It’s surprising to me how often people ask me about automatic payments. Something which, in the grand scheme of the mortgage process, seems so inconsequential can really get some people thinking. But while I consider the mortgage process from a processing and underwriting standpoint, the payment piece becomes the long-term concern for the borrower. So […]

The value of mortgage insurance is different for every potential home buyer. To some, it is a way to get into a larger house or into a house, at all. For others, it is an unnecessary additional expense, only offering an unnecessarily large budget or small down payment. So the value of mortgage insurance is […]

The foreclosure inventory has waned over the last few years and the foreclosure price tags have come up. Where in 2010 or 2011 you could have purchased just about any Real Estate Owned home (foreclosure), it is now a much riskier gambit. This has led many of the talking heads to warn homebuyers of the […]

Many potential homebuyers I have spoken to have told me they are sitting on the sidelines until the fall or winter. The housing market jumped up tremendously last year, and is up again this year, meaning your dollar isn’t going quite as far as it did two years ago. Generally, as we leave the summer […]

As I discussed on Tuesday, FICO is changing some things in their scoring models. They will be excluding medical collections and paid collections when calculating FICO scores, meaning many people will see a significant increase in their credit score. So if you did not qualify for a mortgage a month ago, when these rules changes […]

FICO recently announced changes to how they will determine your credit score. These changes will help many borrowers on the cusp of eligibility, as they will now exclude  medical bills in collection and paid or satisfied collections when determining your score. What this means is that tens of millions of Americans will see their credit […]

For many, this housing season is a major indicator of what is to come with the economy. If we have another record year where house prices inflate another 20%+, it means the housing market is in full rebound and we are approaching pre-2008 values. If they suddenly plummet and lose all the ground they make, […]

When relocating, whether to the next town or the other side of the country, one of the most important considerations is school district. This is an obvious point for parents, as the school you send your child to is usually one of the primary factors in your location search. But even if you are not […]

Last week, I discussed the most common mortgage programs, including conventional, FHA, and VA. I also discussed rehabilitation, or construction, loans. On Tuesday, I discussed the two most common financing options: fixed rate and adjustable rate mortgages (ARM). Today, I am going to put these two concepts together to discuss the most common types of […]

Last week, I discussed some of the most common types of mortgage programs. This included conventional, FHA, and VA, and I touched on construction, or rehabilitation, loans. These are definitely the most common ways people finance a house, and each targets a specific part of the housing market. Today, I will discuss the most common […]