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 [...]

You are in your jammies, its 1:00 AM and visions of new homes are dancing in your head.  How much is this going to cost?  What interest rate will you get?  Who are you gonna call?  No need, my friend…the internet has got you covered! Information is GOLDEN.  And if you are like most, you [...]

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 [...]

As a First Time Home Buyer it is like opening up a new IPad you just received from Santa.  You are excited to open the box, fire it up, but once it is out of the box you don’t even know what you don’t know about your new IPad.  The same generally apply’s to First [...]

Anyone you know struggling with mortgage payments due to unemployment? Forbearance Terms Eased for Freddie’s Borrowers Freddie Mac gave unemployed homeowners who are struggling to pay mortgages owned or guaranteed by the company a break on Friday when it eased its temporary forbearance restrictions. Effective February 1, Freddie Mac servicers will no longer need prior approval [...]

Fannie Mae HomePath Mortgage Loans… NO Appraisal, NO MI and NO Condo Certification! Looking for a fix up property… with mortgage financing readily available? You believe you are either a handy person when it comes to home fix up projects or maybe you know someone who is handy. Shopping for foreclosed homes seems like a [...]

If you’re among the more than 7 million of US home-owners who are expected to qualify under the expanded guidelines, there are several preparatory steps you need to take to ensure your application is reviewed first. Our assumption is that lenders will be absolutely DEVASTATED with new refinance applications in the coming months, underwriters will [...]

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, [...]

Reblogged with Permission VIA: http://www.mtgprofessor.com/Qualification/About_the_Qualification_Page.html Posted October 29th, 2011 View the Mortgage Qualification Tool One major difference between the housing finance system today and the system that prevailed prior to the financial crisis is in loan underwriting — the set of rules and procedures governing who is approved for a loan and who is rejected. [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

If you are planning on getting married soon and buying a home – then why not use your registry as a Down Payment Registry.  This is a nice way to help add to your down payment funds. FHA has a Bridal Registry Program that allows the funds you receive as wedding gifts to be used towards [...]

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 [...]

The MN Department of Natural resources has release some great new mobile apps for those of you who are fishing and fall enthusiasts. You can now track MN fall colors, find MN lake information and find public access to MN lakes from your iPhone or Android phone. Charles Dailey – iLoan – NMLS ID# 79048 [...]

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 [...]

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.  [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Mortgage fees can be difficult to understand.  Often times fees exist for things that don’t match what they are named, sometimes they are omitted or expectations can be mismanaged.  A lack of clarity, omissions and mismanaged expectations will always lead to a poor experience and worse yet, a loan that is inferior to what you [...]

Consumers are becoming more and more educated these days. Some clients even quote me guidelines. I blame myself. After all I’m the one posting these online. Believe it or not, I love educated clients. It makes my job easier. It also means their reading my posts! But for those of you savvy borrowers out there, [...]

Breaking Down Fannie Mae’s Appraisal Rules Have you heard of the Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC)? If you are a lender or Realtor, of course you have. What I wanted to do with this post is breakdown Fannie Mae’s policy now that HVCC has expired. Basically the Code lives on and has been slightly [...]

Should I Stay or Should I Go Now? The million dollar question, should I stay, and continue renting, or should I go, and become a homeowner? Sometimes, I think first time homebuyers are looking at this question as a million dollar question, and really, it is not. Are we at the bottom of the declining [...]

Doesn’t the Seller Pay for All of Our Closing Costs? We all have to remind buyers that they are responsible to pay the required down payment percentage (3.5% for FHA or 3-10% etc for Conventional) AND their closing costs/pre-paids too. Even if you stipulate that the sellers contribute towards “closing costs and pre-paids” in the [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Clearly, many if not most short sales involve a loan presently in default. As well, many times a short sale might involve a current borrower who can currently afford the payment. In several other situations, a seller may be “just hanging on” and the smallest thing could put them irreparably behind on their loan. Welcome [...]

If you’re a FHA buyer shopping for a condo, you’d better pre-qualify your lender first. If you’re listing a condo and a buyer gives you a FHA pre-approval letter, you’d better pre-approve that lender first. Because Spot Approvals are a thing of the past, it’s important to know which of the two remaining FHA condo [...]

In October of 2008, HUD rolled out their reverse mortgage product and in March of 2009, they perfected it. With rates expected to rise and the tax credit setto expire, many real estate professionals are looking for new and under-served markets to reach out to. Since HUD has perfected their reverse mortgage, the Home Equity Conversion [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Understanding the differences between these two forms of distressed sales is critical to writing winning offers and paving the road to a successful closing. Perhaps more importantly, understanding their differences will mean that you’ll get the best deal possible on your purchase. A bank-owned property (often referred to as a “foreclosure” or “REO”) is a [...]

Debt as percent of income: 17% Unemployment rate: 6.7% Home ownership: 72.6% Negative equity: 22.2% Average home price: $224,000 Loan as percent of home value: 65.6% Percent of U.S. Market: 1.01% The low rate of unemployment is what really stands out with Minnesota, Findlay said, at 6.7% compared to the U.S. rate of 8.8%. Negative [...]

  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 [...]