Eric's Blog

On March 4, 2009 - both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, are to unveil how they will handle the plan laid out by President Obama almost two weeks ago.  While the financial markets continuing to reel, (see AIG losses, the DOW falling, and GE closing at its lowest point since 1993) the housing market is...

Week in Review: FHA Increases Conforming Loan Limits - On Wednesday, HUD released a statement saying that until December 1, 2009 they are increasing the mortgage maximum for FHA loans for certain counties in the US.  Maricopa County was one of those that benefited from this recent change.  The ne...

Here is some interesting news for the past week: •1)       Lenders changing minimum FICO score on FHA to 620 - That is right, what one lender does, the others soon follow.  Case in point, MI companies now require greater than 720 Fico scores for any LTV over 85% in distressed markets.  So, when o...

The President of the company that I currently work for, 1st Advantage Mortgage, will sometimes make short videos explaining interesting items in the market, from how MBS work to why rates are the way they are.  Case in point, last Saturday we received the following video regarding rates in the mi...

Another week has come and gone.  Here are a few highlights and my take on them, purely from an opinion standpoint.  Rates are up this week, we will see where they move to in the next few days.  •·         Cardinals lose in Super Bowl XLIII - I flew home from Dallas last weekend early to watch the...

Yesterday, the senate ok'd the increase of the first time homebuyer tax credit from $7500 to $15,000.  Though this hasn't been passed, it should help to entice more people who are renting to get into the mindset of someday owning their own home. The link to the article is here: http://news.yahoo....

There are a few new items coming up or at least in the works.  Thought it might be of interest to realtors and to their clients as well as to mortgage professionals. Appraisals - Starting 4/1/09 appraisals will need to be ordered by the investors and not through the mortgage broker.  The point is...

Rates are up slightly this week (about a quarter of a percent) - which is odd because there really isn't great news out there.  Perhaps the loan volume is so great that the big players are trying to slow down the refinance train so they can catch up.  Underwriting times can be as much as 15 days ...

Quick Review of the Week: •1)       Gators win National Championship - Yep, once again the underdog gets it done.  There is something about these college football players and pro football players (think Cardinals) that once they are told they can't do it, rise up and do what it takes to win.  Con...

Hello, It is finally here...2009!  And with the excitement of a new year, we can focus our eyes on what lies ahead and forget what came before in the past.  If you watched any of the television coverage on New Year's Eve and even the bowl games New Years Day, then you no doubt heard countless sta...