Five Biggest Mistakes When Getting a Mortgage

Once upon a time you didn't need money or a job to get a mortgage. In fact, you didn't even have to have a personal history of paying your bills and you could still get a mortgage. There are even rumors of deceased individuals getting mortgages as owner-occupants but I don't know if that was true or not. But since the mortgage melt-down of 2007-2009 there are much stricter guidelines to get

Getting a Mortgage in 2009

I am running into buyers that cannot be convinced to sit down with a mortgage loan officer to be pre-approved for financing early in the home searching process. Perhaps if I share a true life story about getting a mortgage in 2009, they will be more receptive to my nagging!A client that I've worked with for several years was pre-approved for financing with a score approaching 800. During the time

Fannie and Freddie Under Control

What does the news about the Federal Government takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mean to Rochester area home buyers and sellers? The biggest immediate news is a significant drop in mortgage rates.

Home buyers Kerry Ryan and Joel Jensen have an accepted purchase offer on a property with a scheduled closing of October 15. Their inspections are done and mortgage commitment received two weeks

Why Start With Pre-Qualifying!

When I start working with new buyers I always encourage them to start the home search by calling the bank and get prequalified. The usual response is grumbling about how they know they have good credit. For some reason, most people just hate to start their search with a call to the bank.Today, I had my credit pulled to do a refinance of our home and boy did I have a big surprise. The loan officer

Practical Money Skills

There is a lot of talk in the Rochester and national media about the subprime mortgage mess. And it is very real. It has affected my business. I had three deals die this month that would have had no problem closing six or eight months ago.The good news is that if you've got decent credit and some money for a down payment, there is financing available and the interest rates are very, very good.

A Holiday Gift For First Time Home Buyers

A recent client of mine was struggling with coming up with all the funds necessary to purchase his first home. He had a steady job, good credit but was short of money. To help him out, I put together a list of organizations that provide support to first time home buyers in Rochester and surrounding areas. He was so appreciative, that I thought this would make a good holiday gift for my

Hey Future Home Buyers, Easy on the Holiday Shopping!

I can't count the number of times I pre-approved people before the Holidays, only to see their credit scores have dropped by the time they find a home during the Spring market. The culprit you ask, why its excessive Holiday spending of course. Lets face it, we as red blooded Americans spend to much money, a lot of which is credit debt. This just in, revolving trade lines (i.e. credit cards) that

Mortgage Crisis is Hitting Home

I had to make one of those God-awful real estate calls yesterday. I had to tell a family to stop packing because the deal on their home was unraveling. It seems that the buyer of their buyer's home no longer qualifies for a mortgage and since his contract on our house was contingent on the sale of his home, the deal is dieing. No fun!And then I got another awful calls this morning that things are

Why Do People Hate to Get Pre-Qualified???

When ever I talk with a new buyer, I always encourage them to call a bank or a mortgage loan company to get pre-qualified before they start looking at property. And very often my suggestion gets lots of resistance.A couple of weeks ago I got a call from Chris in New York City. He wanted to buy an investment property in Rochester. When I urged him to get pre-qualified, he told me he had excellent