Using a referral from a real estate agent to locate your mortgage company is very common and very dangerous. When it comes to getting the best mortgage provider and the best deal, real estate agent referrals can cost you dearly! A referral from an agent assumes the agent knows more about the mortgage process than [...]

In the home mortgage foreclosure world, red herrings can divert you from following viable home saving methods. Home mortgage foreclosure can be stopped by you alone, if you don’t get distracted. Commit to it and success is yours. Let all the diversions, scams, and time-wasters fall on deaf ears. With that said, here are the [...]

The best mortgage is never found by collecting a handful of Good Faith Estimates or by calling around getting mortgage rate quotes. Yet this is THE shopping method for most. If you define the best mortgage as the loan having the best mortgage rate, the lowest costs, and the one that fits your financial circumstances [...]

FHA home mortgage programs are currently under threat of extinction. The FHA home mortgage could die a needless death if reforms don’t pass Congress quickly and correctly. Due to a number of reasons, the long-standing govenment FHA home mortgage programs are quickly becoming irrelevant. So much so, on the floor of the US Congress a [...]

The stated income mortgage is all but gone these days. Stated income mortgage lenders were burned and burned badly during the mortgage meltdown so they pulled all of the stated products off the market. Rob and I have been preaching to people for years about the dangers of the stated income loan. You can’t make [...]

Real estate closing costs can with certain limits be paid by the seller without detriment to the buyer if you know the rules. Ignorance of the rules can turn real estate closing costs into a Catch-22. Why is this important? It can be the difference between a loan approval and a loan denial. Seller contribution [...]

What documents should you sign to execute a rate lock? Always get a rate lock commitment from your broker or banker at the time of lock. Of course, like anything in the real estate or mortgage world, if it’s not in writing it doesn’t exist. With that in mind, realize that even most rate lock [...]

A mortgage rate sheet is a godsend when it comes to keeping loan officers honest. The wholesale mortgage rate sheet tells the tale when you are quoted an inflated rate. You can catch this artificial upping of the rate (Yield Spread Premium or Service Release Premium) and eliminate it by knowing how to read a [...]