According to The Washington Post ( July 1, 2008), Fairfax County approved a landmark housing program June 30, 2008 yesterday to buy foreclosed properties for middle-income families, becoming one of the first communities in the country to tackle the nation’s growing mortgage crisis while also addressing the region’s increasing demand for affordable housing.

County leaders said the program, through which Fairfax will purchase some properties outright and help families buy others through subsidized loans, takes advantage of a unique moment when thousands of homes are entering foreclosure and available for purchase at below-market prices. The program will expand the county’s stock of affordable housing and help stabilize areas where clusters of abandoned, unkempt properties in foreclosure threaten the value and vitality of surrounding neighborhoods, county officials said. 

Loudoun County is also considering a program that would allow county employees, including firefighters, teachers and deputies, to get a low-interest loan with which to purchase foreclosed homes in the easternmost portion of the county.

The Loudoun County School Board recently adopted a new regulation banning school employees, students and parents from smoking on all school property for any school event. The ban includes non-academic facilities like the school board administration building.

The measure was introduced by Vice Chairman John Stevens (Potomac) who said encouraging adults not to smoke was an important part of educating youth on the dangers of smoking.  It is contended to be in line with the school system’s mission statement of improving the wellness of its employees.

If you get a foreclosure notice on your home, be sure to explore all of your options to avoid the foreclosure. The very first thing you should do is consult with an attorney and also pursue these options:

Negotiate a new payment plan with more affordable loan payments.

Negotiate a smaller mortgage payoff (known as a "short sale") with your lender. With the surplus of foreclosures, many banks may be willing to "forgive" the borrower’s debt with a smaller loan payoff amount and the sale of the property. 

Have the bank show instruments proving that they actually own the loan. Because banks have so many loans, loan papers can become lost and the bank may be unable to show proof of actual ownership of the loan. Use this opportunity to negotiate a new loan with an affordable payment plan.

 RISMEDIA, June 17, 2008-In an effort to stabilize declining home values in certain neighborhoods, the Bush Administration announced a temporary policy that will extend government-backed mortgage insurance and allow for the immediate sale of vacant foreclosed properties.

 For one year, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) will insure foreclosed properties marketed and sold by property disposition firms on behalf of lenders. The properties, which must purchased by owner-occupants, will no longer be subject to the customary 90-day waiting period.

For more information, visit fha.com.

The typical buyer’s offer to purchase a property requires an appraisal value equal or greater than the offering price. The appraisal is ordered by the buyer’s lender, who’s objective should be to protect the investors from buying a loan that is above its market value and the buyer from purchasing a home for more than what it is worth.

Instead of describing local property values in an appraisal as “declining.”, some lenders have pressured appraisers them to change indicate ’stable’ conditions when all the relevant data suggested otherwise. Contrary to the purpose of the appraisal,the seller and loan officer benefit from excesses in property values; the invester and the home buyer lose. Inflated property valuations have contributed to current mortgage-market losses and is a significant contributing factor in many mortgage fraud cases and foreclosures.

But a lower property appraisal can be detrimental to the seller. The deal may fall through, unless the seller is willing to lower the price to the appraised value or the buyer is willing to pay the difference between the property value and the purchase price. If the property valuation is in question, the seller should order its own appraisal and present the results to the buyer’s lender for reconsideration of the property value.

It is important, that for this very reason, the real estate appraiser be reputable, experienced and familiar with the local real estate market and can perform an appraisal which accurately reflects the market value the property.

The Virginia General Assembly has approved that, beginning July 1, 2008, vehicles displaying clean fuel license plates with a white background, registered before July 1, 2006 may travel on any open HOV lane at any time between July 1, 2008 and June 30, 2009. There is no limit on the number of passengers in these vehicles.

Vehicles displaying clean fuel plates with a blue background (registered on or after July 1, 2006) are not permitted to drive on the I_95/395 HOV lanes in Northern Virginia without the required number of passengers. These vehicles are allowed to utilize all other HOV lanes in Virginia during HOV hours, regardless of the number of passengers, including I_66 and the Dulles Toll Road.

Loudoun County Public Schools are feeling the pinch from escalating fuel costs. The county has 740 school busses which run on diesel fuel. The escalating price of fuel exceeds what was budgeted for the current fiscal year and for the next, which begins in less than two months. The school system already has supplemented its current fiscal year fuel budget with $780,000 from other utility accounts.

If prices continue to increase, the schools would need to look at finding additional funding or cutting back certain services. This could mean making sure all buses are filled to capacity, transporting two athletic teams on the same bus or limiting field trips to locations closer to home.

The government of Loudoun County also is keeping an eye on fuel costs. The county doesn’t pay all of the taxes that people do on gasoline purchases, so there remains some breathing room before what the county pays on gasoline purchases matches or surpasses what was budgeted for next year.

Source: Leesburg Today

The Federal Transit Administration has approved the final design phase of the long-sought extension of Metro to Dulles International Airport, but the FTA won’t commit any federal funds for actual construction until the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority ensures it has sufficient funds to cover risks and prove the project will be completed on time and within budget. 

The schedule shows a 2012 completion date for phase 1, which would extend the new "Silver Line" from the East Falls Church Metro station on the Orange line in Arlington County to Wiehle Avenue in Reston. The second phase is expected to be done in 2015 and would extend beyond the airport into Loudoun County.

One Loudoun, a proposed upscale mixed-use village and future home to the World Trade Center Dulles Airport, will begin ground breaking in the fall of 2008, according to One Loudoun’s website.

The Trade Center will be located at the southwest corner of Route 7 and Loudoun County Parkway on 360 acres and is expected to provide the County with significant tax revenues.

One Loudoun will offer offices, upscale retail, luxury hotel, movie theater, and homes built around a central park setting. One Loudoun Place is projected to generate up to 14,000 new jobs and promote both international trade & domestic investment from around the world.

The project will include construction of an interchange at the intersection of Route 7 and Ashburn Village Boulevard, giving much needed traffic relief on Route 7. It will also donate a new elementary school site and construct new ball fields for public use on an adjacent county-owned site.

Freddie Mac counts foreclosures as a major credit black mark for seven years and is now aggressively pursuing walk-away borrowers, where permitted by law. Sending the keys back to the lender comes with rigid consequences which should be fully understand before a foreclosure.

The borrower will be unable to get another mortgage through Fannie Mae for five years, unless there are “documented extenuating circumstances.” In that case, the prohibition is three years. Even after the prescribed time has elapsed, a borrower with a foreclosure in his/her file will have to make at least a 10% down payment and have a FICO credit score of at least 680 to qualify for a Fannie Mae loan.

The short sale is by far the better option to a foreclosure, provided there is evidence of hardship. A short sale occurs when home owners negotiate loan modifications with lenders and have portions of their principal debt forgiven. A Federal legislation was enacted last year to eliminate tax liability for the amount forgiven in a short sale. 

By contrast, the debt from a foreclosure is not forgiven, and according to the Internal Revenue Service, the borrower may have to pay taxes on the unpaid balance.