Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the nation's two largest buyers of home mortgages, recently enacted changes in how they use credit scores to assess risk and price loans. If you have excellent credit so you think this may not affect you, think again! The latest announcement will affect borrowers wit
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03/12/2008
The words get bandied about in the press, on TV, and at the water cooler. Recession. Inflation. Deflation. Stagflation. Depression. But what does it all mean? Are we really heading into a bad time for the economy? And if so, what can you do about it to protect yourself?The truth is that w
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03/03/2008
One of the consequences of the continuing decline in home values across the country is that lenders are beginning to feel a little uneasy about their portfolio of Home Equity Lines of Credit (HELOC). As a result, several major lenders have begun freezing access to the untapped portion of their b
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02/28/2008
Unless you've been vacationing on another planet for the last several months, you're no doubt aware of the crisis gripping the mortgage market. While most of the attention is being paid to the "sub-prime" and "Alt A" markets, the uncertainty within the secondary mortgage market is or will be fel
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08/18/2007
Football legend Bill Parcells is fond of saying "If you give a team an excuse for losing, they'll always use it." Is that what some of us are doing now? Latching on to the excuse that business is bad, rates are up, values are down, buyers aren't buying, sellers won't budge, blah, blah, blah? T
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07/06/2007
Over 80% of Americans experience some degree of back pain during their lifetime. While I would put myself in that category, having had a couple of bouts with some serious back pain, my wife happens to be among the unfortunate people that deal with debilitating back pain on a daily basis, such th
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07/06/2007
With the plethora of mortgage terms available today, including terms of 40, even 50 years, how do you compare the overall cost of one mortgage versus another? It's actually pretty simple - but before you do, you need to assess what the expectancy of the mortgage life is. In other words, how lon
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07/06/2007
I always get a little chuckle when I see "Senior Loan Officer" listed as someone's title. What exactly does that mean anyway? Are they eligible for Social Security payments? AARP benefits? Or are they looking to do business with those who are?I remember not too long ago, a new Loan Officer jo
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06/11/2007
You've probably heard the pitch - "Refinance your existing mortgage with no points and no closing costs! It's the biggest no-brainer in the history of Earth!" But is it really? Why would some lenders choose to charge closing costs if there's an alternative with zero closing costs? The answer
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06/05/2007
The difference between Mortgage Brokers and Mortgage Lenders is often times very subtle, and generally transparent to most borrowers. However, understanding how they differ is important when selecting a company to handle this very important aspect of your home buying process. Before we begin, l
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05/31/2007