How many of you fear that your credit score is just not good enough? What about when a lender tells you that you only fit a particular loan product just because of your credit score, no matter how much money you make? Can all of this be true?  Not necessarily!!!  Why can I say this when so many of the lenders might tell you, the consumer,  differently.  There is one loan product out there called FHA. And not every lender is either approved to offer this or are many loan officers aware of this program and what can be done with it. Bottom line, FHA does not require specific credit scores, but they do look at your overall credit history. More so, the last 12 months of a credit history are looked at and good explanations will supersede any blemishes on you your c... 02/04/2007

                            OR                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          The longer that I am in the mortgage and real estate business, the more I have been a true believer that it should be all about me and what I can do for you and your clients. When I first got into the mortgage business, I always pursued the larger corporations just because I was new and because I wanted and needed name recognition. Sure, you need to work for a good company, one that supports you. As a loan officer, a company that may have great rates, able to underwrite in-house, and expedites the processing pro... 12/30/2006

Homes can be a worry to many consumers and high debt is causing twentysomes to worry about how they can afford a home on their own. But being prepared can cut down on headaches. Many Americans are much younger than before, which are the fastest-growing group of homeowners. No matter what your financial backing is or your financial means are, your first home can be overwhelming. And because the medium home price has doubled in many cases in recent years, those living with parents or renting, has become increasingly harder. Here are tips to think about and look for when buying a home: Know your credit history There are three major credit agencies in which your credit is reported to. One problem is that many creditors don't report to all three bureaus, sometimes just to two of them, or so... 12/25/2006

You basically can call it a "Pocket-Sized Promotion". How many of you have your cards with you at all times?  Myself, in 14 years, you caught me maybe twice without a card. Networking, we all do it. What a quick and easy way to advertise.  Rich Jacobson wrote a post : "Personal Photos in Real Estate Marketing" - the Debate Continues! This was more geared towards web sites, but brings up an interesting point in general.   The integral part of business is the often overlooked business card. So many of us think it's a casual business when presenting our business card to someone else. Many are either shy or just feel like it's an intrusion. In other countries, business people regard it as a symbol of respect.  Mercedes Alfaro, president of First Impression Management, Inc, believes that we... 12/22/2006

Reviewing the rate issues at hand, job losses, and more homes on the market with fewer buyers, one of the most basic questions that you should be asking is.... "Who's buying homes now?"  And we can take the next step to a larger question at hand. "Who will be driving the residential real estate market?" And "Who is my business." There are a few key emerging markets transpiring. The baby boomers & echo boomers, single women, and the Hispanic sector. Basically trying to understand these markets by figuring out how they influence the market and where to find them. We need to educate ourselves by training each other or your organization about the specific desires and concerns of these three critical groups. By doing this, you will be better poised to successfully sell to these customers.   ... 11/16/2006

I have been doing this for a little over 14 years now. When I first got into this industry, sure, I was green….brand new. Sure, I had classes in High School and College in regards to financing, economics, managing your money, your typical math classes, and even some accounting classes. But what got me were the lawyers and the accountants that told their clients not to do mortgages with points associated to them. Or the typical family member and your next-door neighbor that got this great deal with zero points and that this was the way to go. Even the talk radio shows that might have been talking about one specific thing in regards to points and zero points, but that you came into the middle of the program.  One of my first questions when speaking to a client, refinancing or purchasing,... 11/06/2006

I have been doing this for over 14 years now. Helping those to finance their new dream, may it be purchasing that new home or refinancing their current home for several reasons. Even helping those investors that want to add to their portfolio.   I have talked to several of you on the phone from Active Rain and overall, I just love Active Rain. The continuous networking, a great Team (Caleb & Matt) that keeps this site active and improving daily, great people on here with great ideas, and just to be able to express yourself and feel like you have friends all over. But you need to be able to keep an open mind when you put yourself out there. You have to be able to take any type of criticism, good or bad, and use it as a positve footnote in your life and in your business.What I wanted to s... 11/01/2006

       Sure, this is a subject oftened talk about and frequently talked about on Active rain. But I wanted to give a little more information on what predatory lending is all about and not the misconception of what most might think it is.         Anyone’s commitment in the financing/mortgage industry should be to provide borrowers with the best possible financing, in the least amount of time, and for a reasonable fee. Home ownership is an American Dream and it is priceless. A loan should not be offered that would keep that dream from coming true. Or actually hurt that client down the road that would later hurt this dream and financially bankrupct them.   Predatory lending is often confused with Sub prime lending. Sub prime lending, the provision of loans to households with relatively po... 10/31/2006

This is a grey area because each state can be very different in regards to the agreement of sale. Even though I can do mortgages in any state, I only focus on a few myself. This is where the realtor and lender need to be on the same page. This is where the client needs a good realtor that understands the ins and outs of a purchase contract.  There is nothing worse then when I have to advise the client of what they can and can’t do, because the realtor didn’t advise them correctly. And don’t get me wrong, I just give them feedback based on my experience, but tell them that they need to seek a good realtor and sometimes a good real estate lawyer. And I am not implying that anyone in here doesn’t know what he or she is talking about. A good example is that once contracts have been sign in ... 10/30/2006

I have been reading so many great blogs about real estate, mortgages, certain stories in regards to these topics, etc etc....  Even Broker Bryant and the Lovely Wife seem to throw in some blogs with humor in them. So I wanted to change this up a little.I wasn't much of a history buff in High School and not as much as I should have been in College. But I love watching the history channel now and sometimes Discovery Channel. I thought I would start a blog based on Famous Quotes. I would love to read some of your favorites and possibly learn something new. And I even take some of these quotes and implement them into my daily life and within work and my business plan.Here are two that I like out of hundreds..... and I am tired....so hopefully I can think of the others that I like later.... ... 10/27/2006

    People that over shop, looking for the best deal; can certainly even bring down the best of a sales person’s moral. This can be tiresome for the good realtor or loan officer that has to deal with these types of clients on a weekly basis. Most of us are here to help in one way or another. Sure, we all need to get paid for what we do. And some of us have our own ways of doing things. But when it comes down to deceiving the general public to make a quick buck, this is where it needs to stop. And not only does the realtor or loan officer lose out on their commissions, but the client will sometimes end up paying more in the long run because of their decision. And this decision was based on a promise or guarantee that they are getting the lowest rate or little costs. And in regards to re... 10/25/2006

This is something that is starting to show up more and more in todays' industry. Nowadays, a realtor might not see this as often as a loan officer would  in todays market. The reason being is that investors are the people that are using assignments more than your normal purchase agreements and usually use hard money lenders for their financing.This is a defination directly from a financial dictionary. Assignment Contract: A contract with a provision permitting the contract holder to convey his or her rights of assignment to a third party. This enables the contract holder to assign the rights and obligations of a contract to another to perform and receive the benefits of that contract before it closes. The reason this can create a problem is if you don't understand the difference between... 10/23/2006

After being on Active Rain for almost 3 weeks now, this has been a big topic of discussion and growing concern. We have talked about the “Pay Option Arm” and the “Interest Only” loans that seem to be the most at risk for today’s consumers. Both of these products have shot up with home prices. And critics say not all buyers know what they are getting into.  Federal financial regulatory agencies are concerned that buyers who use these so-called exotic loans could be at risk. Especially the subprime borrowers and others who may not qualify for more traditional mortgage loans or who may not fully understand the risks of nontradional mortgages. Because prices have accelerated, these loans have been the only means by which many people could afford to buy homes. This was a quote from an articl... 10/21/2006

READ ALL THE FINE PRINT...... This should be the first thing that you do when you get a rebate check in the mail. This has become an epidemic nationwide, preying on those that think they have free money. If you notice, the majority of the checks are all under $5.00. By reading the small print at the bottom of the check, it will state that when cashing the check, you become a preferred member of an agency. By doing so, the agency provides discounts to grocery stores, home improvement stores, and sometimes telling you that you will receive a free credit report. The biggest thing is an application for a new card, in which they charge you $89 for those privileges.According to the Federal Trade Commission, it's not a crime to send money to sign up for these so called services or companies. W... 10/18/2006

I was asked my opinion the other day by a loan officer in regards to the Chamber of Commerce. Everyone has their own opinions and thoughts, but my experience with our local Chamber of Commerce has been average. Don't get me wrong, any networking group can be beneficial in so many ways. Let's start with one that I am familiar with. Le Tip International. http://www.letip.com/  They are in 22 states now and Canada. The basic foundation behind this group is that you have 1 person from each type of business. Meaning that you would have only have 1 realtor, 1 loan officer, 1 CPA, 1 lawn care person (landscaper), 1 lawyer (many specialty lawyers are allowed), 1 Florist, so on and so on. Many of the people in these groups are owners of their own business. You basically meet once a week for an h... 10/17/2006

What to do when you give up your right to a walk-through last minute. I had a client back in June that was buying a home as a 2nd home near the shore. It wasn't the easiest of deals on my end because I had to do a stated income with 10% down. Most of all, their credit score was right on the bubble and just average. Well, I had to delay the settlement for 4 days because their credit score dropped a few points. Now it's funny, because I have talked about the baiting & switching methods from other lenders. But the credit is only good for so long, depending on the type of loan and the lender. I even got creative to save the deal because of how the seller acted because of this delay. I was proud of myself because I used my years of experience in this business to get both sides to closing. Bu... 10/15/2006

 It starts with the Republican and Democratic leaders on the House Financial Services Committee. They are planning to make predatory lending legislation a major priority next year, regardless of the outcome of the November elections. Now, with this in mind, whose better interest do they truly have in mind; the borrower or the lenders out there. I know there have been several blogs and comments made on behalf of this topic. The most recent of which was from Roberta Murphy, Predatory Lending and Decadent Spending , which gives us a great example of what can take place after the fact. Predatory loans are concentrated in the subprime market.  Subprime loans are supposed to cost a little more to compensate for borrowers' poor credit.  However, in a recent study according to Freddie Mac and F... 10/14/2006

It's called Remote XT technology and it works by installing software onto the operating system of the phone. This will activate via a call to a call center once users realize their phone has been snatched or lost. Then the phone is remotely disabled, all the data held on the device is then wiped, and a high pitched screech is triggered. The screaming noise can then be stopped once the battery is taken out and will start screaming again when the battery is put back in the phone. Even if you replace the sim card, the phone can't be activated. The sim card acting like a fingerprint. This system also backs up your information once a day and users can reload their information onto a replacement handset.                                                                                          ... 10/12/2006

Well, I am not the best when it comes to computers and how blogging works 100%. But I was doing some searching on the internet and found out an interesting fact to share with you. But after reading some of these articles, it seems that this is still an ongoing study.How many of you even knew that adding a question mark (?) at the end of your title could get you a lower ranking. Long ago, this was a consensus in the search engine industry. Currently it seems that the search engine industry consensus is that Googles indexes URLs just fine and ranks them along with other URLs.  But WAIT...unless there is a long number after the question mark or an "id=" in it which might indicate a session ID.This study goes on to say that Google and Yahoo! do include some URls with question marks. It then... 10/12/2006

INFOMERCIALS…..  what can I say?  It’s sometimes like watching a comedy show. How many of you get suckered into this?  Hey, I admit, I sometimes think I should call. Ever see the new lipo-pill? It reduces your fact from within, never needing lipo-suction.  LOL  I was like, gee, that would be great. Then I said, “wake up Jeff. Get real.” Infomericals arose because of the deregulation during the 80s involving television. But these originated on the radio at first. There are just countless infomercials on TV. 100's of 1,000's are made a year. But have you noticed that 99% of them are on TV from midnight until 7 am in the morning?  LOL  When many of you are either late night watchers of TV or people that just don’t have a job to even pay for these. NBC Dateline actually did their own infom... 10/10/2006