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Mark Gracy The Gracy Team Keller Williams Realty  (978) 861-4016

Those Who Wait Will Pay Thousands More This Spring

Waiting a few extra days or weeks to purchase a home this spring could cost buyers thousands of extra dollars as the office of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) implements several changes for loans guaranteed by the Federal Housing Authority (FHA).

Coming just weeks before the April 30 deadline for the Home Buyer Tax Credit and just days after the March 31 expiration of the Federal Reserve Board's mortgage backed securities purchase program (which has kept home loan rates artificially low for over a year), these FHA changes make it even more important to act now to save big.

Here are a few reasons why:

On April 5th, the cost of required up-front mortgage insurance for loans guaranteed by the FHA will increase from 1.75% to 2.25%. For a borrower purchasing a $200,000 home with a $7,000 down payment, the up-front mortgage insurance will increase by $965. Up-front mortgage insurance is typically financed in the final loan amount so the impact to a monthly payment will be minimal but overall, the increase is still borne by the borrower both upfront and monthly.

Later this spring, the amount of money that a seller can return to the buyer from their sale proceeds will be reduced from 6% to 3%. The reduction in these "seller concessions" can increase the amount of cash a buyer will be required to pay at closing by $6,000 for a home purchase of $200,000.

There is only one way to avoid being affected by all of these costly changes that lie ahead – submit all FHA mortgage applications by the last week of March.

Andover, MA real estate - Search all homes for sale in MA and NH from your personal cell phone. Get this APP for your iphone or other smart phone today and find your perfect home!






Jan 2010 (MA and NH real estate)—One of the top real estate agents in the Merrimack Valley announced today that cell phones can be turned into the ultimate house-hunting tool. Mark Gracy with The Gracy Team at Keller Williams Realty is providing consumers with a mobile application called Homes for Sale that makes it possible to search all local property listings from their phone, regardless of whether it is listed by Mark Gracy or another broker/agent. Homes for Sale can be downloaded to cell phones, iPhones and BlackBerry devices by visiting www.GracyTeam.com.

With Homes for Sale, consumers can be in any neighborhood and view detailed home information at the touch of a button. The GPS technology in the mobile phone, where available, locates users and pulls up addresses and information on property listings in their immediate area. Sales price, square footage, tax information, beds/baths, interior and exterior features and pictures become available instantly in the palm of their hand.

Consumers can also search by city, zip code, address, or community name when GPS is not available, or if they want to search for real estate in a particular area other than their current location.

The “Call to See” feature within the Homes for Sale application will connect users to Mark Gracy if they have further questions or want to schedule a tour of the property.

“We are dedicated to providing our clients top notch service and unparalleled results.  We do that in part by providing our clients access to up to the minute real estate information by utilizing state of the art technology.”, Gracy said.

When downloading the application from Mark Gracy’s website, www.GracyTeam.com , consumers will find a Homes for Sale Mobile tool which provides instructions on how to send the application to their personal cell phone. Users simply select their cell phone carrier, the make/model of their device and enter their cell phone number into the downloader tool. Instantly, the application is sent via text message and downloaded to their cell phone just like a game or ringtone.

Homes for Sale is available across every carrier and mobile device via a fully downloadable application or mobile web (WAP) version. The fully downloadable version is live on hundreds of cell phone models on AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile. If your carrier or cell phone model is not listed on the downloader tool, simply select ‘Other’ and download the mobile web (WAP) version. Smarter Agent is also available on BlackBerry devices as well as the iPhone. The fully downloadable version for Windows Mobile devices, as well as other devices and major carriers, will be added over the coming months.

Homes for Sale is free to download on BlackBerry devices across all carriers and the iPhone, in addition to the free WAP version. For other devices, a nominal monthly carrier charge may apply, dependent on device and carrier, billed directly to your carrier statement.