the maximum credit limit for the HUD lending area for the government Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM). This means that you may be paying fees on a loan amount that is higher than your actual  loan. It is important to have a trusted advisor who you can count on to give you a fair loan fee. 

 The loan also has an up-front mortgage insurance fee of 2% of the maximum lending limit. This mortgage insurance insures you that you will continue to receive payments even if your mortgage lender were to go out of business.  You then have your normal costs of the  appraisal, escrow, title fees, etc., and you get the idea. 

While the costs seem high, the insurance on these loans are more for borrower protection than any other loan the government insures. This insurance protects the borrowers in two ways. First,  if a lender ever goes out of business or fails to pay a borrower in a timely manner for any reason, HUD steps in and makes certain that the borrower receives a steady stream of payments. As you read about lenders going out of business, with a HUD insured loan, you never have to worry about whether or not your payments will be made to you. Also, HUD will insure that the borrower will never owe more than the property is worth regardless of how much money the borrower receives over the years, how much interest accrues,  or what property values do in the future. Everyone hopes that values will continue to go up, but if the values should fall, the senior borrower and their heirs will never owe more than the property is worth.

There is an article entitled Top 10 Things You Should Know If Your Interested in a Reverse Mortgage on my menu bar or you can just  click here. This should answer most of your questions. Though I do realize that everybody is an individual and their circumstances will be different.

What is mportant to know is that I am willing to work with you in any way that I can. I pride myself in being a trusted advisor and if this program doesn’t make sense for you I will let you know. This is all about helping people and finding some peace in life.   

Mark Clawson – 702-351-7912 – markvclawson@gmail.com

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12

Christmas Carolers at the District – Green Valley Ranch

Posted by Mark Clawson No Comments »

You can enjoy the Holiday Season along Main Street at the District at Green Valley Ranch. The District Carolers are a renowned cappella quartet. They will be performing their unique blend of holiday music for your holiday enjoyment. This Friday, December 14th,  the Carolers will be performing between 6:00 pm – 10:00 pm. The District will provide a great holiday wonderland, with holiday shopping and lovely music every Friday and Saturday through December 22nd.Now if we could just bring the snow down from Mt Charleston.

Location: The District at Green Valley Ranch
Address: 2240 Village Walk Drive
Phone: 702-564-8595

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05

The Nevada Ballet and The Nutcracker

Posted by Mark Clawson No Comments »

You might consider purchasing your Nutcracker tickets soon. A great way to celebrate the holidays, perhaps starting a special family tradition. This production of the Tchaikovsky masterpiece is at the top of the list for enchanting seasonal entertainment.

The Nutcracker – December 14 – 27, 2007

Friday, December 14 at 8 pm

Saturday, December 15 2 pm & 8 pm

Sunday, December 16 at 1 pm & 4:30 pm

Tuesday, December 18 at 8 pm

Wednesday, December 19 at 8 pm

Thursday, December 20 at 8 pmFriday, December 21 at 2 pm & 8 pm

Saturday, December 22 at 2 pm & 8 pm

Sunday, December 23 at 1 pm & 4:30 pm

Monday, December 24 at 1 pm

Wednesday, December 26 at 8 pm

Thursday, December 27 at 8 pm

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04

Mortgage Rate Alert

Posted by Mark Clawson No Comments »

This is a very important post for anyone looking to buy a home or refinance a mortgage. As you can see the 10 Year Treasury Note yield is in a free fall.  When the 10 Year Note yield drops this is good for mortgage rates. My guess, based on technical data, is that rates won’t go much lower. My target on the 10 Year Note yield  had been 3.9% and we are there. It is a possibliity that we could see the Treasury Note Yield test the 3.7% range.

What is curious is that the 30-year fixed rate mortgage has dropped about a half a percent in the last couple of days without a corresponding drop in the 10 year Treasury Note yield. I’ve been asking myself why?

Mortgage rates have not been dropping, until recently, even though rates on the 10 Year Treasury Note yield have been falling considerably. My guess is that investors are coming back into the prime mortgage market and feeling more secure now that the Government is talking about helping those borrowers in the sub prime market that are dragging the economy lower.

Less risk in the prime mortgage market means lower rates.

All I know is that last week the 30 Year Fixed rate mortgage was being quoted at 6.125% with an APR of 6.396% now we are seeing 5.5% with an APR of 5.671% and this is a dramatic change.

The stock market is still in turmoil and with the possibility of a recession it would not surprise me if the Dow Jones tests the recent low of 12,750. Should we break that number it could get very ugly. Be cautious,  protect your assets.

On the Oil Market I would suggest that this recent weakness may continue, a break below $89 would suggest that oil could drop to $80. Better than $100!

I love to hear comments and hope that you will pass them my way.

Hoping that you are having a great time getting ready for the Holdiay Season.  

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04

This Picture Reminds Me of Summer

Posted by Mark Clawson No Comments »

Kind of makes you feel warmer just looking at it. I guess we won’t see the 70’s for awhile. This picture was taken at Loew’s Lake Las Vegas Resort.

This is December 1st, nice snow up at Mt. Charleston a foot of new snow.

 

For those of you who don’t know, Mt. Charleston is about 45 minutes from Las Vegas.