Buying a house with family members as a co-signer can often improve your outcome! I recently had the privilege of advising a family in purchasing a home in Portland. My main borrower was a first time home buyer, but he was assisted by his wife’s parents! The scenario was as follows: the wife was a …
Multi-generational living: buying a house with co-signers Read More »
It has been a very busy time for us at Mortgage Trust. Rates are super low and holding steady, and the window for that $8,000.00 tax credit is fast closing. Affordability is rising across the board, and the annual end of summer real estate frenzy/climax is upon us. I wanted to take a moment to highlight …
OK! A strange phenomenon is taking hold of the Portland metro area real estate closing statments: ESCROW HOLDBACKS! Oregon is a little different in the way we collect our property taxes- we only do it ONCE per year, due in November. For all closings in September, and October most title companies require a huge reserve account to be collected …
Ok, I’m just going to go out there and do it. This is what the internet is all about right? People getting out there and putting out opinion and information and hoping that it gets read. Perhaps I could drive more traffic to my site if my views were more extreme! Well, I will start …
I’ll try to make this brief, because this is kind of a boring topic, but a very important one if you are in the real estate industry. There are a variety of ways that homebuyers access Mortgages, and its becoming more and more critical to the outcome of your real estate transaction to understand which …
I am very dubious about this new “loan modification” industry that is cropping up nationwide. It would seem that some bright marketing minds that have been in the mortgage business for many years, are seeing an opportunity to be “where the pain is”. As a mortgage professional, I am targeted by sales and production experts …
I just read this blurb over the newswire and thought it merited a blogpost. Shaun Donovan, secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, said that the Federal Housing Administration is going to permit its lenders to allow homeowners to use the $8,000 tax credit as a downpayment. According to Donovan, the FHA’s …
Most folks in the biz are probably aware of this by now, but the Mortgage Disclosure Improvement Act is officially upon us. What this means in plain terms is that the loan process will take longer to accomplish now. There are certain events that now force 3 day waiting periods during the process. We cannot …
Time to break things way down. Let’s deconstruct what exactly it is we’re dealing with here in the mortgage industry. I’ve been in the mortgage loan game since 2003 and it never ceases to thrill me when we close and fund another one! Why you ask? Because the great thing about making a mortgage not …
What is a Mortgage? (Probably more than what you think) Read More »
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 Mae is attempting to create a …
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