Mortgage Calculator

This blogger says lower mortgage rates will drive buyers to the residential real estate market soon.

Ten days ago after the Fed calmed the markets' credit panic with a 1/2 point cut in the Discount rate, I postulated that home buyers will come back this fall when the Fed finally drops the Fed Funds rate, and mortgage rates drop. It's now almost certain to happen. Here are the parameters in play now:

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Read more from this blogger: Home buyers are returning this fall - part 2

A look at the cost of a lead for a mortgage broker.

Joel has a good interview with Dave Wengel of TargusInfo around Mortgage lead scrub rates. Specifically that lendingtree and lowermybills have a 15% scrub rate whereas the free ipod guys (lure people in with promise of a free ipod but they and their friends have to signup for credit cards, netflix and talk to mortgage brokers to get it) have around a 50-60% scrub rate.

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Read more from this blogger: Lead Scrub Rates

A look at FHA compliance for mortgage brokers.

Having been an FHA lender I can attest it is a pain at times. FHA requires annual financial audits of the mortgage brokers financial condition and more. We always have survived the several day pain, and the expenses tied to it, but only FHA drags brokers through this. The actual banks that sponsor the mortgage broker go through even more red tape and grief. Loan officers have to know more rules. FHA doesn’t rely on the easy automated underwriting or the quick answer from a subprime lender. FHA restricts how the borrowers pay for certain expenses and how much the lender can charge.

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Read more from this blogger: I Have Endorsed FHA, Why Specifically?

Floridians hit with high rate hikes in their home insurance.

We just got our home insurance bill. It went up from $900 annually (it was less than $300 a year just three years ago) to almost $3k a year. Are you kidding me? All this legislation that passed in Tallahassee to curb the financial destruction that the insurance industry is wreaking on our people and most people are STILL getting rate increases that threaten to break the proverbial bank.

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Read more from this blogger: Home Insurance Hikes in Florida, AGAIN!

A look at the housing bubble.

I’m not a professional financial anything, but I was square in the middle of the housing boom working as a title clerk for a company that has a brother mortgage brokerage on the other side of the coffeepot, both owned by the same guy. I don’t know much, but here’s my take.

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Read more from this blogger: Chicken Little Cried, “The Market Is Falling!”

A look at Hillary Clinton's mortgage reform proposals.

Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton unveiled her “mortgage reforms” on the campaign trail yesterday. You won’t be surprised to hear they are more pandering than problem solving. Her rhetoric was emotionally charged placing the blame specifically and solely at the doorstep of the “mortgage brokers”. No mention was made of Wall Street mortgage investors, wholesale lenders, retail mortgage divisions of home builders, or big banks.

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Read more from this blogger: Clinton Mortgage Reforms More Pandering Than Problem Solving

If you're having trouble landing a home mortgage, this blogger recommends an experienced mortgage broker.

While this could be my Bloodhound tag line, this is the time where it will pay dividends. Many lenders have been changing their policies, leaving buyers who were previously approved out in the cold. Mortgage brokers that have been around for 20 years or more will have been here before. They will be able to provide excellent advice and great service at a time when both are at a premium.

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Read more from this blogger: Can I Still Get a Mortgage in Today’s Lending Markets? With Cold Hard Cash and Great Credit, Certainly; Otherwise…