New Cobb County Luxury Homes Team!
There are hundreds of available luxury homes for sale in Cobb County. There are also many “cookie cutter” real estate agents and bank loan officers just waiting to push your offer through and get their commission. As a luxury home owner I myself felt treated like a commission check when I purchased my home. The loan officer worked at one of the big regional banks and truly treated us just like a number. Oh, she was pleasant enough when everything was going her way. I’m sure she made a $16,000 commission on our loan but many times we felt as though we were newlyweds purchasing our first mobile home.
Ken Cook's home at Christmas
People who can truly afford a luxury home live a different life and deserve different treatment. As a long time high level executive and business investor I understand how multiple streams of income, complicated tax returns and financials, and time constraints can really make a difference in how I can interact with the loan clerk at a bank. For this reason I handle all of the luxury home loans for my team.
Now here is the really good news!
As of September 1, 2011 I have teamed with seasoned luxury home broker Jen Bowman who is highly capable of finding the Cobb County luxury home which fits your desires and your needs. Like me she will deliver the personal touch you deserve to help with locating the properties, helping you select which one to invest your valuable time in visiting and negotiate the best deal available for you and, if it applies, your family.
Among the differences you can expect from the Ken and Jen team includes meeting you at your convenience and where you are. In those events where you, as a buyer, are incapable of coming to Cobb County to view the property we will offer a detailed video tour and seller interview where possible – even if the listing is not Jen’s. As a seller you can expect nothing but the best in hi-tech marketing, traditional marketing and attracting the type of buyer perfect and qualified for your home. Jen’s goal is 30 days on market and my goal is to get the offers in and closed in as little as 8 days.
With Jen’s connections to all things real estate, my history as marketing director for 3 large mortgage lenders and technical proficiency your listing will be seen and the marketing will invite offers from a wide range of viewers. Coupled with our relevant, local information on schools, parks, government, and the rainbow of venues in the immediate market area. There are as many reasons to list with Jen as there are to finance with Ken so purchasing or selling we fully intend to be the best!
I am a multi-year veteran of the industry who has served in the highest offices in the industry. I can help you get the best deals and avoid getting ripped off!
Contact form on this web site
No-Seasoning Cash Out Refinance on Investments
It’s back! A little common sense in lending can go a long way. From 2003 to 2009 I was tops in real estate investment lending in Georgia. I had the privilege of teaching in the John Adams Real Estate Investment Institute at Emory University and having the only lenders office inside the Georgia Real Estate Investor’s Association. Because of that and massive radio, cable and print advertising I was able to help thousands of real estate investors get started and stay successful through the bubble.
Play this short audio file for more details about the Non-Seasoned Cash Out Refinance for Real Estate Investors
I am a multi-year veteran of the industry who has served in the highest offices in the industry. I can help you get the best deals and avoid getting ripped off!
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Single Family sales values down again
Nationwide home sales values on average are lower than they have been at any time since 2003.
Single Family Sales Prices
To buyers this could mean good news but along with tightened underwriting guidelines, increased scrutiny of credit, income and assets, along with crazily erratic valuations through the ludicrous changes to the appraisal industry housing sales are beyond stalled.
While values are low, stock is plenteous, interest rates are phenomenally low and population is growing there are simply too many negative economic factors for the weakened housing market to begin recovery at this time.
For the housing market to begin recovery we need a minimum of at least three improvements:
- The jobs market must improve with millions unemployed and unaccounted for in the numbers the long term impact is yet to be registered. The jobs market must make a come back and only tax benefits to hiring employers and the reversal of the socialized health care (mandated) program will correct this.
- Consumer confidence is at an all time low. “Consumer sentiment unexpectedly decreased in May to the lowest level in six months as Americans grew concerned over the outlook for jobs and the economy, while a measure of home prices dropped to a nine-year low.” – Bloomberg.
- Consumer Price Index is up 3.6% which means inflation and higher cost of living. The real issue here is the CPI core (food, fuel) is up, too. This impacts the poor very harshly.
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I am a multi-year veteran of the industry who has served in the highest offices in the industry. I can help you get the best deals and avoid getting ripped off!
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Home prices continued double digit decline
Chart: Median Sales Prices March 2011
Out of nineteen major metropolitan areas reported seven indicated a median sales price decline of at least 10% or greater. Atlanta, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Phoenix, Portland OR, and St. Louis MO each surpassed the double digit decline year over year from March 2010 through March 2011.
For the first time in several years the median sales price of homes in the Atlanta MSA have dipped below $100,000 to $99,000 marking Atlanta as the lowest median sales price MSA in the national report published by the National Association of REALTORS® in April.
Coupled with excess inventory stretching into the year plus range and low employment rates in some of these areas recovery could be slow even though purchase opportunities abound.
I am a multi-year veteran of the industry who has served in the highest offices in the industry. I can help you get the best deals and avoid getting ripped off!
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Glimmer of hope in new home sales report March 2011
New home sales report March 2011
Is there hope for a recovery cycle to begin in 2011?
Industry insiders and prognosticators alike have been making guesses at exactly when we would hit bottom and when recovery would begin since we entered the market downtrend. While many were well educated guesses and other hunches based on theories created on the barstools of America they have all been simply guesses. Whether or not they are accurate will only be born out in the coming days, weeks, months, and years.
According to the Census Bureau report (see graphic) there were over 300,000 new homes sold in March of this year (2011). The more encouraging number for this southeastern based mortgage marketer is that 162,000 – well over half – were sold in the south. Click the graphic for a larger representation.
March 2011 housing numbers may hold promise
Although modest and somewhat an island of positive in a vast ocean of negative the March 2011 new home sales numbers as tabulated by the US Census Bureau proved an increase.
On the other hand there are variables in the equation
“We’ve gotten spoiled by the idea that
Mortgage Calculator
interest rates will stay in the low single-digits forever,” said Jim Caron, an interest rate strategist with Morgan Stanley. “We’ve also had a generation of consumers and investors get used to low rates.” (NYT)
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We are not certain when mortgage interest rates will begin to rise, nor are we sure how high they will trend. The cyclical nature of the economy indicates a strong likelihood rates will rise, possibly sharply, and could easily see double digits in a short time. This, however, is an unknown although it is predicted by some professional economists who have a track record of prediction such changes.
I am a multi-year veteran of the industry who has served in the highest offices in the industry. I can help you get the best deals and avoid getting ripped off!
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Possible negative impact of “Qualified Residential Mortgage”
Chris Dodd - Co-Author
The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 – aka The Dodd-Frank Act included a bit of somewhat obscure language about lenders leaving “skin in game” when they sell mortgages to investors. To sum it up it is a good idea but risky business.
The definition is being written and adjusted by the FDIC and we should know very soon what that definition is. On the “bad” side for first time home buyers, sellers who had to take cash to closing to pay the difference between their payoff and sales price, and buyers who make enough to live but not enough to say is that this could result in private loans all requiring 20% down. (This is not a set fact, just a possibility.)
The intent is to get the government out of the mortgage business by dwindling the holdings of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. With the goal of allowing private investor back into the game through the well practiced method of mortgage backed securities, a result of the securitization of pools of mortgages sold on Wall Street, the steps are precarious and the definition must be clear. The government is not always the best at being clear with definitions which causes a knee-jerk panic in the mortgage banking industry like the current brouhaha over how to compensate loan officers.
This short post is designed simply to give awareness to the reader there are, possibly, some major changes coming to the way lenders and banks make loans and to whom. Watch the video, Google “Qualified Residential Mortgage”.
I am a multi-year veteran of the industry who has served in the highest offices in the industry. I can help you get the best deals and avoid getting ripped off!
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FHA Monthly Premiums will rise on April 18, 2011
FHA MMIP increases - click for larger view
FHA Mortgage Insurance Premiums Increase
We have enjoyed several months of the lowest FHA UFMIP (Upfront Mortgage Insurance Premiums) and MMIP (Monthly Mortgage Insurance Premiums) in recent history. With monthly rates being at .9% payments have been lower resulting in higher debt-to-income ratio for home buyers and owners who have refinanced. With our dollars being stretched because of a damaged and weakened economy this has helped sales and refinances to remain higher than they would have been with higher rates.
Effective with all FHA loans at 95% LTV (Loan To Value) and higher starting with new casefile ID numbers being issued on and after April 18, 2011, the monthly rate is increasing to 1.1% per month. Here is how that stacks up on a $180,000 loan;
| Loan | UFMIP | New | MIP .9 | MIP 1.1 | Monthly + | Annual + |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 180,000 | 1,800 | 181,800 | 134.10 | 163.89 | 34.79 | 417.48 |
On a $180,000 home mortgage loan the increase in the FHA monthly mortgage insurance premium from .9% (of the principal balance) to 1.1% will mean nearly $35 more per month cost added to the mortgage. This multiplies to nearly $420 for the year.
While these numbers may not be astronomical you can see how this may make the difference to a family or single homeowner already working on a stretched budget. If income taxes are increased, deductions decreased, property taxes or home owner’s insurance increases, any of these need to be considered when purchasing a new home or refinancing.
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I am a multi-year veteran of the industry who has served in the highest offices in the industry. I can help you get the best deals and avoid getting ripped off!
Contact form on this web site
Get a home for just $1
Buy a home for one dollar?
Don’t shoot the messenger! In fact I was inadvertently involved today in an exchange between a real estate agent and a loan officer from another company where the agent was insisting the HUD $100 down program was over. It is not as of today and you can verify that for yourself.
If the $100 down HUD homes program was an issue I can only imagine what the $1 HUD homes debate would bring. So instead of making any statements about it at all simply follow the link and see what new special (if any) HUD is offering in your area.
HUD’s Dollar Homes initiative helps local governments to address specific community needs by offering low to moderate income families the opportunity to purchase qualified HUD-owned homes for $1 each.
Dollar Homes are single-family homes that are acquired by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) as a result of foreclosure. The following link is for Georgia homes and as of this posting there are 12 available in Georgia on the $1 program. That changes regularly.
I am a multi-year veteran of the industry who has served in the highest offices in the industry. I can help you get the best deals and avoid getting ripped off!
Contact form on this web site
How do I find out if Fannie Mae owns my loan?
One of my most frequently asked questions is “How do I find out if I have a Fannie Mae home loan?”
The Fannie Mae DU Refi Plus has made it ever more important to know if your existing loan is a Fannie Mae loan. To find out who owns your loan you simply need to go to the Fannie Mae website and check using your address. You will need to tick a checkbox indicating you are the owner of the property or have authorization to check on behalf of the owner.
Mortgage answers should be delivered only by licensed mortgage professionals. Your agent should serve in the transaction and transference of the property and not be relied upon for accurate mortgage information. Experienced, license mortgage professionals spend hundreds of hours every year in training, compliance updates, and working with clients similar to you with resolving their mortgage needs. Nothing against agents and the smartest ones will tell you, “ask your mortgage professional”. To see if they are licensed simply go to the NMLS Custom Access site.
I am a multi-year veteran of the industry who has served in the highest offices in the industry. I can help you get the best deals and avoid getting ripped off!
Contact form on this web site
Subprime loans and home ownership
Home Ownership and Subprime Loans
During the last decade lending guidelines changed dramatically. The changes at the beginning of the decade were precipitated by loosening federal guidelines as a result of the outcry for more equal access to home loan products for under-served markets. The old adage ”give ‘em and inch and they’ll take a mile” soon came into play.
While sub-prime loan products, a name simply referring to loans that did not meet conventional guidelines, had been in existence prior to – and in fact are still in existence today – they became more the standard for many brokers and banks alike because they were simpler to close due to their lax lending requirements. By 2007 non-conforming loans comprised the largest percentage they had in history and the lack of requirements for underwriting are what made these loans so dangerous.
Among the many requirements for underwriting conforming loans which did not exist in non-conforming (sub-prime) loans was the necessity to verify the legitimacy and originality of required documentation like bank statements, pay stubs and others. Unfortunately this laxness spilled over into conforming and government lending as well. Until recently underwriters and investors rarely required any sort of evidence of the originality of documents.
The Veteran’s Administration (VA) has always been more likely to ask for evidence of originality when the copies are actually submitted. It only follows that the VA would be one of the first agencies to re-enforce this policy. However the VA is not the only agency or organization to require CTC for non-original documentation. In fact it was very common in the 1990s and earlier for post-closing auditors to write up a file which did not have “Certified True Copy” (CTC) photo-copies in the file.
Chances are over the next few months the CTC policy will come into play across the board. This means applicants will be increasingly like to be asked to submit either original documentation or notarized copies. It may be possible your lender will ask you to send in documentation or visit your local notary public to have your photo copies witnessed. Chances are the request is non-negotiable.
I am a multi-year veteran of the industry who has served in the highest offices in the industry. I can help you get the best deals and avoid getting ripped off!
Contact form on this web site
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Daily Rates for Qualified Buyers
Today |
Last Week |
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| 30 Year Fixed | 3.59% | 3.65% |
| 15 Year Fixed | 2.91% | 2.89% |
| 5/1 ARM | 2.81% | 2.57% |
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