appraisal: How to Get Rid of PMI on Your Mortgage
- 01/03/23 05:20 PM
How to Get Rid of PMI on Your Mortgage
Want to drop your private mortgage insurance (PMI) payments like a pair of cheap sunglasses? Don't know where to start?
Look, when interest rates were moving lower and property values were moving higher, the headache of canceling PMI took a back seat. And why not? In that climate, homeowners typically just refinanced and both dropped PMI and got a lower rate.
But when interest rates move higher and home values flatten or even go lower, many owners strive to preserve their great mortgage rates and focus on getting rid of that extra monthly insurance payment … (2 comments)
|
appraisal: How to Rock a Low House Appraisal Value!!!
- 10/24/22 09:07 PM
How to Rock a Low House Appraisal Value!!!
You found the perfect home...
And the seller accepted your offer...
And your mortgage application is underway...
Until your appraisal comes in low. What now???
Never mind all the bad advice that swirls around this dilemma. There are a handful of effective ways to deal with an appraisal value that comes in under your offer price, so if you find yourself in this stressful situation today, get in touch. Or perhaps you're a Realtor or buyer looking to better understand all of the tactics and tips that you can use to negotiate a low appraisal in today's challenging … (9 comments)
|
appraisal: 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)
|
appraisal: How Hard Is It to Refinance a Mortgage?
- 05/10/20 11:03 AM
How Hard Is It to Refinance a Mortgage?
On a weekend morning you wake up:
A) Before 6AM.
B) Before 8AM.
C) Before 10AM.
D) Yeah, yeah, I'm awake...
It's time to take out the trash when:
A) Pickup is the following day.
B) The level of trash is approaching the top of the trash can.
B) The level of trash has crossed the plane of the top of the trash can.
C) Expert levels of jenga skill are required to balance your trash on the top of the steaming heap.
If you answered "D" to either of the above, and you have a mortgage in California, this blog post is dedicated to … (3 comments)
|
appraisal: How Can I Make My Home Appraise Higher?
- 10/26/19 08:18 AM
How Can I Make My Home Appraise Higher?
Whether buying or refinancing a home, when obtaining a mortgage it can be expected that an appraisal will be required. I talked in a previous post about how we are able to use appraisal waivers in certain instances, but still, most residential real estate transactions that involve a mortgage also involve an appraisal. An appraisal is a professional opinion of value, completed on a standardized report by a licensed appraiser. Are there steps the buyer or homeowner can take to assure that this value comes in as favorable as possible? Here are a few … (9 comments)
|
appraisal: What Happens When My Appraisal Comes in Low (or High!)?
- 10/02/19 07:03 AM
What Happens When My Appraisal Comes in Low (or High!)?
You’re in the process of buying a home, and so far things have been going pretty smoothly. Your lender has pre-approved you, your Realtor has found you the perfect home, and with a bit of luck, the seller accepted your offer and now you’re in contract. It’s very likely that early on in your loan process --- usually within the first few days of having your offer accepted --- your lender ordered an appraisal. From there, a licensed appraiser went out to the property and then turned in a completed appraisal report … (17 comments)
|
appraisal: Do You Need a New Appraisal When You Refinance?
- 08/31/19 07:36 AM
Do You Need a New Appraisal When You Refinance?
It's September of 2019 and interest rates are again approaching historic lows. This means that many homeowners are considering a refinance --- and for good reasons. If there is a hurdle for some, it's the cost and risk of getting an appraisal on their property. What happens if the appraised value doesn't support the loan amount, loan-to-value or the transaction itself? Are these clients then out the money for the appraisal report, typically anywhere from $500 to $1200?
Earlier in the year, we introduced an appraisal tool that allows us to determine, in advance … (14 comments)
|
appraisal: Rental Income from Accessory Units? Hot or Not?
- 04/16/19 07:10 AM
Rental Income from Accessory Units. Hot or Not?
I don't know about where you live, but here in Marin County, accessory dwelling units ("ADU"), also known as accessories, 1+'s, granny units, in-law's, mother-in-law's, etc., are all the rage. When we discuss remodel projects with our clients, adding an accessory is often high on the list. After all, if permitting allows, the thought of having the extra space to accommodate guests, parents or children, short- or long-term renters or maybe just create the proverbial doghouse in marriage under the strain of any/all of the above, can be appealing. But from a mortgage guideline standpoint, … (4 comments)
|
appraisal: Landlord Horror Stories
- 01/13/19 04:51 PM
Landlord Horror Stories
Though you may be disappointed and feel misled, we're not actually going to focus on landlord horror stories here. Instead, we are going to talk about the nuances of getting home financing on the purchase of an investment property which, if done improperly, can certainly take on the stuff of nightmares. If you're thinking of making the leap into rental property ownership and becoming a landlord yourself, there are some things you need to know about how the mortgage industry will treat your loan application. And this treatment could be quite different from your previous experience with financing your … (5 comments)
|
appraisal: How to Get Rid of PMI on Your Mortgage
- 12/09/18 08:24 PM
How to Get Rid of PMI on Your Mortgage
Nearly every home buyer initially hates the "P" word --- PMI, or private mortgage insurance. Years and years of conditioning have taught generations upon generations of first-time buyers that PMI is something to be avoided at all costs, and even though I daily go to great lengths to demonstrate this is patently untrue, even those that come to see the light about PMI and find themselves with a form of private mortgage insurance will soon arrive at their next concern: "When can I remove the PMI from my payment?"
Good Housekeeping
In the spirit of … (5 comments)
|
appraisal: Packing Light for Your Departure Property
- 11/12/18 10:08 PM
Packing Light for Your Departure Property
I fielded a call this week and it's one that comes in quite frequently. "We saw a place we really like and are thinking about putting in an offer. But we don't know what we're going to do with our existing home and don't think we have time to sell it first..." It's the classic "buy first" dilemma that I've covered before.
It's fair to assume that one place the mind goes when dealing with the "what to do" of the existing home is the notion of lining up a renter. Our buyers in this situation recognize that … (10 comments)
|
appraisal: 1031 Exchange Jumbo Mortgage
- 03/13/18 08:17 AM
1031 Exchange Jumbo Mortgage
If, indeed, there are two certainties in life, death and taxes, then real estate investors just might have found their Juan Ponce de Leon in the 1031 exchange, which allows them to defer capital gains taxes on the sale of a rental property so long as they reinvest the proceeds in a "like-kind" purchase. Spared the death of writing a large check to the IRS, they can find the fountain of youth in a new investment --- always with the proceeds of the previous sale and sometimes with the addition of a new jumbo mortgage. Since our fabled 1031 … (1 comments)
|
appraisal: What Can I Do to Make My Home Appraise Higher?
- 05/24/17 06:06 AM
What Can I Do to Make My Home Appraise Higher?
Whether the purchase or refinance of a home, where mortgage financing is involved, you can be sure an appraisal be required in the vast majority of cases. With very few exceptions, homeowners or homebuyers seek to obtain the highest and most accurate appraised value of the property. So what steps can one take to assure that this value comes in? Here are a few tips from the experts:
Choose your lender very wisely. Why? Because since the implementation of the Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC) in 2009, most of the mortgage industry … (36 comments)
|
appraisal: Can You Add Remodeling Costs to a Mortgage?
- 03/27/17 07:43 AM
Can You Add Remodeling Costs to a Mortgage?
One home buyer niche I know extremely well is 10% down payment jumbo mortgage financing. We have a good number of prospective homeowners in California, especially here in the San Francisco Bay Area, who earn strong income, who have an excellent credit profile but who just do not yet have the full 20% down payment saved for home prices that are, compared to the rest of the country, very high. These buyers have certainly not failed and they are not out of luck either. Once they understand just how competitive an 80/10/10 or other … (12 comments)
|
appraisal: CU Sooner Rather Than Later
- 01/23/15 11:34 PM
CU Sooner Rather Than Later
By now, most of us real estate professionals have become accustomed to the fact that things rarely stay the same for long in the mortgage industry. Not a month passes, it seems, where guidelines do not shrink or expand at the whims of our regulators, and certainly not a day goes by where rates do not fluctuate with the broader economic markets. So it should strike us as no surprise that the appraisal world we know will again be shaken up on January 26, 2015, when Fannie Mae’s Collateral Underwriter (CU) is implemented. Here is … (4 comments)
|
appraisal: A Call to Alarms
- 01/17/15 11:25 PM
A Call to Alarms
While the title of this post may be a play on words, the subject is no joke. The villain goes by the moniker "The Silent Killer," and he potentially has access to both your home and mine. As a California mortgage professional, carbon monoxide poisoning is a real issue for me because if a home is not suitably outfitted with the alarms that detect this threat, we can be virtually certain we are going to have problems during the loan process and when the appraisal comes in.
SB183, the Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Prevention Act, went into effect on … (46 comments)
|
appraisal: Will Refinancing Cause My Property Taxes to Go Up?
- 07/07/14 02:50 PM
"Will Refinancing Cause My Property Taxes to Go Up?"
Because the current interest rate environment remains conducive to refinancing, a concern that some have about taking action stems from confusion related to how their property taxes are determined, and specifically the question, "Will refinancing cause my property taxes to go up?" It goes without saying that nobody wants to save money via refinance, only to see it evaporate in the form of higher real estate taxes. But is this a real threat? Or is it safe to assume that simply by refinancing you would not see a change in your tax … (7 comments)
|
appraisal: The Price Is Not Right
- 03/06/14 06:44 AM
The Price Is Not Right
One thing I'm seeing a lot more of these days, and this can largely be attributed to a lack of available homes for sale here in Marin County, California, is that buyers are being forced higher in price, or lower in home quality. Both outcomes, if played to their logical conclusions have ramifications for those looking to get a mortgage. I covered RPM's down payment funding program, REX, in a separate blog post. REX permits a buyer to reach higher in price point without taking on additional debt or expending more of their assets than … (1 comments)
|
appraisal: How to Survive an Appraisal That Comes in Low
- 01/16/14 09:35 AM
… (2 comments)
|
appraisal: What Happens If My Appraisal Comes In Low?
- 12/03/13 08:36 AM
… (3 comments)
|
|
|
|
How to Get Rid of PMI on Your Mortgage
;)
;)
;)
