Kabir Mahadeva's (kabirm) Blog

Tony has written a nice summary and provided useful links to appraisal requirements.  Anyone interviewing potential lenders should ask the question "Who orders your appraisal and where do the appraisers come from?" If the lender cannot guarantee experienced local appraisers who are familiar with...

How do we get our message through clearly?  The right words matter.Words matter. Wars have started over them; people are propelled to act because of them. And it appears that the marketing-time of houses might be determined by them, too. At least in part... As listings grow old, and frustrated se...

I was talking to my nearly 80-year old mom yesterday about how I just got set up on Facebook.  People from my elementary school from 40 years ago are finding me and reconnecting.  My mom said she just wasn't ready for another stream of information, and I started to list the different streams of i...

  Recent guidelines from Washington have forced a change to the way that loan originators will disclose closing costs for all borrowers. The purpose of the new Good Faith Estimate is to level the playing field for borrowers comparing loans to be able to make apples to apples comparisons for loan ...

This blog entry is more for sellers and realtors, but the issues are important for everyone.  Buyers, too, should seek to work with lending sources who use local, experienced appraisers. Although on its face, having a low appraisal may seem to benefit buyers, this is a short term benefit.  Someda...

This is the best, most concise summary of this topic I have seen. Many thanks, Loreena!For the longest time, there was no standardization in good faith estimates presented by Lenders when a loan application is made by a borrower. No standarization here means some lenders disclose a variety of inf...

I get asked the essentially same question about interest rates.  Here again, the person really wants to know if their rate is as good as or better than what is available today.  With all the variables in today's lending scenario, you cannot really quote rates to anyone without knowing a lot more...

Thanks to Adrian Cox for so cleanly summarizing the impact of the new rules.  My company will always redisclose changes as soon as they occur, and we generally do so long before settlement, so this should not affect our ability to close on time. The Federal Mortgage Disclosure Improvement Act (MD...

Note:  I purchased this book for use in advising my mortgage loan clients.  I did not receive a free review copy nor am I being compensated in any way for this review. Linda Ferrari's new book, "The Big Score: Getting and Keeping It" (Consumer Power Press, 2008, $29.95, ISBN 978-0-615-22860-0) i...

This is a great summary of a tool that can help sell distressed property.  In addition to the information below, there is a streamlined version of the 203k for repairs not to exceed 35000.203k MADE SIMPLE? Ok, maybe not, but I will attempt to make it as simple as possible for the client to unders...