Why Mortgage Insurance is not such a bad idea?

1. What is Mortgage Insurance (MI)?
Normaly, if you do not have at least 20% down of your funds in the house (in other words, you are financing more than 80% of the house value), the lender charges you Mortgage Insurance monthly. For loan amount $315,000, MI might be between $130-145/month
2. Reasons why MI is not a bad idea?
a. Only recently, MI became tax deductible (with conditions until 2010)
b. You can also cancel without refinancing when you have 20% down. In other words, all you would need to do is to call your lender and ask him to cancel MI if you either reached 20% of house value by paying it or by reevaluating the house value.
c. You can have eliminate MI from the begining if you have 2 mortgages. They call them 80/20 meaning one mortgage cover 80% house value, but not to pay MI, person took 2nd mortgage of 20% house value. However, if you have only one mortgage with MI, you may have easier access to equity because you only have one mortgage, but not 100% financing as 80/20 might be.
d. 2nd mortgage of house value almost always has variable rates; therefore, variable payments. With only one mortgage with MI, you will have predictable payments and no variable rate.
3. Is there 100% financing with no MI?
Yes, No MI loans are available up to 100% on conforming and 90% on Jumbo.

When you shop for loan make sure you understand all fees. Interest rate is not the only important number. For instance, you may have the lowest rate available out there, but your monthly payments would be higher than your friend' with highest interest out there. why?

I will try to explain to you tomorrow....

Marina
801-649-5883

Best Cities For Jobs amd its effect on Real Estate Market

Best Cities For Jobs
By Matthew Kirdahy, Forbes.com
October 12, 2007
A mining community has struck gold -- with tech jobs.
Topping the latest ranking of out Best Cities for Jobs list is Salt Lake City. The Crossroads to the West, an economy that has been predominantly driven by the mining and steel industries, has developed into a service-based city and has become a tech sector hub for digerati migrating from Silicon Valley.
The city also had almost the lowest rate of unemployment in 2006, a tick behind Honolulu, and ranked 19th overall.
To compile the rankings for the Best Cities for Jobs list, we used five data points, weighted equally: unemployment rate, job growth, income growth, median household income and cost of living for full-year 2006 (only partial data is so far available for 2007). We measured the largest 100 metropolitan areas, as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, and obtained the data from Moody's Economy.com.
It's important to note that this list doesn't weight for specifics like job composition or job stability, two significant characteristics that will appeal to any job seeker.
Mark Zandi, chief economist and co-founder of Moody.s Economy.com, said this ranking shows job market strength but acknowledged these limitations. "There's nothing directly about quality or stability of a job market [in the ranking]," Zandi said.
"Some years are more volatile. Boom years are followed by years that don't quite measure up. For most people, a market that is more stable is most desirable, and this analysis doesn't account for that," he said.
Raleigh, N.C., led the pack before the full 2006 data were available. (Forbes.com published a Best Cities For Jobs list in February.)
"They're both strong economies and very solid job markets," Zandi said of Salt Lake City, vs. Raleigh. "It's Yankees-Red Sox. What's the difference? There is no real fundamental reason why Salt Lake is now No. 1."
New to the top 10 are Tulsa, Okla.; Albuquerque, N.M.; Wichita, Kan.; and Oklahoma City for income growth. Las Vegas just missed the top 10 by a spot but showed the second-best job growth. In 2005, it was ranked No. 48.
San Jose, Calif., posted the most significant jump, from No. 91 in 2005 to No. 14 in 2006. The third-largest city in the Golden State has the highest median household income, at $87,869. According to the data, that figure is projected to increase to $92,048 by the end of 2007 and $94,209 in 2008. However, it's also the priciest city on the list in which to live.
Normally, one might expect the great metropolises of the U.S. to rank higher than they do. New York City, arguably the world's financial capital, is listed at No. 63, a substantial change from its 99 ranking in 2005. Job growth overall is expected to increase along with job growth in the Big Apple.
San Francisco is at No. 31, up from 86, while Washington, D.C., fell to 32 from No. 5 in 2005.
Raleigh, however, remained among the five best in the job growth category. Phoenix reigned at No. 1, largely because of housing development. Given the recent housing bust, it will most certainly be dethroned in that category. The same goes for Florida -- Orlando, Sarasota, Tampa and Fort Lauderdale won't be so prominent for 2007 considering the impact of the downtrodden housing market. The next list will be "almost upside down," Zandi said.
In Pictures: Best Cities For Jobs