Easy Way to Calculate a Mortgage Payment - 12/20/10 02:50 PM
Here is a chart that will help you to quickly calculate a 15 and a 30 year fully amortized loan payment. To use the chart multiply the loan amount without the last three digits and multiply by the factor.
Example: $417,000 30 year loan at 4.75%......417 X 5.22 = $2176.74..This is about $1 off but it certainly is close enough to use in a crunch. Print the chart out and keep it with you. The math is simple enough and it will make you look like a genius!
      Interest Rate             15 year Loan         30 year Loan

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Let's Compare a Fixed Rate with an Adjustable Rate Loan - 12/14/10 07:01 PM
Let's compare a fixed rate loan with a LIBOR adjustable. I am not shopping for the best deal. I am using the same lenders rate sheet for the fixed rate loan and the adjustable rate loan.
Today's fixed rate is 4.75%- using a 30 year term and a $417,000 loan amount that payment is $2175.27
The rate for a 7 year fixed rate loan which then becomes adjustable is 3.375% for a payment of $1843.54
For the first 7 years the adjustable saves $23,884.56 in payments. So, at the end of 7 years you will have paid $23,884.56 less and your … (0 comments)

NO No No --cannot pay referral fees - 12/13/10 02:55 PM
The MLO exam surprised many California brokers. Because I have always been a lender I knew the law but I still get questions about it. Like W.C. Fields looking for "loopholes" to get into Heaven, Referrers are looking for loopholes to get paid for referrals.  In a nutshell---no, nein, niet--there are no loop holes. You cannot pay for loan referrals. Both parties--payor and receiver are subject to a $10,000 fine. Read below:
(b) No referral fees. No person shall give and no person shall accept any fee, kickback or other thing of value pursuant to any agreement or understanding, oral or … (2 comments)

Gift Tax Simplified - 12/13/10 01:47 PM
This blog is not to be confused with Estate Taxes. The rules regarding estate taxes are completely different than gift taxes. For this blog the examples will be cash but any item of value can be used as a gift.
Suppose a married couple has $4,000,000 cash and three children. Each parent can gift to each of the children $13,000 per year and pay no taxes. The married couple together can gift up to $26,000 per child each year and pay no taxes. The $13,000 is based on the amount for 2010--this amount changes and in 2008 the number was $12,000.
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