Someone asked me today "what kind of loan programs are you good at?" My answer? Only a few. No, really -- only a few. For some reason, for the entire time that I have been in the mortgage business I have only done a handful of different types of loans -- and almost all of them are considered to be "Government loan programs". We are good at VA loans, FHA loans and FHA reverse … [Read more...]
Mortgage Discount Points: How To Make Them Free (To You)
Does it ever make sense to pay discount points? Depending on the situation, it can sometimes make sense to pay discount points in order to "buy the rate down" even lower than rates currently are. Discount Points - How They Work Discount points are paid in order to "buy down" an interest rate from the par value. In the simplest description possible - the way discount points work is that you … [Read more...]
Arizona Loan Officers: Things Great Loan Officers Do
In baseball, what is the difference between a hall of fame hitter and someone that is easily forgotten? Not much. A hall of fame hitter might have a career lifetime average of .333 and a run-of-the-mill big league player might have a lifetime average of .250 - seemingly not that much of a difference to someone who isn't familiar with the difficulty of hitting. Luckily, when it comes to loan … [Read more...]
The Fed Lowers Rates to Zero: Where Did All The Loan Officers Go?
Yesterday, the Federal Reserve lowered its key federal funds rate to "a target" of 0-.25%. Combine this with the Feds commitment to buying mortgage backed securities from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and I think it might be safe to say that rates are probably going to trend lower for a period of time. Which means that there is probably going to be quite a few people who are going to want to … [Read more...]
FHA Mortgage Facts From FHA Outlook
From time to time, I am asked questions about the FHA program or FHA loans by various people such as: "How long does it take to fund an FHA loan?' "What is an average FICO score for someone who gets an FHA loan?" "Is the Hope for Homeowners program real?" "How come I have never heard of the 203k streamline program?" I am sure there are many places to get the answers to the above … [Read more...]
Will Interest Rates Go To 4.5%?
As seen on ABC 15 News... What do the Oklahoma Sooners and a 4.5% interest rate have in common? They may both be part of a land grab. Ok, not really, but the national (and local) media sure did jump on the story that broke in the WSJ about the possible plan for the government to do everything in its power to lower the target interest rate for people buying a new home to 4.5%. … [Read more...]
Having Trouble Making Your Mortgage Payment? Bailout Talk Live On KTAR!
Arizona Mortgage Team on KTAR Radio [audio:http://arizonamortgageteam.com/ktar.mp3] This morning we were live on the radio with KTAR superstar Darrell Ankarlo talking about the 700 billion bailout and what it means to people who are having trouble making their mortgage payment. The discussion centered around "what should I do if I am having trouble making my mortgage payment?" My general … [Read more...]
New Standard Good Faith Estimate Effective January 2010
Today it was announced that HUD has adopted a new 3 page Good Faith Estimate as part of its RESPA reform package that will be standard among all lenders and go into effect in January of 2010. The new standard Good Faith Estimate is part of a RESPA Reform package that has been in the works for years. Before the announcement, HUD reviewed approximately 12,000 comments and in considering these … [Read more...]
Ignite Phoenix: 5 Minutes Sometimes Feels Like 5 Hours
I received an email yesterday that read: Congratulations! Your idea submission was selected to be given at Ignite Phoenix #2 on October 29th! Fun! Maybe it was the catchy title that the judges liked who were selecting people to present: "Not Using The Web For Marketing - How I Went Broke." So, if you have *at least* an extra 5 minutes and want to know how important the web is to use in … [Read more...]