Fannie Mae Rate Changes for Investment Loans - 12/30/08 03:40 PM
Investors were spoiled and so were agents and loan officers during the peak of the boom. Sure I remember 100% investor financing at 7% - it's gone! When I first entered the business if you did not have at least 20% down and a debt-to-income ratio of 43% or less you were not even getting an investor loan at all at any rate. Additionally the interest rates were about 12% for investors.
Today you can purchase a residential real estate investment property with 20% down and fair credit. The rates really are not bad compared to most every other time in … (1 comments)

How can an IRA borrow money to buy investment homes? - 12/30/08 02:42 PM
The most important step is to make sure the IRA holder and no linear relatives benefit in any way from the disbursement of funds or proceeds of the loan. Once that little fact is handled it works fairly simply. The IRA custodian (no, Bank of America will not do this for you nor will Fidelity because they really don't offer true self-directed IRA accounts) will put your funds into an LLC created so that you have checkbook control. The IRA's LLC can then borrow up to about 70% of the purchase price and there needs to be 10% reserves left in … (3 comments)

Looking for relief in 2009 but it is no blank slate - 12/28/08 05:20 PM
Knowledge is power. Please do not add "or so they say". Kowledge is power. I have noticed a trend over my lifetime among people and their individual approaches to facing and solving challenges. Like it or not we can all be "pigeon holed" into certain personality traits even though we may have varying aspects to our personality.
Perhaps the most common response to the current real estate and finance situation that I have seen is for people simplyto panick and role up like an armadilo. It kind of reminds me of the super-hero in the credit card commercial who freaks out … (8 comments)

My Real Estate Agent is a Loan Officer! - 12/20/08 11:09 PM
And the county prosecutor is my defender! It makes about as much sense. Do I think a real estate agent can be a loan officer? Sure. Do I think a loan officer can be a real estate agent? Absolutely. Do I think either can be good at both?
That depends on the quality of understanding and commitment I think I deserve. If I think I deserve a real estate agent who does loans to represent me in either and I'm willing to compromise my desire for quality in either one then sure, let me have a real estate officer ... or … (24 comments)

Feds Cut Target to .25% - Historical Low - 12/16/08 01:41 PM
BUT! Please don't change historical to hysterical. Before you pick up the phone and start calling around to ask "what's your rate" read this "Is Now A Good Time To Refinance?" and then let's put this into perspective as we have so many times in the past.
The Feds Do Not Set Interest Rates. The Feds set the target rate and in this case for overnight funds. There is no certainty this will affect mortgage interest rates in the next 2 hours or 2 decades. Mortgage interest rates are affected more by the yield on 30 year Fannie Mae MBS's (Mortgage … (6 comments)

The Worst Is Yet To Come - What Will You Do About It? - 12/14/08 01:28 PM
***WARNING*** Not for the faint of heart. The housing market has imploded and the economy, built on credit only in recent years, has tumbled down on top of it. The elected officials (please never use the word "leaders") have done the equivalent, and please excuse the comparison, of a wife-beater apologizing for beating his wife again.
The US economy is in a downward spiral and injections of trillions of un-backed dollars is only giving the appearance of rescue. Nothing is being rescued but, once again, we are letting these elected officials pretend to be economists and business people who have something … (12 comments)

Tips Countdown: #23 Full Doc Income Explained - 12/10/08 11:19 PM
Mortgage Tip #23 (Counting down to #1)
What exactly does "full doc" mean? It is used regularly when talking mortgage speak and we say it just thinking we and the people we know have the same mind picture when we say it. So, when a loan officer says full doc exaclty what are they saying?
Full doc means fully documented. When speaking of income it means when the borrower is able to provide all of the documentation required by the loan guidelines to prove their income. Usually it means the last two years of tax returns and the most recent month's … (4 comments)

Low Loan Amounts Difficult To Fund - 12/08/08 10:19 AM
We receive calls every day from people wanting to borrow $20k, $18k, or $27k to purchase an investment property. We simply cannot finance a property that low in price for multiple reasons and one of them is that we must make a certain amount of profit to stay in business. The other is that finding an investor to actually lend that low of an amount is a major task.
So what can we do?
We could look at tying up another property with a line of credit -which I never recommend unless you have a very strong exit strategy- like your … (3 comments)

Tips Countdown: #24 Seller Seasoning On Title - 12/07/08 06:39 PM
Mortgage Tip #24 (Counting down to #1)
The seller purchased the property at auction on the 15th of February. They paid exactly $65,000 for the property. The listing price they chose is $110,000 which is 15% lower than the most recently sold prices in the neighborhood. They listed the property on the 16th of February and your client makes their offer of $100,000 on the 17th of February.
Don't count on getting a loan approval unless the seller has owned the property for 91 days. Unless the seller is the lender who foreclosed on the property or received it into inventory … (3 comments)

If You Had Nothing To Fear ... - 12/05/08 11:02 AM
What would change?
Many years ago my uncle, Benjamin "Ben" Wilkes Hale, asked, "Son, let me ask you something. What would you do today if you had nothing to fear?" I gave him my answer and he replied ...
GO DO IT. THERE IS NOTHING TO FEAR.
Well, I did. I'm not sure he was right about there being nothing to fear but that is not the point. The point is I did it and have been more successful than most of my competitors. Today there seems to be plenty to fear: the economy, the uncertainty of a new set of … (11 comments)

Friday BlogTalkRadio "Is This REALLY A Good Time To Buy?" - 12/04/08 01:47 PM
More than anything else agents, brokers and lenders want this to be a good time to buy. In fact the national associations all have media saying this is a good time to buy. We even read and hear that it is a great time to buy.
But is it? Is it really a good time to buy? You can either listen to us give our opinions or join in with us on Friday, Decemer 5th at 2PM eastern, 11AM pacific for this one hour broadcast on BlogTalkRadio in conjunction with RealNowRadio.
I will be your host along with special guests Roger … (12 comments)

Tips Countdown: #25 Debt-to-Income Ratio (DTI) - 12/03/08 11:27 PM
Agents and Loan Officers Working Together to MAKE Deals Happen (Legally and Ethically)
Sometimes the borrower(s) have great credit, good income and good assets but they still do not qualify for the best loan. How could this be? The answer is simple: they spend too much on credit!
First let me define for you Debt to Income Ratio: It is the ratio of debt to income. (Okay, sorry, could not resist.) Debt to Income Ratio (DTI) is expressed in percent. So a 20% DTI means the applicant spends 20% of their gross income on credit purchases every month. The debt is … (9 comments)

Tips Countdown: #26 Non-Occupant Co-Borrower - 12/02/08 07:40 PM
Mortgage Tip #26 (Counting down to #1)
It happens. Neither the borrower nor their spouse nor both combined earn enough income to qualify for the loan they need to purchase their first, or next, home. We see this most often on first time home-buyers where one or both of the spouses do not qualify for any of a handful of reasons.
Since there are different rules for different situations and since lenders augment or modify the guidelines from Fannie or Freddie and often go over-kill on FHA I will not publish a list but rather ask you to develop a relationship … (1 comments)

Agent Tips Countdown: #27 Prepping for Appraisal - 12/01/08 07:17 PM
Mortgage Tip #27 (Counting down to #1)
How many times has the appraiser telephoned from the property to ask, "Where is the person who was supposed to be here 30 minutes ago to let me in?" Of course that is the most preventable but here is a list of things the appraiser should have been told before being sent out:
The kitchen sink is missing.The bathroom tile is not installed.The range is still in the box.There is no carpet -only subfloor.You can't miss the trees groing through the eves.
If you are an agent you should know a property is not … (5 comments)

What They Don't Tell You About Their "No Fee Mortgage" - 12/01/08 11:04 AM
They are big. They have millions to spend on advertising. In fact, they don't pay for that advertising at all -their customers do. Since we started back in 2001 we have fought giants and we have always beaten them and we will continue to do so. Currently there is a very large bank offering what they call the "No Fee Mortgage". Now if you visit the website you will see rates advertised in the mid 5% range. If you click on the link to take you to their super special you will not see any rate changes when they show you … (12 comments)

Agent Tips Countdown: #28 FHA Downpayment Assistance - 12/01/08 10:36 AM
Mortgage Tip #28 (Counting down to #1)
Most Active Rain agents and readers know that FHA eliminated seller funded down payment assistance in 2008. There are mixed views about this but the result is the same: less sales. What many do not know (and some do not want to accept) is the reason FHA wanted to end seller funded DPA: they were gunning for 100% loans and were shot down. In the mean time they won their campaign to have seller funded DPA eliminated. Caught in the cross-fire was a small array of potential home-buyers who are not permanent renters thanks … (5 comments)

 
Ken "Yes You Can" Cook (Ken Cook, Brand Strategist) Rainmaker_large

Ken "Yes You Can" Cook

Marietta, GA

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Ken Cook, Brand Strategist

Address: Marietta, GA, 30062

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