I Found Me! (At my new job)
While for the last several years I have been blogging as partner and “President” of a busy but small mortgage lender licensed in Georgia, Florida and for a time North Carolina things have changed mightily over the last few weeks. Many of you knew I was considering mothballing my Novation Mortgage and indeed had spoken to some about various opportunities around the industry.
Early on in the change process I decided if I were to continue with my experience in the mortgage industry it would be at Regional Director or above or good old Loan Officer. Several people contacted me through Active Rain or as a result of Active Rain I should say and others with whom I interviewed rapidly found my 3 plus years of blogging here as well as proliferated around the Internet. Some liked the idea and others did not – understandably – as keeper of the keys to my own company I was often more outspoken than I will be henceforth.
My Town: Marietta, Georgia – Cobb County
Fifty years ago this past August I was born in the same hospital where decades later my children would be born and I would say good-bye to both of my parents. I remember when there was no Interstate highway, only six government high schools and the fire department was all volunteer. That was before my fellow Cobb County residents Ty Pennington, Travis Tritt or Julie (Julia) Roberts were born.
Home Loan Mortgage Rates Lowest Since May
Georgia FHA Mortgage Rates
We constantly keep our eyes on the rates wondering if and when they will move and which direction they will go. As a Georgia FHA home loan expert I am most interested in FHA but we offer VA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans as well. Of course any move higher invokes one response and any move lower another. It is amazing to me how a slight move higher gets people to call and a slight move lower gets people to hope the rate will go even lower.
Forbes is a great source for stories and news about mortgage interest rates and I can almost tell where my customers get their information when they get it from Forbes. Their article this morning titled “Mortgage Rates Lowest Since May” sparked a few emails and a couple of calls from people saying they saw rates had dropped to 4.57 – sure, on a 5 year adjustable!
It’s easy to skim articles and come up with a number like that so I don’t blame people for doing so. The reality is mortgage rates are lower today than they have been since May but chances of them going any lower or even hovering that low are very slim. Rates have been more volatile this year than they have in many years although the fluctuations, fortunately, have been small. My advice? If you are a first time home buyer and want to take advantage of the first time home buyer’s tax credit or even if you’re just looking to purchase or refinance an existing Georgia FHA home loan this is a great time to do so.
Call me directly at 678-946-0101
An FHA Home Purchase for $100 Down? Yes!
Sure, there’s the old argument that people who don’t make a down payment can’t afford the home. Then there’s the realistic fact that in Georgia you can buy a HUD home for well under market value from HUD using our FHA acquisition loan and only $100 down thus saving your down payment for clean up and cosmetic rehab. In fact if there is up to $5000 in necessary repairs like the HVAC, plumbing, electrical, Sheetrock, etc., that can be paid for at closing as a part of the loan.
HUD currently has an excess of properties available in Georgia and many of them are in great condition. Some may need repairs but this program allows for up to $5000 in repairs and the FHA streamlined 203(k) allows for up to $35,000 in repairs.
You still have to qualify under HUD’s guidelines for this FHA loan but all in all this is a fantastic program.
Call me today at 678-946-0101 and let’s discuss the possibilities about you owning one of these Georgia HUD homes!
Dissecting Mortgages: The Origination Fee
We are talking, of course, about closing costs on your next home mortgage (or commercial mortgage for that matter).
Whether you apply for a loan at a lender, bank, credit union, private lender, or broker you have a very high (99.9%) chance your loan will have an origination fee. If your loan is a conforming conventional loan like a Fannie Mae or a government insured loan like an FHA it will be found in line 801 of the Good Faith Estimate of Settlement Charges or GFE. (This form is changing completely on January 1, 2010).
The origination fee stays with whoever “originates” your loan. That is the person, company or branch where you place your application. Even if you call one of the dot com lenders the origination fee stays with the person and location who takes your inital application.
Repeat after me: There is no such thing as a “no cost loan”. Say it again. There are always costs and you always pay them (or in some very rare cases they may be paid through a government or private grant). No cost loans have higher interest rates so the bank makes more money from their Service Release Premium or interest income to make up for the origination fees and other fees when they “pay them for you”.
For example if your loan amount is $200,000 and your origination fee is $2000 and your interest rate is 5% but you do not want to pay the origination fee the lender/banker/broker can raise your interest rate to 6% (1% of 200,000 is $2000) and “pay the origination fee for you. No matter what name it is called by this is how it works.
Asking a banker/broker/lender to eliminate this fee would be exactly the same as your boss asking you to work for free … or for less money. It is important to shop the origination fee but it is also very important to know what all the other fees are and how certain fees can be hidden or disguised. The good new is if you are dealing with me to originate your loan you’ll get more information than you actually want. In fact most clients give me that, “why are you bothering me with all this stuff I don’t understand or care about anyway”, look.
My name is Ken Cook and I am so honest I lose business regularly to those who are not. Call me at 678-946-0101 and let me prove it to you.
Are interest rates headed up? Today they are, yes. But …
Interest rates are never stable. In recent years people seemed to assume that if the rate was, for example, 4.875% today they would have a week or two to make up their mind. This is simply not the case. Rates could very easily be 4.875% today and 5.250% tomorrow … or even this afternoon. RATES CAN CHANGE SEVERAL TIMES PER DAY. There is no way to accurately and 100% predict when rates will go up or down. There is a way to be very sure rates cannot drop much lower than they have been during the last 5 days.
You can either take advantage of a great rate or you can gamble. The gamble? Several fold actually.
(a) You could be gambling that rates will come back down below 5% or just lock your rate today, before they go up again.
(b) You could be gambling that your Debt to Income ratio is acceptable – if rates go up your payment goes up and that may throw you into a different category on DTI
(c) You could be gambling that rates don’t steadily increase from now to multiple percentage points higher
Listen, I know what the media has said but you must understand this: most reporters know nothing about banking and finance or the economy and they simply parrot what they have heard from industry insiders like myself. The problem with that is they don’t understand what we are saying so they report bits and pieces out of context. To fully understand what an amazing opportunity you have to refinance or purchase today at these incredibly low rates you simply need to speak with an astute mortgage professional with at least 5 years in the business without a complaint.
Do yourself a huge favor and deal with a professional from your region. We only do Georgia and Florida for a good reason: this is where we live. I am from Georgia and my wife is from Florida.
Call us today while interest rates are still acheviable down into the high 4% range without discount points. Seriously, tomorrow may be too late and these rates could very easily disappear into the pages of history.
Who can do your FHA streamline refinance?
Today a very nice lady telephoned us and asked if we could do an FHA streamline refinance on her home here in Georgia. Of course we can, we reassured her. She did not elaborate but after a short conversation we accepted her application for an FHA streamline, examined her credit, made a few phone calls about saving her some money on closing costs then sent her a Good Faith Estimate and Truth in Lending.
W0w. She was actually amazed that (a) our pricing beat the big country wide lender she is currently financed with and (b) that we actually sent her a GFE and TIL. After reviewing the interest rates and closing costs on her FHA streamline refinance she explained why she had asked if we could do an FHA streamline on her home.
She had been speaking with her big country wide lender and the “loan officer” there had told her in no uncertain terms she could online do an FHA streamline refinance with them! Their interest rate was higher and their closing costs were higher – and they did not send a GFE or TIL (by law they have 3 days).
The truth is it does not matter with whom you are currently financed we can do your FHA refinance and probably save you a very good amount of money on your total package including interest and or closing costs. We’re not always the “cheapest” but we certainly do our best to provide the best service.
FHA Cash Out Refi >85% requires two appraisals
FHA Home Loans
Fore loans submitted on or after January 1, 2009 (casefile created), FHA now requires a second appraisal for cash-out refinances with the loan to value is greater than 85%. This means if your home is valued at $200,000 and your loan amount is $170,100 you will need the second appraisal. If your loan amount is 85% or less, for our $200,000 home that would be $170,000 or less, you will not be required by FHA to have the second appraisal.
If your home is a single family residence detached from other homes you will only need an exterior appraisal, called a 2055. However, if your home is a condominium, duplex or other attached residence you will need the full FHA approved appraisal. This appraisal includes the 1004, 1073 and 1025 on the appropriate forms.
The additional burden of cost to you is different by jurisdiction and set by appraisers in your area. The first appraisal and second appraisal may be required to be performed by designated appraisers depending on your lender. Average cost will be an addition $200 to $500 to the borrower for this new regulation.
Have a nice day.
Rural home loans to 102% (no down payment)
Rural Home Loans
“But wait”, you say, “I thought there were no more 100% loans available?” You would, in part, be correct. If, however, the primary residence you are purchasing is located in a designated rural area (as so designated by the US Department of Agriculture) you may very well qualify for a loan in the amount of 102% of your purchase price. No, I am neither intoxicated nor disillusioned. In fact, these loans have been available for many years. The reason you do not know about them is because most banks and big lenders do not offer them.
Rates on these loans are comparable to all Fannie Mae risk priced loans and contributions to the closing costs may be made by the seller. The best way to find out if you and the property qualify is just ti give us a call and ask about the RURAL 102% loan program. We offer these all over Georgia and Florida.
IMPORTANT: Many announcements have recently been issued that there may be a shortage of funds to make these loans for 2009. Traditionally the funds last until November or December but because of the great upsurge in their use it is predicted there are only a few months, short months, supply of fundings. With prices even in rural areas being historically low and mortgage interest rates on these rural home loans also being very low this is the time to inquire about a rural home loan for your rural home purchase.
Please don’t wait – don’t be the one who says, “If I had only …”. Call us today, right now at 866-946-0120 and get more information on these powerful rural home loans.
FHA Streamline Refinance
Did you know if you have an existing FHA home loan that you can refinance to a lower rate using something called an FHA Streamline Refinance? The advantage of the FHA streamline refinance is to allow the home owner to refinance from an existing FHA home loan into a new FHA home loan with a lower interest rate resulting in a lower monthly payment. All Georgia and Florida home owners who have an existing FHA home loan are eligible for the FHA streamline refinance.
The most important fact to qualify for the FHA streamline refinance is that the borrower not have been late on any payments during the last 12 months and that the existing home loan be an FHA home loan. Some of the amazing features of the FHA streamline refinance, especially for borrowers in many areas of Georgia and Florida are:
- No appraisal may be needed under most circumstances
- No income verification is required
- Mortgage interest rates are very low right now
- Closing is quicker than a normal refinance
There are only a couple of “downsides” to the streamline refinance which really are not downsides. The most important is that this is not a cash-out refinance. The other is that if you cannot pay the closing costs out of pocket you will need an appraisal on your property.
Not needing an appraisal is huge right now because of the recent declining values in real estate all throughout the southeast and the rest of the nation. This allows the home owner to refinance to today’s lower home mortgage interest rates into a new FHA home loan even though the existing payoff may be more than the present value of the home.
Call my offices today at 678-946-0100 or 866-946-0120 to get more information and to start the process to take advantage of rates that really cannot get much lower if they get lower at all.
Live Desk
Daily Rates for Qualified Buyers
Today |
Last Week |
|
| 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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