Do This And Have Less Stress...

Good Morning!

I’ve written about this before, but its important so I didn't want to let the year go by without touching on it again.

My job as a loan officer allows me to have a unique perspective into people’s lives.

I can see how much money people make, and how much money they have in the bank.

I do loans for people who make less than $20,000 a year, and I do loans for people who make well over $250,000 a year. …It doesn’t matter if you make a lot of money, or very little money – there is a common problem that I see again and again…

…No savings.

This isn’t true in every case, but I see it very often.

People tend to spend what they make. …even many of the borrowers I have who make a lot of money don’t tend to save their money.

My advice to you?… Pay yourself first.

Open a savings account, and before you pay any other bills – pay yourself first. …pay it just like it was a car payment or an electric bill. …Make it a percentage (10%) of your total income.

Pay it every month. …it will build up faster than you think.

There is a special comfort that you will gain when you see that you have a comfortable cushion in the bank. …I want that feeling for you.

This feeling of comfort will percolate into other areas of your life – less fights about money – less stress at work – happy mom and dad makes for happy kids, etc.

That’s it for today!

Have a good day today!  …and thanks for reading.

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Happy Holidays!

Good Morning!

Some of you have been getting my updates for years, and I want you to know I appreciate you!

Hope everyone has a great holiday!  

Spend time with your family, and put memories in your memory banks!

Talk to ya next week!

Thanks for reading!

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How An Owlety Loan Works With Divorce...

Good Morning!

Often when you get divorced and once spouse keeps the house, per the terms of the divorce you must refinance your home to get your Ex spouse off the house and get them their share of the equity.

The problem is – you have been told by a loan officer that they can’t help you get cash out because your loan to value ratio is over the 80% threshold required for a cash out loan in Texas.

Your solution is an Owlety loan. Many loan officers are unfamiliar with this loan – but an Owlety loan will allow you to refinance a home and get cash out to your ex-spouse over the Texas cash out 80% limit.

…In fact, we don’t treat it like a cash out loan at all. We treat the loan like a normal rate/term refinance.

If you are in this situation – contact me. I can get this loan done for you and help you out of this sticky situation!

That’s it for today!

I hope you have a great day! Thanks for reading!

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Two Ways To Avoid Paying Mortgage Insurance...

Good Morning!

If you have a conventional loan, and your loan to value ratio is over 80% – you will be paying monthly mortgage insurance to the lender.

No one likes paying monthly mortgage insurance.  It’s extra money added to your payment every month, and it’s doesn’t help pay down the balance of the loan.

If you want a conventional loan and your LTV is over 80%, but don’t want to pay monthly mortgage insurance there are two ways to avoid this…

1)   One would be Lender Paid Mortgage Insurance.  We pay the MI for you.  The rate generally is .25 to .375 higher, but there is no monthly mortgage insurance.

2)  Get a piggy pack loan.  This is where we make two loans for you.  …A first mortgage at 80%, and a second mortgage at 15%.  This way you just put down 5%, and there is no monthly mortgage insurance payment.

Thanks for reading!

Have a good day!

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FHA Loan Limits Going Up In 2020...

Good Morning!

Good news - FHA loan limits are going up in most counties.

For instance, in Dallas county the max FHA loan for 2020 is $404,800.

This is great news!  More people will be able to qualify for homes, due to FHA being more flexible on credit scores and debt to income ratios.

To find out the limit for your county you can go to this web site...  https://entp.hud.gov/idapp/html/hicostlook.cfm

That's it for today!

Thanks for reading!

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Know This Before You Try To Buy A House...

Good Morning!

Before you go out house hunting make sure you have enough money available to get your house closed.

…I know it sounds simple, but many people don’t realize the amount of funds they will need available to get into a house.

Here is a simple breakdown of your out of the out of pocket costs you could expect by loan program.

1) VA: 100% loan. No down payment.

2) USDA: 100% loan. No down payment

3) FHA: Minimum 3.5% down payment.

4) Conventional: 5% minimum down payment. (There is also a 97% conventional for first time home buyers).

…but you can expect more out of pocket than just the down payment. There are two other costs you can expect to pay when you purchase a home…

1) One, is prepaids. This is pre paid interest, taxes, and insurance. Typically your prepaids will run 1% to 2.5% of a sales price.

2) Then there’s your closing costs… Typically closing costs (from all entities – title, appraisal, mortgage, survey, etc.) will add another 1% to 2% to a sales price.

Be prepared for these additional costs. However, there are a couple of ways to help you lower the closing costs and prepaid expenses.

Closing costs and prepaid taxes, insurance, and interest can be paid by...  Buyer, Seller, Loan Officer, Agent.  Or any combination of these.

Have a good day today! …and thanks for reading.

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Christmas Note, And Property Tax Reminder...

Good Morning!

Can you believe it's already December?

Christmas will be here before you know it.

I hope you get to spend time with those you love, and get to put alot of memories into your memory bank.

Reminder – property tax bills are due at the end of January.

If you have a non escrowed loan and don’t have the money to pay the tax bill, or don’t want to pay the tax bill then I want to offer you a solution…

We can refinance your loan and roll in your tax bill into the new loan. This way you can get your taxes paid, and skip a couple of months payments in the process!

That’s it for today!

Have a good day today! …and thanks for reading.

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New Higher Loan Limits On Conventional Mortgages...

Good Morning!

I have good news - Fannie Mae is raising their max loan amounts for most counties in the US to $510,400.

The reason this is good news is the rates are lower, and the down payments are lower on Conventional loans than Jumbo loans.

Before, if you wanted a 510k loan amount you would have had to pay Jumbo pricing, and now you can get Conventional pricing.

Good for everyone!

That's it for today!

Hope you had a great holiday!

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Fun Thanksgiving Facts...

Good Morning!

I hope you had a good weekend, and will have a great Thanksgiving week!

Since it's Thanksgiving - I thought I would give you some fun facts acout Thanksgiving...

- The first Thanksgiving was celebrated in 1621 over a three day harvest festival. It included 50 Pilgrims, 90 Wampanoag Indians, and lasted three days. It is believed by historians that only five women were present.

- Turkey wasn’t on the menu at the first Thanksgiving. Venison, duck, goose, oysters, lobster, eel, and fish were likely served, alongside pumpkins and cranberries (but not pumpkin pie or cranberry sauce!).

- Abraham Lincoln proclaimed Thanksgiving a national holiday on October 3, 1863. Sarah Joseph Hale, the woman who wrote “Mary Had A Little Lamb,” convinced Lincoln to make Thanksgiving a national holiday after writing letters for 17 years.

- The average number of calories consumed on Thanksgiving is 4,500.

- The tradition of football on Thanksgiving began in 1876 with a game between Yale and Princeton. The first NFL games were played on Thanksgiving in 1920.

That's it for today!

Thanks for reading!

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Productivity Tip For You...

Good Morning!

I wanted to give you a productivity tip today.

It’s an add on to Gmail that I use alot.  

It’s called Boomerang.  You can lean about it here…  https://www.boomeranggmail.com/

If you get an email that requires some form of action on your part – but you don’t have time to do it now, you can Boomerang it.

You tell Boomerang to put this email at the top of your inbox in an hour, two hours, tomorrow morning, in a week, in a month, etc.  …anytime you want.

It’s cool.  That way you don’t clog your task list up with a bunch of stuff that will just get buried.

It’s a great way to follow up with people in the future also.

That’s it for today!

Thanks for reading!

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How To Get A Loan When You Have Filed A Tax Extension...

Good Morning!

What do you do if you are in the process of applying for a loan and you have filed an extension on your taxes?

(assuming your loan officer is asking for tax returns for  underwriting)

Your loan officer asks you for your most recent tax return, but you can’t give it to him or her because you filed an extension.

Easy! …You give your loan officer the extension you filed, plus your previous two years tax returns.

Now, if your extension shows you owe money to the IRS the underwriter may ask you to show proof you paid this money. Keep this in mind.

That’s it for today!

I hope you have a great day! Thanks for reading!

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Mortgage Rate Update...

Good Morning!

Mortgage rates have been rising.  October was bad, and November hasn't been great so far.

So, if you were considering refinancing - I would act now.

The Fed Chair Powell is set to give testimony today - so depending on what he says it could impact the market further.

We'll keep an eye out for you!

Appreciate you!

Thanks for reading.

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FHA Gift Giving Rules...

Good Morning!

FHA gift questions come up often.  This is where the buyer would get a gift to help in purchasing a home.

I wanted to give you the rules on FHA gift giving. Here ya go…

Acceptable gift donors for FHA loans…

1) Borrower’s relative.

2) Borrower’s employer or labor union.

3) A close friend with a clearly defined and documented interest in the borrower.

4) A charitable organization.

5) A governmental agency or public entity that has a program providing home ownership assistance.

Unacceptable gift donors for FHA loans…

1) The seller.

2) The real estate agent or broker.

3) The builder or an associated entity.

Gifts from these sources are considered inducements to purchase, and must be subtracted from the sales price.

That’s it for today!

Have a good day today! …and thanks for reading.

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Your Bonus Income, And Getting A Mortgage...

Good Morning!

When it comes to bonus income there are three things to be aware of when you are getting a mortgage…

1) We can’t use bonus income or overtime income unless you can prove you have been receiving this income for 2 years.

2) The employer has to indicate that the bonus or overtime income will likely continue.

3) We will use a two year average of bonus and/or overtime income. So, if you got a lot this year, but not last year then we will have to use an average of both years.

If you or someone you know needs a mortgage – let us know! We would love to help you out!

That’s it for today!

Have a good day! …and thanks for reading.

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3 Credit Tips For You...

Good Morning!

Hope you had a good weekend!

Wanted to give you a few simple ways to improve your credit scores...

1) Did you know a single credit card late payment can ding your score by as much as 60 points?

a) Helpful strategy – set your payments up on autopay.

2) The quickest way to increase your credit scores are to decrease your credit utilization ratio. This is the amount charged on your accounts versus their total limit.

a) Best ratio is 10%. Certainly don’t go over 50%. (If limit is $1,000 try not to carry more than $100)

b) Another strategy is to ask for a higher limit to get your ratio more in line.

3) You can gain credit score points by paying off the credit card whose balance is closest to its limit. However, don’t cancel the account after you’ve paid it down.

That's it for today!

Thanks for reading!

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How To Get 97% Financing Without Mortgage Insurance...

Good Morning!

Did you know that we do piggy back loans up to 97% loan to value ratio?

A piggy back loan is where we do two loans – one at 80%, and a second up to 17% simultaneously.

You would put down 3% in this scenario, and we would finance 97%.

The advantage to a piggy back loan over a single loan is that you don’t have to pay the private mortgage insurance that comes with conventional loans over 80% LTV.

You will be surprised how much money you can save by using piggy back financing compared to single loans with MI.

That's it for today!

Have a good day today! …and thanks for reading.

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It Takes Almost 20 Years For This To Happen...

Good Morning!

30 year mortgage, or 15 year mortgage?

Here's something to consider...

It takes 19 years and 4 months to pay your principle down by half on a 30 year amortization.

Recommended action…

If you can handle a slightly higher mortgage payment it’s a smart play to go with a 15 year mortgage!

That’s it for today!

Have a good day! …and thanks for reading

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