Happy Monday – it’s almost over! Attached are current rates for purchase money mortgages. Pricing is still excellent, and our jumbo pricing is best in market.

Note that rates improve ¼% on jumbo loans for customers who autodraft their mortgage from a ST checking account, so we could be at 3.875% on a jumbo 30 fixed for such clients buying a new home. That is as good as conforming pricing, so there’s really no need for clients to avoid jumbo loans (other than the pesky 20% down payment requirement). Our DR loan pricing is same/better than regular jumbo pricing up to 100% financing for loans up to 650k. Always remember SunTrust for your DRs as we have the best financing options in the market for them.

e have started taking applications for HARP II which allows us to refinance many ST Mortgage servicing clients with Fannie/Freddie loans – regardless of how underwater they may be. So if you have clients we have done loans for and who think they can’t refinance, please have them check with us again!

Have a great week!

Laura Joines

Mortgage Banker

SunTrust Mortgage, Inc.

404.983.2848

404.962.3914 efax

laura.joines@suntrust.com

NMLSR# 658938

Apply online: www.suntrustmortgage.com/ljoines

The Office of Buildings of the City of Atlanta has increased their Permit Fees. And though the information is just making the rounds on the customer level (that would be the builders and remodelers – aka. taxpayers), the increases were adopted by the City Council last fall, effective October 18, 2011. Very interesting!? Clearly as the number of new projects requiring building permits has been reduced by the economy, so has the revenue from permit fees. The new fee structure makes a big effort to try to recoup some of that lost income with both increases in most existing fees as well as the addition of new fees.

For example, there is now a Permit Processing Improvement Fee of $25 per permit. We are all looking for those improvements, yes? The Minimum Permit Fee has increased from $100 to $150. The Change Contractor Fee has increased from $50 to $100. For new construction, the Certificate of Occupancy fee has doubled from $50 to $100. These are just a few examples that will affect many common permits.

The biggest change that will cause the most increase in the cost of permits is the base fee factor – increasing from $5 per $1000 of cost of construction to $7 per $1000. On a large project this could easily add several hundred dollars to the total.

Ultimately, every remodeler and builder who works in the City of Atlanta will have to pay the new higher permit fees, and consequently pass these along to the clients.

Welcome to 2012!!

The results of the Atlanta Public Schools (APS) meeting from Monday January the 22nd has been digested and posted. Information is available on the following website showing proposals.  The neighborhood voice appears to have been heard!

http://www.atlanta.k12.ga.us/cms/lib/GA01000924/Centricity/Domain/45/OptionSummaryWriteUp.pdf

As the economy is slowly picking up steam, so does the remodeling industry. On January 26th Bob Peterson of the National Association of Home Builders, wrote the following:

Remodeling Market Index Rises to Five-Year High in Fourth Quarter of 2011

In the fourth quarter of 2011, professional remodelers saw remodeling market conditions rise to their highest level in five years, according to NAHB’s latest Remodeling Market Index (RMI), which climbed to 46.6, up from 41.7 in the third quarter. The RMI component measuring current market conditions rose to 48.4 in the fourth quarter from 43.0 in the previous quarter. The component measuring future indicators of remodeling business also saw positive movement, increasing to 44.8 from 40.4 in the previous quarter. An RMI below 50 indicates more remodelers reporting market activity is lower than in the prior quarter than those reporting it is higher. Based on results from a survey of remodelers, the overall RMI averages ratings of current remodeling activity with indicators of future activity. “As more consumers remain in their homes rather than move in this economy, remodelers benefited from a gradual increase in home improvement activity, taking us to a five-year high,” said NAHB Remodelers Chairman Bob Peterson, CGR, CAPS, CGP, a remodeler from Ft. Collins, Colo. “2011 ended on a strong note for the remodeling industry,” Peterson added. Current market conditions improved significantly in all four regions over the third quarter of 2011. The RMI reported higher market activity in two important categories: major additions 52.3 (up from 45.2) and minor additions 50.1 (up from 45.7). Future market indicators in each region also experienced gains from the previous quarter. Two of the indices climbed above the level of 50: calls for bids at 50.7 (up from 45.4) and appointments for proposals at 50.1 (up from 43.3).