joshp975's Blog: All Categories

Mortgage rates have been very up and down lately which makes prediciting what rates will do even harder than it was before.  A prepared borrower wil have a goal in mind going into their refinance.  It may be wanting a certian rate, or maybe saving a certain amount of money every month.  If your goal is to save $150.00 a month, and thats attainable today, grab it.  If your goal is getting a rate of 5% with no points, if its there take it and run.  Maybe your goal is to pull a certain amount of cash out, and keep your payment at a certain number, take it if the deal is there.  Whatever the goal, when its attainable, grab it.  The people who get too greedy and want to get just a little more savings, or just a little lower rate or just a little more cash…

With the new HERA laws now in place, you can expect home purchases to take 45-60 days.  Realtors should know this by now, and put contracts in accordingly.  Why are they taking longer.  Now there is a mandatory 5 day waiting period to order an appraisal after your intial loan application.  That sets everything back a minimum of 1 full work week.  Add to that the extended appraisal turn aroudn times, and your looking at 3-4 weeks before you even have an appraisal in hand.  On top of that, you still have to wait for an underwriting decision.  While the HEARA laws will help protect the consumer, they will also slow down the mortgage process.  As a borrower, all you can do is be prepared and make sure your mortgage broker, and real estate agent are up to date…

There are even more changes coming soon to the mortgage industry.  Begining July 30th, there will be stricter regulations on how accurate a good faith estimate must be.  Now, your final APR must be within 1/8 of a percent as the proposed APR when your loan is orginated.  If anything changes to throw off the APR from orgination to closing, you must wait 3 days for the changes to be made and fixed. 

What does that mean to borrowers?  If you get your HUD to preview a day before settlement, and something changed, you now have to wait at least 3 days for the changes to be fixed, potentially pushing back your settement date.  Also, as part of the new regulations, money can not be collected from the borrower for an appraisal until 6 days after your loan is…

Mortgage rates are down again and for those who missed the low rates the first time around, now's the time to jump on great rates.  With rates hovering right around 5% you dont want to miss out again.  Remember in this market rates are as volitile as they've ever been.  If the rate makes sense, jump on it immeaditly.

If you decide now's the time to refinance, there are a few things you should make sure you get from your loan officer.  First, make sure you get a copy of your rate lock.  This will show you what your interest rate is, and how long its locked for.  With underwriting times running slower than normal, make sure you do at least a 45 day lock.  The other thing you need to check is the float down policy is for the lender your loan is locked…

If your a self employeed borrower finding a loan, either a refinance or purchase loan, is pretty tough these days.  So what should you expect through the loan process?  First be prepared to show a lot of income documentation.  At a minimum, you'll need 2 years of personal and business tax returns.  If you pay your self a salary, you'll also need to show 2 years of W-2's, and your 2 most recent paystubs.  What are underwriters looking for with all that documentation?  They want to see a consistant flow of income.  They want to make sure you're business has a history of making money, and your income is not at risk to drop dramatically.

What about assets?  You'll have to show your personal assets, however, if you're using any of your business assets toward…

For those of you who are currently owe more than your house is worth, or are having trouble qualifying for a refinance loan there might be a way out.  There is a new loan out there that called the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac refi plus.  If Fannie Mae, or Freddie Mac currently owns your loan they will lend up to 105% of the current value of your home, WITHOUT mortgage insurance.  You still need to document income, assets and credit qualify, but for those who otherwise couldn’t refinance, you now have an option.  The only catch is if your loan currently has mortgage insurance, you won’t be able to refinance.

What if you have an FHA or VA loan?  You’re still in luck.  For those with an FHA or VA loan you can do a streamline…

Over the past few weeks we have noticed an increased underwriting times on both purchase and refinance loans.  What has caused the extended underwriting times?  First is the new H.V.C.C code of conduct.  This is the new regulation that requires lenders to order appraisals through an appraisal management company instead of the mortgage broker ordering one through a local appraiser.  These H.V.C.C appraisals are taking up to 3 weeks to be done, where as before this regulation, the were taking a few days to a week.  The other issue we are facing is increased volume.  While rates were at historical lows the past few months lenders became swamped with files, and it is taking longer to review individual files.  I have also found that…

Starting the 1st of May there are big changes in appraisals.  Starting the 1st, lenders will be directly ordering appraisals, eliminating the consumer and broker from ordering the appraisal.  What does this mean for the consumer?  A few things.  First, it means that the appraisal process could take longer, which would cause the whole loan process to take longer.   The consumer won't have the option of using an appraiser who can come to the house and do the appraisal in a timely manor, now they have to wait for the lender to assign an appraiser to the loan, then they can schedule it with the borrower.  What else does this mean?  Now the borrower has to pay for the appraisal up front with a credit card or check.  This means that they can't have anyone gift…