Sometimes FAST is the key to success. You may have seen advertisements from lenders who “guarantee” very quick closings and offer to “make it right” if they don’t meet the deadline. That is not what this is – in fact instead of promising something that cannot be delivered unless a long, long list of stipulations is met we’ll start with the facts and deliver based on the borrower’s ability along with the ability of a few third party providers to deliver. Eight days is possible and can be done and something reasonably close can be achieved in the majority of cases.

Fast Home Loan Closings for Georgia Mortgages

1. Good credit, income and assets are required for the fastest closings. Some hopeful competitors won’t even consider a loan application with someone who has challenges and they only want to work with “the cream of the crop”. So do we, however we work with anyone and everyone.
2. The property must be acceptable and ready to occupy under standard lending guidelines.
3. The borrower(s) need to have all of the requested verifying documentation in the lender’s hands within hours of being requested.

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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Seems like you should just be able to pick up the phone or go online and apply, right? Well technically you can. If, however, you want to help the results here are five things you can do, starting right now, to help yourself get the best mortgage for your buying and credit power.

1 – Pull Your Own Credit – A little inside joke, not funny because it’s at the borrower’s expense, is when a loan officer asks during the initial consultation, “you have any late payments or other derogatory information on your credit” and the application prospect answers “no” only for the loan officer to pull the credit of the applicant and find a couple of pages of nothing but late payments. Don’t let this be you. You can pull your own credit a any number of websites and usually for free. All you really need to look for is if you have late payments, judgments or liens against your credit, if you see something that isn’t yours, and get a general familiarity with your own credit report. You should do this at least once every year anyway.

Caution: You do not know how to make credit decisions so the advice above is not meant to have you think just because you have a late or two on your credit you are not going to be approved. Every loan solution is different. The advice above is just so that you already have some familiarity with your credit record which you always should anyway. Even if you see lates on there go ahead and call a licensed professional in your area.

2 – Know Your Finances – If you are the type of person who has no idea how much you have in your checking account you should take this time right now and review. If you never balance your checkbook this may be a difficult process for you because you’re going to be digging for some paperwork regardless of where you close your loan. Take the time before starting the application and familiarize yourself with your assets. Check your banking balance, retirement accounts and other liquid type investments so you’ll know the answers when asked and you won’t have any surprises later.

Caution: Every loan program is different and loan purposes are different, too. Purchase loans where you are making a large down-payment will require you to demonstrate you have the funds for the down-payment and closing costs and that they are, indeed, your funds. In other words you’ll have to prove it’s your money and it didn’t come from the seller trying to “help” you buy the home. If you have had the money for at least 2 months it is now called seasoned and the burden of proof diminishes rapidly to nil.

3 – Know Your Work Info and History – All mortgages require 2 years of employment history. Sometimes that can be a little crazy especially if you, or the borrower, work temp jobs. What this means is the lender (we) need to know everywhere you have worked for the last two years and if there are any gaps in employment a good reason. Go ahead and map this out and get the contact information and your pay history for each of these employers.

Caution: Even if you have gaps or have worked at multiple places in the last 24 months you cannot count yourself out.

4 – Know Your Residence History – You would be surprised how many people don’t know their last address when it’s needed on the loan application. We, any lender, will need to know where you have lived for the last two years and to whom you paid rent. If you are currently or have lived rent free we will need what is called a “rent free” letter that we get from the person who owned the home or had authority to permit you to live with them for free. Examples of this are room-mate, friend or even family. This is important because we are trying to prove your ability and intent to repay the money we are about to buy your new home with.

Caution: Only a mortgage professional who knows the guidelines and makes the lending determination can make the final decision on this. Don’t think you can’t buy just because your residence history is jumbled or obfuscated.

5 – Get Your Records Together – Most lenders for most loans are going to need (at least) some or all of the following so you may as well start getting them together right now. Find the last 2 (or even 3) years of tax returns, all pages, all schedules. Find the last 2 months of your bank statements for checking and savings all pages – even blank pages believe it or not. Find the last 2 years of your W2 forms. Find your last 1 month’s worth of your pay stubs. Some lenders need more, some lenders may not ask for all of these though most do.

Caution: Chances are you’re going to asked for some verification or statements about something so be prepared when you get asked by the loan officer or processor to provide them. Arguing about it really doesn’t do much good so it helps to be prepared and understand you are asking someone to “let you hold” $100k to $500k or more to purchase a property with really no guarantee you’re ever going to pay it back. It is their job to protect both you and the investor in the transaction.

Most of all it is better to not be surprised at the things that come up during your approval process. If you are a detailed record keeper you will be just fine. On the other hand if you’re a little shakey in the personal history department you may have a bit of a bumpy ride with the underwriter “making” you look for things. The best thing to do is find them now, before you apply.

Avoid online mortgage companies or big banks where you may be nothing more than a number and a dot on the page. Call a local, licensed, mortgage professional and be prepared to help them get you approved!

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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You’ve seen those ads touting some crazy low number like 2.125% home loans! The first thing I usually notice is there is no APR advertised on the same line and in the same font – federal violation. This is often my first hint this is a lead generation company and not an actual lender. Lead generations companies, so it seems, can advertise just about anything they like since they are not actually providing home loans. In my opinion those who buy leads from companies who advertise should be held equally accountable – not likely to make me popular among “the liars club”.

Some months ago I wrote a post about this subject and even received a couple of phone calls from mortgage brokers, mostly out west, who would like to have done me bodily harm. We all know people in the industry who make outrageous claims they can very rarely deliver and weasel their way around the law by publishing a mult-paragraph disclaimer secreted away on some difficult to find asterisk centric page.

Even with the rates you see published by Zillow and BankRate, both reputable companies, you will often find the brokers and lenders who feed those companies the rates pushing it to the very lowest number possible to be achieved under the best circumstance on the best of days. Those rates never take into consideration anything except the best of circumstances and to really see the full picture one would need access to the qualifying factors – which are will hidden if published at all.

Understanding mortgage pricing is like understanding pricing for any other service: the higher the risk the higher the cost. Lenders base mortgage rate factors on credit score, loan amount, property type, and other factors due to the risk provided from those types of loans over the years. It’s no secret that the pool of borrowers of people with 720 or higher credit scores, 20% or more down payment and purchasing a single family home in the $200,000 range are less likely to miss a payment or default on the loan than the pool of borrowers with credit scores around 630 and 3.5% down on the same home. It’s just a fact of numbers.

So when you see interest rates advertised your first response should be doubt – and that will serve you well. If you have a middle credit score of 740 or higher, are paying at least 20% down on a home within the conventional mortgage limits for your area, you have a good income and ample assets then it is possible you will qualify for the rates you see advertised online.

BIG WARNING: There is a, an I use the term very loosely, “mortgage company” which advertises regularly on one of these type websites and their rates always seem about a full 1% lower than everyone else’s. Every day they take thousands of phone calls of people who do not qualify for those rates. Do yourself a favor – find a reputable lender who doesn’t use parlor tricks and flashy numbers to steal your trust. Hang up, call someone local and trustworthy, and give them your business.

ABOUT ONLINE LEAD COMPANIES: Most online lead companies will sell your information to 3 to 5 (or more) people. Even though the lead company may have advertised some obnoxiously low interest rate the company who purchases your lead is under no obligation to offer it. These mortgage brokers will pay as much as $50 or more for your phone number and you bet they are going to do whatever they can to get their money back. Don’t get me wrong, some of these lead buyers are the most honest and ethical people you will meet. Unfortunately many of the lead companies have neither honesty nor ethics.

Related articles

• Mortgages: Preventing Credit Score Dings (nytimes.com)
• Benefit of higher credit score dwindles at top end (sfgate.com)
• U.S. 30-year mortgage rates fell in week – Zillow (reuters.com)

There is little secret about the devastation delivered to the real estate industry in the Atlanta area over the last twenty-four months. Values plummeted in 2009 as more properties made their way to the market through increasing numbers of foreclosures leaving banks and investors holding inventory unlikely to resell in months if not years.

Making matters worse many of the foreclosed properties are not in prime condition with many of them needing repairs to return them to livable condition. Add to this trouble the number of properties which have been vandalized while vacant and those continue to set in a deteriorating state further impacting the values of other properties in the area.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development, through their Federal Homeowner’s Association, established a special loan in 1978 using revisions to the National Housing Act (NHA). Since that date FHA 203K loans are available to help America restore and preserve its existing housing inventory even when the homes need upgrades or repairs.

Allowing for almost all repairs except structural repairs the FHA 203K loans, more specifically the Streamlined version thereof, are helping sellers like banks and servicers including HUD to sell housing inventory that otherwise would likely not be sold. The loan is good not only for repairs but for upgrades as well.

Real estate professional and mortgage executive Jesse Kight of Marietta says, “the solutions provided by the FHA rehab loan are helping HUD and banks accept offers on properties with only the standard 3.5% down payment required by FHA to insure the loan. Since all other qualifications are the same anyone who qualifies for any FHA loan is eligible for the rehab version.”

For more information on the FHA 203k Streamlined loan in Georgia contact Ken Cook at 678-439-8683

Looking for a great place to live with some of the best values in America? Look no farther because I am sitting in it right now keyboarding this post to you! On October 6th NBC’s Today Show with Al Roker highlighted Marietta, Georgia as the number 4 place in America to buy a home and get the most “bang for your buck”.

I happen to agree with them because I live here, have lived here my entire life except a little college stint, and I am very actively involved in my community and lending here. During the boom builders constructed some very beautiful homes which in turn emptied a number of existing homes and left us with a surplus of larger, newer homes. In fact on October the 12th I wrote about “My Home, Marietta, Georgia” which was a featured article here on Active Rain.

We were hit late in the price drops but when we got hit we got hit hard! Sarasota is number one, San Fransisco is number two, is number three is Lansing (another great city), and Marietta (that’s me) is number four. By the way, the Gone With The Wind Museum is way down on the list of “pride and joy” of this community. Seriously, only an outsider would say that! Don’t get me wrong, it’s very cool but the life is in that old town area is very vibrant and that is just one of hundreds of attractions in that immediate area.

You can watch the video here on the City of Marietta’s website. When you get finished call me. I’m not a real estate agent – I’m a very seasoned home lender based right here for my entire career in Marietta, Georgia. 3300 homes in the Atlanta/Marietta area have been financed across my desk I have a pretty decent “handle” on the market here.

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

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.

You have seen them: the secrets of real estate investing. Anytime you see that word “secret” get out your wallet. I can tell you for a fact there are no secrets. In fact, anything that is a secret hasn’t been used. Gurus could not pack rooms for thousands of dollars if you accepted that there are no secrets. Alas, there are no secrets. But there is a randomly issued series of letters (ie blog posts) and let’s call this The Billionaire Real Estate Investor’s Super Top Secret Number One.

Alas, again, there are no secrets. But there are some really important things to learn!

Here are the CONVENTIONAL (Fannie Mae) FINANCE basics of real estate investing:

Borrower must be full doc – this means able to prove income and assets with acceptible documentation.
Borrower must not own more than three properties on credit.
Minimum loan amount – generally is $50,000
Property must be in move-in condition (there are caveats)
Interest rates at 80% LTV and below are very decent right now
Minimum of 15% down payment must be sourced and seasoned
Expect to pay a minimum of 20% down even in the face of the previous statement
Your MIDDLE credit score really is going to need to be in the high 600′s
Closing costs, depending on how desperate the bank or loan officer is, are going to be around 3% on a $150k loan
PMI companies do not currently offer insurance on investment properties (unless something changed before you read this)

Join me the next time for The Billionaire Real Estate Investor’s Super Top Secret Number Two: How to beat the Fannie Mae four property limit

But see, these are not secrets. They are just some things that not everyone knows. When you really need answers just pick up the phone and give me a call at 678-946-0101 or email me at REIBroker AT gmail.com

I am still amazed that many investors and agents do not know that Fannie Mae dropped the total number of loans on credit to four when an investor is purchasing a new property or refinancing an old one. They simply will not allow more than four properties on credit. Not smart on their part but they do have the word Government in their designation.

Fannie Mae limits to four the number of properties which can be held on credit when:
The loan being sold to Fannie is secured by a second home or investment property.
You can have unlimited home loans on your credit when you are financing a primary residence.

Any loan that is not being sold to one of the GSEs (Fannie or Freddie) is probably not subjected to these limits. The full information can be found at the Fannie website which I have linked from ken.novationmortgage.com for your downloading convenience.
There is good news ? at least one portfolio investor has agreed to purchase loans for investment properties outside of the Fannie guidelines. They will purchase or fund a total of two additional loans regardless of how many loans the applicant has on credit at the time of closing. Even better news is they will allow cross-collateralization of two properties on each loan so it is possible to add up to four more properties to your collection. Before you go out and start making offers you need to call me and make sure you and the properties qualify.

The property must be a single family residence in good condition in the state of Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Michigan, Ohio or Kentucky. We are currently working on other states. The loans are available on a five year balloon with a 3 year 2 point pre-payment penalty at roughly 9.9% interest or a fixed 30 year with a 3 year 1 point prepayment penalty with a slightly lower rate. Rates change daily as does the APR based on the loan amount. Average APR is about .25% higher than the interest rate.

The borrower, in order to qualify, must be able to fully document his or her income ? there are no stated income options available for these loans. To borrow up to 75% of the purchase price the borrower must have a 691 or higher middle credit score, not FICO but middle. If the FICO score is the middle score then that is the score we use. We pull all three bureaus. The debt to income ratio including the new loan must be no higher than 45% – in other words these loans are for serious investors who have a business plan and do it right. If you write off everything including the kitchen sink and show a low Adjusted Gross Income for the last two years you are not going to qualify regardless of why your income is low. We do not add back depreciation and interest on these loans at this time.

If you are ready to qualify you can phone me or one of my staff members at 866-946-0120 or you can visit ken.novationmortgage.com and click on the link that says FANNIE BUSTER and complete the short pre-qualification online.

My friend Lane Bailey visited me for lunch yesterday and said, “Ken, I know you tell people 100% loans are available and I know a lot of people have expired listings or are trying to sell by owner but everyone is terrified and skeptical. Is it not true that you can finance (home sales) at 100% with no down payment?”

Lane gets it. The fear is big and mostly unwarranted. Buyer’s need homes whether they are up-sizing, downsizing, transferring or adding to the investment portfolio. So here are the conditions:

1. This is a 95% first at Fannie Mae rates and qualification guidelines with a 5% (actually can go to 8%) conforming bank second. Everything is disclosed to all lenders prior to loan approval.

2. This is for owner-occupied single-family residences in Georgia or Florida only. No investments, no second homes, no multi-family properties. Must be stick built or modular only.

3. This is for full doc borrowers only who can demonstrate income and assets with certified verifications performed by the lender including the 4506T for income tax return verification from the IRS.

4. Purchase price maximum is $437,850 give or take a few thousand. The FNMA portion of the loan is limited to $417,000 in most parts of the metropolitan areas of Georgia and Florida and you can finance an additional 5% on top of that.

5. The property must be in MOVE IN CONDITION – no repairs are allowed.

6. Appraisal must be satisfactory by a lender approved, licensed appraiser.

7. Buyer must have a minimum of 90 days of reserves that are sourced and seasoned for 2 months. This means you must have had them for at least 60 days and you must be able to prove where they came from. Savings, checking, 401(k), CD, etc.

8. Minimum loan amount is $120,000

9. Minimum credit score is 680 (with stronger income and lower debt ratio or more reserves may be able to go as low as 640 but if you don’t make 5 times your house payment or have a minimum of 12 months of payment reserves chances are you will need a 680 middle score).

10. Call with your questions before you assume you are going to qualify and that the home is going to qualify. This will not work on rural properties for example. (We have other 100% options for rural property mortgages.)

And to the nay-sayers who say you do not deserve a home if you cannot make a 20% down payment let me give this very real life scenario:

Clients owned a property in Clayton County for several years. They refinanced a few years ago to take out cash to do some upgrades, pay down some high interest debt and help a child. They left 20% in equity in their home at the time of their refinance in 2005. Since then Clayton County has lost their school accreditation, suffered hundreds of foreclosures and now job losses. Property values there are “in the tank”. These people have spent much of their savings helping a child through a situation. The employed spouse has great credit, in the 700′s, and a good debt-to-income ratio. They are having to sell and move into a smaller, single story home, due to health issues with the relatively young non-working spouse. They have found a home in the $160,000 range which is perfect for them and they can easily afford the payments. Unfortunately to sell their existing home they must take $35,000 to the closing table because the sales price is $35,000 less than the pay-off (no, the lender will NOT approve a short sale). This will leave them with roughly $8000 in the bank. They have NEVER missed a payment on anything on the buyer’s credit. Perfect payment history – never a late, no collections, no charge-offs, no judgements, no liens.

These people deserve a 100% loan. So hush. Call 678-946-0100 or 1-866-046-0120 to qualify. We work with agents whether independent or associated. No, your lender probably cannot do this loan and will probably tell you we cannot either. They are wrong.