home purchase: “You Have an Online Presence; Has the Public Really Come to Know You?” - 05/22/13 10:43 AM
 
“You Have an Online Presence; Has the Public Really Come to Know You?”
 
 
 
My ego was boosted this morning, when I got an email from folks in Sarasota, FL. They asked if I would handle the mortgage on the home they are buying? I asked them who had referred them, they replied, “Actually no one we have been reading your blogs for over a year”. This actually happens quite often, but I always want to know the following: What was it about my blogs that caused you to reach out to me?
 
 
 
We … (16 comments)

home purchase: “This Client is a Victim of Obamacare” - 05/09/13 05:25 AM
“This Client is a Victim of Obamacare”
 
Danielle graduated college and is having difficulty getting full-time employment. She has taken two part-time jobs,  24 hours a week for one and 20 hours for the other since getting out of school.
 
One of her goals after graduating was to purchase a home instead of renting. Her parents are going to gift her the down payment, so she came to me to get preapproved for a mortgage.
 
Here is the problem, she doesn’t have a full-time job, rather two part-time jobs. Neither of the two employers she has, … (22 comments)

home purchase: “Rating Agency Says Real Estate Overvalued by 10%” - 04/28/13 05:17 AM
 
“Rating Agency Says Real Estate Overvalued by 10%”
 
 
 
I recently read an article where Fitch, the rating agency, declared that real estate was overvalued by 10%. Mind you this is one of the companies that gave subprime loans an A to AAA rating. Statements like this are completely misguided.
 
 
It is so difficult to understand that they could possibly make a statement about overvalued real estate. The question that I have, overvalued compared to what? Does some real estate get sold for more than it should, of course, but there must be a good reason. … (15 comments)

home purchase: “Second Homes Making a Comeback” - 04/27/13 07:28 AM
 
“Second Homes Making a Comeback”
 
 
 
Up until a couple of months ago, if I did a preapproval for a second home, one a month, that was normal. Not so much anymore. I did two preapproval this week for clients that will be buying homes in Florida.  I have pending preapprovals for second homes in MA, ME and NH as well.
 
 
Maybe it is just that they are seeing prices that they can afford and they figure, if not now, then when?
 
 
One of my clients recently purchased a home in … (12 comments)

home purchase: “Two of My Clients Want the Same Property” - 04/26/13 05:35 AM
 
“Two of My Clients Want the Same Property”
 
 
 
Once I do a preapproval for clients, I constantly interact with them, regarding how much a mortgage payment would be for a particular property, price and property taxes.

 
Many of the markets that I do business are experiencing a strong seller’s market. I received questions from two different emails regarding the same property, different down payments, everything else the same and well qualified. They both tell me, that they now have to come in with their highest and best offer. Fortunately, neither has asked what I think. … (105 comments)

home purchase: “Realtor Referral Can’t Get Her Settlement” - 04/25/13 05:34 AM
 
“Realtor Referral Can’t Get Her Settlement”
 
 
 
Mari was involved in a lawsuit with one of the big banks. She lost her home in 2009 and was one of the many that are supposed to be getting a settlement, part of the 25 billion dollars. She was notified months ago, that her settlement would happen soon and how much she would be receiving.
 
 
 
She contacted a Realtor friend and wanted to see a particular home. She hadn’t yet been preapproved, so that is when I was brought into the picture. I did a … (20 comments)

home purchase: “Too Young to Buy a Home?” - 04/05/13 11:12 AM
“Too Young to Buy a Home?”   Mario called asking how young is too young to buy a home? He told me, he had been reading my blogs for a few months and my message was continually, there is no better time to buy a home. He told me he and his brother were just wondering if they should consider buying a home, but weren’t sure if they were too young. I immediately asked how old they were, 21 and 22 was the answer.   He told me, as soon as they were finished with high school, they went into business … (38 comments)

home purchase: “Condo vs. Single Family Home Sales” - 03/28/13 05:24 AM
 
“Condo vs. Single Family Home Sales”
 
 
 
More than half of my preapprovals last week were for the purchase of a condominium. Normally, between 70-75% of my preapprovals are for single family homes. This has been the case since the beginning of the year, the percentages are changing.
 
 
 
Guidelines for condominiums have been evolving over the last few years. We are now able to get conventional mortgages with as little as 5% down on a regular basis. Since many condominium complexes are not approved to allow FHA and VA financing, being able to do … (8 comments)

home purchase: “Mortgage, Foreclosure, Referrals and Marriage” - 03/27/13 05:46 AM
 
“Mortgage, Foreclosure, Referrals and Marriage”
 
 
 
In 1990 I personally loaned an individual a mortgage. George paid the mortgage religiously for 5 years and then completely stopped. I reached out numerous times, but no response. I started a foreclosure action and eventually received a call from him. He apologized for not communicating and said he wanted to sell the property to me rather than go through the foreclosure process. I did work out an agreement with him and purchased property. During the process, told me many times, we’ll do business again.
 
 
 
Over the years, since … (6 comments)

home purchase: “Home Shoppers Better Start their Searches Pretty Soon” - 03/22/13 05:09 AM
“Home Shoppers Better Start their Searches Pretty Soon”   Many real estate markets are experiencing multiple bid situations and in many cases at higher than the asking price.   I did a preapproval for clients that put their own home on the market last weekend, so they needed to get preapproved for a new purchase. The listing price was $449,900 which was giving them a healthy down payment for a new purchase. They weren’t sure how long it would take to sell their home, but wanted to begin the search for their next home.   Too their surprise, the property was … (10 comments)

home purchase: Social Media Works in Strange Ways - 03/20/13 09:49 AM
 
"Social Media Works in Strange Ways”
 
 
 
About a year ago, I got an email from someone who indicated she had read a couple of my blogs and would be looking to purchase a home and send me an email from time to time. She never shared any information, like complete name or phone numbers.
 
 
 
Every few weeks she would email and asked a mortgage question, which I continued to answer, but I never pressed to level me any addition information, I just felt when she was ready, she would let me know more about … (27 comments)

home purchase: “Buying a Home Using a Reverse Mortgage” - 03/18/13 05:26 AM
 
“Buying a Home Using a Reverse Mortgage”
 
 
 
Millie called about 6 months ago, just prior to moving to Florida. She told me that she was planning on purchasing a nice home, but didn’t have enough money to pay cash, but had a sizeable down payment. She shared that her accountant recommended I be called to discuss some options.
 
 
 
Millie was in her mid 60’s and her only means of income was her social security and a small pension, so a mortgage payment would have been a challenge. My suggestion was a reverse … (5 comments)

home purchase: “Bank Loan Officer Says, We are Turning Down too Many” - 03/17/13 05:48 AM
 
“Bank Loan Officer Says, We are Turning Down too Many”
 
 
 
About a quarter of my referral partner business comes from banks, credit unions and other loan officers. These are referrals for folks that they can’t do a mortgage for, but are excellent borrowers.
 
 
 
I recently went to lunch with a loan officer, who shared how frustrated he is with mortgage lending today. In the bank that he works for, 100% of his business is handed to him, comes in through many sources. He tells me that nearly 80% of the folks he talks … (36 comments)

home purchase: Everyone Missed the Mold - 03/14/13 05:26 AM
 
“Everyone Missed the Mold”
 
 
Last month I got a call from someone that I did a mortgage for a few months ago. Linda told me that shortly after she and her three kids moved in, two of the kids became sick and stayed sick. Originally she thought it was colds or the flu. She had the kids and herself tested and it turns out the house has mold and not the good kind.
 
 
She told me, that home was inspected and they never spotted anything and the sellers never disclosed anything. She needed a referral … (20 comments)

home purchase: “I Want to Buy Grandma’s House” - 03/13/13 06:02 AM
“I Want to Buy Grandma’s House”
  
Geno and his grandmother, Lillian, spoke many times about wanting to keep her home in the family. After these discussions Lillian called my office to discuss the possibilities. Lillian and Bill, her deceased husband, were clients of  mine for many years.  
 
She told me that she wants to sell Geno the home, as she could no longer maintain the home and was accepted to move into a senior citizen facility in the area. We talked through the ways to handle the transaction so that it could be a benefit for both … (5 comments)

home purchase: “More First Time Home Buyers Have Larger Down Payments” - 03/08/13 01:14 PM
 
“More First Time Home Buyers Have Larger Down Payments”   I thought it was just me, but in a conversation I was having with one of my loan officers, we were discussing this topic. It turns out we each had 3 preapprovals for first time home buyers, all of which had a minimum of 20% down. That is a real shift from what we have normally seen.     I carried on conversations with each of my clients, each said they worked hard to save their money and didn’t want to buy until they had sufficient down payments, all saying … (39 comments)

home purchase: “Rent with Option to Buy, Can be Good in Some Situations” - 03/08/13 04:17 AM
“Rent with Option to Buy, Can be Good in Some Situations”
 
Three years ago a homeowner contacted me regarding the future sale of his home. At the time, his story was pretty common, he couldn’t sell his home. He had the home on the market for nearly a year, kept dropping the prices, but still no luck.
 
He told me that he was attempting to sell the property himself, running ads on Craig’s list and some local papers. Then he shared why he came to see me. He had someone that wanted the home, at the price he … (10 comments)

home purchase: Management Company Wants Us to Get Mortgages for Their Tenants - 03/04/13 05:51 AM
 
“Management Company Wants Us to Get Mortgages for Their Tenants”
 
 
 
I received a call from a so called national management company. Jason identified himself as a VP in charge of disposition. He indicated they represented a company that owned nearly 150 homes in NY, CT and MA. All have tenants and in reasonably good condition and they were ready to start selling these properties.
 
 
 
We want to have you handle the mortgages. I had a lot of questions: How did you happen to contact me? Have been following your blogs for a couple … (4 comments)

home purchase: “Realtor Asking the Right Questions” - 03/01/13 05:52 AM
 
“Realtor Asking the Right Questions”
 
 
I had done a preapproval for a client a few months ago. She felt it was time to own instead of rent. I referred her to a Realtor and home inspector immediately thereafter.
 
 
She called me this morning letting me know, she had made an offer on a home, wanting to give me the heads up. She shared with me, that she was thankful for the Realtor referral that I had given her, mainly because of the list of questions she had requested she fill out. I was not aware … (8 comments)

home purchase: “Divorced, My Ex Got the House, Now I Want to Buy Another Home” - 02/27/13 05:48 AM
 
“Divorced, My Ex Got the House, Now I Want to Buy Another Home”
 
 
A Realtor referral partner sent me a prospective client to get preapproved. He shared with me, that he got divorced 5 years ago and his last alimony payment happened a couple of months ago and there was no children. I asked permission to run his credit, after looking at it, I knew he was in for a huge surprise.
 
The two mortgages had been unpaid for a couple of years, even though the report didn’t indicate that the mortgage was in foreclosure, it is really the … (6 comments)

 
Joe Rainmaker_large

Joe Petrowsky

Manchester, CT

More about me…

Joe Petrowsky NMLS# 6869 - Right Trac Financial Group, Inc

Address: 110 Main St., Manchester, CT, 06042

Office Phone: (860) 647-7701 x 116

Cell Phone: (860) 836-9294

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