What’s it gonna take people

I talk to alot of realtors on a daily bases. What i’m mostly hearing from them is complaints about borrowers not being prequalified but wanting to look at homes. Many of these potential homebuyers are very young, fresh out of college and they think they can buy a home like their parents. Yet most of their parents are on their second or third home and worked their way up. Did the subprime thinking trickle down to a new generation without us knowing. Could be, but it will be corrected. Unfortunatly it will be corrected through the disappointment of them not closing on the home of their dreams. Instead these young homebuyers have to start out with the starter home like the rest of us. Who qualifying these people anyway? and why take the chance. When a first time young POTENTIAL homebuyers closing falls apart , what are the chances that these same individuals are motivated to do it again. slim to none? and what are the chances that they will tell all of their friends what happened. Pretty great. The insanity has to stop. These people need a place to go to get actually prequalified. I would suggest using a site called ratesarehot.com. They prequalify and fit programs with the individual. We have to make the experience fun and exciting again, like it used to be. When a young homebuyer bought their starter home, it was an incredible experience and the start of a new independant like. The hope is still their. Remember, somone owns that home, it might as well be you.

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Get Ready

Things have not changed

Honestly, it’s not that the fnma and fha guidelines have changed and made it harder to lend to people. It’s that the underwriters are too stupid to know the guidelines anymore because there used to their desktop underwriting the loan for them. I’m not kidding.

Mortgage Payoff

This is a blog about Mortgage Payoffs (existing mortgage balances)
If you are refinancing this applies to you. You need to always know an estimate of your existing 1st mortgage and in some cases 2nd mortgage balances. In order to obtain this information you can look on your statement for an 800 number and call your existing mortgage company or if you make your mortgage payments online you should be able to login and look for an existing estimated mortgage balance. One more option you can take is to look on your monthly mortgage statement that your mortgage company sends to you in the mail (yes, Wells Fargo, Citibank, Chase, Bank of America, etc.. all still mail out statements to consumers that opt in). If you call, you can either ask them for an estimate or you can actually order a payoff from them but remember if you are ordering a payoff it will cost money. They will charge you for the work that is involved in figuring out what your payoff is even though it is computer generated and very easy to do they will still charge you. It is a small fee say $50.00 bucks that will be added to your existing balance. You will see all of the fees when you receive your payoff letter in the mail. When you call you will need to give them your name, address and account number, etc.. They will also ask you if you are trying to obtain a mortgage refinance because if you are that will redflag their customer service department that you are trying to leave them and they will of course try to sell you a new mortgage. Therefore, they will start hounding you to refinance with them because they are the best mortgage company out there.

If you are in the market to refinance your home the new mortgage company is required to also obtain an accurate payoff for you from your existing mortgage company and this will be done “prior to closing”. The payoff will tell the new mortgage company “how much” they have to payoff in order to obtain a brand new mortgage refinance. Knowing the exact number is almost impossible however, the better estimate you have the better qualified you will be for a new mortgage. This helps when you are being prequalified for a new mortgage.

FYI….Your payoff will include the following:
Existing mortgage balance
Property Taxes (including back taxes owed)
Late Fees (if you were ever late on your mortgage and didn’t pay the late
fee the mortgage company adds that in the end to the total balance due)
Any homeowners insurance (fire insurance) that is due (including anything past due)
Payoff letters (yes, it costs money for somebody at Chase Mortgage to figure out what your payoff is and somebody has to pay for it and that is you)
So, for example you might think that the balance of your first mortgage is around $200,000 and that is fine but remember that this is only an estimate. With all of the above fees the actual balance due to your existing mortgage company is probably more like $202,000.

Also, your mortgage payment is made “in the rears” so you live in your house for a month and than your payment comes due. Hopefully you found this information to be helpful if you need help with mortgage prequalification visit us at : www.ratesarehot.com

Volunteers? Anyone?

Had an event over the weekend with Habitat for Humanity. Sing for a Cause which is an idol type competition. I was one of the judges and we had a great turnout for the tryouts. It just so happen that one of the recipients that Habitat is building a home for was present. She got on stage and thanked everyone for volunteering so much time and effort. The Habitat Organizer spoke to the audience afterwards also thanking the volunteers and explained a problem they were having. It turns out that they have all the materials needed to build the house, all of the contractors and volunteers needed to build the house, but nowhere to put it. They didn’t have the land or lot or location. HUH? With all the vacant foreclosed homes that these banks are holding onto, and demolishing, kicking people out left and right, not modifying mortgages, do you mean to tell me we are trying to build another house but can’t find a location. Didn’t we bail these banks out? Bank of America, Citibank, Chase ect. Why can’t we take over a bank owned debilitated property and refinish it instead. Isn’t there something wrong with this picture? Just sayin.

100% Financing, UH YEAH

I spoke with an old client of mine who financed with me back in the days when things were honest and ethical. He’s now purchasing a home and applied for financing 5 months ago. He has a job where he’s worked for 4 years now, some savings and his credit is good. He qualifies for the USDA program. The reason why the process is taking so long is that, THE LENDER KNOWS NOTHING ABOUT USDA, yet they are approved to execute the program. I will not mention names just yet but there is no excuse for this. I am waiting for the denial before I step in as the HOMEOWNER ADVOCATE and I will be the hero of the day. Unfortunately this is a story that is heard over and over again. Consumers are loosing hope, not applying for mortgages, not looking into homeownership because it seems hopeless, yet it is not. More people in the United States qualify for programs that are available to them and they are just unaware of what is available. With the market the way it is, who can blame them. USDA is a program that allows more lenient underwriting guidelines, manual underwriting does not require credit scores, certain limits on income and the property must be considered rural. That doesn’t necessarily mean a home out yonder. One of my clients bought a beautiful condo in Manassas, VA near Washington DC. Ofcourse he was denied until I stepped in. I am the HOMEOWNER ADVOCATE.

The Great Depression

I found an old cassette that belong to a friend of mine a few weeks ago. It was an old high school project that he completed for his Social Studies class back in 1985. He interviewed his Great Uncle Gib about the Great Depression in the early 1900′s. Honestly Social Studies was not one of my strong courses and history bores me but I decided to listen to it. After the first few minutes I realized that I was getting an actual account of Uncle Gibs personal and emotional experience. I seriously was mesmerized by this interview and in complete disbelief that people survived such a depressing time. Sleeping under 12 blankets every night with no heat when the weather was below 0 as the snow seeped into the leaky roof and drenched the covers. Eating once a day. Maybe getting lucky enough to have 1 scoop of ice cream as their treat for the week. Looking forward to school because there was heat and food. The eagerness to learn. Towns shut down because all of the businesses went under. Sharing bath water. No resources if someone were to become ill. Imagine what Uncle Gib would say today if we told him we were in a Great Recession, unemployment is on the rise. Meanwile we have freezers full of ice cream, heat with a click of a button, cell phones to call from anywhere and laptops that connect us to the world and give us resources to practically diagnose ourselves if we are ill. My point is, there is opportunity everywhere you look. This country still has the same amount of money as it did before, and it is still printing currency. If you cannot find a job, then create your own. Be the creator of your life. There’s a customer on every corner waiting to buy what you have to offer. What does this have to do with homeownership?
Well I receive a lot of emails from folks who ask me, ” How can I buy a home when I have no job?” or ” I cannot find a job so I cannot afford a home.” My advice is, stop looking on the outside for a job and start looking from within. To see if you prequalify for a home go to: www.ratesarehot.com