Archive for Mortgage and Finance
A world with 20% down payment required. The QRM.
QRM in the news. You may have heard some of the buzz surrounding QRM (Qualified Residential Mortgages) and the possibility of a 20% down payment requirement. The topic has definitely been a hot button issue, with arguments on both sides piling up. I don’t want to write an alarmist piece about the doom that will [...]
A letter to Congress about foreclosures, short sales, and the tax credit.
Tax credit still a hot topic. This post originally appeared on June 20, 2010 on another real estate site I had been experimenting with, TattooedRE.com. I happened to read it this morning and thought it was a good one to share in light of the fact that I still see a massive amount of traffic [...]
NACA’s “Save The Dream” Program – Saving Owners From Foreclosure
NACA – Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America NACA, the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America, is a non-profit homeowner advocacy group started in 1988 in Boston. I had heard of it when I first started in real estate, but when the housing market crisis hit, talk of it faded quickly and I never got to know [...]
“Low Interest Rates Are Great, But I Can’t Get A Loan!”
4% of Zero is Still Zero By now, everyone has heard how low interest rates have dropped about a million or more times. They are low and getting a loan at interest rates like these would save you a lot of money. The question is, can you get a loan? Unfortunately, after the Roaring-20s carefree [...]
Fidelity National Title to Require Warranties on REO Sales
Title company gets tough with banks. In light of the recent halts on foreclosures as states figure out whether banks complied with local laws during their foreclosure process, Fidelity National Financial will require lenders to sign off on warranties in order to avoid so called “robo-signing” disputes on REO (real estate owned, aka foreclosures) properties. [...]
Scott Cummins of Cornerstone Mortgage
A good lender is easy to find… …but finding a great lender isn’t always as easy. During a recent transaction, I had the pleasure of working with Scott Cummins of Cornerstone Mortgage (I had worked with him before), a local San Antonio lender who is not just great, he’s excellent. Throughout the transaction, Scott and [...]
Texas Attorney General Asks Lenders To Halt Foreclosures
Texas becomes latest state to join the foreclosure fray. Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbot, sent a letter to twenty seven mortgage companies in Texas on Monday, demanding they halt foreclosure action in the state. Joining with other states who recently have launched their own moratoriums and investigations, the Texas Attorney General is asking lenders to [...]
Fear and Loathing In Foreclosure.
A Tale To Tell Foreclosure has become the buzzword of real estate in the last few years and according to most experts, we’re not going to see an end to it anytime soon. With foreclosure comes a lot of bad feelings – the fear, the uncertainty, the confusion, and the frustration at what is most [...]
Loan Underwriting – Changing Guidelines
Home Loans. In my previous post, “Realtor® Speak 101: Loan Underwriting,” we were discussing exactly what underwriting is, but I realized I may not have covered on of the phrases you’ll hear a lot during the loan process. “Underwriting guidelines.” Depending on what type of loan you apply for, these guidelines can be very different. [...]
Realtor® Speak 101: Loan Underwriting
What’s Taking So Long? Underwriting. If you’ve ever bought a house, you’re probably familiar with hearing “your loan’s in underwriting” and then playing the waiting game until it “comes out of underwriting.” It’s one of the steps in the process of getting a loan and often one of the most frustrating. But what exactly is [...]
