First-time Home Buyers - 100% Home Loans

There is an increasing trend in South Africa that is seeing youths entering property market at a much earlier age. These youths are mostly first-time home buyers, applying for their first home loan, who have been renting for a short while and feel the need to invest in a property of their own.

It is partly due to this increasing trend in South Africa's property market that is also causing a higher percentage of 100% home loan applications. These prospective home owners often earns salaries large enough to qualify for home loans but they don't seem to be able to save enough of that salary to put down any type of deposit.

And understandably banks are becoming more and more reluctant to issue these 100% home loans. Foreclosures have cost banks millions of rands and it is not a surprise that some economists are calling to the maximum Loan-to-value ratio to be dropped to 80% instead.

This should see a rapid decrease in foreclosures which most often occur from 100% home loans.

Before deciding to buy it is advisable to try and save up a small deposit, between R10 000 and R20 000. Displaying the ability to save up a small deposit at least should add weight to your home loan application.

This will also reduce the size of your SA home loan. Remember the hard work and discipline you demonstrate by saving a deposit will assist you when you're paying off your home loan.

To save money on your SA Home Loan repayments, you should pay at least an extra R100 every month and try to pay it before the due date. This dramatically cuts down the interest you'll pay on your home loan in turn saving your lots of cash!

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More than 40 states signed onto a proposed $25-billion deal with major mortgage servicers over faulty foreclosure practices. New York, Nevada and Delaware joined California in holding out for better terms.

More than 40 states signed onto a proposed $25-billion settlement with major mortgage servicers over faulty foreclosure procedures, but California, New York and other key states were still not among them.

California has until Monday to share in a multi-state deal with banks to obtain mortgage relief and reforms. Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris, who walked away from talks last year, says the door remains open.

With a Monday deadline at hand, California officials have resumed direct talks with the Obama administration about joining a multibillion-dollar, multi-state mortgage settlement with the nation's largest banks, a source said Sunday.

The talk show host pays $12 million for the 4,088-square-foot house with four bedrooms and four bathrooms. The ocean-view home sits on 1.26 bluff-top acres with beach access.

In one of the more talked-about transactions in town, actors Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have sold their Malibu beach house to daytime host and comedian Ellen De Generes for $12 million.

The four-bedroom, five-bathroom house built in 1920 for industrialist James Wigmore lists for $2,875,000.

A decorative cast stone entrance opens to this restored Spanish Colonial Revival-style house in Pasadena's South Orange Grove area. Built in 1920 for industrialist James Wigmore, the house retains such original details as coffered wood ceilings and arched doorways.

They don't believe they can sell their property for what it's worth, so they're spending money on making their homes more comfortable.

Do you fit any of these descriptions?

A biennial research report by the National Assn. of Realtors indicates that a handful of real estate agents and brokers and their clients either don't know the law or don't care to follow it.

When it comes to lawsuits, real estate agents and brokers tangle mostly among themselves.

The president aims to help about 3.5 million people with good credit who are unable to refinance at historically low rates because their homes are worth less than their mortgages.

 

The White House hopes to help millions of homeowners lower their monthly mortgage bill with a $5 billion to $10 billion plan to set up a streamlined refinancing program for people who are current on their payments.

The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller index of 20 large U.S. cities fell 1.3% in November from October as foreclosures continue to drag down the housing market.

Three straight months of home-price declines in the biggest U.S. cities showed that foreclosures remain a significant drag on a housing market that is entering its fifth year of deterioration.

L.A. Clipper Chris Paul may be quick down the court, but he moves pretty fast when it comes to buying multimillion-dollar real estate too.