Brentwood Press - Index

Brentwood Press - OakleyPress_07.18.08 - Index

JULY 18, 2008 COMMUNITY THEPRESS.NET | 7A
It’s a dog’s life
My name is Molly and I was
adopted by my new parents through
Homeless Animals Response Program
(HARP) when I was 6 months old.
A few weeks later, a wonderful
lady, Randae Bither, who owns
Doggie Depot in Brentwood, helped
them put on a Dog Wash fundraiser.
She and her staff, who all volunteered
their time, made this one of the most
successful fundraisers HARP has
ever held. She invited her own clients
to come in and have their doggies
washed, in addition to all the other
wonderful people who brought their
doggies, in order to help raise funds
for all the homeless dogs and cats in
HARP’s program.
Since I was only 6½ months old,
I was very dirty from playing with my
new brother and sister. So Mommy
took me to the Dog Wash and
Randae and her staff made me look
beautiful!
Everyone at HARP wants to
thank Randae and her staff for such a
wonderful day. They worked real, real
hard to make it the success it was.
We are very lucky to have such
faithful supporters and we are very,
very, grateful. Many of the people
who brought their dogs said they
read about the Dog Wash in the
Brentwood Press. Where would I be
Photo courtesy of Eileen Hollander
Freshly coiffed poodle Molly
Hollander after visiting the Doggie
Depot Dog Wash Day benefi t for
the Homeless Animals Response
Program (HARP).
without all of you?
I can’t wait to go back and have
them make me beautiful again!
Thank you,
Molly Hollander
– Contributed by Eileen Hollander
THEY’RE ON TO YOU… (Part 2)
Last week I wrote about the “buy and
bail” strategy. This is where someone who is
upside-down on their home and facing a large
payment adjustment in the future, but are
current on the payments, will rent it out, buy
another home, and then let the rented home
go to foreclosure. This has become an all-too
common occurrence for lending institutions,
so they are trying to put a stop to it by closing
this loophole. [Note: Not all lenders are implementing
these new rules. But I’m guessing
most will be in the very near future.]
In the past, when calculating your debtto-income
ratio, a lender would count 75% of
your rental income to offset the mortgage on
the rental property. That hasn’t changed. But
what HAS changed is that you will need to
have at least 30% equity in the rental property,
or else they won’t count your rental income AT
ALL to offset the payment. This means that
you must be able to afford both payments on
your current income, regardless of whether or
not you collect any rent. In addition to that, if
you don’t have 30% equity, then you will need
to have six month’s worth of principal, interest,
taxes and insurance for EACH property
as “reserves.” In plain English this means that
if your old house payment is $3,000, and your
new house payment is $2,000, you will have to
have $30,000 cash sitting in a bank account.
So with these new rules, they are making
it nearly impossible for someone who is
upside-down on their home to buy another
home until they resolve the situation with the
upside-down home. [If you had 30% equity,
could afford both payments AND had $30K
in the bank, you probably wouldn’t be doing
this. Which is the whole point to these new
rules…] So what to do? First, try to modify
your loan with your existing lender. If that
fails, then you can try a short sale of the property.
If you have questions on this or any other
real estate topic, call me at (925) 240-MOVE
(6683). To search the MLS for free and view
virtual tours of homes for sale, go to: www.
SharpHomesOnline.com. Sharp Realty
– Advertisement