****************************************************************************************************************** Info about the author: George Souto is a Loan Officer who can assist you with all your FHA, CHFA, andConventional mortgage needs in Connecticut. George resides in Middlesex County which includes Middletown, Middlefield, Durham, Cromwell, Portland, Higganum, Haddam, East Haddam, Chester, Deep River, and Essex. George can be contacted at (860) 573-1308 or gsouto@mccuemortgage.com 07/22/2009

Most Sales People have goals, whether they are put in writing or not.  But how many of us know what our purpose is, or even ashed ourselves what our purpose is.  You might ask what is the difference, aren't goals and purpose the same?  I would say they are not. We can have a purpose in life or in business without any particular goals attached to that purpose.  But I do not think that we can have goals with out a purpose, and if we do, then that might be the reason why we fail to meet our goals. Purpose in my opinion is dependent on: Knowledge Attitude Sense of Worth Goals in my opinion are more: Vision Driven Ability to stay on task Accomplishment Purpose asks why am I here, and what do I want to accomplish, while goals are results orientated, setting strategies to accomplishing what we... 07/21/2009

Three weeks ago I got a call from the local William Raveis Real Estate in house Loan Officer.  She had a loan that met FHA Guidelines, but she could not get an approval on it, because their investor did not like the limited number of credit lines that the Borrower had.  I wanted to make sure that I would not have the same problem so I went over to my Underwriter and ran the scenario by her.  She told me that we would not have a problem with that and to bring the loan in.  I called the other Loan Officer back to let her know that we should be able to do it.  At this point she added one more little twist, we had to get it done within 8 business days, and that Friday was a day off for the 4th of July.  I told her that we should be able to get it done in time as long as she could get all of... 07/20/2009

  ****************************************************************************************************************** Info about the author: George Souto is a Loan Officer who can assist you with all your FHA, CHFA, and Conventional mortgage needs in Connecticut. George resides in Middlesex County which includes Middletown, Middlefield, Durham, Cromwell, Portland, Higganum, Haddam, East Haddam, Chester, Deep River, and Essex. George can be contacted at (860) 573-1308 or gsouto@mccuemortgage.com 07/19/2009

Yesterday I wrote the first of two blogs introducing the New Truth In Lending (TIL) Guideline changes.  In this second blog I will go into more detail as to why I feel that these changes will create significant delays in the Loan Closing Process. First let me recap the four major changes that will go into affect at the end of the month: As of July 31 ALL Loan transactions will require that the initial Truth In Lending (TIL) statement be issued within 3 days of the Loan Application, and no Loan Transaction will be allowed to Close before the 7th Business Day after the Borrower has been sent or given the initial TIL. Business Days are defined as all calendar days except Sunday and the Federal Public Holidays The new Guidelines will also require that there be an additional 3 day waiting pe... 07/18/2009

Finally the whether has warmed up enough and the rain stopped long enough to enjoy the pool, and the kids had a blast.  The three on the right are triplets. *************************************************************************************************************** Info about the author: George Souto is a Loan Officer who can assist you with all your FHA, CHFA, and Conventional mortgage needs in Connecticut. George resides in Middlesex County which includes Middletown, Middlefield, Durham, Cromwell, Portland, Higganum, Haddam, East Haddam, Chester, Deep River, and Essex. George can be contacted at (860) 573-1308 or gsouto@mccuemortgage.com 07/12/2009

During my time here on ActiveRain I have read several blogs about how important it is for a Seller to prepare their house before they put it on the market for sale. These blogs have provided excellent advice, and suggestions on how to make a house attractive to prospective buyers. One of the common themes in each of these blogs has been how extremely important it is for a house to make the best possible first impression that it can. All these blogs show how important it is to prepare a house for sale, but how much thought do we Loan Officers and Realtors, put in preparing our own house for sale? What kind of first impression do we give when we present ourselves to our potential clients and business partners? I know that when I talk to Realtors, the first impression that I get of them pl... 07/11/2009

The Connecticut Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce has a very busy month of July planned.  Besides the upcoming Business After Hours event Monday July 13th that I bloged about earlier this week, they also have three other events that are great opportunities to network. All three are the week of the 20th, and starting on Monday July 20 with the Member Breakfast Meeting.  The monthly breakfast draws from 600 to 800 members every month and this month it should be a packed house, because Caron Butler, of the Washington Wizards and former UCONN basketball Star will be the guest speaker. The Member Breakfast Meeting will be followed by the Middlesex Businesswomen's Alliance on the 22nd.  This will be a Ladies Nite (sorry guys) at the Lyman Orchard Glof Club, where the Ladies will be treated... 07/09/2009

The month of June here in Connecticut was probably the wettest month that I can ever remember, and July is starting out the same.  I have been posting pictures of flowers during this time that have really benefited by all this rain, and it has been very evident in their beautiful bright colors.  But I think that even the flowers are ready to waive a white flag and give up because of the continuous rain.  The flower below is a good example of this, it looks like it is saying I give up and surrender.  A little sunshine please :) :) There is even a couple of rain drops still hanging on its leaves.     ****************************************************************************************************************** Info about the author: George Souto is a Loan Officer who can assist you wit... 07/08/2009

My wife just e-mailed me this very important SCAM ALERT, and I thought that I better share it with the rest of you here on ActiveRain.  As you all know we have a BIG problem with ticks here in New England, and here in Connecticut we have even our own "tick" named after one of our towns, the "Lyme Tick", which is responsible for, you guessed it "Lyme Disease I sure hope that I am not to late in getting the word out to all of you on this. I hate it when people forward bogus warnings, and I have even done it myself a couple times unintentionally but this one is real, and it's important. Please send this warning to everyone on your e- mail list. If someone comes to your front door saying they are checking for ticks due to the warm weather and asks you to take your clothes off and dance arou... 07/06/2009

  ****************************************************************************************************************** Info about the author: George Souto is a Loan Officer who can assist you with all your FHA, CHFA, and Conventional mortgage needs in Connecticut. George resides in Middlesex County which includes Middletown, Middlefield, Durham, Cromwell, Portland, Higganum, Haddam, East Haddam, Chester, Deep River, and Essex. George can be contacted at (860) 573-1308 or gsouto@mccuemortgage.com 07/05/2009

  ****************************************************************************************************************** Info about the author: George Souto is a Loan Officer who can assist you with all your FHA, CHFA, and Conventional mortgage needs in Connecticut. George resides in Middlesex County which includes Middletown, Middlefield, Durham, Cromwell, Portland, Higganum, Haddam, East Haddam, Chester, Deep River, and Essex. George can be contacted at (860) 573-1308 or gsouto@mccuemortgage.com 07/03/2009

  ****************************************************************************************************************** Info about the author: George Souto is a Loan Officer who can assist you with all your FHA, CHFA, and Conventional mortgage needs in Connecticut. George resides in Middlesex County which includes Middletown, Middlefield, Durham, Cromwell, Portland, Higganum, Haddam, East Haddam, Chester, Deep River, and Essex. George can be contacted at (860) 573-1308 or gsouto@mccuemortgage.com 07/01/2009

  ****************************************************************************************************************** Info about the author: George Souto is a Loan Officer who can assist you with all your FHA, CHFA, and Conventional mortgage needs in Connecticut. George resides in Middlesex County which includes Middletown, Middlefield, Durham, Cromwell, Portland, Higganum, Haddam, East Haddam, Chester, Deep River, and Essex. George can be contacted at (860) 573-1308 or gsouto@mccuemortgage.com 06/28/2009

  ****************************************************************************************************************** Info about the author: George Souto is a Loan Officer who can assist you with all your FHA, CHFA, and Conventional mortgage needs in Connecticut. George resides in Middlesex County which includes Middletown, Middlefield, Durham, Cromwell, Portland, Higganum, Haddam, East Haddam, Chester, Deep River, and Essex. George can be contacted at (860) 573-1308 or gsouto@mccuemortgage.com 06/24/2009

While the title says that FHA is the main loan program in Connecticut, the truth is that FHA is probably the main Loan Program in many other states as well.  With all of the changes that have happened in the last year to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, PMI Companies, and changes in Appraisal Guidelines, have made FHA is a very attractive Loan Product right now. In the past year we have seen Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae incorporate several point adjustments into the pricing of loans that are backed by them.  There are hits for points if the FICO Score is under 740, further hits if the LTV is over 80%, and the price adjustments for Condo's, Multi Family, and Investment Properties are through the roof.  In some cases the price adjustments make it impossible for Lenders to be able to do a loan. On t... 06/23/2009

One of the great faults that many people in sales have is thinking that they know better than their clients.  They feel that their knowledge of the product that they are selling somehow entitles them to the freedom of making decisions for those who are the ones who are spending the money.  Having this feeling or attitude creates many unnecessary problems.  Having this feeling or attitude leads the sales person to somehow think that they have the right to decide what their clients should purchase, and how much they should purchase.  After all they are the experts on the product and they know best. When I first got into sales, selling Life Insurance in a small territory where you went into the houses of those who had insurance policy's with me, and collected the premium on a weekly or mon... 06/22/2009

  ****************************************************************************************************************** Info about the author: George Souto is a Loan Officer who can assist you with all your FHA, CHFA, and Conventional mortgage needs in Connecticut. George resides in Middlesex County which includes Middletown, Middlefield, Durham, Cromwell, Portland, Higganum, Haddam, East Haddam, Chester, Deep River, and Essex. George can be contacted at (860) 573-1308 or gsouto@mccuemortgage.com   06/21/2009

  ****************************************************************************************************************** Info about the author: George Souto is a Loan Officer who can assist you with all your FHA, CHFA, and Conventional mortgage needs in Connecticut. George resides in Middlesex County which includes Middletown, Middlefield, Durham, Cromwell, Portland, Higganum, Haddam, East Haddam, Chester, Deep River, and Essex. George can be contacted at (860) 573-1308 or gsouto@mccuemortgage.com 06/20/2009

Lately more and more of my Borrowers having been calling me, because they have been receiving offers in the mail that make it seem like they were sent by us.  These offer covered a number of areas, from refinancing, loan modification, bi-weekly payments, lower interest rates as well as others. These offers are not sent on McCue Mortgage Letterhead, but will mention McCue Mortgage very early in the letter, and are worded in a way to make the Borrower think the letter was sent from us.  This is a very sneaky way of trying to get the Borrower to call the phone number that is provided on the letter, thinking that they are contacting us. This is unfortunate and is in my opinion a total misuse of the public information that these people are unfortunately able to obtain once a loan is closed, ... 06/19/2009