finances...

ZYG,what is the area history?

What was the industry in the past?

It looks quite pretty and house prices are very low.

We went with National City when we first bought this house,they were easy enough to deal with,we currently use Countrywide I think....maybe not,that isn't MY department.

So how you going to make a living in such a depressed area? Btw, you can
also try Quicken Loans.
pc

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"These capitalists generally act harmoniously and in concert, to fleece the people..."
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ZealYouthGuy

I just called Lendingtree at this number:

( 1-800-555-TREE ) which is ( 1-800-555-8733 )

and they said you could call them because they have many other ways to obtaine loans, lower than $100,000.00 dollars.

Hope it helps.

bumpus
.

Hey.

If the market is real depressed in your area, you might be able to assume a loan that has a lower rate.

RF

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If I could find an economically depressed area close to an airport that Hubby's airline flies into that has the kind of property I want, I'd jump at it. Being self-employed with an Internet-based business, my income doesn't depend on geographic location. I just don't know where I want to move to yet!

As for smaller loans; we purchased a condo as an investment property a few years back, from a mortgage broker. She tried finding us a loan but had difficulty because it was only $35,000. Our credit union took on the loan though.

Thanks Bumpus.

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I read the opening, but don't have time to read the whole thread right now. I wanted to make a suggestion, perhaps it's already been covered...

but I'd say Lending Tree is NOT the best place to get a loan. I'd look into establishing an account with a good local credit union and working through them. If you have good credit and an account with them, they ought to work with you a lot better than Lending Tree and give you better rates. Our mortgage is through our credit union and they are great.

We went to buy a car once with pre-approved credit... the car salesman wanted to try to beat our rate, but when we said where we'd gotten it, he didn't even try.

Just a thought.

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~ Carol

I own a straight truck that I lease to a company hauling expedited freight.

North of there, 20 miles in Jamestown, NY is an area that has business management opportunities (which is where my training lies). I will also receive some monthly support from my current church as I start the new church, once we get up and running I will no longer accept support from the old church.

Historically, the area is very blue collar and grew during the Oil and gas boom. Just south of there by about 30 miles is Titusville, home of the first modern oil drilling rig.

The area is riddled with ancient, rusting oil wells... literally in the surrounding "mountains" (hills, but folks call 'em mountainst) and forest.

Now... Warren is the county seat and REGIONALLY is the largest city. Lots of regional government offices are there so it's fairly stable. There is still a large refinery right on the Allegheny river and the region (known as "The PA Wilds) has become quite the fishing/hunting paradise (The Allegheny National Forest, Kinzua (pronounced Kin Zoo) Dam/reservoir, ATV trails, camping, bear hunts, elk hunts (the only wild elk east of the MS), etc.)

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Just to clarify since many of you seem hung up on this portion.

I DON'T NEED to go through lending tree. I just thought that filling out my app at ONE place and having 4 or 5 banks competing for the loan (as they say) would be to my benefit. This thread is because I am curious as to WHY they won't let you do the loan app for less than 100K for that area of PA.

It makes me curious because then I wonder things like: are there a lot of people defaulting on the loans? Are the house VALUES, less than the asking prices (substantially) and a whole long list of other things.

I WAS hoping that someone might have some insight to the WHY's of it. I'll get a loan. I just want to know what I am getting into, if I have any bargaining chips with the sellers of the houses I've looked at, etc.

LOL, thanks for everyones help though, seriously, you all are a great bunch of folks (most of you... )

I have seen issues with buying land where the land is the greater value of the property valuation. I've experienced it and understand it... I've just not seen this situation.

Oh, one thing I have noticed about 80% of the houses I've looked at need new roofs... well, they actually needed new roofs probably 10 years ago...

The two houses I am most interested in have newer roofs.

Many of the houses don't have showers, only bath tubs.

Almost all the houses were built between 1900 and 1920.

Every house in the area is predominantly gas (gas is king in this part of PA) Gas water heater, gas (all types, forced air, baseboard, space heater) heaters. Most basements are horrible. Most places don't have updated wiring or plumbing.

Just a few observations.

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I thought about that, but if they are upside down on the loan I sure don't want to. Both of the primary houses I am looking at are empty and have been for at least 6 months.

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I don't know if you have kids Zeal; check www.greatschools.net for that area... If they are home schooled is a different story. If not, you can find those prices all over Western PA with better school systems. Some of them with stellar performances... just a thought!

Zeal, I think it comes down to dividing up the pie. In my Real Estate Firm we do the same thing. A property requires this much work, this much in expenses, this much risk and this much driving at $3.00 a gallon.....At some point, there is a figure in X dollars where I just don't want to bother. I have a farm develpment package where we prepare and maket the farm to builders, we just can't do it efficently on less than $400,000. It's not weeding or any evil goal it's just not cost effective.

Thanks.

We are moving there to start a church. So I am limited in geography somewhat.

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Home values are based on comparable sales. An appraiser (such as your lender will use) will review sales in the area for similar homes, make adjustments for condition and features, and figure the value that way.

If selling prices are public record in this state (they're not in UT but are in CA), YOU can do the same thing: see what houses have actually been selling for. Just go down to the courthouse. Ours has all their records on computer, available to the public. You can also compare selling prices with the tax assessor's appraisal.

If selling prices are not public record, make friends with a realtor-- here in UT, even though prices are not public, the local Multiple Listing Service (MLS) keeps that information for realtors to use.

Also you can check the websites of the local banks and see whether they have lots of foreclosure properties for sale. It wouldn't be definitive, but would give you a clue.

Hope that helps some.

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"A fool who knows his foolishness is wise at least to that extent."

I think, as 2 others have mentioned, the issue is the fixed costs of setting up the loan.
LendingTree doesn't have the best name around here.....

It will cost them say $500 (no idea, number made up) to do any house loan. Big or small, all the same paperwork & so forth. It's a fixed cost.

They will take your loan, process it & set it up, then sell it to someone else.

Perhaps at this time loans over $100,000 are easier to resell.

Some states might have more legal hoops to prepare loans/ legal documents for the sale, or more risk to the lender with one thing or another. This would raise the fixed costs in those states.

In their cutthroat business, the fixed costs of preping the loan in one region compared to another region could change the cut-off value of a loan where the return is too small for the effort.

--->Paul