Mortgage Porter is in the PINK

October 4, 2008 by 3 Comments

Do not adjust your screen, Mortgage Porter is pink during October to recognize National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  If you’re a long time reader of this blog, you know that breast cancer has taken two wonderful ladies from our office.  Both were around 40 years young and neither had cancer in their family.  Breast cancer does not discriminate, men may be diagnosed with this disease as well. 

In addition to the pink background, I have a button you click on the left which will help provide free mammograms.  (All you need to do is click the button–that’s it!)

Want to do more?  Start with your own self-exam and consider a donation of your time or money.  You can also help spread the word by going pink!

A special thanks to Mike Mueller for adding the pink ribbon to my mug shot and to Jay Thompson for giving me the idea of pinking out Mortgage Porter.

Filed Under: Current Affairs

Vesting: How to Take Title for Your Real Property

October 1, 2008 by Leave a Comment

UPDATE 1/5/12: With First American Title absorbing The Talon Group, apparently they decided to take down many of the videos the talented crew at Talon created for consumers. Here is a pdf that contains information on vesting: Download Different Ways of Holding Title.

UPDATE 5/15/2013: Wow! It looks like this video is back… thanks, First Am!

If you are buying a home in Washington State, it’s important to consider how you are going to hold title (vesting), especially if you’re buying with another individual and you are unmarried.  Tim Daniels, Chief Title Office of The Talon Group, shares various ways people can consider for vesting of their real estate property.

Filed Under: Residential Purchase, Title Insurance Tagged With: , ,

How Did Our State House Members Vote on the $700B?

September 30, 2008 by Leave a Comment

This from the Seattle PI:

Yes: Jim McDermott. Norm Dicks. Adam Smith. Rick Larsen. Brian Baird (All Democrats).

No: Dave Reichert. Cathy McMorris Rodgers. Doc Hastings (All Republicans). Jay Inslee (Democrat).

Elections are just weeks away.  NBC is reporting that House members in close races tended to vote no on this bailout.   For the record, here are the results from the 2006 elections:

District 1: Jay Inslee elected with 67.8% of the vote

District 2:  Rick Larsen ~ 64.16%

District 3: Brian Baird ~ 63.15%

District 4: Doc Hastings ~ 59.88%

District 5: Cathy McMorris Rodgers ~ 56.11%

District 6:  Norm Dicks ~ 70.6%

District 7: Jim McDermott ~ 79.16%

District 8: Dave Reichert ~ 51.46%

District 9: Adam Smith ~ 65.72%

House members who voted no to the bailout were elected by an average percentage of 58.81% (take out Inslee and the average drops to a narrow 55.8%).

Washington State House members supporting this bailout were elected by an average 68.5% by their constituents.

By the way, you have just a couple days left to become a registered voter, if you are not all ready, for the upcoming election.

Filed Under: Legislation

Got Keiki?

September 28, 2008 by Leave a Comment

I had no idea that I did until my neighbor spied the starts on one of my orchids.  "Keiki" is Hawiian for baby.  I feel so lucky!  I’m new to growing orchids…so we’ll see how this all turns out. 

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Filed Under: Just for Fun

Remember these?

September 26, 2008 by 2 Comments

First, a commercial from Washington Mutual…where even Paul can get a home loan thanks to their flexible underwriting. 

Then…don’t worry, you can sleep knowing you have AIG…I won’t miss this annoying kid…but I did enjoy the laughing baby ads.

Wachovia currently is dancing around in talks with various banks right now hoping for a merger.  I wish I could have found the ad where the lady was talking about making her option ARM and how she liked to make her deferred interest payment when her dog was having puppies!  All I could find was this promo on a "fixed rate mortgage with payment options for wiggle room".

For my puppy-fix, here’s one more from WaMU.

Filed Under: Just for Fun

Tips for homebuyers and sellers

September 25, 2008 by Leave a Comment

Yesterday I was interviewed by Melinda Fulmer for a MSN Real Estate article.   Here were a few of my pointers (with some clarification) for buyers:

1.  Plan on having a down payment.  FHA allows for a reduced down payment which can be gifted or loaned by family members, as does USDA and VA. However I do like to see those shy on savings practice making mortgage payments to a savings account until they have at least 6 months of mortgage payments “in reserves”.   This account is not to be used for your down payment–it’s in case of an emergency.

2. Be picky when selecting your loan originator.  I do believe in getting referrals from people you financially respect.  You can also try “googling” their names to learn more about the loan originator and their qualifications.

Borrowers may be better off working with loan originators who have are able to provide FHA loans–even if they’re not considering FHA financing.  Many conventional loans are having to switch to FHA financing as the underwriting is more forgiving and rates may be better depending on mid-credit scores.

3. Get prequalified as soon as possible.  This is a good way to get to select your loan originator (this is not the same as a preapproval).  During this stage, you’ll be able to see how detailed oriented the LO is what their personality is like–what type of programs do they recommend.  A LO should provide you a Good Faith Estimate without any commitment from you.

4. Rate lock strategy.  Ask your LO what they can do if rates improve after you lock.  Right now, with the turbulent markets, many lenders are offering free rate float downs as long as the lock meets specific criteria.  This provides borrowers with the assurance that the rate will not be higher than the current rate lock and that should rates improve, they may have the opportunity to “float down” to that rate.  Do make sure to obtain a written lock confirmation.

For sellers, I suggest that they insist on a preapproval letter to be included with their offer.  They should also carefully read the letter, it should address the buyer’s credit, income/employment and where the down payment is coming from along with the type of loan they’re approved for. Preapproval letters are sadly not worth more than the paper they’re written on, however they can provide you with some clues about the lender the buyer is working with.  If a seller has two identical offers, the buyer’s lender can make a huge difference in whether or not the transaction closes smoothly.

Filed Under: First Time Home Buyer, Interviews, Residential Purchase Tagged With: , , ,

What takes place between signing and closing?

September 23, 2008 by Leave a Comment

What happens between signing documents and closing? Watch this video featuring The Talon Group’s Chief Title Officer, Tim Daniels as he explains what happens with your loan documents after you finish signing at the escrow company.

Filed Under: Escrow and closing, Residential Purchase, Title Insurance

A Solution for FHA Buyers Searching for a Down Payment

September 22, 2008 by Leave a Comment

DPA’s, such as Nehemiah, will no longer be allowed with FHA mortgages as of October 1, 2008 with the passage of HR 3221.  Congress currently has legislation in the works to bring DPA’s back to life for those with better credit scores…but until that is successfully passed, DPAs are soon to be gone.   

Buyers who are shy on down payment (or wish not to tap out their savings) can ask intermediate family members for a loan.  Here are some of the FHA guidelines:

  • The loan can be secured or unsecured against the subject property.  No third parties.
  • The loan must only be with immediate family (parent, stepparent, grandparent, child, adopted or foster child, etc.)
  • The family member can borrower the funds for the loan–however, the loan must be between the family member (again, no third parties allowed).
  • No balloon payments can be due within 5 years.
  • Borrower must qualify for both loans (FHA mortgage and the family loan).   Terms of the family must be submitted to underwriting.
  • The combined loan to value (when you factor both loans) may exceed 100% of the sales price however, no cash back to the borrower is allowed (except for the earnest money deposit).

Sellers can still contribute up to 6% of the sales price towards actual closing costs and prepaids AFTER the borrower has met their 3.5% contribution towards down payment (this is where the family loan comes in).  If the home buyer has not owned a home for the past 36 months, they may qualify for the First Time Homebuyer Tax Credit which could give them up to $7500 to pay back the family loan once they receive their tax refund. 

Family members can still provide "gift" funds towards the down payment and closing costs as long as they do not expect repayment.  Currently, the IRS permits up to $12,000 per person for an annual gift before gift taxes are to be paid without tax.

Filed Under: FHA
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