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Helping Relatives Buy a Home – Cash Gifts
Our recent posts have debunked home buying myths and reviewed tools that can help young adults (or any other home buyers) buy a home. To recap, buyers can often win mortgage approval with down...
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Helping People Qualify to Buy a House – Coborrowers
Another way for people to qualify to buy a home is finding a co-borrower on the loan. In most circumstances, a parent is used as a non-occupant co-borrower. They can help qualify and sign for the...
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PIWs are back!
Every few months, there are changes made to loan guidelines. Often, the changes are minute and not worth talking about very much. This time, there is something worth discussing. Property Inspection...
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Waiting Periods After Derogatory Credit Items – Foreclosures
Our nation’s economy has shown positive growth for several years now, following the Great Recession. Many folks who were hit hard during the recession have rebounded and are doing well now. Back...
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Georgia’s TV and Film Industry is Booming. Forget Hollywood! Put Down Roots...
On your commute today, you probably passed a yellow TV or movie production sign – they are that common around Atlanta these days. Look at the numbers: FilmLA says Georgia is the #1 filming location in...
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Waiting Periods After Derogatory Credit Items – Bankruptcies
In the last post, we looked at how lending guidelines require specific waiting periods for different types of “derogatory items” on a borrower’s credit report. Then we zeroed in on waiting periods...
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My (FHA Loan) Christmas Wish List
FHA loans are great for certain borrowers. I look to FHA loans when my clients have credit scores of say 680 or less, little available cash for a down payment, and want a 30 year mortgage. FHA loans...
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Tools to Access Your Home’s Equity
Home owners often seek to use their home equity as a source of cash. They can use this cash for renovations, paying off other high interest debt, funding college educations, etc. Owners typically...
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Recent Mortgage Rate Changes
Wow! Our economic world has gone crazy in recent weeks. The Dow Jones average has dropped about 7.9% since its high on January 26, less than 3 weeks ago. Mortgage interest rates have been changing...
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How Government Policy Impacts Mortgage Rates
Mortgage interest rates continue rising. Other recent blog posts have covered the impacts of inflation, the Federal Funds rate, and stock market influences on mortgage rates. Another major influence...
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Study Shows Financial Benefits of Home Ownership – Part 2
When considering a home purchase, people generally like to have some data to analyze the pros and cons. Luckily for you, I found a recent study that discusses some of these details. Also luckily for...
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Study Shows Financial Benefits of Home Ownership – Part 4
Here is another observation from the homeownership study by Laurie S. Goodman and Christopher Mayer (https://www.urban.org/research/publication/homeownership-and-american-dream) – home ownership is...
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A Seller’s Market – Thoughts on Why
The seller’s market continues on in the Atlanta area. I have recently heard Realtors talking about their clients making offers on homes that have 12 – 15 competing offers. One Realtor friend told me...
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How the Lender Can Help Win the Contract
The last post covered reasons why we have such a sellers’ market in Atlanta real estate. Now let’s cover how a lender can help win a contract. We lenders have a few ways to help strengthen our...
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Atlanta Home Market Update
A new report on the Atlanta housing market shows a significant decline in home sales, year over year, along with a much greater decline in Atlanta home sales as compared to the national housing...
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Mortgage rates rise again
Mortgage rates are on the rise again in the month of October. Mortgage rates jumped sharply to yearly highs and to levels not see in over seven years. Mortgage rates for a 30 year fixed loan are...
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Is Your Home Your Piggy Bank?
A recent study shows that for the first time ever, accessible (or “tappable,” the term used by the study) US home owner equity has exceeded $6 trillion. The number of home owners with equity that...
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Cash Out Refi or HELOC – Key Questions
In the last post we covered the fact that American households have over $6 trillion of accessible home equity and described the two main ways home owners can access that equity – a cash out...
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Self-Employed Home Buyers – Helpful Loan Options
When obtaining a mortgage, self-employed home buyers face more detailed underwriting scrutiny regarding their income. Conventional loans require analysis of the borrower’s net income as shown on...
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Rents on the rise
Rents are still going up and just hit an all-time high, again. The U.S. Census Bureau reported that during the third quarter, the nationwide median asking rent topped $1,000 for the first time ever....
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