Traditional Real Estate Brokerages vs. Online : Online is winning - 01/16/09 06:00 PM
Here's a blog from one of the head honchos at Active Rain which shows the online traffic for all major real estate brokerages.  It seems the online brokerages are picking up steam.  Very interesting. 
Via Jonathan Washburn (ActiveRain Corp):
The real estate brokerages website traffic represented in this chart that are not dropping off a cliff are all of the online, "non-traditional" variety.
Little tiny 100 person company Redfin is about to surpass Coldwell Banker?  Zip Realty has almost as much traffic as the next three largest brokerages combined?  What does this mean on the local level? What are the big brokerages … (2 comments)

Is There A Minimum Credit Score for an FHA Loan? - 01/16/09 03:51 PM
Many people are quick to point out that FHA does not have a minimum credit score requirement in their underwriting guidelines.  While this is technically true, virtually every FHA approved lender does impose a minimum credit score requirement for FHA loans because of increased losses on low FICO borrowers.  Furthermore, most lenders have some type of interest rate adjustment for FHA borrowers who have credit scores below 600-620.  There are only a small handful of lenders that will still approve FHA buyers with less than a 580 credit score, and every one that I know of requires an automated underwriting approval and a … (0 comments)

Self Employed Borrowers - Watch Those Tax Deductions Or It May Cost You An Affordable Mortgage - 01/16/09 03:00 PM
I don't have to say that mortgages have changed dramatically over the last three years.  Anyone that hasn't been living under a rock knows that.  But the most significant change that many people don't realize is that stated income loans have all but vanished (aside from some hard money loans available with astronomical points, fees and rates). 
Up until just recently, there were still some reduced documentation loans available with as little as 10% down, but those are completely gone from the wholesale lending channels (brokers), and i'm not familiar with any retail channels that offer them either.  Basically, lenders would … (0 comments)

Fannie Mae to Significantly Increase Loan Level Price (Rate) Adjustments - 01/15/09 02:14 PM
Ever since it became public knowledge that Fannie Mae was in financial trouble, the agency has implimented "Loan Level Price Adjustments", which are basically add-ons to the rates, based on credit score, LTV ratio, CLTV ratio, loan purpose and also property type. 
On December 29, 2008, Fannie Mae announced they will be raising these adjustments yet again, starting on all loans purchased by the agency after April 1, 2009.  Basically that means that each individual lender will have to decide when to implement these changes so they can make sure they have enough time to complete the sale to Fannie Mae.  … (0 comments)

How Much Difference Does $1000 Make? - 01/10/09 06:45 PM
This is a quickie, but a very important question that comes up quite often:  How much does a $1000 increase (or decrease) in the loan amount change the monthly payment on a mortgage?  Not that much, actually. 
Why is this question important in the first place?  Buyers and realtors often negotiate contracts in the evenings and the weekends, or at times when the loan officer may not be available, and many buyers panic when they hear the seller countered their offer by a thousand or two thousand dollars thinking this will astronomically affect their payment.  Also, many buyers are under the … (3 comments)

Quick Update To My ATM Malfunction Issue - 01/09/09 12:24 AM
I posted a blog about this a couple of months ago and wanted to give an update. 
On Saturday, November 15th, I went to the Bank of America ATM in Victory Park (the one right beside the Nine Steakhouse) and tried to withdraw $100 from the ATM.  The machine made the usual noises that an ATM makes when it's trying to dispense cash, with one exception: NO CASH EVER CAME OUT.  The screen gave me the usual "Thanks for completing your transaction", but the trap door never opened.  I figured the ATM might be smart enough to know that it didn't … (2 comments)

 

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