Real estate blog entries tagged with dti by Rob Spinosa, Mortgage Loan Originator, Marin County (US Bank)

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dti: How to Buy a New Home Before Selling Your Current One!!! - 08/04/22 09:09 PM

How to Buy a New Home Before Selling Your Current One!!!

Living in a "crowded house" but can't find a way to buy that perfect new home before selling your existing one? Don't dream it's over! There are mortgage programs that are specifically created to allow you to use proposed rental income from your existing home --- also known as a "departing residence" in this case --- to help with your mortgage qualification. After all, most Americans are working hard enough to afford one mortgage payment, let alone two.

If you've been told that you don't qualify for a new home until you … (3 comments)

dti: Median Home Price, Meet Median Buyer - 07/23/21 08:14 AM

Median Home Price, Meet Median Buyer

A very long time ago I saw an email address that read 'averageandhappy@...' and I thought, "Wow, here I've been my whole life trying not to be mediocre and then someone just goes and finds happiness in all of it." I wasn't sure if I should be resentful or relieved...

Years have passed and I've had the opportunity to observe the real estate market in my corner of the universe, namely the San Francisco Bay Area, which includes Marin County, the city of SF, Oakland/East Bay and the Silicon Valley. Few would consider this an "average" market … (2 comments)

dti: Your Debt-to-Income Ratio Is High and It Will Be Alright - 09/21/19 07:21 AM

Your Debt-to-Income Ratio Is High and It Will Be Alright

You might have been lured into reading this blog post under the false assumption that I'd be discussing the controversial subject of financing cannabis-related businesses and property. Well, you can let that notion go up in smoke. Instead, we're going to talk about the ways you can get a great jumbo mortgage in California if your debt-to-income ratio (also known as "DTI") is higher than Jeff Spicoli at 4:20pm. OK, dude, not really, but we are going to address the ways you can get a decent home loan with a very competitive rate … (1 comments)

dti: Jumbo Mortgage with 5% Down Payment - 06/17/19 07:36 AM

Jumbo Mortgage with 5% Down Payment

You never hear anyone say "Give it 95%!," do you? And, curiously, when it comes to getting a jumbo mortgage, that still holds true --- the vast majority of homebuyers still think it takes a 20% down payment to enter the market. As of 2019, there are 34 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) in California that have a maximum conforming loan limit of $484,350. Another handful of counties can only get to a jumbo-conforming limit of around $550,000. So what do these homebuyers do if they have a maximum of a 5% down payment yet need to exceed … (1 comments)

dti: FHA FAQ - 05/07/19 07:17 AM

FHA FAQ

Maybe you just got the news from your loan officer that you need an FHA loan in order to qualify for your home purchase. "Oh brother," you say, another acronym, additional lending jargon and still more ways to be confused about the whole mortgage process. Or not? What are the differences between an FHA loan and a "regular" or conventional mortgage? Let's take a look at some of the most frequently asked questions that swirl around FHA loans and cut right to the chase of what you need to know in order to determine if an FHA loan is a … (11 comments)

dti: Start Me Up, I Want to Buy a Home - 11/28/18 08:29 AM

Start Me Up, I Want to Buy a Home

To borrow yet another song reference, and you know I'm fond of those, 'it's not unusual' for first-time buyers to come in our door and readily admit they have no idea where to start the home buying process. Often they are referred by real estate agents who tell them there's zero chance they'll see the inside of their cars on a property search until they have a pre-approval letter in hand. But what is a mortgage pre-approval, where does one start that process and how to get a letter?

The Big Three
Fundamentally, a mortgage … (6 comments)

dti: For Those About to Buy a Home - 11/06/18 07:07 AM

For Those About to Buy a Home

I started to get curious about Fannie Mae's HomeReady mortgage program when pricing out loan scenarios that could lean towards either conforming or FHA. I needed to get a sense of which would provide the better fit for the client. In so doing, this HomeReady program, about which I knew relatively little, kept splitting the difference. The age-old question loomed: Is the scenario a better fit for FHA with its lower interest rates, but higher and permanent mortgage insurance premiums, or is it a better match for conforming, with its higher rates but lower PMI … (6 comments)

dti: Using RSU Income to Qualify for a Jumbo Mortgage - 09/01/18 08:15 PM

Using RSU Income to Qualify for a Jumbo Mortgage

Way back in 1997, Jeff Bezos set forth his bold business plan for Amazon, with proviso #9 reading: "We will hire and retain the best people and we will not pay them with cash." Wait. What???

So I guess it's no longer any secret that many technology professionals are compensated with Restricted Stock Units, also known as “RSUs.” And here at the epicenter of the high tech world, namely the Silicon Valley and San Francisco Bay Area, we see a lot of paystubs and verification of employment forms (“VOE”) that include base pay, bonus income and … (0 comments)

dti: Somebody Get Me a Doctor Loan! - 08/27/18 09:43 PM

Somebody Get Me a Doctor Loan!

"Robert Spinosa, the doctor will see you now."

"Hello Mr. Spinosa, what brings you in today? Annual check up?"

Well, actually you, Doc. You're bringing me in today. I hear you're trying to buy a house.

"Uhhh, how did you know?"

Maybe it's the aura of the student loans that I could sense from the waiting area. We both know medical school doesn't come cheaply, right? So I just figured I'd come in for a sort of annual check-up for both of us and find out if your student loan payments have been in deferment or forbearance for a year or more?

"A … (1 comments)

dti: 10% Down Jumbo Mortgage with No PMI - 05/27/18 08:28 PM

10% Down Jumbo Mortgage with No PMI

With the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee poised in June of 2018 to increase in the rates that impact home equity lines of credit ("HELOCs"), home buyers who have traditionally used "piggyback" or "80-10-10" solutions to purchase a home with less than a 20% down payment may have second thoughts. Not about buying the house, per se, but about a HELOC rate that could approach 7% --- with future adjustments possible as well. When Prime Rate was in the mid-3% range, most 80/10/10 loans had very palatable start rates but after a decade of seeing … (1 comments)

dti: Should You DIY Your DTI? - 05/16/18 06:09 AM

Should You DIY Your DTI?

Just like the Julian and Gregorian calendars separate time between B.C. and A.D., the passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Financial Reform Act separates the way mortgages have been qualified. Loosely, before Christ (and in my opinion, Barney and Chris did hold themselves in quite high regard) many claimed you just needed to "fog a mirror" to get a home loan. But in the crusades that followed the birth of the new law, most residential mortgages must follow the provisions of ability-to-repay or "ATR." In other words, before Dodd-Frank, lenders had much greater leeway to approve or deny a … (2 comments)

dti: What's a Qualifying Payment on a Mortgage? - 05/02/18 06:45 AM

What's a Qualifying Payment on a Mortgage?

Qualifying. It's always harder than it looks, right? I've talked before about my erstwhile career as an Ironman triathlete and for those familiar with that sport, they'll confirm that qualifying for the race in Kona is way harder than they make it look on TV. I suppose it's the same with getting into certain colleges, but since I struggled to get out of high school, I'm going to let someone else blog about that...

No, today, we're going to talk about qualifying for a mortgage and specifically we're going to cover the payment that we lenders use … (1 comments)

dti: Bank Statement Jumbo Mortgage - 04/04/18 07:36 PM

Bank Statement Jumbo Mortgage

It is no secret that the self-employed have their share of challenges when it comes to getting a home loan. And why wouldn't they? On one hand, their tax professionals spend hours maximizing their deductions and helping them "write off" every allowable expense and on the other hand, their mortgage loan advisor tells them they have to show more income in order to qualify.

The difference of intentions is like two trains moving in opposite directions...

Yet, there may be a solution for some of these borrowers. On both the purchase and refinance side, we have a jumbo mortgage program that … (1 comments)

dti: Be A.G.G.R.E.S.S.I.V.E. with a 5% Down Jumbo Mortgage - 03/29/18 07:39 AM

Be A.G.G.R.E.S.S.I.V.E. with a 5% Down Jumbo Mortgage

I never so much as played a single down of varsity football, but that didn't help me escape the Friday night lights, the pep rallies and late-game chants of the Tigerettes:

Be aggressive! B.E. aggressive! B.E. A.G.G. --- R.E.S.S.I.V.E!

Yes, when the game was fiercely competitive, when it seemed the team was down to its last drive, the attitude of everyone needed to change. The cheerleaders set the gears in motion. Gone were the soft-touch tactics --- the pom poms needed to come off. It was time to be aggressive. We're seeing that it's no different … (3 comments)

dti: How High Can You Get with 10% Down? - 03/06/18 08:56 PM

How High Can You Get with 10% Down?

First and foremost, let me declare emphatically that I would pass any drug test at any time. You show up at Casa Spinosa at 4am in the morning, drag me out into your unmarked van, make me tinkle in a cup and take a lock of my graying hair, and you're still not going to find a trace of anything illegal. Nothing. Nada. But I don't know why I have to defend myself when that's not even close to what this post is about...

No, instead, I want to tell you about our 10% down … (3 comments)

dti: Niche Jumbo Mortgage in California - 02/28/18 07:37 AM

Niche Jumbo Mortgage in California

Not all mortgage scenarios in California --- and especially in the high-cost areas we often see in the San Francisco Bay Area, Silicon Valley and in the greater Los Angeles environs --- fit squarely in "the box." "The Box" is the narrow definition of what it takes to qualify these days, and for a jumbo mortgage that falls outside of the parameters of a conforming or "government," loan, such as FHA or VA. When you find yourself outside and looking in, sometimes the best solution is a "niche" mortgage program.

Now if visions of subprime loans and sky-high rates … (1 comments)

dti: Your DTI Is High and It Will Be Alright - 12/16/17 08:41 AM

Your DTI Is High and It Will Be Alright

You might have been lured into reading this blog post under the false assumption that I'd be discussing the controversial subject of financing cannabis-related businesses and property. Well, you can let that notion go up in smoke. Instead, we're going to talk about the ways you can get a great jumbo mortgage in California if your debt-to-income ratio (also known as "DTI") is higher than Jeff Spicoli at 4:20pm. OK, dude, not really, but we are going to address the ways you can get a decent home loan with a very competitive rate … (1 comments)

dti: Four Ways to Buy a New Home Before Selling Your Current One - 07/16/17 08:11 PM

Four Ways to Buy a New Home Before Selling Your Current One

We here in the San Francisco Bay Area --- and from what I'm gathering, in many other areas of the country as well --- have dealt firsthand with the virtual impossibility of the "contingent offer." That is, when a buyer must sell his current home first in order to close on the new one, and when the purchase offer on the new home is specifically written to alert the seller that the two transactions are interdependent, it is said to be "contingent." Another, less subtle, way to describe contingent offers … (36 comments)

dti: "So Rob, How Do You Get Paid?" - 07/03/17 07:27 AM

"So Rob, How Do You Get Paid?"

Not all of my clients will come right out and ask this question. But even where they don't ask I suspect that most of them think it. Not only is it a fair question, it's a great one too. One that I have no problem discussing and explaining. Sure there are elements of our compensation that are highly technical --- the result of the byzantine regulation that keeps our industry in a chokehold ---- but I still think we can have an honest discussion about how I get paid and how, in turn, this relates to … (26 comments)

dti: Stretching Your Loan Qualification? Which Mortgage Is Best? - 05/16/17 06:43 AM

Stretching Your Loan Qualification? Which Mortgage Is Best?

Buyers will come to us, often after beholding the perfect home while out touring with their Realtor, and they will want to know the maximum amount they can borrow on a mortgage. Perhaps they just intuitively realize that their dream home will stretch the outer limits of affordability. Their question will be, "What is the maximum amount I can qualify for on a mortgage?"

At this point, they may ask about interest-only (I/O) loans or ARM programs to help them achieve their target purchase price, so let's play a little game of "Truth or Delusion" and cover some of the … (9 comments)

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