ARCHIVED BLOG POSTS
2015
16
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WHY You Need a Pre-Approval You've heard it before. If you're going to buy a home one of the very first items on your 'to do' list needs to be obtaining a pre-approval from a lender. Not a pre-qualification (know the difference between a preapproval and prequalification?). Some of the mo...
08/25/2015
9
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5 Ways to Get a Lower Mortgage Interest Rate Everyone wants the lowest rate. When shopping for a mortgage, there's no item higher on the list of "to asks" than "what's the rate?". The problem is, no one knows what the lowest rate is - not your mama, nor your papa, not your mortgage banker...
08/18/2015
22
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A Check Mark for the Bucket List Knocking things off the bucket list is always fun. Many people don't really think about their bucket list in their late 20's or early 30's, but considering a few of the items on my list are dangerous or semi-risky, I figure I need a head start in case I don...
08/18/2015
Park Estates/Bixby Hill/Los Altos (90815 Long Beach, CA) Home Loans The 90815 zip code of Long Beach, CA encompasses Park Estates, Bixby Hill, and Los Altos. Known as mostly a suburban community of single family homes, the 90815 zip code offers a great lifestyle with close proximity to ma...
08/14/2015
15
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Thanks John! Thank yous are a good thing. I'm a huge fan of personal, hand written thank you cards, and saying thank you at every opportunity (and meaning it). Throughout the course of a day, we do a lot of work for others - whether it's researching something, getting a loan funded, solvi...
08/14/2015
7
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Signal Hill (Long Beach, CA) Home Loans Signal Hill, an incorporated enclave within the greater Long Beach/Los Angeles marketplace, is a town with a view. Home to many residential and commercial buildings, Signal Hill has a rich history with a large role in the California oil industry. It...
08/12/2015
5
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5 Reasons Real Estate Agents Should Love FHA FHA gets a bad rep. I've seen FHA offers turned away because a competing offer included conventional financing. I've seen communities decline to push for FHA approval because of some kind of stigma associated with the program. I've heard Realt...
08/09/2015
5
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Helping Borrowers Help Themselves It’s no secret that the mortgage process can be a tedious one in today’s regulatory environment. Underwriters can request (and re-request) documents, followed by explanations of those documents, followed by a paper trail to document those explanations. So...
08/06/2015
67
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Why Are There So Many Appraisal Issues? Is there a scarier part of the home buying/selling/lending process these days than the appraisal? I'd be hard pressed to find one (OK, maybe the inspection, but that one is usually quick and painless, the appraisal process seems to leave us holding o...
08/04/2015
14
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A "Quick" Trip Down the Coast Yesterday was a wonderful reminder of the great many things I love about life in California. August 1 marked a friend of mine's birthday, and knowing I'm one of the few people around as crazy as her, she asked if I would accompany her on a kayak trip in the...
08/02/2015