Bill McCord's Blog

A large increase in Mortgage loan applications for Buyers is another strong sign that the market is getting back to normal in many parts of the Country. Overall the number of applications for mid February to mid March was  22% greater then for the same period last year.

When added to the recent large increase in the number of Pending sales contracts this bodes well for a much stronger market overall.

TURNING 26 YEARS INTO 30 YEARS.

It’s not always a good idea to refinance a mortgage simply to lower the Monthly Payment.

Before you refinance a 30 year mortgage which has 26 years to go, and take a new 30 year loan, you must compare the total amount which will be paid over the life of each loan before deciding whether it makes economic sense.

The smartest way to take advantage of lower interest rates would be to calculate the amount you would have to pay each month in order to have the new loan paid off in 26 years, and then make an extra payment each month to achieve that highly desirable result.

If the new lower payment plus the extra to make it a 26 year loan is less than the amount you are currently paying then go for it. If not then you should reconsider other options before proceeding.

I cannot go into details regarding other options within a simple post such as this, but I can assure you they do exist. However the regular Loan Officer is not going to bring them to your attention. 

Not just a Mortgage Issue

 Most people know that your Credit Score (FICO) has a significant effect on whether you can get a Mortgage.

What is not generally known is that FICO is increasingly being used by Employers, Insurance Companies,

Utility Companies, Apartment Complexes and a growing list of other organization which provide services for regular payments.

These and many other groups consider it a good indicator of general reliability and whether bills will be paid on time.

The Best Home Loan News of The Year.

How about a mortgage loan program that GIVES you up front 3% of the price of the home you want to buy, and that:

0 Never has to be paid back.

0 Is NOT limited to 1^st time buyers.

0 Works with FHA and V/A loans.

0 Down to 620 credit scores.

Here’s a simple example:

Tom and Jenny earn $6,300 per month between them, and over the past year have saved $5,000 toward the down payment on a house they love priced at $300,000. Therefore the lowest possible down payment allowed is 3.5% of that price i.e. $10,500

Add in reasonable closing costs of 1.5% ($4,500) and they are about 2 years away from being able to buy.

Using the CHF program they will receive a grant for $9,000, add in their current cash of $5,000 and they are Ready to Buy right NOW.

I think this would qualify as good news for Tom and Jenny, and  many other wanna-be homeowners in similar situations.

If you would like more information contact me at bmccord@rwnetwork.com or http://www.nhfloan.org/programs/CHF_Platinum/Guide_CHF_Platinum.html 

Here’s a question from a client who has just had an offer accepted on a bank owned (REO)  property.

Question.

Hi Bill, I was talking to a friend about REO and wanted to get your expertise on the matter.  She mentioned recently there were news about how bank were approving foreclosure while owners were doing a refi and other things, so at the end of the day even the bank didn’t own title to the property.  The loan is sold off to multiple lenders and Title is unclear.  Have you heard about it?

My Answer.

Hi Lisa,   As with many things described as “News” in ourMass Media this is just another Urban Legend. In this case one that shows absolutely no knowledge of reality. What it is talking about is a mixture of different situations based on rumours and hearsay, in all cases relating to either Short Sales, or loan modifications, usually from the 29 States where “mortgage” law is different than in California.

It has nothing to do with REO properties which by definition are fully owned by a Bank. There is no other “Owner”. Title is in the name of the Bank and will be delivered by them to the new owner as in any other purchase. An owners Title Insurance  policy will, as always, be paid for by the current owner (the Bank) and given to the new owner through Escrow. There is nothing different today than when you bought your house.

New questions are allways welcome at bmccord@rwnetwork.com

From: Lisa Ly

Sent: Thursday, December 23, 2010 8:11 AM

To: bmccord@rwnetwork.com

Subject: REO Question

A recent change to your Mortgage qualifying process has been adopted by all Lenders. Banks now run a NEW Credit Report on the Day your loan is due to fund i.e. ONE DAY BEFORE CLOSING. If you have taken on any new debt since applying you might no longer qualify for your loan and be unable to close the deal. If you have removed your loan contingency this could put your deposit at risk.

This applies to both Purchase and Refinance Loans.

If you have applied for any NEW Credit since you were preapproved the loan underwriter will be required to call the new trade line and get proof that no new credit was extended.

If new credit was extended, they will recalculate the debt to income ratios and the application will need to be re-underwritten. Even if you still qualify THIS WILL CAUSE A SIGNIFICANT DELAY TO CLOSING.

This delay could potentially ruin the whole deal.

I personally have had 3 of these situations happen. Fortunately none of them caused major problems but in all cases caused between 7 and 10 days delay in closing.

 If you have made any new credit application since being qualified,

tell your Real Estate Agent, and Loan Agent right away and deal with it before it becomes time critical.

The Federal Reserve (the Fed) took aggressive steps during 2009 and early 2010 to drive mortgage interest rates down in order to encourage more people to buy homes and revive the real estate industry.

To understand how they did this we need to know what actually controls mortgage interest rates for the home buyer.

 It is the price of Mortgage Backed Bonds (MMB’s)and NOTHING else. The bulk of these are created by Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac who buy your mortgage from the Bank or Mortgage Broker who originally made it. They then package hundreds of mortgages together as a Bond and sell it off to private investors (Pension and Insurance companies are typical buyers). The proceeds from the sale are used to buy new mortgages from the Banks and Brokers. This virtuous circle is the motor that drives the Real Estate market.

The Private Investors stopped buying when they realized that a lot of the individual mortgages inside the Bonds were badly designed (Sub-Prime) and payments from were less reliable than they had been told.

When investors stop buying MMB’s the Mortgage Lenders have no money to lend and the Real Estate Market freezes up.

One solution would have been to increase the interest rate on new mortgages in order to offer a higher rate to the investors to compensate for the higher risk. In normal times this is how the market works. In the current circumstances the Investors were not going to buy at any price.

In early 2009 the Fed came to the rescue to avoid a total shut down of the housing market. They began buying these MMB’s in huge numbers and aaccepted very low interest rates. This restored the supply of money available to make new mortgages at historically low rates, and stabilized the whole residential real estate industry.

These Fed purchases have been completed and the challenge now is to attract Private Investors back as buyers for MBB’s. They are there, but will not accept the low rates that the Fed did. Therefore the interest rates paid to get a mortgage will have to go up.

Potential Buyers need to be getting serious if they want to take advantage of these historically low rates.

 

Here’s one more example of a Bank pretending to do something positive about loans to defaulting Sub-Prime borrowers, while actually increasing their payments.

While 90% of mortgage lenders resist  handing out any type of loan modifications, despite being advised and even pressured by the government to do so, Bank of America claims it is now taking the lead. The initial B of A model seeks to conditionally (read: unlikely) cut up to 30% off the principal of 45,000 home mortgages nationally. Note: This is not the same as a reduced payment.

This program is very limited in breadth and scope. It applies only to those homeowners with negative amortizing ARM’s.  The principal reduction program will not be available to underwater homeowners with fixed rate mortgages or ARMs with amortized payment schedules. B of A claims their goal is to reduce homeowners’ monthly payments to an amount equal to 31% of their household income – the parameter set by the federal government two years ago, in 2008, based on long-standing fundamentals of mortgage lending.

In practise this program will apply only a few of the loans B of A inherited when it took over Countyrywide; specifically (negative amortization loans), where the Borrower is at least 60 days late!!

A more important problem is that the proposed modifications will usually result in a HIGHER MONTHLY PAYMENT for people already unable to make the current minimal payment.

For a delailed analysis of this Public Relations Excercise check http://blog.firsttuesdayjournal.com/2010/04/lenders-attempt-to-lock-homeowners-into-paying-underwater-homes/

Rep. Maxine Waters [D-CA35] recently introduced H.R. 5072,The FHA Reform Act of 2010 which would impose hugely increased monthly payments on anyone buying a home with an FHA insured loan. This is a large majority of all 1st Time Buyers.

Already, effective from April 5th, the upfront Mortgage Insurance Premium was increased from 1.75% to 2.25%, (a 29% increase).

Now, in a further attack on the 1st Time Buyer, this misguided lady proposes a 300% increase on the ongoing monthly Mortgage Insurance payment.

To understand the impact of this consider a new $300,000 purchase with a 30 year fixed FHA loan.at 5.5% interest rate. The monthly payment will go from $1,804 up to $2,051. An increase of 12%.

Put another way; If the maximum you could qualify for was $300,000 before, it would now be only $270,000.

At one fell stroke this bill would eliminate an enormous number of willing buyers at the bottom end of the market.

When you consider that each 1st Time Buyer potentially creates a move up Buyer we can’t afford  this kind of interference in this very fragile recovery.