Kathy Toth

1. Savings
2. Proceeds from the sale of a primary residence
3. Gift from Relatives or Friends
4. Sale from Stocks or Bonds
5. Equity from Residence (continue to own)

I was surprised to learn that 73% of first-time buyers are using money they had saved to come up with their down payment on a home. We see many of our clients as first time home buyers as a result of attending the seminars.

Per the study, 43% of repeat buyers will use money from savings to at least help partially cover the down payment of their new home. Many people get proceeds from sale of primary residence.

For more information on how you can buy a home, go to the buyer section for Special Reports and see the Home Buyer Steps. Also be sure to check when our next First Time Home Buyer Seminar is with free pre-approval. If you need to get your credit under control, let our lenders help you step by step, like fitness training for your wallet.

Nationally the median down payment by first-time buyers was 4 percent, up from 2 percent in 2007; the number purchasing with no money down fell from 45 percent in 2007 to 34 percent in the current survey. "The study covers transactions through the middle of 2008, so we can assume the down payment numbers have shifted recently because credit tightened and no-down payment loans all but disappeared around the close of the survey," Lawrence Yun, Chief NAR economist, explained.

Of first-time buyers who made a down payment, 69 percent used savings and 26 percent received a gift from a friend or relative, typically from their parents. Another 7 percent received a loan from a relative or friend, while 16 percent tapped into a 401(k) fund, stocks or bonds. Ninety-two percent chose a fixed-rate mortgage.

Remember to tell anyone looking to buy a home about our...

ANN ARBOR HOME BUYING SEMINAR
January 20th at 6:30 pm

Top 15 reasons to attend this workshop | Click here

Related Links
Everything You Want to Know About FHA | Click here
With a video question & Answer by NAR
First Time Ann Arbor Home Owners | Click here
Must know facts

Can you get the $7500 TAX CREDIT? - RSVP 734-216-2172
For More Information, please contact the Kathy Toth Team.

Click here to search all Ann Arbor area Michigan homes
and condos with pictures and tours - FREE!

Kathy Toth and Team

www.KathyToth.com

Keller Williams Realty

Ann Arbor Homes

You can browse through what has already been posted by other real estate professionals to get ideas and inspration for your video submissions at their website: National Association of Realtors Videos (http://www.realtor.org/home/realtortv)

REALTOR® TV is vying to be a premier source for inspirational, informational and educational real estate video on the Web. They are looking for input and want us, National Association of REALTOR® members to submit our very own videos. There are guidelines – no listings are accepted! File formats that can be uploaded include and suggested length should not exceed 7 minutes:

• .3GP
• .AVI
• .DV
• h.264
• .MPEG2
• .MPEG4
• Quicktime
• .WMV
• .FLV

The channels or categories that your videos may be categorized under are:

• News and Analysis
• CommunityMembership
• Business Tools
• Events
• Most Popular
• Code of Ethics
• Home and Design
• Your Videos

Our membership is working for us. Watch, share, explore! The National Association of REALTOR® number for information is 1-800-874-6500.

We have been having fun experimenting with videos and uploading mechanisms, come see what we have been up to.

What interesting tidbits are you finding out there in cyberspace? Let me know, i would love to hear!

Click here to search all Ann Arbor area Michigan
homes and condos with pictures and tours - FREE!

Kathy Toth and Team
www.KathyToth.com
Keller Williams Realty

What I want to know from readers, is what kind of content do you like?

We invite you to...

• Make a Suggestion
  
• Comment on our Blog (below)

Watch the video; it is lengthy, so prepare a quiet place. Some questions posed are:

Can you get FHA for refinancing, flipping, and first time buyers?

What is the biggest advantage? Is it low down payment? Saving a home from foreclosure? Obtaining financing with limited credit? Flexible underwriting?

You can also check www.FHA.gov for more information and updated limits for YOUR AREA and Washtenaw County and the Ann Arbor area.

How long do you have to wait after Chapter 13 bankruptcy or foreclosure to get FHA?

When can you eliminate the monthly mortgage premium? 

Does FHA require Seller to fix deficiencies? Yes, if it affects the value of the home, per video, but appraisers are no longer nit picking repairs.

Most of the market has to use FHA financing, so knowing guidelines is important in the Ann Arbor Real Estate market. 

The FHA loan limit in Washtenaw County is $345,000 now. Borrowers are now able to use FHA for flipping properties per the video; FHA is being responsive to the market conditions and the increase in national foreclosures.

Did you learn anything?

Click here to search all Ann Arbor area Michigan homes
and condos with pictures and tours - FREE!

Kathy Toth and Team

www.KathyToth.com

Keller Williams Realty

Best Places to Raise Kids - Ann Arbor Ranked High

BusinessWeek teamed up with OnBoard Informatics, provider of real estate analysis, to create a list of each state's best affordable towns for raising children. Factors in the analysis was school performance, affordability, safety, cost of living, air quality, job growth, racial diversity, parks, ball fields, zoos, recreation centers, museums, and theaters. Among the top ranked were Mount Prospect, IL Phoenix, AZ, Columbus, OH, and our very own Ann Arbor, MI, Huntsville, AL, Lexington, KY. Also mentioned was that Ann Arbor is the most kid-and cost-friendly city in Michigan. The Web site establishes it as one of the best college towns in the United States for its acres of parks, galleries, museums, restaurants, boutiques and seven gold courses. It reported our population as: 118,194 and median household income as: $87,061. Just click for more Ann Arborl community and school information on Ann Arbor, Brighton, Michigan International Speedway, Chelsea, Dexter, Grass Lake Community Tour, Manchester, Pinckney, Saline, Stockbridge, Ypsilanti. We love our area and welcome newcomers with open arms. Watch Ann Arbor and Washtenaw County videos. GO BLUE!

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I am so exhausted from the news negativity! Walk on the positive side with me and my friend Jay Kinder.

Read on and tell me what you think:

Once upon a time there was a bunch of tiny frogs....who arranged a running competition. The goal was to reach the top of a very high tower.

A big crowd had gathered around the tower to see the race and cheer on the contestants....

The race began....

Honestly, no one in the crowd really believed that the tiny frogs would reach the top of the tower. You heard statements such as:

'Oh, WAY too difficult!!'

'They will NEVER make it to the top.' or

'Not a chance that they will succeed. The tower is too high!'

The tiny frogs began collapsing. One by one.... Except for those, who in a fresh tempo, were climbing higher and higher. The crowd continued to yell, 'It is too difficult!!! No one will make
it!'

More tiny frogs got tired and gave up....

But ONE continued higher and higher and higher....

This one wouldn't give up! At the end everyone else had given up climbing the tower. Except for the
one tiny frog who, after a big effort, was the only one who reached the top!

THEN all of the other tiny frogs naturally wanted to know how this one frog managed to do it?

A contestant asked the tiny frog how he had found the strength to succeed and reach the goal?

It turned out .... that the winner was DEAF!!!!

The wisdom of this story is: Never listen to other people's tendencies to be negative or pessimistic.... because they take your most wonderful dreams and wishes away from you -- the ones you have in your heart! Always think of the power words have. Because everything you hear and read will affect your actions!

Therefore: ALWAYS be .... POSITIVE!

And above all: Be DEAF when people tell YOU that you cannot fulfill your dreams!

Always think: No matter what, I can do this!