The Mortgage Porter

Eight Down Payment Assistance Programs for Washington Home Buyers

July 18, 2013 by Rhonda Porter 12 Comments

Did you know that the Washington State Housing Finance Commission offers 8 different down payment assistance programs for Washington state home buyers? It’s true! And some of them do not require you to be a first time home buyer. The WSHFC down payment assistance programs listed below can be used with a Home Advantage first mortgage:

Mortgage Interest Rate Locks 101: UPDATED

July 18, 2013 by Rhonda Porter 2 Comments

EDITORS NOTE: One of the joys of writing a mortgage blog is that guidelines and procedures change…and change often. This gives me a great opportunity to provide you with an updated post. With HUD’s creation of the 2010 Good Faith Estimate, a lot of the information in the original post is no longer relevant (relating to the GFE) from the original article I wrote on locking back in 2007. With that said, here’s my updated post…we’ll see if we need to revise this again once CFPB issues their version of the Good Faith Estimate!

I love it when I’m asked an excellent question from a potential client. This person is still shopping for his next home and who the lender will be to provide financing. At this point, I have provided several good faith estimates and a total costs analysis to compare possible scenarios side by side along with how the mortgages may be working for him in 5 and 10 years.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Interest Rates, Mortgage Tagged With: interest rates, locks, pricing, rate lock

What May Impact Mortgage Rates this Week: July 15, 2013 [with mortgage rates]

July 16, 2013 by Rhonda Porter Leave a Comment

This week, mortgage rates continue to be bumpy and with Ben Bernanke speaking tomorrow on Capital Hill, we may additional volatility. Here are some of the scheduled economic indicators to be released this week:

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Economy Tagged With: ben bernanke, economy, green lake, rates

I Want to Buy a House

July 14, 2013 by Rhonda Porter Leave a Comment

Do you or someone you know want to buy a house?

Could you use some help with down payment?

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Education, Home Advantage Program, WSHFC Tagged With: class, education, home buyer, seattle, wshfc

How to prepare for a Home Buyer Education Class

July 11, 2013 by Rhonda Porter 3 Comments

I’m putting the final touches on the home buyers education seminar, sponsored by the Washington State Housing Finance Commission, that I will be teaching this weekend. The criteria for the class is set by WSHFC and it’s a lot of information to review from different types of mortgages, qualifying and even how to select a real estate agent or lender. I thought I’d share a few tips for how someone may want to prepare for a home buyer’s class, like the one I’ll be teaching in Seattle.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Education, Events, WSHFC Tagged With: home buyer class, wshfc

FOMC Minutes to be released today

July 10, 2013 by Rhonda Porter Leave a Comment

In a few hours, we’ll be able to parse through the minutes from the last Fed meeting on June 19th, which launched mortgage rates (although still low) to the highest they’ve been in two years. Ben Bernanke is scheduled to hold a press conference this afternoon following the release of the minutes.

As I’m writing this post (8:40 am on July 10, 2013) the DOW is down about 19 bps at 15,281 and I’m quoting: 4.625% (apr 4.739%) priced with 0.471 points based on credit scores of 740 or higher with a sales price of $500,000 and 20% down payment for a purchase in greater Seattle closing by August 16, 2013. This is an improvement of about a half point in fee from what I quoted on Monday.

Stay tuned…we’ll see if and how the Fed’s minutes impact rates today.

Filed Under: The Fed - FOMC

What May Impact Mortgage Rates this Week: July 8, 2013

July 8, 2013 by Rhonda Porter Leave a Comment

This morning, mortgage backed securities are recovering from Friday’s fiasco following the better than expected Jobs Report. On Wednesday, the minutes from the last Fed meeting will be released which may set mortgage rates off on another roller coaster ride.