I had a file come out of the underwriting department recently, and learned something new…apparently windows need to be operable and open. Sounds silly huh? But operable windows are important due to safety reasons and ingress/egress to get out of the house in an emergency. You want to hear more? OK, read on. Read the rest of this entry »
Some things are permanent, and some are temporary. The cardboard house in this picture, I'd speculate that it is temporary, very temporary. The recent FHA loan limit increase, the one that the NAR (National Association of Realtors) was busy patting itself on the back for having lobbied for it, and helping to get it passed; it seems to be temporary. So what is all of the fuss over. For now, we have one extra month of getting loans done at the higher loan limit, that is a big deal? The NAR, however, said the loan limit increase is good for two years. Here is their announcement: Read the rest of this entry »
Justin: We are on. Hey Brian, how are you?
Brian Martucci: Hey, good, Justin.
Justin: Good. Well, happy Thanksgiving to you. I know this is kind of a holiday weekend, but what you have to say is pretty important, especially with everyone hitting Black Friday today.
Brian Martucci: That’s right. Sure is.
Justin: Okay. So let’s talk a little bit about credit scores. Read the rest of this entry »
I had an interesting exchange with a client that surprised me. We were discussing refinancing a loan in California. I ran the numbers and realized he could save $377 a month. We talked about how to proceed, but then he hesitated. He mentioned something about having to pay some sort of penalty when he refinanced, that he would not have to pay if he did not refinance. I finally realized he was talking about recourse versus non-recourse loans. Read the rest of this entry »
It seems we are doomed to repeat our mistakes. Mankind has been jumping over bushels of hundred dollar bills to reach the quarter in the corner, since the dawn of currency. I have a number of new stories every week, of consumers who look so very hard for the best deal, they overlook the fact that they may be dealing with a disreputable provider, or may not get what they expect, or may be getting a promise that won't be kept, or even worse; Read the rest of this entry »
Here are my ten predictions for 2012. Some of these are mortgage/real estate related, and some are not. Some are serious, and some are not; and some are just wishful thinking. You figure out if you can tell which are real. By the end of 2012 we will have seen:
.Median cost of a home in the U.S. will be down from 2011, by 4%.
.Median cost of a home in Washington DC: up slightly, by 1%.
.Stock market: down over 20% from 2011. Read the rest of this entry »
This video is an explanation of how scary Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (now government owned it is important to note) have become, and how it affects the consumer. Anyone who has gotten a loan in the last 3 years knows how difficult it is. Guess why. Think its the banks? Nope. The underwriters? Nope. It's the Halloween style nightmare Read the rest of this entry »
Justin: We are on. Hey, Brian. This is Justin and we’re here with the Mortgage Market Minute. What do you have for me today?
Brian Martucci: Well, I think the topic of the day is probably going to be interest rates and the odd thing to me is that a lot of people do not realize that interest rates are up a little bit, not a lot, but people, when the media starts to hammer the public with the fact that rates are down, rates are down and they repeat it all the time. Read the rest of this entry »
When you buy a new home, or refinance, it can be a nervous and exciting time. And getting excited and nervous causes people to over analyze and sometimes make poor decisions. Sometimes a client will ask for a lower rate, by paying discount points. Each discount point is 1% of the loan amount, or $1,000 per $100,000 in mortgage. It sounds great to get a rate that is a half percent lower than what you hear about in the news or see online (and shopping for rates online is not accurate, see this story for more on that), but what about the costs? Read the rest of this entry »
Anyone that reads my blog knows that in general I am not a fan of Interest Only (IO) loans. I have said before that an IO loan is like putting your mortgage on a credit card. But on a refinance it may make sense if you have already built a lot of equity, are more interested in savings than equity building, and know you are not going to live in the property forever so have no interest in getting the mortgage paid off.
I had a client tell me recently Read the rest of this entry »