Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Watch Out For This When You Buy A Home…

small brett pic Watch Out For This When You Buy A Home...
I wanted to give you something to watch out for when you are purchasing a house.
I have a borrower that recently ran into a complication, and I wanted to tell you about it here – so you can learn from his experience.
My borrower got a home inspection for the home he was purchasing. …This is a smart thing to do anytime you purchase a house.
The home inspector is hired by the buyer to check the house for any current or potential issues with the condition of the house prior to purchase. The home inspection is typically a private report meant only for the buyer’s eyes.
Typically the home inspector will go out of his way to let the buyer know about every little light bulb and air register that has any type of imperfection in them. His goal is just to let the buyer know about them, and to cover his own bases if something were to happen to these items in the future.
My borrower’s realtor made the mistake of mentioning the inspection in the earnest money contract. Once the word “inspection report” shows up in the contract the underwriter can ask to see a copy of it.
Sure enough, the underwriter asked to see the inspection report. …and, the underwriter wanted every little item listed on the report to be fixed prior to closing.
This of course caused the need for renegotiation on the repairs, and very well could have killed my borrower’s deal.
Fortunately the seller was willing to cooperate with the buyer on the repairs.
The lesson here is don’t mention the inspection report in the contract – unless you don’t mind showing it to the underwriter.
That’s it for today!
Have a good day today! …and thanks for reading.
Brett

Monday, October 27, 2014

How To Get A Loan If You’ve Recently Been Out Of Work…


small brett pic How To Get A Loan If Youve Recently Been Out Of Work...If you have recently been out of work, and now you are working again – here’s what you need to know to buy a house…
I wanted to go over the FHA guidelines with you on a borrower returning to work in case you or someone you know is in this situation.
There are just a few main guidelines that FHA likes to see for the borrower in this situation to be eligible for financing…
1) Current employment of at least six months.
2) Documentation of two years of employment prior to the absence. Acceptable documentation includes w-2′s, paystubs, or a written verification of employment.
3) Acceptable scenarios include an individual who took several years off to raise children, but has now returned to work.
If you know someone in this situation and they want to purchase a home, have them give me a call and I’ll try to help!
That’s it for today!
Have a good day today! …and thanks for reading.
Brett

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Here’s An Interesting Note On Credit Scores…

small brett pic Heres An Interesting Note On Credit Scores...
Here’s an interesting credit note I saw in National Mortgage News…

The government-sponsored enterprises, facing pressure to end their reliance on old credit-scoring models from Fair Isaac Corp., are working with their regulator to study newer alternatives. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac confirmed the commitments recently.
They are a victory for VantageScore Solutions, an upstart competitor to FICO that has struggled to gain a foothold in the residential origination business. VantageScore contends that the question of which credit-scoring models get a seal of approval from Fannie and Freddie is more than a run-of-the-mill business dispute, because it has implications for the availability of U.S. credit.
Switching to newer models would allow more prospective borrowers to be scored and provide better accuracy about the likelihood of default, VantageScore argues. At a time when many believe that home loans have become too hard to obtain, those arguments have won allies on Capitol Hill, in fair-housing circles and in the lending industry.
“Lenders will say to us that they’re being forced to use old models,” said Barrett Burns, VantageScore’s president and chief executive officer. “They want the most accurate model they can get so they can reduce the probability of default.” VantageScore has been pushing hard to get the imprimatur of Fannie and Freddie, partly because of the weight the two companies carry throughout the entire residential loan business.
That’s it for today!
Have a good day today! …and thanks for reading.
Brett

Monday, October 20, 2014

A few of quick notes on Texas Cash Out loans…

small brett pic A few of quick notes on Texas Cash Out loans...A few of quick notes on Texas Cash Out loans…
1) We can do Texas Cash Out loans down to credit scores of 620.
2) We can do up to 10 acres for urban areas.
3) We can do up to 20 acres for rural properties.
4) 1 day off the market with a 70% LTV for properties that have been listed.
5) Payment of current property taxes are not considered a Texas Cash Out loan.
That’s it for today!
Have a good day today! …and thanks for reading.
Brett

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Easy Way To Save A Ton Of Money On Your Mortgage…

small brett pic Easy Way To Save A Ton Of Money On Your Mortgage...
Did you know it takes 19 years and 4 months to pay your principle down by half on a 30 year amortization?
If you can handle the payment on a shorter term it will save you a ton of money in the long run.
To give you an idea: A 20 year mortgage payment is roughly 25% higher than a 30 year payment. …and, a 15 year payment is about 50% higher than a 30 year payment.
If you would like to see numbers on a lower term for your specific situation please get it touch with me and I’ll be happy to get that done for you!
That’s it for today!
Have a good day today! …and thanks for reading.
Brett

Monday, October 13, 2014

How To Buy A House From A Relative…

small brett pic How To Buy A House From A Relative...
I had this situation come up again last week, and I wanted to address it again with you…
Did you realize that when buying a house from an immediate family member – the buyer doesn’t have to come out of pocket for a down payment with an FHA loan? (As long as it’s a owner occupied residence for seller and buyer.)
…this is because the guidelines allow the seller to “gift” equity to the buyer.
So, the 3.5% down payment on an FHA loan can be a gift from the seller. …in addition to this, the seller can also pay the buyers closing costs, and pre paid expenses (taxes and insurance).
Neat, huh!
In other news, I gave my website a face lift. Check it out here…
That’s it for today!
Have a good day today! …and thanks for reading.
Brett

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

A Cautionary Tale Of Mortgage Shopping…


small brett pic A Cautionary Tale Of Mortgage Shopping...I want you to be smart mortgage shoppers.
So, I thought I would relate a cautionary tale that happened to me late last week.
I had a potential client that was doing some mortgage shopping.
She was comparing a payment estimate I had given her to a payment estimate given to her from one of the large national mortgage companies. …I won’t mention any names, but their name starts with a Q and ends with an N, and it rhymes with “licken”.
She was about to go with their payment, because it was $275 less than my payment estimate.
Once I dug down I realized that the loan consultant she had been talking to (happened to be in North Carolina) has significantly underestimated her property taxes. That loan consultant had given her a figure of $100 estimate for property taxes, when in Texas that number would actually be closer to $375.
I explained to her property taxes tend to be higher in Texas than other states. This is due to Texas not having an income tax, and property taxes are their primary source of income for the state and local government agencies.
Had she gone with their loan at some point in the process she would have had quite a surprise when she got the real tax figure.
I don’t think the loan consultant had intentionally lied to her about the property taxes. I just think she didn’t know taxes tend to be higher in Texas.
The moral to this story is you are better off shopping for a mortgage from a company that works in your state or community, because they will be familiar with the nuances of your state.
That’s it for today!
Have a good day today! …and thanks for reading.
Brett

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Two Quick Notes On USDA…

small brett pic Two Quick Notes On USDA...
I have two quick notes for you on our USDA program…
1) If you have a credit score we can go down to 580 on USDA.
2) If you have no credit scores at all we can still do a USDA loan for you! …We will require three non-traditional credit items such as rent, utilities, phone, insurance, etc.
Remember – USDA is a 100% financing program. No money down on this one.
If fact, here is a link to a Special Report I’ve wrote on this loan program:   How To Buy A House With No Money Down, And Get A Super Low Rate… Even If Your Credit Isn’t The Best. 
Call or email if you would like to see if we can get you qualified for this loan.
That’s it for today!
Have a good day today! …and thanks for reading.
Brett