San Francisco Loan Officer Blog

I have Meme'd, aaaaawwww. I am so honored!

Jonathan Vetter (Mercury Lending) — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 14:51:35 -0500

Ouch, so this the second time I am writing this. I should have saved it as a draft. Argh!

Anyhow, I really don't mind writing it again, I find it fun. A little change from the ordinary for me.

This is a perfect example of Reciprocity, highlighted so well by TLW in her post Have You Considered Reciprocating Your Comments? Hmmm? ROAR! . I was MEME'd by simply going to Ginger Wilcox's blog on AR and also outside AR, and gave her some comments. Reciprocity at it's finest. Thanks again Ginger for the MEME, it is an honor!

Here you go. I hope you learn something about me, and if nothing else, hope you had fun reading it.

1. I am an avid golfer. It is my passion, though I don't get to play nearly enough. 3 times a year is not sufficient, but with my schedule, I am happy to enjoy that much. It could be worse right? I say I am an avid golfer. I should say that I am an obsessed golfer. Reason being, I think about it all the time. The best example I can give is I think about it when I go to bed. That's right. If I can't sleep, I will think about my favorite golf course in Arnold, California, Sequoia Woods, and every shot I would take as I make my way through the course. Seriously, I do this, and am asleep by the 5^th hole 90% of the time! I know every shot of this course, whether I play it right, is on me!

2. I have a little girl, who is 17 months old today! Happy Birthday R. I get to wake up every day to this little angel. Anyone that has kids knows what I mean by this. Waking up and seeing their smily face is the greatest part about being a parent. I am new! I can't wait to see what is to come.

3. I love to drive. Yes, love to drive. I think this is a kind of weird for Meme, but it just came to me. I can drive for hours and hours, listening to music, the radio, chatting with friends. I love a good road trip! Some of my favorite places are Santa Cruz, Arnold as mentioned above, Tahoe, the list can go on and on. Just after college, some friends and I drove to Las Vegas, about a 10 hour drive, and worth every bit of it!

4. I have a bad habit of not finishing my housework. My wife and I bought a home 2 years ago that needed a bunch of work. We have done a lot, but there always seems to be little details that just aren't quite there. I never seem to have the time to finish it perfectly like a professional would do. But, I guess I am not a professional contractor, but that is one thing I am going to work on. Finishing my house projects. Fortunately that doesn't translate to work!

5. For the second time in my life I got surprised for my Birthday! Ok, my birthday was 4 months ago, so I can say I wasn't on guard, but I still got surprised. 30 by the way, not as bad as I thought. About 1 month ago I got a call from one of my friends wives, who I am very good friends with as well, and she let me know that all of our college friends were going to get together for a little get together, because we hadn't all been together in a while. Sounds good to me, not thinking anything of it. I got to Pyramid Brew Company in Walnut Creek, and sure enough all 5 of us guys from college had been had. Our wives had thrown a huge catered bash with DJ and all of our friends from college and even some from high school. It was a great time, but I think I am still hung over.....Thanks to all of our wives, not for the hang over, but for a great party!

So that is it. My little explanation of who I am. You can check out my blog for information about who I am as a business person, and get a little more about me personally there. I guess now I have to MEME someone else, prepare, I am on the lookout.

Where do you stand? Let Rankmon.com tell you!

Jonathan Vetter (Mercury Lending) — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 09:33:04 -0500

I was checking my Website stats and who has visited my site (as I do about once a week, and you should too), and I noticed that www.jonathanvettermortgage.com had been visited by www.Rankmon.com. Who the heck is this?

Easy enough, click the link and find out! It is that simple.

So I looked through their very easy to understand website, and learned, that this site lists your top 20 most valuable search positions. Really? Something does this for me? I have to tell you, I get tired of typing in my "niche" search engine keywords every week or so. Wouldn't it be great if someone did that for me? They have...Check this out, here is what it looks like....

View data by a domain name:

Rankings
Competitors

Top 20 Most Valuable Search Positions Held By jonathanvettermortgage.com

This is a listing of the 20 most significant positions held by jonathanvettermortgage.com in result pages of the major search engines.

Rank	Keyword
1	second for san francisco mortgage in
2	third for refinance san francisco in
3	first for refinance loan officer in
4	fourth for san francisco loans in
5	second for refinance bay area in
6	sixth for san francisco refinance in
7	eight for home loan officer in
8	ninth for loans san francisco in
9	fourth for san francisco loan in
10	eleventh for loans bay area in
11	fifth for san francisco lender in
12	twelfth for oregon refinance in
13	sixth for san francisco loan in
14	sixth for bay area loan in
15	13th for refinance san francisco in
16	14th for san francisco refinance in
17	15th for san francisco broker in
18	12th for loan officer website in
19	15th for lending officer in
20	15th for loan officer websites in COURTESY OF RANKMOM.COM 2007

Great it gave me a list of words and rankings, but is it accurate? I figured I would give it a shot....Here goes...

1. http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=san+francisco+mortgage&FORM=MSNH

2. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=refinance+san+francisco&btnG=Google+Search

3. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=refinance+loan+officer&btnG=Search

4. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=san+francisco+loans&btnG=Search

5. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=refinance+bay+area&btnG=Search (Not 2nd, actually about 8th)

6. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=san+francisco+refinance&btnG=Search (Actually 4th and not 6th!)

So I could go on and on. So far the results have been pretty accurate! Another great feature is it tells you the search engine you are getting the results from. Not getting enough from Google, find out why, and exploit that tag or linkage through Active Rain. MSN really strong, find the search keywords that are giving you the results and keep pushing them! This tool can give you everything you need to know to structure you website keywords, tags, and descriptive text.

Simply type in the domain at the top, and it will give you your ranking for your 20 most valuable searches. This is great stuff for improving you search engine optomization (SEO) ranking.

The second page is the Competitor Page. This is " This is a listing of websites which are actively competing of search engine positions with your website." To avoid posting links to my competitors websites, I am just going to encourage you to check it out for yourself!

Getting your SEO campaign started is important, over time, you can use the internet resources to make sure you are efficiently using your time, and getting in front of the internet surfers you want to. Active Rain is a great resource for you. Here are some great SEO posts I have enjoyed...

Top 10 Free SEO Web Tools by Mary McKnight

SEO IS LIKE BAKING A CAKE - IF YOU KNOW THE RECIPE, YOU HAVE SEO by Len Harley

Top SEO Tips- The Only Guide To Agent SEO You'll Ever Need by Karen George

Marketing YOURSELF or your COMPANY...... Part 2 of 2 by Jeff Belonger

There are many many others. You can find this by going to the Seach page at the top, and typing in SEO. There is a lot to learn, Active Rain can help if you don't want to spend the big bucks!

By the way, my homepage, which I have so blatantly stated several times earlier, has a Google Pagerank of 0. Yes 0. This proves that pagerank, though important, is far less important than keyword, meta tag, and description text, than anything else. Don't get discouraged by a PR 0. I used to be, but with tangible results, does it really matter?

Where do you rank? Is www.rankmon.com really a good and reputable resource? What are the drawbacks? Your participation is greatly appreciated!

Disclosure, I don't not have any affilitation with Rankmon, just merely saw the use in it. I have no idea if the search results are exact.

Transaction from hell, but I think it is finally going to close!

Jonathan Vetter (Mercury Lending) — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 23:33:45 -0500

I was approached by a Realtor I work with, whose name I won't say, but we will call him Bobby, who was buying a property in Oakland, California. I have strictly worked with Bobby's clients, never actually helped him personally. He was working with his regular personal lender (in the business for a long time), who was having trouble with the property, not with Bobby's qualifications, but the property's. The appraisal he ordered was coming back as "mixed use", because of the layout and one of the rooms that had been converted from it's original structure. Another issue was that the area is not a conventional residential area. It is about 1 mile from where the Oakland A's play baseball and Oakland Raiders play football, and Golden State Warriors play basketball, and is truly a mixed area for property type.

The prior lender had sent the loan to 3 different lenders, each one looking at the appraisal and denying the property because of it's use. Bobby had enough with the same issues, and asked me to see what I could do to salvage the transaction, because the property is unique and a great find. I agreed of course, and decided to see why this property had been having problems, and try to avoid the same issues the other lender had been having.

I went out to the property with Bobby, and looked at it. Great location, not far from the freeway, and even closer to the Ballpark, Arena, and Stadium. With the market where it is, the property hadn't had that much demand because there is so much on the market, so I had the cooperation from both the seller's agent and the seller, to do what I could to make this loan work. Everyone on my side, now I just needed to get it done!

So the property is clean, no major damage, great size, unique. What could be wrong? Well when the property was built, the city had approved it for occupancy as a Single Family Residence. Hands down....One of the previous owners had converted the garage to a "rec room" but apparently they had used it as a bakery as well. They had done this illegally, the city was not aware of this change. The zoning of the property is R-35, a special zoning in Oakland for Single Family Residences. I spoke with the appraiser who performed the initial appraisal, and he let me know that the property is tough to classify, but his opinion is that the highest and best use for the property is as a Residence. In the use type, however, he had to put the property as mixed use, because of the look of the property, and the unconventional rec room in the front of the building. He could not determine whether the property was truly residential or commercial and wouldn't do anything else to verify it's use.

Well I guess that is where I come in...

The issue is not the zoning, it is Residential, but how can I prove to the lender that this property is through and through residential, regardless of the look or "feel" of the property. I placed a call to my Account Exec, a veteran of 30 years in the business.... I have faith. His advice was to get a "burn down" letter, from the City of Oakland, stating that the property, should it burn down, would need to be built according to zoning 100% of the time, whether a complete burn down or partial burn down.

Ok, easy enough. I call and ask Bobby to go to the Planning Department for the City of Oakland, and he gets their standard "burn down letter". A "burn down letter" that is specific to what we need will take weeks. It stated that whether a conforming property or non-conforming property it would have to be built according to the current permits for the property. Alright! I have the key to the puzzle. We add this letter in an addendum to the appraisal, send in everything to the lender for approval.

The file comes back a few days later approved! Awesome, now when are they going to sign off the appraisal condition? The answer....they aren't. They aren't sure about this property, they want a 100% burn down letter. (What is the difference?)

Ugh, same old situation, but my first dose. I don't like taking no for an answer, especially since I am sure that I am right.

I get a phone call from the sellers agent, who is having to explain the situation to the seller, and the seller is pissed off! Alright, why is he pissed off. He said that he has never been denied in the past with financing that property. However he does admit that the property has had questions about it's use in the past. Same issues we were having. The seller's agent asks me to call the seller to calm him down, and reassure him that we are working on it, we just need some time. Alright, most loan officers wouldn't do this, but I will, because I have nothing to hide, and I can explain what I am trying to accomplish. We chat, he is calm, and let's me know that he appreciates the conversation.

On a hunch,I call the City of Oakland myself to dissect this property from head to toe. I ask the extremely helpful person at the office, who we will call Molly, to go through this letter with me after I fax it to her, and we can reason through it all, so that I can understand. She reads the letter, and interprets it for me. She believes that it is saying that the property, whether it completely were to burn down, or partially burn down, it would need to be built to the current permits, as I thought earlier. But, the issue is the property is a little different. Had the old owner permitted any construction when they ran a small bakery out of there? The only way to find out is for Molly to research the history of this property, to see if the property had ever been permitted.

After about an hour, yes only an hour, Molly calls me back, and let's me know that the City of Oakland, has NEVER permitted any construction on the property, other than it's original construction as a Single Family Residence. I ask her now to determine how the property would have to be rebuilt should it burn down, according to the burn down letter I sent her. Her response, if the property were to burn down, it would need to be rebuilt as it's original permitted use, as a Single Family Residence. Could this be it?

Knowing how this lender operates, I decide the best way to lay it all on the line is in a professional Letter of Explanation (LOE). In the mortgage business, an LOE is a great way to explain to the underwriter something about a file, that should be out in the open? I write the letter, spilling my knowledge about the file, pretty much disproving what the appraiser has though, what the old lenders thought, and what the new lender was thinking.

This is what I would like to call a Hail Mary.

In football terms, the pass was completed for a 99 yard touchdown!! The lender accepted my letter, and approved the property as collateral for the transaction. WooohooooO!

I am not one to brag, but I think I may at this point. The original broker sent the loan out there, praying that the lender wouldn't see the whole appraisal, miss something and it would slip through and the loan would close. That is not the proper way to do loans. You have to take all precautions to ensure that you aren't going to run into problems, and that comes out in even the most simple ways, like preparing a compliant application and disclosure package.

I take the additional steps to ensure potential problems are workable, if not fixable in their entirety. Not many other brokers will do that, and that is how this business should be done.

Jon Vetter - 650-465-5846

Mercury Lending

San Francisco Loan Officer, to CLOSE your San Francisco Home Loan

First Time Homebuyer Seminar...Caught on tape!

Jonathan Vetter (Mercury Lending) — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 00:23:46 -0500

If you would like to learn more about me, you can view my blog at Jon's Blog.

I have been having trouble getting the coding to work perfectly everytime. If for some reason, one of the clips is not working, you can also view the seminar on my website at Jon's Website.

This is the footage from a First Time Hombuyers Seminar I hosted with Jana Cole, an exclusive buyers agent of the San Francisco Bay Area.

We hosted the event at the Land America Title Office in Daly City, California. A special thanks to Laurel and James who stayed the long night we us.

I have broken down the footage into 5 clips. I will give you an idea of the topics in each clip so that you can click directly on the play button and will know what is about to play. Please let me know if you have any questions in any way. I hope you learn something!

Clip #1

Who is involved?

Appraisal - what is it?

Types of Properties - Single Family Residence, Condo/ Townhome, 2 - 4 Unit

Clip #2

Qualifying Tools

Fico Score

Down Payment

Income

Financing Options - Types of Financing

Clip #3

Financing Options Continued

Fixed vs. Adjustable Mortgage

Reality of an Option Arm

Loan Structure

Clip #4

Budgeting

Check out my two part series on budgeting on my blog:

Budgeting Made Easy! Part 1

Budgeting Made Easy! Part 2

Expenses to Buy A Home

Clip #5

Expenses to Buy a Home Continued

Questions

I hope you have enjoyed the footage. If you ever have any questions, please don't hesitate to let me know. You can reach me at 650-465-5846 at any time.

San Francisco Loan Officer, for your San Francisco Home Loan

Comedian speaks her piece...

Jonathan Vetter (Mercury Lending) — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 17:50:11 -0500

I was trolling the recent news today on CNN Money and ran across a funny interview with Kathleen Madigan, a hilarious comedian with her comments on the "Subprime Market".

Click her name for the video

Kathleen Madigan

She discusses her getting involved in Real Estate and how she fell into the trap of getting over your head, and just taking the loan because they will give it to you!

For those of you who don't know Kathleen Madigan, she is a well known comedian who has been on TV shows like Last Comic Standing. She is a funny funny lady, and it shows that even people who are successful in their craft, can get sucked into Real Estate without the right education.

Last Call for First Time Homebuyer Seminar

Jonathan Vetter (Mercury Lending) — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 13:06:24 -0500

Tonight I am hosting a FREE First Time Homebuyer / Homebuyers Seminar, for people in the San Francisco Bay Area. Anyone who is interested in Real Estate, and wants to learn about the ins and outs of owning Real Estate, is more than welcome to attend.

If you are interested in coming, please call me at 650-465-5846 or email me at jvetter@mercurylending.com to reserve one of the last seats available. It is time to act now!

We will be discussing:

Who is involved?

Types of properties

Qualifying Tools

Financing Options

Loan Structure

Budgeting

Expenses to buy a home

The seminar will take about 1:30 in total, if it does last longer, we will break for you to leave, if you choose to.

Anyone is invited, this will be a very informal presentation to answer any questions that come to mind. Come on by to have some fun!

Invite a friend!

This seminar will also be hosted on You Tube and my blog, stay tuned for footage if you are unable to attend!

Jon Vetter

650-465-5846

San Francisco Home Loan from an honest San Francisco Loan Officer

How does Active Rain make money?

Jonathan Vetter (Mercury Lending) — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 19:05:22 -0500

It seems like the general concensus with internet websites, the best way to make money with a website is to blast your site with advertisements and get paid per click. Or get paid business from it's members.

I have loved the whole site for months now, and have never seen one single advertisement, no popups....nothing.

I also have never been solicited for a donation to benefit the Active Rain community. Thanks Active Rain!

But it still confuses me. How can Active Rain support a staff, travel the country to promote the business, and keep the boat rolling? I mean, these folks are obviously technological masters, couldn't they work for ONE healthy salary engineering for Google or Apple? They must get what they deserve here...right?

Is Active Rain funded by private investors? Is the site set for purchase by a private or public company in the future?

How does Active Rain manage to keep it going, and make all of us happy with managing the continued integrity of the site?

You Tube to expose my seminar worldwide!

Jonathan Vetter (Mercury Lending) — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 14:49:22 -0500

I have posted earlier about a seminar that I am hosting on the Peninsula of San Francisco Bay, in Daly City, California, at the Land America Title Office on July 10th, 2007, and did some research on how I can take that seminar and expose it to not only the people that attend, but also to the masses.

San Francisco Bay Area First Time Homebuyers Seminar!

You Tube was the first thing that came to mind, and how to use it was the next concern.

When in doubt, search for the answer!

I went to the Active Rain search page and came across a step by step post by Nick M., at Aligning your You Tube Videos, left or right? which outlines how to take the video from You Tube, and embed it into my blog here on Active Rain.

GENIOUS!

Has this been done? I looked through You Tube for the basic keywords, and really didn't find much of substance. Some decent posts, but nothing out of the box! I think this could be a great, different way to get in front of people, and let people FEEL what we feel about Real Estate.

My partner in this seminar, Jana Cole, a new Active Rain member, and I will host this seminar on a monthly basis, and we will be able to convey our thoughts to the masses because of the internet, and Active Rain. Every month we will repost the updated video, and as our content develops and improves, so will the effect on the community.

With posting on You Tube, Active Rain, Localism, and our websites, we are sure to reach out to every one that wants the helping hand.

The hardest thing about organizing a seminar is not the content, it is merely getting the attendance to make the venture profitable. With exposure on the internet and Active Rain, the exposure becomes that much more likely, and therefore more profitable.

Jon Vetter

Mercury Lending, Inc.

650-465-5846

San Francisco Loan Officer, for your San Francisco Home Loan

San Francisco Bay Area First Time Homebuyers Seminar!

Jonathan Vetter (Mercury Lending) — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 18:43:04 -0500

First Time Homebuyers Seminar

First Time

Homebuyers Seminar

July 10th 2007

6:30 PM Sharp

Location: Land America Title

333 Gellert Boulevard #100, Daly City, CA

RSVP at 877-395-8140 Extension #1

Please leave a message with your name, your phone number, address,

and the names of any other people that will be coming with you.

Speakers:

Jana Cole, West Bay Lovely Homes, Broker/ Realtor

To learn more about Jana Cole, you can see some of her writings at http://activerain.com/blogs/lovelyhomes

Jon Vetter, Mercury Lending, inc., Senior Mortgage Specialist

To learn more about Jon Vetter, you can see some of his writings at http://activerain.com/blogs/jonvetter

Topics Covered:

Who is involved?

Types of Properties

Qualifying Tools

Financing Options

Loan Structure

Budgeting

Expenses to Buy a Home

Government Loans

We will have a few raffles for anyone in attendance!

We will offer a free credit report to anyone that is in attendance!

Courtesy of:

Land America Title

Mercury Lending, Inc.

West Bay Lovely Homes

East meets West... a face to face with Jeff Belonger, Loan Officer

Jonathan Vetter (Mercury Lending) — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 18:08:01 -0500

I have been out of town traveling the world, well maybe not the world, but I did get the chance to spend two weeks in lovely Southern New Jersey. I had the opportunity to meet with a fellow Active Rainer at PJ Whelihan's Pub, in Maple Shade, New Jersey, and one of the most respected active members of the Active Rain Community, and no doubt many people throughout the United States as a "go to" loan officer, Jeff Belonger. He was able to write about our experience, check it out.

West meets East....... a face to face with Jonathan Vetter, loan officer.

Jeff summed up a lot about me very well. I am an avid baseball fan, though I don't get to watch nearly as much as I would like because of my crazy life. I have a 16 month old, I am sure you can understand!

I am going to highlight some of our conversation and give you my perspective on Jeff Belonger, who I believe is a great mortgage contact, locally and nationally.

Jeff no doubt has the experience. I believe 20 years in the business, I think he knows what he is doing.

Jeff has the ability to make you want to listen. I tell myself that I know all about the business, but understand that there are many many people that I can learn from. Jeff is definitely one of those people.

Most loan officers, have their set lenders, know those lenders products, if you are lucky, and fit the borrower into the product based on that persons credit score. Jeff takes it to the next level. He has the experience to think outside of the box. His abilities thrive in difficult to fund loans. Other average loan officers can't do what Jeff can do, because he understands every persons situation, and makes sure he has all necessary information, to ensure the best product and pricing for his clients. This comes out with his understand of the overall business. FHA, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and just standard lender guidelines, Jeff has it covered, and will get the job done well.

Another thing I like about Jeff is he tells it like it is. He truly isn't afraid of saying something he believes, especially here on Active Rain. If Jeff feels one way, he will lay it on the line, and I think we all have to come to the realization that he deserves a lot of credit for that. That is one of the great things about Active Rain. Isn't it?

Some people might ask why I would write about Jeff, being that he is licensed and California and could be considered a competitor. The answer is, we really aren't competitors. I have never battled for a loan against Jeff. Jeff and I are merely people that have the "potential" to cross paths along the way, and each add what we believe is professional and positive influence on the mortgage business as a whole. If you were to ask me, it would seem like we work TOGETHER. I prefer it that way...

Another beautiful thing about Active Rain...

Budgeting Made Easy! Part 2

Jonathan Vetter (Mercury Lending) — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 16:44:46 -0500

Having already written my post on Budgeting, at Budgeting Made Easy! Part 1, I rethought the title. I realized that budgeting really isn't that easy. But with property estimating and planning, it can be! That is the purpose of this post.

So we have calculated our bottom line, or disposable income to determine what we can afford out of our mortgage. The easiest way to visualize it is with numbers. Let's say hypothetically your disposable income after all expenses (Step 5), and the number you have come up with is $2,000.

We need to determine what that number translates to for your mortgage. Not I wouldn't take that $2000, and assume you can afford a $2000 mortgage. I think that is asking for issues, and overall the nation is seeing that with the subprime crisis! We don't want you to be a statistic.

Of that $2000 figure, I would say that you should use 75% of it for a mortgage, in this case, that number would be $1500. What that does is leave $500 per month in emergency money. I would take that emergency money, and invest it in a savings account or somewhere you can earn a decent return. You will appreciate it in the long run.

So our number is $1500. That is what you can afford according to this scenario. We will run through two different loan options, and see what this does for what purchase price you can afford. Let's assume you are getting 100% financing.

Option 1

$175,000 purchase price

First Mortgage at 6.625% (6.9% APR) Fixed for 30 Years

$1120

Personal Mortgage Insurance

$175

Hazard Insurance

$60

Property Taxes

$180

Total $1535

________________________________________________________________________

Option 2

$175,000 Purchase Price

First Mortgage at 6.875% (7% APR) Fixed for 30 Years

$919

Second Mortgage at 9% (9.125% APR) Fixed for 30 Years

$281

Hazard Insurance

$60

Property Taxes

$180

Total

$1440

So here are two scenarios. Let me first say that these are hypothical situations, and are not deemed reliable, but merely for education purposes. I disclose this because in my market, San Francisco, you don't have a chance of buying a home for $175,000, but the information here translates to any budget.

Of these two situations, you will see that the payments are different. The differences are because the first scenario is for 1 loan, and the second is for two loans. The first option has an Insurance Premium, also known as Personal Mortgage Insurance (PMI). This premium is insurance for the lender, and they will recoup their full investment in the case of default on the mortgage. The way PMI works is, if the value of your home increase so that what you currently owe is 75% of the value of the home, or if you pay down your mortgage below 75% of the starting loan size, your PMI premium will go away. Poof! Every PMI premium is different, I am simply providing this information as a basis for education.

If I was the mortgage broker for you, I would recommend you look for homes in the $175,000 range. This will fit in your budget, and put you on the right path for a long life in your HOME. This isn't to say that you can't qualify for a larger mortgage, but from a budget perspective, this is what I would recommend. Please use my budget information for what it is, information!

With other questions, please feel free to email or call anytime.

Jon Vetter

650-465-5846

Mercury Lending, Inc.

San Francisco Loan Officer, for your San Francisco Home Loan.

Budgeting made easy! Part 1

Jonathan Vetter (Mercury Lending) — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 18:17:14 -0500

Most people think they have it all under control. They get a steady paycheck, and know how much they can afford based on what they have now. I think that is wonderful! Those same people are thinking about starting the American Dream of home ownership, and think that the ease will transfer just as smoothly.

Homeownership can be easy, but properly planning is the essence of homeownership without stress. I get approached all the time by people looking to buy, and they currently pay rent of let's say $1000, and want to buy a home for $500,000. Being conservative, that will translate into a new mortgage of $3-4000 per month. These same people haven't been able to save a dime for a down-payment, have credit card debt, large car payments, and occassional collections. The reality is, without a properly WRITTEN DOWN Budget, homeownership can wear on your emotions.

My first word of advice, is to write ALL of your expenses. Not just go over them in your head, but truly write them down. See where your money is going now, and see if these expenses will continue as you own a home. Things like rent will go away, but will be offset by most likely higher mortgage payments. When I put on Homebuyer Seminars and speak with homeowners, I will give them a worksheet to write everything out. This will make the reality of your budget come to life. Maybe you can afford the $500,000 home, I just want you to be sure.

First Step: is to estimate your monthly cash-flow through the month. When do you get paid, and how much is the amount to you after taxes, and all retirement contributions?

Second Step: What are your major monthly expenses. For example, a car payment, car insurance payment, credit card payments, or basically anything that would be reported on your credit report.

Third Step: What do you routinely spend on food. Everyone has to eat, and funding that daily trend can be expensive. You don't want to buy a home and eat Tap Ramen every day. Or do you?

Fourth Step: Consider all expenses that will come with a new property. These expenses will be Water, Garbage, Gas and Electric, Cable, Phone, Cell Phone, Internet, the list can go on and on...

Fifth Step: Subtract all of the Second Step, Third Step, and Fourth Step, from the First Step and see what that gives you. This is your disposable income, or the amount of money you have leftover every month to spend on a mortgage. I wouldn't recommend taking that number and assuming that that should be your new mortgage payment, you should realize that you WILL have other expenses that come up, like car repairs, entertainment, and others, but it is a starting point.

Stay tuned for part two! I will talk about how to figure out exactly what you can afford!

Jon Vetter

San Francisco Loan Officer, for your San Francisco Home Loan

Cut the cr#*, excuses only go so far.

Jonathan Vetter (Mercury Lending) — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 01:52:47 -0500

I was a speaker at a First Time Homebuyer Seminar this afternoon, and for last time was disrespected.

Let's start off with an explanation. I was approached to host a mutually run seminar in Oakland California, for First Time Homebuyers. I think of it more as a homebuyers seminar, let's face it even people with homes need the education!

Over the last couple weeks I met with the other coordinator to go over the details, and get it all set up.

One of the things I pride myself on is my professionalism. This doesn't mean that I am a snooty know it all, with all of the answers. I wish I had all the answers. It just means that I do my best in all cases. I work hard, know what I am doing, look people in the eye, speak to them with respect no matter who they are, and 99% of the time, SHOW UP ON TIME.

Business is about keeping busy. Always having something to do. Never wasting time, unless of course, that is on the agenda! When you make committments to people to meet for something, and you don't show up on time, you are wasting their time, and basically slapping them in the face. You are telling that person, that you don't respect them, and their time isn't valuable. Now I am not trying to say that I am always on time. I would be full of it if I said that, but the reality is, I will call if I am going to be late, and my reasoning will be legitimate. Lame excuses just don't cut it. "It has been busy", "my car wouldn't start" etc., are kind of old. I am not saying that these things don't happen, you just make sure it doesn't happen again in that relationship.

OK, back to the point.

In planning for this seminar, the person that was coordinating was late to each of our 5 meetings. Yes late every single time. Excuses every time. I normally wouldn't accept this treatment, but was excited to do the seminar and see the results.

Today came, I was there 40 minutes early to put up signs, have my handouts ready, and generally be ready to go. The building that the seminar was in has a locked door at all times, so I had to call this individual to get the access code to enter the building. I dial the phone, and it went straight to voicemail.

Uh oh!

Mind you it is cold out, I am standing outside of the building, getting progressively colder...and more upset. Finally I get the call back, get the code to enter the building, and a number of crappy excuses. The worst statement, being that this person won't be there for 40 minutes. WTF????? The meeting starts in 10!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You have to be joking. Late again, on the big day! No way.

There was someone that was waiting for the meeting to begin, so I invited them up to have a seat and wait for the start. He followed.... Another individual came, complaining that she was supposed to have a meeting with this person a couple hours earlier and that person hadn't shown up. See a trend?

I briefed the two attendees about the situation, and we chatted about life and business.

Now I was told that there were going to be about 10 people in attendance, I am only seeing two. Do I start the seminar? After about 1/2 hour, no one else showing, I started. About 1 1/2 hours late from the original seminar start time, the co-"Planner" finally showed up. I feel like a not only got slapped in the face, but got stabbed.

I went through my information (it went well by the way), and answer questions. Nothing I hadn't heard before. Another person was set to speak, so I politely excused myself and walked out the door. (afterall it is Saturday, and I am furious by this point) The co-"planner" stopped me before I left, and had the nerve to say to me "Next month I think I can get 50 people".

I can't tell you how many things came to mind. Most of them I wouldn't ever post on Active Rain because of their indecency. I responded politely, that with me, there wasn't going to be a next time. I said a few other things, all of them polite, though I should have let her know my true feelings! I am through with that person. I calculated that this person had wasted not only about 2 hours of my waiting around outside of her office, but also I had left my office early over the course of two weeks, about 5 times, something I don't like to do.

Just wasting my time, and ultimately costing me money. Business has no place for these types of disrespect, and I don't have any patience for that in my business life.

Do you accept disrespect?

Jon Vetter

San Francisco Loan Officer for your San Francisco Home Loan.

Another "Active Rain Rocks" post!

Jonathan Vetter (Mercury Lending) — Thu, 31 May 2007 16:59:19 -0500

About once a week I will take a look at google and see how my keywords are doing. As a result of Active Rain, I have always been on page 1 for a couple searches, like San Francisco Home Loan and San Francisco Loan Officer, but have seen some crazy changes just today!

I haven't really seen my website get pushed up much, it would just have my work on Active Rain. Actually, my website was no where to be found. However, today, saw some amazing results. I went in and placed these searches:

San Francisco Mortgage Company

San Francisco Mortgage

San Francisco Loan Officer

San Francisco Home Loan

San Francisco Loan

San Francisco Mortgage Broker Page 4 ;(

My website (www.jonathanvettermortgage.com), not my work on Active Rain, was on Page 1 on every one of the searches! That is crazy.

THIS PAT ON THE BACK IS FOR YOU ACTIVE RAIN!!!

I did work on my keywords and tags on the website, but haven't done anything other than that and working Active Rain hard.

Another reason anyone interested in seeing results should put their extra efforts into Active Rain, it will help you to get noticed, but you have to do it the right way..

I will have to say that there are a few people that have given me advice along the way, and I appreciate there efforts, whether they know it or not. Thank you. Here are a few.

Jeff Belonger

Mary McKnight Though she hasn't been around in a while, her SEO tips helped!

Karen George

Midori Miller Will miss you, don't stay gone too long!

Janessa Mondestin

Thank you Active Rain, and everyone involved in the community. I think in the long run, it all will pay off.

Also, if you have any other keywords I am missing that I should be using, list them for me, I am grately appreciative!

One last request. I have a 0 pagerank right now, will these things add to my chances of getting ranked, or does the page rank stem from just the content of the site alone. Anyhelp is appreciated!

Prime or not Prime, that is the big mortgage question.

Jonathan Vetter (Mercury Lending) — Thu, 31 May 2007 13:06:23 -0500

I was doing my daily routine today, which usually starts off with a look at the morning market on Bloomberg, and then progresses to reading cnnmoney.com. One of the first articles I saw was Wow, I could've had a prime mortgage.

It discusses the fact that 15-35% of all people in subprime loans were given to people that could have qualified for prime loans. I knew this was an issue, but not to this extent. Towards the end of 2006 and start of 2007, I had 4, yes 4, clients that I was refinancing, and all 4 of them were perfect scenarios. Perfect credit, great income, easy deals. Every single one of them had prepayment penalties, when they were told that they didn't. There is no reason, at any Loan to Value (the amount borrowered, compared to value of the property), that they should ever have a prepayment penalty. Never. We have put people with foreclosures on the report, horrible credit, but with a really low Loan to Value, into Fannie Mae loans. This business is flooded with people that don't know what they are doing. I am not saying I have the answer all of the time, but I am confident that 95% of the time, I have done my due diligence on every persons situation, and have put together the best possible situation, with options for costs, to make sure the clients knows the options.

I am not joking whatsoever, this is hurting the business.

This is the first sign that you are in a "subprime" loan. A prepayment penalty is the first evidence. There are a few reasons that a lender or broker would put someone of this caliber into a subprime loan.

First, they are lazy. Often times they believe that subprime loans are easy to satisfy conditions, and overall much easier to get done. The reality is, that with Fannie Mae, documentation can be easier with a prime loan. The difference, is the underwriting process with a prime loan may take a little longer. Is it worth slapping a potential lifetime client with a prepayment penalty of 6 months interest, to save yourself 1 week for underwriting.

Apparantly so, 15-35% is a staggering number.

Second, They don't have any other options. One of the biggest subprime lenders of the early 2000's and even more recently, was Ameriquest. The reason I have some of the inside scoop is because my boss was an employee years back, and knew the ins and out of their operation. I have no issue with Ameriquest, though they have been killed in the media, but the reality is, as an employee of Ameriquest, you are able to sell Ameriquest product and that is it! They only offer high cost, high rate loans, because that is what Ameriquest needed to make a profit. It costs a lot to sponsor Major League Baseball, doesn't it? This speaks volumes for their training and salesmanship, to take a prime borrower and sell them something horrible. But, this is what has killed part of the market, putting good loans, into bad products.

Thirdly, Lenders believe that they can make more money on subprime loans. From my knowledge, maybe I am wrong, isn't it illegal to charge X person more than Y, just because they have different credit. I am not sure the regulation, but I am pretty sure that you have to give everyone the same deal, whatever you feel that should be. Help me out there, I can't find the law on it!?!?!?!?

So wouldn't it be illegal to make more from a subprime borrower? The only difference should be the fact that the rate will be higher, there is a prepayment penalty, and the margin and adjustment schedule for when it goes adjustable is different, on a sub-prime loan. Cost should be off the table, right?

The point of my writing is again to do your research as a consumer. People, though your loan officer may seem honest and can do a good job, aren't always what they seem. Ask you co-workers for advice, research on the internet (as you are doing right now!), and make sure that you are confident in what you are getting.

Knowledge is power in any business, but especially the mortgage business.

Jon Vetter

San Francisco Loan Officer, for your San Francisco Home Loan

San Francisco Festivals- Weekend of June 2nd

Jonathan Vetter (Mercury Lending) — Wed, 30 May 2007 16:13:09 -0500

Finally the warmer weather is here. Well, if you live in San Francisco, you know what I mean. Cool mornings, fog burns off to put the temperature in the 70's, and then come 5, cool again. If you are a native San Franciscan, this is what you have become accustomed to love.

You have also come to love the numberous festivals, parties, parades, races, and gatherings that consume your summer schedule.

Here are some of the festivals that are here this weekend!

Escape from Alcatraz- Check out the website, it is VERY informative and fun!

This a a huge triathalon of 1800 participants who will "ESCAPE" from Alcatraz for a 1.5 mile swim to the shore, and 18 mile bike race, and 8 mile run which concludes at the Marina Green. The participants will enjoy the cheers of nearly 13000 spectators. The cost is free, go and show your support!

31st Annual Union Street Festival

This huge FREE art festival will have 100,000 people in attendance. It offers a variety of art selections, food, wine and beer gardens, live entertainment, and other. The list could go on and on. The location for this even is at Union Street between Gough and Steiner.

For the whole month of June

The SF Maritime National Historic Park will allow you to pay just $5 per adult and have access to the park for the entire month. Take the kids, they are free under 16 years of age!

Jon Vetter

650-465-5846

San Francisco Loan Officer, for your San Francisco Home Loan

Another scary Neg-Am story! ARRGGGHH...

Jonathan Vetter (Mercury Lending) — Thu, 24 May 2007 18:46:39 -0500

It has happened again...Well, let's face it, happens a lot more than I hear.

I met with a Real Estate Agent I work with, who has a friend that bought a home in the San Francisco Home Loan Market in January, and was concerned because she didn't really know what type of loan she given, and wanted to find out. The Real Estate Agent was not the agent on the transaction, I know she would have looked out for her client at the loan signing. The buyer had been told she was getting a 4.5% fixed rate for 5 Years.

I have heard this before. I know where this is going unfortunately...So Predictable

I went through the entire loan package with the Real Estate Agent, and we noticed that she was given 100% financing on an Option Arm Mortgage. For those of you who don't know what an Option Arm is, you can read one of my other blog posts about the Reality of an Option Arm.

Other great Option Arm Blogs:

Ken Stampe Pay Option Arms - Suicide in a Mortgage Loan

Robert Ashby Exotic Loans Being Mistreated...

Tony Gallegos The Option ARM Is Akin To OxyContin

The basics of this loan is, if you pay the 4.5% start rate, you will add on to the balance every month, and owe more and more over the term of the loan. Scary!! Especially in this type of market!

This poor lady, who is relatively new to the country, had no idea about the reality of this loan. She was told she got a 4.5% rate, and she was comfortable with the payments. Enough said, she was happy.

She shouldn't be. After looking at the actual rates, she was going to defer onto her loan balance $1300 per month! Not good. No bueno. Bad.

She is excited about homeownership...the American dream. But will this situation continue for her? Highly unlikely. She is instantly put in the position to potentially lose her house in the next 5 years.

After crunching the numbers of what I could have done, given her prior excellent credit. I could have given her a first mortgage at 6.75% (roughly) and 9% on the second. Looking at the payments, it would have been just $600 more than her horrible Option Arm loan. Comparing that number to her amount of deferment per month pointed out earlier of $1300 (1300-600), she is losing $700 per month, just in interest!

The terrible thing about this, is she told the her friend I was talking to she could easily afford the payment she got. Therefore, wouldn't it make sense to afford (without the ease) a payment $600 more. After all, she is self-employed, and I am sure she could figure out a way to pay a little more for a much better loan that doesn't give her American Dream away month to month.

Looking further through final Hud, the truth comes out. The mortgage company had a large credit for closing costs written into the contract, so she wouldn't have to come out of pocket for closing costs. That makes sense, but the large closing costs, also were combined with a large Yield Spread Premium (rebate) from the bank. The broker net a $20,000 commission from this deal. They stuck it to her, in every way possible.

Bad Loan

High Cost

High Rate

High vulnerability to the market

Have I mentioned a 3 Year Prepayment Penalty yet? Oh, I haven't, of course there is one.

I couldn't even save her from this horrible loan if I wanted to, because it would cost her $20,000 just to get out of the loan.

Sense frustration? It is coming out of my pores.

This is the problem with this business. I am all for people making money in this business. After all, it is a business. But the loan to loan mentality is driving the market into the ground. It won't get any better until some action is taken to educate people about all aspects of Real Estate, ensuring people know that they have to ask questions, and not trust the first person they talk to.

Maybe that first person is a dream contact, but often times they are not.

Ask questions. Not asking questions can cost you. A good mortgage broker will offer free advice on your situation and not solicit you for your business. They will be there to support your concerns. If you don't ask for it, no one can help.

An honest San Francisco Loan Officer, for your San Francisco Home Loan.

Company Photos show your personality

Jonathan Vetter (Mercury Lending) — Tue, 22 May 2007 20:30:07 -0500

Today was a beautiful day in San Francisco. A great day to capture on film. Our company has been waiting for the right day to have some fun, and get a good group shot.

Here are some of our pics. Do you think pictures speak for themselves when it comes to a company, or a person?

What do pictures say? Do you think artsy pictures have a better effect than smily face pictures? Have you gotten feedback from clients regarding your pictures?

Jon Vetter

San Francisco Loan Officer for your San Francisco Home Loan

There are four types of people...

Jonathan Vetter (Mercury Lending) — Mon, 21 May 2007 14:43:07 -0500

Over the weekend I came to the realization that there are four types of people when it comes to credit. I think it is extremely important to find out who you are in the mix... Here are the four types:

1. People that think they have great credit, and do have great credit.

2. People that think they have great credit, but have bad credit.

3. People that think they have bad credit, and do have bad credit.

4. People that think they have bad credit, but have good credit.

In my experience, people are pretty aware of how they stand with credit, they have been told by people, banks or other, that they are strong, and use credit accordingly. However, there are people who really don't know where they stand. Check out my other blog on FICO scores and how they are formulated.

Credit, what is it, why is it so bad, why is it so great!

The issue with not knowing where you stand, is it puts you in a position to be taken advantage of. Fraud is one of the most horrible things to go through, and knowing where you stand will put you in a better position to question your situation, and make the best of it throughout your financial life. Check out my other blog on Fraud.

Real Estate fraud- How does it happen, why does it happen?

These types of fraud can happen, you must put yourself in the position to educate yourself to avoid the pain that these types of situations can put you through. It starts with credit. Know your score, know your positives and negatives, and don't let someone tell you otherwise. If in doubt about what someone tells you, ask someone else, a friend, or someone in the Real Estate business, for advice.

These questions came to my mind this weekend when at an Open House. I met a family that was looking to possibly buy the property, and the parent's were going to co-sign for the son on the loan, so that he could qualify.

Check out my blog on the reality of Co-signing... Credit and Co-signing Advice

The family was under the impression that the son would not qualify on his own because of issues with his credit. After going through his situation, I had a hunch that he might not be that bad off. One issue with credit, over a year ago, may have had the time to recover, and put him in the position to qualify. We went through the application, and last night when looking at his credit, it turns out he was strong enough to qualify. Submit it to Fannie Mae, PooF!, we have automated approval.

So we took them from possibly putting the parents on the loan, to now qualifying the son on his own, and not having to refinance at a later date to then put the son on the loan. That is a $3000 plus savings, plus they lock in a rate on today's terms, not what terms are like in the future.

Knowing your credit is extremely important, know where you stand, and find a reputable person in the mortgage business that you can trust. Without using someone qualified to offer you all of your options, you are setting yourself up for future issues, which in Real Estate, always adds up to future costs.

I may not be the person for you, but I think it would be a shame to not find out. You need to find someone that can give you ALL of your options, not just the standard options. Work with someone that thinks outside of the box.

Jon Vetter

Mercury Lending, Inc.

444 De Haro Street #130

San Francisco, CA 94107

650-465-5846 (Cell)

For your San Francisco Home Loan, from a trusted San Francisco Loan Officer.

Stevie Nicks in concert at Sleep Train Pavilion, Concord

Jonathan Vetter (Mercury Lending) — Fri, 18 May 2007 16:32:19 -0500

May 18, 2007

Last night I was able to have a night out with my wife to go see Chris Isaak and Stevie Nicks in concert at the Sleep Train Pavilion in Concord, California. First off, I have heard of Stevie Nicks, probably bobbed my head a few times when it came on "RadioAlice", but never would say I was "soooo excited" that I just had to go. My wife on the other hand, completely the opposite. There are 3 bands she had to see in her lifetime, Stevie Nicks being one of them, so I got tickets.

For me, the best motivation was to just get out of the house, have a night together to not think about anything other than each other. That got me excited. So we hired a babysitter (AKA My dad), and headed out to the Clayton Valley (BRRRR last night) to see what Miss Stevie had to offer.

We live in Hayward, about 40 minutes away, not a big deal, but I was expecting the worst with traffic. As anyone from the area knows, or anyone that has been to the pavilion, the traffic getting there is tough, but once you do get there, it is worth everything. What a great venue! I went out there once in college to see the Counting Crows, and loved the place, but forgot how cool it was until last night. We had some pretty good seats, dead center, about 100 yards back (the best I could do at the time).

Chris Isaak, opened, and though I wasn't very excited at all to see him, he did make the concert entertaining. His flashy clothes, crazy hair, and surprisingly great sense of humor, I enjoyed it. Dare I say, liked it. He actually wore a full suit, with 2 inch mirrors, covering the whole suit. I couldn't believe it even existed, let along someone would wear it in front of 5000 people. He certainly stood out. He also wore a pink suit, do you think he likes attention? All in all, it served the purpose, we laughed, and enjoyed the show.

It was a good open for someone that I was a little more interested in...Stevie Nicks. At least I knew some of her songs. I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between her songs and Fleetwood Macs songs, but okay, I guess I know the voice. I had in my mind her being much less attractive, she looks great after all she has been through (cancer). She looks the same as she did years ago! She opened with a song I have never heard before, and she opened with a bang. It was a rock style song that she sold well, and got even non-Stevie junkies out of their seats. Stevie Nicks, the rock star?

The whole set was great, she played about 4 songs I knew, and they were well done. That was all I expected. Well, that and some great nachos from the food stand.

I had a great night, and left Sleep Train Pavilion with a new appreciation for both Stevie and Chris, and a remembered fondness for a great place to see a concert. I will have to see who is coming next. Here

A new fan

Jon Vetter

San Francisco Loan Officer

10,000 points, is this a milestone?

Jonathan Vetter (Mercury Lending) — Wed, 16 May 2007 23:26:11 -0500

So I have been actively participating on Active Rain for the 2 days short of 1 month. I just hit 10,000 points today, and searched on google for San Francisco Loan Officer, and I am fourth on the list! Now, earlier today, I was on the second page.

Is this because of breaking 10,000 points I have gotten a little more strength on this site? Is it my position ranking in the local areas that are getting better? Why is it that I am on there more?

Believe me, I am excited, I just want to know so that I can exploit that a little more! Is there anywhere we can see the formula to build strenght on Active Rain, because obviously it translates to the search engines.

Input is greatly appreciated, and the truth is, my results are yet another testimonial to the effect this site will have for people around the county.

San Francisco Festivals- May 19th Weekend Festivals

Jonathan Vetter (Mercury Lending) — Wed, 16 May 2007 20:41:18 -0500

The best time of year has come for San Francisco. There are many many wonderful weekends of great weather and fun coming. Stay tuned for more breakdowns of future weekend events. Here is a list of what is happening this weekend, the weekend of May 19th.

Asian Heritage Street Celebration - Both Saturday and Sunday

11:00 am to 6:00 pm, Howard Street between 5th and 7th Street. The will have food, music, arts, crafts, you name it!

Dolores Park Festival

11:00 am, Dolores Park between 18th and Dolores Streets. Brass musicians, tribal drummers, performance artists, DJs and more.

Eight Annual San Francisco Oyster and Beer Festival for even info call 415-989-6222

12:00 pm to 7:00 pm, Fort Mason, Bay and Franklin Streets. This one sounds like a blast, oysters, beer, music, shucking, how can you lose!

Mission District Brass Parade

Saturday 12:00 pm, 22nd Street and Bartlett on it's way to Dolores Park. Musicians and artist march through Dolores Park.

Courtesy of Jon Vetter, Mercury Lending

San Francisco Loan Officer - 650-465-5846 - www.jonathanvettermortgage.com

Last Call for Loan Officer...Last Call

Jonathan Vetter (Mercury Lending) — Tue, 15 May 2007 18:11:26 -0500

The mortgage business has been flooded with Loan Officers looking to make a quick buck. Why? Because it is easy...Pass a couple online classes, take a test...Presto! You can do a loan...

Sometimes, if the broker has the right license, you don't even need a license!

That is great, and some of the services other Loan Officers can offer are wonderful, but long term relationships and trust is most important. It is time to stop shopping, stop floating from broker to broker, stop wasting time, and settle down with the right broker. Am I him/her? Maybe...I think you would be doing yourself a disservice to not find out.

Reasons for giving me a call at the very least:

Education - You need someone that has the real life and real business experience, but also the formal education and licensing to absorb the whole picture, and react fast with solutions. I have it all...

Availability - Your issues are my issues. I am available whenever I am not sleeping. Even then, call, maybe I will wake up. I am never without email or my phone. If I don't answer, I will return your call. I don't dodge calls, I have nothing to hide.

Attitude - Honestly, this job is fun. Sometimes it is stressful, but if you work with a smile on your face, and keep the right attitude, the world is a better place. My clients experience it daily.

Product - You will hear other lenders proclaim that they have 250 million lenders and all that. Wonderful, they can shop all day long. I don't have time, nor the need to do that. The 20 lenders that frequent my office are sufficient, and if not one of them can do it and I can't get one of them to give me the name of someone that can, forget it, there is something far more severe going wrong than any lender can fix.

Rates - The first thing I hear from most calls I get. "What are you rates?" Truth is I have lot's of them. Some good, some bad. What do you want? What can I get for YOU? I don't know...let's find out. I have lenders that reward me for bringing you to them, and that reward is passed down to you. Your income (even if it is low) and where you live are some things my lenders reward. I don't advertise rates online in most cases because they are irrelevant, rates depend on your situation, not any one else's. Though you can get a general range online of where the MARKET is at.

Speed - I push things as fast as possible. Can I close a loan in 10 days? Sometimes...it depends on the loan and the lender. I need you to help me close as fast as possible. WE can make it fast.

Post Close Contact - I don't do your loan, and then forget about you. My regular contact with you, whether through email, snail mail, or phone, will give you the security that I am here...for good. I am proud of the work I do in all cases. If you feel I have done something wrong, all you have to do is let me know, and I will do what I can to fix it, or at least make it up to you.

Are you ready to make that last call? I know I am ready for you. Pick up the phone, make the call, and let's make it happen together.

San Francisco Home Loan, from and honest San Francisco Loan Officer.

To TIC or not to TIC.

Jonathan Vetter (Mercury Lending) — Tue, 15 May 2007 16:27:04 -0500

One of the major affects of the great appreciation of San Francisco and the Bay Area, has been that it has locked out many potential buyers from being able to afford housing. The market has developed, and many other options have come out to help people get started, because let's face it, starting is the most difficult thing.

I wrote a blog about BMR (Below Market Rate) housing in San Francisco, about some of the ways you can get started. It was titled BMR- Below Market Rate Housing. This is one program.

Another that has come about a lot in San Francisco are TIC's or Tenancy in Common housing. There are many differences between TIC housing and conventional housing or condominiums, and a great place to learn about there differences is at Andy Sirkin 's website. It is a great resource.

I am not writing to plug Andy Sirkin, but I have learned a little there, but mainly to encourage people to consider all of their options. One of the main reasons TIC's have gotten a lot of press is because of their price point. They are often times priced much lower than conventional housing. The draw back is the availability of lending on these properties. There are lenders, don't get me wrong, but you can find conventional housing that might make just as much sense, and in the long run, offer you a better return on your investment. If you could borrower more money, at a much better rate, with less money down, you may be better off. There are many lenders out there offering special pricing to Low Income families, you need to find the right person that can give it to you straight, without all of the nonsense.

THE POINT- analyze all of your options. First off, what can you afford to pay per month. Secondly, do you plan on putting any money down? These questions, are the heart of what you should be looking at in any market, but most importantly in the competitive San Francisco Home Loan Market.

If you plan on paying $1500 per month, the reality is you are probably better off renting or looking in less expensive areas. The key is to find the person you trust, and doesn't just tell you what you want to hear. Owning a home is difficult, and getting a plan together for affording that home is key.

Happy Mother's Day to all Mothers!

Jonathan Vetter (Mercury Lending) — Mon, 14 May 2007 00:01:41 -0500

You know who you are. You have stayed up endless nights as we cried as kids. You have taught us what it is to be a good person. You have taught us what it takes to be everything we want to be. You were always there whenever we needed you. You blew our nose when we had a cold, though we fussed the whole time. You drove us to and from practice, even when it was raining cats and dogs. You helped us study for the big exam, even though you were tired.

If you have any thoughts of what mother's do, that they never got credit for, please add.

To all Mother's, for everything that you are, THANK YOU!!!!