Interest rates are staying low but inching...no millimetering upward. 30 year conventional is 3.375%.
I learned from my kids that you can't refinance unless you have paid down 5% of your original note; doesn't matter if you had a good equity. Their house is about $145,000 value, and they paid $100,000 in foreclosure sale for it in July. We figure they've paid it down to about $97,000 as they just got a 15 year note. So they have to pay down $2,000 more in principal before they can refinance at a lower interest rate and get a home equity loan for fixing a few things they want to do. Not bad for 23 year old kids, huh!! So proud of them.
I listed a huge 4400+ home this week. Originally 6 bedrooms, now 5, as they took down a wall and opened up a large living/dining area. It has 2 living areas downstairs and a huge sunporch which would be great for a pool table or hot tub. It has 3 bedrooms downstairs and 2 baths, and upstairs another full house of 2 br, office, landing that is huge enough for another office, large open la/dining and another kitchen. Perfect home for 2 families, and that's what lived here. Two families, and one was a quadriplegic so downstairs are the mechanism for lifting a disabled person and a shower that's about 5 x 5 to accomodate a wheelchair. This house has a large covered patio, wheelchair accessible, and two extra lots; one on each side of the house. Build a shop and a pool, or another house on the north, as that lot is about 88 x 115. All for $174,000, as we need to sell it fast before it is foreclosed due to medical bills. Aren't banks totally without heart!! These people tried to make payments and they wouldn't take partial payments and said they wouldn't talk about refinancing until they were 3 months in arrears, so they paid medical bills with their money for 3 months and then tried to refinance and the bank said no, because now they had no closing cost money. This is THE national bank we all hear about not having a heart, and I'm afraid it is so, even though my mortgage is with them and I bank there. I may change all the banking part to a local bank after this.
I want to share a devotion and comments I posted today on facebook and on my momsdementia.com blog where I cover things about my mom's Vascular Dementia. This is about God and his love for us. So if you are not interested in hearing about how God wants to hear from you, then stop reading right NOW.
"Sue Lawrence gave me a devotion book that I am really enjoying. Today's was about Psalm 145:18. "The Lord is nigh unto all them who call upon him." The writer said he had just finished reading a book explaining prayer, and how the Lord is always waiting to hear from us, longing to hear from us, ready to listen to us. He was cynical and thought, "Oh, yay, the creator of the universe wants to hear from a nobody like me. That day was a particularly busy day for him at work, lots of deadlines and projects. The phone interrupted his schedule and he picked up the phone and answered in a tone that said, "Get on with it and let me get back to work." Then he heard his son's voice . Attitude changed. His son was on his way to work in his car and was telling his dad about his newest project, about his friends, etc. They visited for over 10 minutes and when the phone call ended, the dad realized that he had been longing to hear from his son, just as God longs for us, his children, to call him and visit, and spend time talking. He knew then what the verse meant, and he understood more about prayer.
I've had the busiest 5 days in real estate this past week I've ever had. One day I didn't even eat until 6 p.m. That day my son DJ and his wife offered to go with me to eat as Jerry was already at church, and I so enjoyed the 'down time' to just listen to them and tell them about my life. It was special. Yesterday I decided I was NOT going to miss my pickleball so I quit at 4 and went to play for 2 hours. Just before we started a new game, the phone rang for the second time, I jerked it to my ear and said "This is Judy, what can I do for you." in a tone that was not very welcoming. My son, Jeff, answered, "Well, for one thing, don't yell at me." Oops. Then he invited Jerry and me to go bowling, which later was cancelled and changed to supper at Mr Gattis. Jerry knows I don't ever put my kids off if they want to spend time with me. So we went, and had the added surprise of having Cierra, Brandon, Charli, and Derek all together for a meal and visit. I so enjoyed listening to Jeff's exercise stories, DJ's comments about bump, set, spike being the way to play volleyball, but sometimes you see an opening and it's right to just hit it on over; to watch Cierra care for and love on that baby girl, Charli, and to see Brandon being his usual -in his words - not cute but handsome self. To hear Jerry share the story of his near fall at PD Canyon, and just share in everyone's lives. So this devotion today was right on for me. God too wants those kind of phone calls, those special sharing times with his children. Have you given him a call today? He's waiting . . and hoping . . ready to listen as long as you want."
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