First Time Buyer Programs: The Mortgage Credit Certificate (MCC)

This is a nationwide program for first time home buyers that helps them qualify for the loan by saving them even more money on their tax bill. With that said, however, the state of California accounts for more than 50 percent of all MCC Certificates. Each individual area has its own administrator. Within the County …

Fear and Greed, or How Did The Housing Bubble Get So Big?

(This was originally written February 16, 2006, but it’s relevant still) One of the occasional questions I get from people has to do with why the housing bubble got so big (or if you’re one of those still in denial about it, how prices jumped so far so fast). This has to do with several …

Disability Insurance Considerations

I have a confession to make: When I was doing financial planning, I didn’t put enough emphasis on Disability Income Insurance. I was hardly alone in this; Disability Insurance is one of the two most undersold financial products there is. The other is Long Term Care Insurance, which product I at least researched properly and …

Paying Off Old Past Due Bills Without Hurting Your Credit

People sometimes ask how they can improve their credit if they have old collections on their credit record. Well, the answer is NOT to simply pay them. Paying off a five year old collection can cause your credit score to drop by 100 points. You say that makes no sense? Well, here’s the logic of …

Why the Current State of New Developer Housing

I’ve seen many new home developments with vaulted ceilings, mini-vineyards, huge houses on little tiny lots…Why can’t some developer built some homes for us regular people?A normal sized home with plenty of closet space and a decent (not designer) kitchen that is set more than 3 feet from the neighbors house.I realize that they need …

Why Do Lenders Sell Mortgages?

When and Why does a Mortgage Company Sell your Current Loan to another Mortgage Company? Lenders sell their loans because the lender can make an immediate premium of anywhere from 2.5 percent to four percent by selling your loan to Wall Street. Yes, this is less than the six to eight percent per year interest …

Trying to Hurry Real Estate – Don’t

<blockquote> Hi–I just found your site today. The best I’ve ever seen/read, etc. Thank You!! I do have a question I didn’t see addressed regarding our current situation/dillemma: Our present home, which we’ve lived in for 8 years, is worth around $180,000 (yes, it’s a small town…), and we owe $105,000. My husband has been …

Translation: Salesgoodspeakian to English

It may not come as a shock to you, but loan officers, along with many other salesfolk, speak a different language than the rest of the population. What will probably annoy you, however, is the number of times they’ll say something that sounds like a phrase out of English, but really is from Salesgoodspeakian, a …