Have You Co-Signed for a Mortgage?

If so, you may want to check in with the person you co-signed for just to make sure every thing’s okay.   In the event they’re not able to meet their mortgage payments,  you certainly don’t want the "foreclosure man" to show up at your door.   The quote below is about a foreclosure in Kirkland where someone co-signed for a friend and the foreclosure man is knocking, as reported by Erik Lacitis of the Seattle Times:

"I just thought I was doing a friend a favor by co-signing," she said. "And then he was going to refinance and get my name off the loan. I can’t afford for this to happen."

No one ever expects to go into foreclosure and much like the person above, intentions Nommag72008are to refinance the co-signer off the mortgage.   However when things go wrong and someone is not able to make the payments, the co-signer is on the hook.  Unfortunately, the co-signer may not have the same lead time as the borrower in dealing with a foreclosure situation as many who are dealing with this type of situation are living in denial.

Nearly five months can elapse while the various legal steps are taken, and right up until the morning of the auction, the foreclosure can be stopped if an arrangement is made with the lender. Only about 20 percent to 30 percent of foreclosed homes in the Puget Sound area actually are sold at auction, based on statistics from the counties.

Foreclosures are on the rise in the Puget Sound area so if you have done a friend or family member a huge favor by co-signing on a mortgage, you may want to give them a friendly call to see how they’re doing.

Hat Tip to Marlow Harris of 360Digest.

Lending Integrity Seal of Approval

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I recently received permission from NAMB to post the Lending Integrity Seal of Approval which you may have noticed on the left side of my blog.   This logo isn’t something that just anyone can post or promote, it must be approved by the National Association of Mortgage Brokers.

In order to display the Lending Integrity Seal of Approval, a broker or loan originator must:

George Hanzimanolis, President of NAMB feels this seal will “soon become to the mortgage industry what the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval is to the makers of consumer products.”

George, by the way, is a heck of nice guy.  My husband and I had the opportunity to meet and have dinner with him last week when he was in town with my brother-in-law, John Porter, Vice President of Mortgage Master Service Corporation.

 

Do you need great credit and a big down payment to buy a home?

Cindy, one of my clients that I helped finance their first home, emailed me this question:

“I know home loans have changed a lot but is it true that you can’t get a home loan with a credit score under 700 and 20% down?”

[Read more…]

It’s nice to be appreciated and to be Queen!

mortgage queen Bobbi and Michael are long time clients of mine.  I’ve helped them and their family members with refinance and purchase transactions over the years.  A couple months ago they wanted to buy a new home contingent and they were not able to sell at this time…they may try again later.   I was pleasantly surprised that they sent me a customized (yep, they designed the gift card to look like me!) Starbucks gift card.   Their handwritten note reads: [Read more…]

Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day.

Photos from my son during our trip back to DC back in Spring 2002.

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This monument is in the Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, Virginia.

This monument was created by the efforts of the women of the Hollywood Memorial Association. Not content merely to tend the graves of the Confederate dead, the women decided to raise money to erect a monument. A successful two-week bazaar raised over $18,000 in 1867. Charles Dimmock’s design is a dry stone pyramid made of James River granite. It took nearly a year to build and is ninety feet tall. 18,000 Confederate dead are buried around its base.

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This photo is from Arlington National Cemetry.