In all of my conversations on mortgages with prospects, there is one subject that comes up over and over and over again, and that is the subject of payment. “But that loan over there only has a payment of $1450! The payment you are quoting is $2700! The other guy has a better loan!” Then …
Continue reading “Never Choose A Loan (or a House) Based Upon Payment”
“Should People in their sixties take out a mortgage?” The short answer is “Not if you don’t have to.” Now if I suddenly vanish, the explanation will be that the loan industry put a contract out on me. Success in loans, and sales in general, is often attributable to selling people stuff they don’t need. …
Continue reading “Mortgages and Reverse Mortgages (RAMs) after Retirement”
I’ve said upon more than one occasion that the factors at closing are all in the loan provider’s favor. Unless they signed up for multiple loans, the typical consumer has no leverage to get the loan provider to play it straight at closing, and actually deliver what they said they would back when you signed …
Supply and Demand. Now that I’ve given the short answer, it’s time to explain the macro factors behind interest rate variations. But I’m going to keep referring to those first three words. It is a tradeoff between the supply of money and demand for it. The most obvious thing influencing loan rates is inflation. This …
If you’ve been around the financial planning business any length of time, you’ve likely run into the saying “The biggest risk is not taking one.” It is endemic to all financial instruments, indeed, all investments, that return is the reward for risk. It is axiomatic that the entity that takes risks gets the rewards. Generic …
My lender told me that there is an application fee? He said an application fee of $250 and then we’ll need the appraisal fee and of course we’ll need an inspection. Does all this sound legit, is there always an application fee? If they are asking for upfront money, they are trying to hold your …
I get the same junkmail and spam most of you folks do. They don’t know who I am when they send it out. It’s just that I know what’s going on behind the scenes with this stuff. So I thought I’d get out my calculator and deconstruct what’s going on with the advertisements I’ve gotten …
Continue reading “Games Lenders Play, Part I: Misleading Advertising to Get You to Call”
I am buying a house. I signed the contract but the seller said contingent to sell until she buys new house? Is that normal? People do it. It’s smarter to avoid the stress and complications of dealing with both at once, but there’s nothing wrong with a contingency sale, so long as you agreed to …
The answer is a modified no. The same answer applies to property that is only structurally damaged, but not condemned. That condemnation is a matter of public record. I’ve seen any number of them while perusing title records. It shows up kind of prominently on the title commitment, which every regulated lender is going to …
Continue reading “Can You Get A Mortgage On a Condemned House?”
I recently closed a mortgage loan. The loan officer told me there would be no prepayment penalty. When the documents came there was none and the loan funded and closed. Two weeks later I got an e-mail stating some documents had been missed and we need to sign and return them. They contained a new …
