The Weekender

Although Laguna Woods Village is one of the most affordable senior communities in Southern California, there are still financial requirements for purchasing a home here. For a Stock Cooperative, or Co-op, you need $125,000 in liquid, marketable, or income producing assets above the purchase price and $36,000 per year in income…  Now, family can co-sign with the resident (i.e. - your sister and you and help out your dad) in order to reach the financial requirements.  “Assets” can include equity in a property (do you or your sister own a home?), 401 k, IRA, stocks and bonds, income producing property, etc.
 
It is very common for a daughter or son to “go on title” 1% so their finances can help their parents move into Laguna Woods Village…  Also, another bit of information or “work around” that we have is any resident that gets a loan for more than 50% of the purchase price (i.e. - put down 20% cash and get a loan for 80% of the purchase price as an example) the financial requirements “may be waived” upon the judgment of the board.  We have found that the financial requirements will be waived for one or the other of the requirements if the resident gets a loan for more than 50% of the purchase price.  In other words, if you meet the income requirements but not the asset requirements - you are in - typically.

I don’t know if these financial requirements help in making the City of Laguna Woods one of the “Top 10 Safest Cities in the Nation”, which it is, but it sure can’t hurt!

Please see my web site if you have any further questions or would like more information about the active senior community of Laguna Woods Village, formerly Leisure World, at: www.leisureworldre.com

Hello fellow Americans.  We have been hearing a lot of talk about the government “bail out” of the mortgage market as a solution to this current financial crisis.  I’ve got a better idea, give the people who are in crappy ARM’s that they can’t afford the option of a gov’ment secured 60 year mortgage (at the prevailing interest rate)!  This will lower their mortgage to a manageable amount of money each month with the hopes that in another 7-10 years the prices of homes will go back up and then they can sell for a profit or at least what they owe on the home…  Also, make the 60 year mortgage “assumable” so another person can buy the home if the person just wants out entirely…  As an “incentive” for taking on this 60 year loan - for the new person that wants to buy the distressed property - throw them a “bone” of only having to come up with like 3% down or something - since they are taking a risk by purchasing this home and will have to stay in this house for another 7-10 years lets say, until the housing prices come back up again!

I am a real estate agent in Laguna Woods, Calif. (www.leisureworldre.com) so I know a bit about the mortgage market and how it works.
 
I am so surprised the “big wigs” in Washington have not thought of this idea.  Don’t “dismiss” the bad debt, keep it until prices rise again and then nobody looses!!  Shout it from the roof tops fellow Americans and pass this Blog entry around the Internet!

By Patrick McNamee, Realtor, Century 21 Rainbow

Commercial real estate lending is seen as a secure place to invest, even though a bank or other investment firm might be adding more money into it. Major financial institutions are very strict about which businesses receive these loans.

Commercial loans can include anything from an office building to a high-rise condominium complex. Residential loans are usually limited to several hundred thousand dollars, while commercial real estate loans can reach millions or even billions of dollars.

Small banks and financial institutions have difficulty competing on a level playing field with large capital banks in the commercial financing market, simply because of the large amounts of money needed to finance commercial products.

This situation makes the commercial market much less competitive than the residential market. Large banks increase their bottom line by being in the forefront of commercial lending, which benefits stockholders.

Unfortunately borrowers of commercial funds do not benefit from such a system. What is required is more smaller companies such as East Coast Commercial Finance - companies that offer better service and reduced fees.