California Mortgage Blog

How Hard Is It to Refinance a Mortgage?  On a weekend morning you wake up:A)  Before 6AM.B)  Before 8AM.C)  Before 10AM.D)  Yeah, yeah, I'm awake... It's time to take out the trash when:A)  Pickup is the following day.B)  The level of trash is approaching the top of the trash can.B)  The level of...

N/O/O:  Jumbo Mortgage's Scarlet Letters  May 1, 2020Day 46 of Shelter-in-Place If you are a real estate investor at this time, in this market and looking for a jumbo mortgage to buy a non-owner occupied home (N/O/O), you may feel like our industry sees you with a scarlet letter(s) on your chest....

A big THANK YOU for helping make me a top originator in 2019. I'm proud to be among Guaranteed Rate's top originators in the country, as ranked by industry publication Mortgage Executive Magazine.  For 2019, Guaranteed Rate placed 45 of us in the nation's Top 200, and we could not have done this ...

I'm Here to Help You  Be clear. Be specific. Reduce uncertainty. Speak to the most pressing need. Keep running.  You still have a long way to go.  No, I did not just come down off the mountain of some Tony Robbins motivational speech.  No, I did not use the featureless timescape of shelter-in-pla...

I'm Refi The Cash Out Man Sing to the tune of Popeye the Sailor Man: I'm Refi the Cash Out Man.  You're lookin' for cash in hand.Your house is worth plenty, you can access them pennies,So cash out?  Indeed you can. We're in a pandemic, you hear jumbo lenderswon't refi your equity spare.But that a...

10% Down Payment Mortgage But I don’t get it. 2020 started just like the many of the years that preceded it. Sure, there was a seasonal slowdown in home buying activity as we got through 2019’s holiday season and got the new year underway, but with interest rates at historic lows, a strong seller...

The New Abnormal We've just turned the corner from March to April, but here in the San Francisco Bay Area, we are still sheltered in place (SIP).  Everybody in our home is making adjustments to our new abnormal and it's a good lesson for today's homeowner too.  We may not be able to move around o...

Errors of Intent Watching the world grapple with a pandemic has had a profound impact on my ability to count blessings.  Yes, we are sheltered in place, but my immediate family is presently in good health.  And though I suspect the coming days, weeks and months will be disrupted by yet unknown ch...

We Are Essential I've seen a few movies in my career; 9/11, Lehman collapse, the CFPB crusades to name a few.  But the Corona virus (COVID-19) will no doubt test the mortgage banking industry in novel and difficult ways.  So it was heartening to receive this update from our COO today and amidst t...

 Your Credit May Be Good, But Is It Jumbo Good?  "I have an 800 FICO so I know I'll qualify..." We, here at Guaranteed Rate, pride ourselves on being a great jumbo mortgage lender. And because of my geography and clientele in the San Francisco Bay Area, we encounter a lot of higher loan amounts. ...