NYC Real Estate News by Fernando Branco, Real Estate Broker, GRI, ABR, CNE - Fernando Branco Realty

  Question: I am a licensed real estate salesperson and I represent an owner who is considering leasing her condominium to a foreign government official who has diplomatic immunity. What is diplomatic immunity? May a foreign government official waive their diplomatic immunity so that the owner retains her ability to sue them in the United States? Answer: Diplomatic immunity is a status granted to certain foreign government officials that removes them from the jurisdiction of United States courts. Therefore, a foreign government official with the status of diplomatic immunity (a "Diplomat") cannot be sued in the United States.   The status of diplomatic immunity belongs to the Diplomat’s country and not to the individual Diplomat. Accordingly, individual Diplomats cannot waive their diplomatic immunity. In many instances, the Diplomat’s country will not waive diplomatic immunity, making it practically impossible to successfully sue the Diplomat in a court in the United States.

WASHINGTON - The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) today announced the agency's new schedule of loan limits for calendar year 2021 for its Single Family Title II forward and Home Equity Conversion (reverse) Mortgage insurance programs. Loan limits for most of the country will increase in the coming year resulting from robust house price appreciation, which is factored into the statutorily mandated calculations FHA uses as part of its methodology for determining the limits each year. The new loan limits are effective for FHA case numbers assigned on or after January 1, 2021. Read FHA’s Mortgagee Letter on 2021 Forward Mortgage Limits. Read FHA’s Mortgagee Letter on 2021 Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) Limits. FHA is required by the National Housing Act, as amended by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA), to set Single Family forward loan limits at 115 percent of area median house prices, subject to a floor and a ceiling on the limits. FHA calculates forward

HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR CREDIT SCORE Your credit scores usually determine the price you pay for your money (your mortgages, your auto loans  and leases, your credit cards, business loans, etc.). Perhaps the most significant part of your credit  report is your credit score. Credit scores range from 350 to 850, with 850 being the best possible  credit score that you could receive, and 350 being the worst possible credit score. There are five factors  that determine your credit score: YOUR PAYMENT HISTORY: 35% IMPACT ON YOUR CREDIT SCORE Paying debt on time and in full has a positive impact. Late payments, judgments, charge-offs, collection  accounts and bankruptcies have a negative impact. If you have had any bankruptcies within the last 7  years, it will seriously affect your ability to borrow or establish new credit accounts.  If you have had any  judgments within the last several years, it is very important that you pay off the judgment and get a  "satisfaction of judgment" from