So you’re applying for a mortgage, you think you have everything lined up right, you get pre-approved. Great! And then you get… conditional loan approval? What is that? What are the conditions? Read More
When a homebuyer is getting a mortgage to buy a new home everyone seems to be on pins and needles waiting on the appraisal. When the appraisal does come in if the appraised value is below the contract price the response is usually alarm from the realtors and confusion by the homebuyer. At that point there is a lot to talk about and coordinate. Read More
It may seem odd that someone in the mortgage business wants to discuss how to help consumers find the best mortgage lenders. People search for mortgage providers every day without the benefit of professional help. So, I figured why not help people whether they find their way to me or someone else? Below I’ve listed the most important mortgage questions that you need to ask before you apply for a mortgage loan. Read More
There were some big changes that came from Fannie Mae mid-December 2015 that signaled a further loosening in the mortgage guidelines. Some of the bigger changes are: Read More
Freddie Mac made a change recently that allows the exclusion of a monthly debt payment from the debt ratio calculation for self-employed mortgage borrowers when the monthly payment is paid by the mortgage borrower’s business. But this is subject to a few rules: Read More
Have you ever noticed that many of the mistakes you make in life are made in haste? I look back on all the things I’d like to do over, and most of them were because I was moving too quickly, thinking too fast, talking too fast and in far too big a hurry to get to the next 1,000 things on my to do list. If I would just slow down I bet I’d make a lot less mistakes in life. The same wisdom can be applied to mistakes made in the mortgage process. Read More
Everyone wants to close a loan quicker these days, and I mean everyone. But when it comes time to do their part to move quickly, people are not as excited to help out. The problem is that most of the other parties to the loan don’t realize that they are party to the loan. What I mean is that the loan does not occur in a vacuum and we as the lender are not the only party to the process. We need help from Read More
I recently wrote several blogs about the pros and cons of waiving contingencies to make a more aggressive offer in a sellers market. But there are also other ways to make a more aggressive offer I would like to discuss. Some other ways you can get an offer accepted in a competitive environment are based on Read More
Cash reserves are monies that you need to show a mortgage lender that you have leftover after settlement for emergency and for cash cushion, to convince the lender you have some reserves after settlement in case of any issues when transitioning into a new mortgage loan. Obviously underwriting guidelines can change based on loan type and Read More
I think one thing that causes a lot of problems in life is our perception of time. We all seem to think we have plenty of time to do things, but what we are really doing is justifying our procrastination. We think we have plenty of time to get around to working on our tax filing, the yard work, paying bills, departing to meet friends for dinner, or sending in the paperwork for our loan application. Do we? No. Then what happens? Read More
