If you live in MN and you want to use one of these sites to find your next home, you should know that approximately 20% of the homes for sale are not being shown to you. Because these sites are riddled with data inaccuracies, Edina Realty decided to pull their listings from these third party [...]
Read moreFHA Seller Paid Closing Costs Reduction Announced
To much fanfare, FHA announced measures to better protect their insurance fund in a recent Final Ruling published in the Federal Register. Slipped in as a footnote to this announcement was a declaration that FHA is deaf to the concerns of the real estate industry. They are taking aim to again attempt to reduce the [...]
Read moreThe Mortgage Process Put Simply
Understanding the mortgage process is a constant frustration for consumers. One can search the web and find all kinds of long articles breaking the mortgage loan process into anywhere between 6 and 9 individual steps. Upon reading these, a consumer gets even more confused since each individual step is confusing in and of itself. Unfortunately, [...]
Read moreA PETITION – Bolster Homeownership and the Housing Market by Reforming Regulations Concerning Short Sales
While 70 percent* of Americans see homeownership as part of achieving the American dream, the homeownership rate has taken a 10 year decline** that hasn’t been seen since the Great Depression. While some steps have been taken to assist underwater homeowners to refinance, *** A fast transition back into homeownership is good for the economy, [...]
Read moreFannie Mae and Freddie Make Mac Move to NO Loan to Value Limit Loans on HARP
The Federal Housing Finance Agency, with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, has announced a series of changes to the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP). This program was designed to be able to help people who were in a position of negative equity. Now, it someone is upside down on their home, there will be no [...]
Read moreWhy a Home Buyer Should Set Up 3 Search Criteria When Buying a Home
A prospective home buyer or investor might have a clear idea of what he or she wants in the property they’ll buy but the current market brings complexities that make setting up search criteria for this purchase a little more complicated. The difference between bank-owned, short sales and person-to-person transactions bring unique elements to this [...]
Read moreDo I Need to be Late My Mortgage to Qualify for a Short Sale? – Don’t Take Yes for an Answer
I have a lot of people call me to get pre-qualified to purchase a home using FHA financing after a short sale. Early on, not a lot of these scenarios panned out but these days, more and more of them do. When they don’t, the number one reason is because they took bad advice from [...]
Read moreTwin Cities Off-Leash Dog Parks – My Dog Blog
If you’re a dog lover like I am, you don’t consider a move without contemplating neighborhood amenities for your dog. In my considerations for a move recently, I had a bit of a time trying to locate most of the off-leash dog parks in the twin cities metro area. After collecting some information I’d thought [...]
Read moreCriteria NEEDED by all Loan Originators to quote you a rate.
The lending environment has changed. I’m sure we’ve all heard this on the radio and TV for years now… right? We also know that the Government wants to make “mortgage rates” a commodity and make it EASY to shop for. But the problem arises when someone calls up and says “whats your rate?” and truly expects to [...]
Read moreFHA Short Refi Program
The FHA Short Refinance Program has always existed in an unofficial form but became a formal program on December 16, 2009 with Mortgagee Letter 09-52. It was “refined” on August 6th of 2010 with Mortgagee Letter 2010-23. It was designed to provide more mortgage options to those that owe more than their house is worth. [...]
Read moreHow Often Do Seller’s Pay Closing Costs? . . . . . Never.
The role of closing costs in a purchase agreement can be confusing both for buyers and sellers. In the present market, it is customary for there to be sales concessions. A real estate sales concession can be many things including but not limited to price, repairs and yes, . . closing costs. Asking the seller [...]
Read moreBuying After a Short Sale is an Excellent Mortgage Credit Risk
While lenders will admit that it’s technically possible to provide mortgages to homebuyers who recently had a short sale without a waiting period, most lenders are not offering this product. Because of the complexities of the process involved with closing these loans that creates perceived risk, most lenders elect not to do them and fail [...]
Read moreDo Credit Inquiries Hurt Your Credit Score?
Reblogged with Permission Via: http://www.mtgprofessor.com/A%20-%20Credit%20Issues/do_inquiries_hurt_your_credit.htm Posted September 18, 2000, Revised January 29, 2004, Revised November 18, 2004, November 16, 2006, March 26, 2011, August 1, 2011 Borrowers in distress often contact many lenders hoping to find one who will approve them. For this reason, multiple inquiries can have a negative impact on a consumer’s credit [...]
Read moreThe Mortgage Loan Process – From Shopping to Closing
It’s not hard to search and find bland descriptions of the mortgage process that paints in broad strokes. For the more information hungry home buyer, I’ve tried to collect snippets of audio and video that go into greater depth on this topic covering everything from shopping for your home loan to closing on your new [...]
Read moreWhat’s the Difference Between an Appraisal and an Inspection?
A home inspection is a limited, non-invasive examination of the condition of a home, often in connection with the sale of that home. An inspector will check the roof, basement, heating system, water heater, air-conditioning system, structure, plumbing, electrical, and many other aspects of buildings looking for improper building practices, those items that require extensive [...]
Read moreCan I Buy a Home While I’m Getting Divorced in Minnesota?
It has been widely and wrongly asserted that someone who is getting divorced in Minnesota cannot purchase a home prior to finalizing a divorce decree and at the same time prevent their soon to be ex-spouse from being entitled to marital property rights in the newly purchased home. This used to be a serious problem [...]
Read moreThe Statistical Relevancy of the 7/1 ARM vs. the 30 Year Fixed
Each person’s personal circumstances and long term objectives determine the type of mortgage they choose. For the past couple of years, the clear favorite has been the 30 year fixed rate mortgage because the yield curve between short term and long term bonds has been flat. When this happens, there is very little difference in [...]
Read moreWhat are Compensating Factors When Qualifying for a Mortgage?
Although we wouldn’t know it from watching the six o’clock news, mortgage underwriting guidelines and mortgage insurance underwriting guidelines have been in a pattern of loosening, not tightening. This trend started in late 2009 and continues today with such examples as lower minimum credit scores for mortgage underwriting guidelines and fewer declining markets for mortgage [...]
Read moreFHA Premium Rate Increase Makes PMI a Better Option for Many Borrowers
The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) implemented a 25 bps increase to its annual premium rates on April 18, resulting in a payment increase for FHA borrowers. With this change, RMIC (an iLoan preferred mortgage insurer) offers equal or lower monthly premium rates on all LTVs with no upfront premium. RMIC Monthy PMI vs. FHA MIP [...]
Read moreProtected: Agent HBM Tutorials
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Read moreHome Buyer Search Tool Tour
Try It In Full Screen Mode by Clicking on the Button in the Lower Right Charles Dailey – iLoan – NMLS ID# 79048 – CA DOC, MN DOC & WI DFI – 612.234.7283 The Home Buyers Scouting Report® is provided directly to the buyer by HBM II, a licensed national real estate brokerage service company, [...]
Read moreWhat are “extenuating circumstances”?
Many people trying to buy a home after a short sale find it difficult to navigate through loan programs that they may be eligible for and various waiting periods that may be applicable. If late payments occur, most people are told that the waiting period for buying a home after a short sale is 3 [...]
Read moreMortgages for Saint Paul, Minnesota Community Land Trusts (CLT) Housing
Community land trusts are created to preserve long-term affordable housing by purchasing homes in their communities, then leasing the land using a long-term ground lease to low-income and moderate-income families at affordable monthly ground rents. Community Land Trusts (CLT) have had a foothold in the Twin Cities for decades. More broadly, the leasehold form of [...]
Read moreBuying a Home on a Lease with Option to Purchase – Rent to Own
Since the housing crash and great recession, there have been swelling ranks of people that have had credit damaged but have increased their savings and reduced their consumer debt. Many of these people, in a reasonable timeframe will qualify for conventional, VA, FHA, or Rural Development loans but at this time, do not. For those [...]
Read moreTwo Thirds of Minnesotans Will be Affected by Flooding in 2011 – Act Now!
If homeowners don’t act in ways not common in the past, many will stand to lose a fortune due to flooding in Minnesota in 2011. It’s likely that sandbagging won’t do it this time and we need to start thinking about flood insurance and in some cases act quickly on flood insurance. According to expert [...]
Read moreDo’s and Don’ts with Credit During the Home Buying Process
When buying your next home, changes to your credit (additional accounts, closing accounts, fluctuating credit card balances) can result in the lowering of your credit score. If your credit score changes, that can affect your interest rate and even the loan approval itself. Therefore, it is imperative that there are no major changes to your [...]
Read moreThe Importance of an Updated Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) to Your Pre-Approval
When one is selling their home and subsequently buying another, it doesn’t necessarily come quickly to mind that it takes more than online home value calculators to provide an estimate of what you’ll make on the sale of your home. Even the online seller’s net sheet calculators can only provide an estimate of what your [...]
Read moreMinnesota Home Prices Headed for a Double Dip? – Don’t Believe the Hype
If you’ve been watching the evening news or reading what’s been coming off the press, you might be thinking that the sky is about to fall on Minnesota home prices. You’ll hear a lot of doom and gloom and a lot about the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices. I assure you that the media will not [...]
Read moreI Want to Prequalify Myself
There are plenty of times that a home buyer just wants the basics, how much of a loan can they afford. They know quite well enough that it isn’t a firm set of numbers not is it any kind of assurance of financing but it serves well enough as an aid in the home searching [...]
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January 29, 2012




