Timmy G Says: “Americans Should Refinance Now”
Timmy G Says: “Americans Should Refinance Now” Treasury secretary Tim Geithner made some comments today that the Fed has “achieved its goal” of lowering interest rates through the purchase of Mortgage Backed Securites. I don’t know how much longer they will do this… I imagine that this will keep up at least through the summer, […]
The Home Valuation Code of Conduct
The Home Valuation Code of Conduct Well, its finally here. the HVCC! (it stands for Home Valuation Code of Conduct) What does this mean? Well it means that all mortgage companies can NO LONGER order their own appraisals for Conforming mortgages. This is NOT a law, but is basically new stricter guidelines regarding appraisals. Fannie […]
The END of Tightening Mortgage Approval Guidelines
The END of Tightening Mortgage Approval Guidelines I just read an article this morning about how Freddie Mac has posted a 3 BILLION dollar profit for Q2 of 2012. This means a couple things: (objective fact) – That they will NOT require any more “bailout” funds from the federal government to stay solvent.(subjective prediction) – […]
The Difference Between New & Old FHA Rules
The Difference Between New & Old FHA Rules Just recently for Portland Home Loan, I prepared an analysis for 4 purchase scenarios on the same property. It is a purchase of $300,000 here in Portland, OR, and the 4 options are: – 5% down conforming– 10% down conforming, and– 2 FHA options One FHA option […]
The 80/20 Rule and Relationships
The 80/20 Rule and Relationships On this episode of The Equity Accelerator, we’re continuing our thread on building equity in all facets of your life from personal to professional. Today, it’s all about client data and list building to perfect the Pareto’s Principle in your own business. **Prefer to Listen?** Subscribe on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-equity-accelerator/id1449878811?mt=2: Subscribe […]
Renovation Financing
Renovation Financing Many clients of mine zero in on properties that require some additional work. The next question is “how do we pay for these property repairs, and is there a way we can finance them?” This is a key question, and there are actually quite a few ways to make it work. The renovation […]
Refinancing an Option Arm = Tax Write Off Bonanza
Refinancing an Option Arm = Tax Write Off Bonanza I received a very welcome email from my main man Grant Folske CPA telling me that I will be getting a refund from the IRS this year! One of the things that popped out at me that I had always been curious about was the fact […]
Refinance Your Mortgage: It’s a No Brainer
Refinance Your Mortgage: It’s a No Brainer Changing your mortgage can be a daunting task. However, when mortgage rates are falling, the cost savings that one can achieve through refinancing is such that it’s worth the annoyance of going through the process. If you originally took out a fixed-rate mortgage, you are likely paying a […]
Planning for Retirement (60 Minutes Video)
Planning for Retirement (60 Minutes Video) I have never been too excited about the prospect of living off of my 401k proceeds in my golden years. I’m pretty young, so its a fairly abstract concept anyway, but it has never seemed to fully make sense that you can just “save” the money to live off […]
Operation Twist = Mortgage Rate Bonanza
Operation Twist = Mortgage Rate Bonanza Yesterday’s announcement from the Fed’s quarterly meeting was a major market mover–especially for mortgage rates. Ben Bernanke announced the initiation of something called ‘operation twist’, which many market observers were prepared for, but my understanding is the tone of the announcement really made the bond market jump to levels […]
