Mortgage Insights

Two things I want to mention before I go off on a rant here. One, I do not have health insurance for another two weeks and two, I am a 'liberal'- whatever that means.The way our system works right now, we have one large group of people pooling their money together in the event one or more people ...

So what's the latest on the Bank of America buyout of debt-addled Countrywide? Well, it seems that signs are pointing to an 'oops, we made a mistake... no deal' coming out of BofA in the next few days. Bank of America was never particularly strong in the mortgage lending arena, and this purchase ...

I get it. I'm getting older, time is going by faster. But when I went to sleep last night, it was New Year's Eve... and now it's Cinco de Mayo? What is going on here? What happened? Where have I been?The good news is- the real estate market is picking up- and it should be! Rates are still very lo...

I've been on Zillow Mortgage Marketplace since the day it went live (I think, must have been damn close).For the most part, I really can't complain about the system. I've gotten a few good leads, a definite closing, and hopefully a few more clients. I've also been active on the discussion boards,...

Happy April, hope everyone got their taxes done already.Wouldn't it be nice if the IRS didn't exist though?Wouldn't it be nice if a salary of $60,000 actually meant TAKE HOME PAY?When it comes to the fair tax, there are some drawbacks. But to my mind, having a fully transparent and no-loop hole s...

I'm on the Zillow site, trying my best to scare up some business. For the life of me, I can't figure out why people low-ball and flat-out lie about their rates.Do they think the customer won't realize they've been lied to?Do they get paid for the number of phone calls they take and not loans they...

Being a Sox fan, I have to admit I'm a little nervous about tonight's game. Clay Buckholz starting the series? It'll either be an awesome, dominating win- or his nerves will get the better of him, and he'll be out of there in two innings. Well, it should be an exciting weekend for baseball fans. ...

I'm not going to go all Robert Wagner on you all and push reverse mortgages, I just wanted to mention a few thoughts on when I would recommend such a product.If someone is over 62, and facing foreclosure, a reverse mortgage is practically a godsend. In these times where lending guidelines are so ...

How bad does this affect mortgage brokers? WAMU had tons of correspondent lenders as well. All gone as of the 10th. Wow. Soon, there will be no more wholesale/correspondent lending. Banks will hold on to whatever they can- and that means NO MORE MORTGAGE BROKERS. Who's next?

I had a client who was relocating from Georgia up to Connecticut and needed a 95% LTV loan. He was adamant about doing an 80/15, and I said 'perfect, I wouldn't recommend going any other way'. He had the credit for it. Everything was peachy. At the time, I was using Principal (before they sold CI...