FHA and VA Rates Down at Month's End
With FHA and VA mortgage interest rates down here at the end of August it really could be one of the best times to refinance or buy in modern American history. There is still an abundance of available homes to be purchased and the First Time Home Buyer’s Tax Credit ends in just a little over 3 months.
I encourage all first time buyers to be very active about finding a new home and getting approved for the loan now because November will be too late. Seriously, if you think you can wait until November to find a home you will be sadly mistaken and, in Georgia at least, miss out on a possible $9,800 tax credit including both the Federal and State home buyer’s tax credit.
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
Is Ditech Lying About Hidden Fees?
Sometimes advertisers use language which may insinuate something different than the facts. Other times they may simply use a small strength they offer to obfuscate the massive strengths of their competitor. No, I don’t think Ditech is lying in their commercials about hidden fees. What they are doing, however, is insinuating their competitors have hidden fees. Chances are they are pointing to the much maligned Yield Spread Premium (YSP) which is not a fee and can be compared to their Service Release Premium (SRP).
Hidden fees don’t exist. Hidden “fees” are illegal on home loans. It doesn’t matter if it is a lender, a bank or a broker. Surprise fees, on the other hand, are usually not the fault of the lender, bank or broker but rather come from taxes, insurance or HOA fees. But here is what Ditech may be trying to make look bad – Yield Spread Premium is used in many ways. I most often don’t even include it so I can get the interest rate as much as .25% lower than any competitor. I do, however, use it for customers who don’t want to pay as much in closing costs to pay their closing costs.
Brokers are currently in a major war over YSP. The FDIC (no friends of yours but definitely friends of Big Banking) are trying to take it away completely. YSP is part of the broker’s earning. Every broker has the individual choice of how to use it. Some use it to make more income from you and others use it to keep your closing costs down. Some, like me, don’t usually include YSP.
Now you must read this:
Ditech and other direct lenders or correspondent lenders do not have to disclose YSP because they don’t actually get it. No they get something much larger in dollar amount called Service Release Premium (SRP) or they portfolio the loan and collect hundreds of thousands of dollars from you. Why, then are banks screaming about a mortgage broker earning, maybe, $1500 from YSP? Is it because they don’t want you the borrower harmed? HAHAHAHAHA!
Remember, banks are the ones who hit you with NSF fees, low balance fees, deposit fees, withdrawal fees, transfer fees … pick a fee! Lenders are the ones who take your interest every month for as long as you have your loan. On a $1500 monthly payment as much as $1425 is interest and does not go toward paying off your home and every penny goes to the lender.
Why do they care about maybe 1% or less YSP? Because they want the brokers gone because brokers are getting as much as 25% of the origination business and are COMPETITION to the bankers for originations. The FDIC wants that, too, because they are friends of the Big Bankers.
I know this turned into a ranting educational post but you need to hear it. Barney Frank (friend of Big Banking), Chris Dodd (Google him and the word Mozilo in the same search) and others in Congress want brokers GONE and it NOT to protect you. It is to get the brokers out of the way to let direct lenders and big banks have direct access to you and elminiate the pesky brokers who are required by federal law to disclose ALL of their fees and even their “back end income”.
Think about it, Big Banks want brokers gone … does that make sense?
Wells Fargo Sued By Baltimore for Abusing Black Borrowers
I can’t make this up – watch this video [link].
You know how brokers are always being slammed for “bad loans”? This actually proves it was not the broker but the lender who was most guilty as I have insisted all along. In fact as brokers we were and are able to beat the lender’s pricing all the time with qualified borrowers for this very reason. We still beat Wells Fargo – just ask our customers – on price and service.
The Wells Fargo suit was actually filed in January of 2008 but is now coming before a judge. According to a report in the Baltimore Sun, “Two former Wells Fargo employees have claimed in depositions that the company’s prime loan officers reaped rewards for steering customers who qualified for regular lending to subprime loans. Tony Pachal, a loan officer from 1997 to 2007, also said employees used racial slurs to describe minority customers and referred to subprime loans as ‘ghetto loans.’”
What is APR on Mortgage Interest? Deceiving!
Most home owners and home buyers have no idea what APR (Annual Percentage Rate) is. I know this because of the over 3000 borrowers I have dealt with a very large percentage have questioned it. Oddly enough most loan officers don’t fully understand APR and those who do often understand it just enough to manipulate it to make theirs look lower than someone else’s.
The APR has been a major part of the home buying process since 1974 when the current Truth In Lending (TIL) form was introduced as a result of the Truth In Lending Act (TILA). It was “supposed” to give shoppers a level shopping ground for comparing rates and closing costs. All it did in actuality is allow savvy salesmen to manipulate yet another number to confuse the borrowing public.
What the APR is supposed to be is the base interest rate plus the cost of closing calculated as a percent of the loan and spread over the life of the loan. In other words if your closing costs are $5000 on a $100,000 loan that would be 5% divided by 12 months (annualized)? would be .416% so add that to the original interest rate of 5% and now your APR should be 5.16% – sounds simple, right?
Where it gets complicated is when you start comparing different types of loans, different ways of calculating closing costs, who is paying closing costs, whether there are discount points, etc. For example on that same loan the loan officer may be showing the seller paying some or all of the closing costs so they don’t become an actual part of the buyer’s repayment. Would that make the APR 0% – technically it would. However since all fees still must be disclosed it does not. The procedure is flawed and it’s not the worst way to shop for a mortgage but it’s close.
The MOST important things about a mortgage are the following:
- Down Payment – how much equity participation are you establishing in the beginning?
- Loan Amount – what is the actual amount borrowed?
- Terms of the Loan – is it fixed or adjustable? When is it due? How many payments are to be made?
- Total of Payments – if you pay the loan off full term how much will you repay?
- Monthly Payment (Principal and Interest) – this is where the rubber meets the road.
Closing costs and discount points can be manipulated and disguised. Interest rates can be adjustable and that’s tricky unless you understand floor, index, margin, cap, and period. That’s an entirely different post in itself. Furthermore not all “costs paid at closing” are a part of the APR. In fact unless the fee is a direct result of the loan finance it is not a part of the APR. That’s where I’ve seen a lot of TIL forms not properly completed – especially by some of the bigger lenders and banks.
If I were shopping for a mortgage today I would not look at the annual percentage rate as much as the 5 items listed above. If I like all of them and they are better than what another lender offered then I would take it.
Try this simple Excel file [download]
What You Must Know NOW About Getting a Low Interest Rate
If this short post in any way sounds condescending it is by no means intentional. There is, however, a good cause for expedience in delivering this information in today’s volatile market. Two weeks ago I could easily offer a 4.75% interest rate on a thirty year fixed rate FHA home loan. Last week that rate was as high as 5.675% and today it started out at 5.375% but has now dropped to around 5.25% (this is not an advertisement for a rate so I am not posting an APR but I will give you the APR if you email me or call me).
Rates are going to go back up. They have been much lower for much longer than almost every professional expected and it has little to do with what the government does as to whether they stay low for much longer. In part today’s rates are artificially low because of the massive trillions of dollars they have dumped into the market but they could go higher in spite of that fact and almost certainly will go higher quickly once that investment ceases.
Here is what you must know now in order to get the good interest rates:
FHA loan rates are not going to stay low forever. Waiting for them to get back into the fours is like waiting for a volcano to erupt. Most volcanologists will tell you they rarely do.
Once they start back up if you do not have your FHA loan application already submitted you may completely lose the opportunity to get the lowest rates. It costs the lender money to lock a loan and that’s why many charge lock fees (Novation has not charged them in the past).
If you drag your feet and miss the lower lock you may actually not qualify for the same FHA loan once the rates go up because your debt-to-income ratio will increase based on the monthly mortgage incrase as a result of the higher interst rate.
The urgency is for you to get pre-qualified instead of just sitting around watching the tube hoping to save a couple more dollars. In fact play around with the calculator to the left to see how much your payment will change based on a .125% interest rate. You want to wait to see if you “may” be able to save $9 a month then by all means do so. Remember, they go up just as fast as they go down and one day soon they are going up.
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!
Seriously? Borrow against stocks and bonds?
Interested in borrowing from $50,000 to $5,000,000 against your asset holdings? Up to 80% of value on highly traded stocks. Interest only loans.
- Fixed rate between 2.5% and 4.5%
- Interest-Only loan payments
- No closing costs or transaction fees
- No income or credit check
- Funds may be used for any purpose
- Non-personal recourse loan
- Close in a matter of days
- Work with a Direct Lender
No origination fee on loans over $1,000,000 – no points, closing costs or lender fees.
Loans from $500,000 to $999,999 .5% origination fee.
Loans from $250,000 to $499,999 .75% origination fee.
Loans from $175,000 to $249,999 1% origination fee.
Loans from $100,000 to $174,999 1.5% origination fee.
Loans from $50,000 to $99,999 2% origination fee.
Any of the 50 states and US territories. Call 678-946-0101 for more information. Cannot be secured with hard assets such as real estate. All loans have a 3 year lockout period.
Margin Loans vs Securities Based Lending
Recently the question has arisen, “What is the difference between Margin Loans and Securities Based Lending?”
Here are a few of the differences-
Margin loans can only go up to 50% of the value of the stocks – we are able to go to 80%.
Margin loans are not allowed to lend on stocks valued at less than $10.00 per share – we offer the loan on any price share.
Margin loans rates are typically ?5-8% ARM’s – We are between 2.5 – 4.5% fixed rate.
Margin loans are FULL-recourse – ours are NON-recourse with no personal liability.
The “call” on margin loans is set at 80% of the stock value and they have one day to cure ? our “call” is set at 80% of the loan (approximately 60% of the stock value) and we offer 5 days to cure and since ours are non-recourse if the borrower cannot cure the loan default they can simply walk away.
“What is your minimum and maximum loan amounts?”
Our minimum loan amount is $50,000 and there is no maximum loan amount.
“Can you lend against securities that are traded in another country?”.
Yes. Any security (stocks, bonds, mutual funds, T-Bills, options) that is publicly traded anywhere in the world qualifies for this program. There are some exceptions such as China, Venezuela and others. Please contact us for an update list of countries that are excluded.
And an update as to stock dividends.
If the dividends of the stock exceed the interest rate on the loan then the dividend proceeds are first credited towards their loan payment and the balance is given to the borrower.
The New Economy and Future of Investor Financing
The New Economy and Future of Investor Financing
(Or: The Future of Investor Financing)
Just a few short years ago, in the late 1990s, a real estate investor
using conventional financing had a completely different set of
challenges than they did during the decade between then and now. In
1998 a real estate investor would need a minimum of 20% down, have the
burden of proving positively your income and assets and be required to
demonstrate a strong credit history. Proof meant copies of everything
official and nothing could bend the rules except cash.
“By expanding the type of loans that it will buy, Fannie Mae is hoping
to spur banks to make more loans to people with less-than-stellar
credit ratings.” ? New York Times, Sept. 30, 1999
Fannie Mae showed the first signs of making some mistakes stretching
lending limits and obfuscating guidelines because the new breed of
“sub-prime”, also called “non-conforming”, loans had started to take
its share mostly of borrowers with challenges in credit, assets or
income. Soon what Fannie did began to spread in to non-owner occupied
real estate investment loans. Interestingly enough, as a side note, in
that same New York Times article we find the following: ?”From the
perspective of many people, including me, this is another thrift
industry growing up around us,” said Peter Wallison a resident fellow
at the American Enterprise Institute. ”If they fail, the government
will have to step up and bail them out the way it stepped up and
bailed out the thrift industry.”
Soon a new president was elected, the dot com boom and bust were in
our rear view mirrors and the future looked pretty bright prior to
September 2001. We had a robust American economy, lending had loosened
under President Clinton and Fannie Mae Chairman Franklin Raines, jobs
were growing with unemployment hitting an amazing 3.9%, Gross Domestic
Product was at 4.1% and interest rates were falling from 8.5% to 7.48%
during the year 2000.
By the mid 2000s interest rates were in the 5% range, housing values
had skyrocketed, housing starts were at all time highs, investors
could borrow 100% of the sales price of a home if they had a 620
middle score. Income was not important and assets were not important
because of a very dangerous loan some of you crave today called a “no
doc” loan. Then the very loud sound of the secondary mortgage market
collapsing into a hellish abyss called “today’s economy”.
Where we are headed depends largely on how quickly we can
de-socialize, de-nationalize if the “s” word is offensive to you,
banking and private enterprise and distance ourselves from the
foolishness turned to pain of that period. As long as the government
or their appointed agents are guiding, or at best limiting, the
decision making process you can default to lending not being in the
favor of the small real estate investor. That does not, however, mean
the bells have tolled for the industry. In fact we may be at the
apogee, the point farthest away from where we were or where we’re
headed.
Several years ago people in my position in the mortgage banking
industry began predicting cash would once again be king as it had been
in 1998 and before. Little did the majority of us know fully how far
the mortgage industry would implode. Today, in fact, it is very
difficult to get a real estate investment loan from a conventional
mortgage bank. Fannie Mae does have guidelines for you to own up to
ten properties on credit yet lenders have guidelines which are
superimposed on the top of Fannie’s guidelines. There are, in fact,
only a couple of national mortgage investors purchasing real estate
investment loans which means those who originate cannot extend the
credit to you.
Today the investor who is winning is tapping in to alternative methods
of acquiring properties or simply paying cash. Investment clubs which
originally sprang up many years ago to pool cash and team investors
will resume their stance as they did in their infancy. Though they
expanded to hundreds or thousands of members in the boom most of those
people have disappeared back to whence they came. Old techniques like
“wraps”, also referred to as “subject to” purchases, will begin to
show up again especially as interest rates continue to rise – and rise
they certainly shall.
The first signs of recovery will be when inventory levels are
approaching a six months or less supply instead of as much as four
times that number. As the number of available properties decreases
prices will stabilize and even begin to recover. Stabilized values
mean less risk to lenders and our investors which also means lending
guidelines will stabilize and lending itself will loosen up. Do not
expect stated income or stated asset loans to return any time in the
next several years but expect lenders to actually remove some of the
overlays on top of Fannie guidelines.
Once lending is returned to the street , values have stabilized and
inventory levels return to manageable levels then you can expect
private lenders, small real estate investment trusts and buyers like
many of you to enter the market once again. Saying exactly when this
will happen is a guess at best and depends very much on how soon the
jobs market recovers and the economy takes a deep breath signaling an
end of this long, fast, sprint to the bottom.
Even though rates are bound to rise, quite possibly to 1998 levels or
higher, improving values on homes will mean you are still able to
purchase below future market values so even an eight percent to ten
percent interest rate is manageable. Only those who did not experience
investing before the new millennium grimace at the thought of double
digit rates. Remember, it’s not the rate, it’s the return and return
it shall.











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