October 30th, 2009
Eight years ago, Dr. Mark Bergel was teaching stress management, social connection, and other health topics at local corporations and universities. He began requiring that his American University students perform community service as part of their course work. Through this exercise he came into contact with people who had no basic necessities of life. They were sleeping on bare floors, living with no furniture or household goods, not even beds for the children. He gave up everything else in his life and founded his non profit organization in his own living room. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: A Wider Circle
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October 29th, 2009
Should I refinance? It seems like an easy question, doesn’t it? But I have read and heard so many different stories, rules of thumb, and methods to calculate whether or not one should refinance it is mind boggling. It is simple, forget all of the rules of thumb that you have heard.
Refinancing is all about asking yourself how much do you have to spend to refinance, and how much would you save. Figuring out what the recapture period is will help you decide if you should refinance or not. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: refinance analysis
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October 28th, 2009
It seems many home buyers feel they already have a “good enough” idea of what amount of mortgage they qualify for, so they don’t feel the need to consult a mortgage professional in advance of their home search. Or they use some quickie online tool that helps tell them what they are qualified for, which are really not thorough enough and don’t take into account all the complicated new rules.
And some people have champagne taste and are on a beer budget, and need to be careful in determining how much they can afford to spend on a home.
I can’t say this loudly enough, DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME OR YOUR REALTOR’S TIME looking at a single home until you have had your finances thoroughly analyzed by a seasoned mortgage professional. And here is why: Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Mortgage Pre-Approval
Posted in Underwriting Rules | No Comments »
October 27th, 2009
I am sure it has happened to many readers or to someone you know…a mortgage settlement gets delayed or occurs several hours late! And it is customary to blame the mortgage lender, because after all, settlement had been scheduled for weeks and weeks. How could the settlement be delayed when we all knew for so long what the target settlement date was??
Here is the truth about delayed settlements, it is everyone’s fault, the lender, the seller, the buyer, the Realtors, the appraiser, etc.
Here is what happens on a typical loan file. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: settlement
Posted in Underwriting Rules | No Comments »
October 27th, 2009
Is there a free lunch, or isn’t there? My last post about mortgage shopping suggested that interest rates are only a slight bit different (1/8%) from lender to lender, and that the consumer needs to focus on performance, customer service and execution more than price. But no one does, do they? And we create our own customer service problems by seeking the lowest price, and expecting the best service. It happens with mortgages, movers, furniture, contractors…you name it. We have been creating our own service and product hassles since the dawn of time.
And the reason I have chosen to write about this again is a recent client who asked me to serve a piping hot free lunch. How you ask? Read on… Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: mortgage shopping 2
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October 24th, 2009
Whether a consumer is calling a bank, a mortgage banker or a mortgage broker; all mortgage providers fund their mortgages through the same sources. Because of this, mortgage rates are very close from one lender to another. I broker to over 60 banks, and have never seen rates vary by more than 1/8%.
The purpose of “advertised” rates is to get the phone to ring. I am sure no one is surprised to find out that the ad for the cheap Mercedes is not real, and that if you want all the options, powerful engine, wheels and goodies you see on the picture in the ad, the cost goes up quite a bit. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: mortgage shopping
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October 21st, 2009
Do you remember when Interest Only loans were all the rage? And now I never get a phone call about them, and the only loan that anyone wants is a 30 year fixed-rate (and the occasional 5 Year ARM-fully amortizing by the way). How is it that we can dupe ourselves so easily in the middle of an investment bubble and lead ourselves to believe just about anything? Below is an old e-mail that I dug up that I wrote someone when they inquired about an Interest Only loan. I thought it was interesting. It is from 2004: Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Interest Only loan
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October 20th, 2009
I heard two things today from two separate underwriters that was infuriating. Neither of them made any common sense.
The first one had to do with an appraisal that was done for a refinance and the appraisal value came in low. I worked up an “appraisal challenge” and sent in 4 new comparable properties as well as my reasoning behind why I thought the original appraisal showed a mistaken value. I clearly had good comps that supported a higher value, and I had two pages of narrative to explain why. The underwriter called me and told me I was wasting my time, and that no appraisal challenge would ever be victorious, and that a lowball appraisal value would never be overturned. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: underwriting
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October 19th, 2009
It is easy to be confused when shopping for a mortgage these days, especially a refinance. Most lenders just throw up as much stuff on the wall as they can to see what sticks. They would take 1000 loan applications in the hopes of closing on 500 of them. But where does that leave the 500 people that had their loans rejected? Is it fair to have them pay $400-$500 in application fees, and to wait 30-90 days, when it could have been determined in advance the loan was not able to be approved. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: shopping loans
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October 16th, 2009
New Development in the Brookland area of Washington, DC.
Abdo Development and Catholic University are seeking approval from the Washington DC Zoning Commission to approve changes to the University’s campus plan in order to go forward with Abdo’s plan to revitalize the Brookland area of Washington, DC. The decision of the Commission is expected on November 9th 2009 by which time they will have the necessary information about parking and fire code requirements. At a hearing on October 5th 2009 during which the plan was presented to the Zoning Commission, the Commissioners seemed quite impressed with Vice Chairman William W. Keating III saying he was “very excited about this project.” Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Catholic University development
Posted in Local News | No Comments »
