Entries from Searchlight Crusade tagged with 'loans'
Online Mortgage Quotes
(This is a reprint from December 2006, with a few updates. It is instructive in the wake of a certain new mortgage quote service, launched with great fanfare. The negative amortization loan is gone, but I'm seeing lots of other...
My Thirty Second Public Service Announcement On Mortgage Loans (UPDATED)
I usually write medium-long articles, I try to write articles you can read in a few minutes, on break or lunch, but sometimes that's just not compatible with giving the readers an understanding of the subject. Part of that is...
Losing Property Value with Highly Leveraged Properties
(This was originally published March 18th, 2006. I've added a couple updates, but otherwise it's as published. It's still very relevant, and if there's anyone that wants to tell me I didn't nail it, please speak up) Somebody wrote a...
The Difference Between Note Rate (APY) and APR
I am continually horrified how many people shop their loans by APR, just as I am by people shopping their loan based upon payment. Why? Because in either case, you're setting yourself up to spend a lot of money in...
Sourcing and Seasoning of Funds
People sometimes ask, "Why should the lender care where I got the money for the down payment? I earned it, it's mine - cash is cash!" They're right as far as they go. In general, the lender doesn't care...
Steering: The Most Violated Law In Real Estate
I just picked a random ZIP code in my local MLS, and out of the first twenty listings I came to, ten had explicit violations of one or more of the sections of RESPA regarding steering right there in the...
Debunking "Banks Give Better Deals Than Brokers"
Banker loans are better deals - for the bank. Ken Harney had an article Study Shows Loan Brokers' Better Side But now a new, independent academic study has concluded the opposite: According to a team of researchers headed by Georgetown...
Mortgages: General Concerns and Manufactured Housing
A mortgage or Deed of Trust (they're not the same!) is basically pledging an asset that you own as collateral for a debt. If you default on the debt, the lender takes your property. When you're talking about real estate...
Debunking the Money Merge Account Scam (Games Lenders Play, Part 8)
For a couple years, Mortgage Accelerators, or Money Merge Accounts, were the thing that everyone was pushing. I got so much junk mail about this from more originators (who don't know who I am) and wholesalers (who should) that I...
Joint Loans for Couples: How Does the Qualification Process Work?
First off, let me say that your site has been very informative and helpful. I stumbled across your blog looking for information on ARM vs. 30 year fixed loans and ended up reading every article. One issue I have...
Refinancing With An Expiring Prepayment Penalty
how soon should I start shopping around to refinance my home? I have a 2yr interest only and it's up in (four months) Okay, the 2/28 loans which you are describing all have prepayment penalties for at least two years....
What If A Title Search Misses a Lien?
I refinanced my house and an existing lien was not discovered Now the important question: Is it a valid lien, or has it really been paid, and just not released of record? If it has been paid, you don't...
Changes In The Mortgage Market And Transparency Since 2005
The overview is simple: The government has made it take slightly more effort to lie to consumers, while adding layers of delays that add an absolute minimum of a week - an average of three weeks - to the...
Avoiding Mortgage Prepayment Penalties by Partial Payment
I enjoy your blog very much and figured you would be a good person to ask this prepayment penalty question to. Is there a prepayment penalty if you dont pay down the whole amount? For instance, say I owe 620k...
Changing Rates and Streamline Refinancing - Reasons to Love Zero Cost Loans and Hybrid ARMs
(NOTE: AT this update, laws exist enacted in the latter part of the 2009-10 congressional session that essentially make it impossible to legally call zero cost and low cost loans what they are by requiring loan providers to count...
Differences Between Loans Look Smaller Than They Are
One of the things I keep getting told by people is that my loans are the same as everybody else's. When I originally wrote this, I had quoted a 5.625% with no points, and got told, "That's the same rate...
"All Mortgage Money Comes From The Same Place"
This sentence is a textbook illustration of the most effective way to lie. Tell the truth, but not all of it. Not that I'm trying to coach habitual liars, but I am going to deconstruct this astoundingly dishonest claim that...
"Should I Refinance?" - Consider Overall Cost of Money, Not Payment
With the state of financial education in this country, many people shop for loans by payment, figuring the lowest payment is the best loan. As counter-evidence to that idea, let us consider the negative amortization loan. I've seen them...
Real Estate Agents and Mortgage Loan Officers Don't Want to Compete
It's the same reason the phone company doesn't want to compete, General Motors doesn't want to compete, Wal-Mart doesn't want to compete, Disney doesn't want to compete, and Microsoft will do everything in its power to appear as if it...
Low Asking Price on Unfinanceable Properties
At any given time, I will usually have at least one set of clients who really need to consider a condo or townhome who nonetheless have their hearts set on a single family residence. I agree to include single...
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