Frisco Texas Mortgage, Real Estate, Events, and more

The Austin American-Statesman (our local paper) recently created the Texas Social Media Awards, and I was pleased and flattered to have been nominated!  There are 125 nominees, and the judges will be choosing the Top 25 and announcing this "short list" on February 18th.  I also see this as another potential burst of exposure for ActiveRain, since most of the nominees are not in the real estate industry, so they are not members here.

What would I actually win if selected?  Great question!  According to the official site:

Each person on that list will be recognized by the Statesman with an award, a badge for that winner's blog and free tickets to a bash that we're throwing around the same time as South by Southwest (these awards are not affiliated with SXSW). An overall winner will be named at that time, too.

Here's where you can help.

Since they are taking the comments into consideration for each nominee, I would love it if you took a minute to stop by and leave a couple of remarks here about my social media/social networking involvement:

http://budurl.com/jasoncrouch

In other words, the comments that will matter are those left at the URL above.  Of course, you can feel free to comment here, too!

 

I don't want to give too much prompting with regard to the comments, but you could mention any or all of these topics:

• My blog here on AR
• Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.
• My BlogTalkRadio show ("Twitter Tuesday") - http://blogtalkradio.com/jckc
• Any help that I have provided for you in the social media/online realm

Unfortunately, I can't offer you a proper bribe at the moment, but please know that I greatly appreciate any kind remarks that you are willing to leave at the link provided above. 

I don't know what my actual chances are of winning the whole thing, but I would love to make it into the Top 25!

Thanks so much for your time and support.  Have a great day! 

Golfers already know - par is when you reach balance with the score on the golf course. Many golfers instead of writing down the total number of strokes record the number of strokes over or under the par. In golf par is the standard to aim for. The same applies in mortgage lending and investment borrowing.

Not every golf player "shoots at par". Others actually beat par - they beat the standard. Tiger Woods has a bad day when he shoots a par score on the golf course and I am joyous when I'm within 15 points over par. In fact that is my handicap. I have a handicap of 15. Essentially this means I can reasonably expect to have to hit the ball (add a stroke) on 15 holes and get the other 3 at par.

Par on the golf course is determined by playing a few games and keeping my score then using a weighted set of numbers called Course Difficulty and Course Slope. On a more difficult course I may actually shoot 17 over par and still hit my mark and on a less difficult course I may have to shoot a 13 or even a 12 over par game to keep my handicap.

All of the things that go into course difficulty and slop ratings have to do with the course itself plus a sampling of all the other "scored" games played on that course. To make it really fun the actual hole, called the cup, is moved around on the green, the condition of the turf (the grass), dry weather, wet weather, windy weather, and the list goes on, all effect the golfer's chance of scoring a par. All of those are a part of the risk and all go into the resulting score which is how far you are from par.

I think you probably know where I am going with this, eh?

Par interest rate is the zero rate. It's where the broker is not making any YSP (Yield Spread Premium). It is lower than the retail rate you would get if you called the bank directly. There are some very small but very vocal groups out their claiming the par rate is the rate the borrower is qualified for. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Par is the equivalent of wholesale.

Do you go into a restaurant expecting to pay wholesale for your prepared meal? If you do you must be uncle Posie who bargains with the checker at Publix over a can of peas. Let us look at that prepared meal. The restaurant has paid wholesale for the items and provided all the services needed to put that meal together. They have created a price and placed it on their menu. You have agreed to pay that price and calculate it to be a worthy value. In some ways loans are not too different but that's for another day.

Your interest rate (not the interest rate) is based on the risk you and your home present to the lender. So let's say the par rate is 6% for example. And let's say you are a very good borrower. You have a credit score of 800 plus, a debt-to-income ratio of 35% on all of your credit payments, 36 months of liquid reserves, your home is in a very low foreclosure area where values are still actually increasing (these areas do actually exist) and you only need to borrow 75% of your home's value. Chances are you are going to get the best rate available. If your loan amount is high enough and you are going to be paying your closing costs "out of pocket" you will be able to get the par rate. In fact you can even pay "discount points" to get the rate below par.

Closing costs are paid from somewhere and everybody pays closing costs. You either pay origination, discount or a premium rate. You may even pay a combination of the three. You want par? You will be paying the costs somewhere - either out of the proceeds of the loan, out of your pocket or in the rate.

One last note: the misconception (and it is a horrible misconception) is the brokers add the yield spread to the rate. Absolutely NOT true. If you want to get the broker's wholesale rate then you will have to pay all of the broker's fees out of pocket. The broker's par rate is not your rate, it is the wholesale rate. The par rate is lower than the rate you get from the bank specifically so the broker can be paid by the lender OR by you for part or all of their origination fees. This does not increase the cost of the loan to you over what you would pay at the bank.

If you have been quoted ANY rate with no closing costs you better have a very good understanding of what you are looking at because you can bet you ARE paying for closing costs - one way or another. If you are shopping and nobody has looked at your credit, income, assets, and property value the rate quote is worthless. The rate quote is no good if you do not qualify for it. Unfortunately the mortgage industry is still filled with liars and inexperienced loan officers who do not properly complete the Good Faith Estimate and Truth-In-Lending. And remember, until they have seen your credit, income, assets, and property value that GFE and TIL are still worthless.

When you're ready for the truth and you live in the Southeast call me. I will tell you the truth and if that doesn't sound good enough for you then you can go away. 866-946-0120 extension 101. America's most honest mortgage company. Seriously, we lose business every day because we refuse to lie. Unfortunately we have volumes of stories from people who could have had a great loan, reasonably priced and how we told them who ended up at the closing table feeling forced to sign documents and get a loan that was nothing like the big national lender told them it would. WE WILL NOT MISLEAD YOU but we will give you the choices you need to make an intelligent decision.

99% of borrowers do not understand the mortgage process. Do not be embarrassed to admit you don't. Every loan office who has been in the business can tell within a couple of minutes how knowledgeable you are just by the questions you ask. Least knowledgeable person's most often asked first question? "What are your interest rates?"

Thanks!

-Ken

 

 

Ken Cook 866-946-0120 extension 101

TWITTER - UTTERLI - Twitter Tuesday Radio - EZINE ARTICLES - KEN@NOVATION

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THE OPINIONS IN THIS COMMENTARY ARE STRICTLY KEN COOK's PERSONAL OPINION AND NOT REFLECTIVE ON ACTIVE RAIN, NOVATION MORTGAGE, or ANY SPONSOR OF THIS WEBSITE.

EDUCATION BEATS LEGISLATION EVERY TIME. Get your clients, friends and family members to a LENDER RUN home mortgage seminar as soon as possible.

Copyright©2008 Ken Cook. Georgia and Florida real estate investment loans, FHASecure and FHA Home Loans, nationwide commercial hard money and small business loans, non-recourse loans for real estate investors

Novation Mortgage, 2501 E Piedmont Road, Suite 201, Marietta, GA 30062 Georgia Residential Mortgage Licensee 20014. Florida Mortgage Broker Business MBB 0703760 FHA Lender - Equal Housing Lender

 

Before you get started, please click on : All out of Love - by : Air Supply  -  This is how so many others and myself have felt without the seller-financed downpayment assistance programs.  Such programs sponsored by Nehemiah and AmeriDream....

 

As many of us know, there are tens of thousands of homes available and vacant due to the foreclosure crisis. As of October 1, 2008, the seller-financed downpayment programs were eliminated with no real answer if they would ever return. I have been in touch with a few people over at Nehemiah from time to time. Well, the fight is back on.

 

Well, the Nehemiah Corporation has started that fight by introducing GroundSwell2. Basically a marketing campaign to get awareness out to the public and to Congress. Bill H.R. 600, just recently introduced, is the new 2009 version of last years bill H.R. 6694.  There will be an annoucement on Tuesday to when the first Town Hall meeting for 2009 will take place. Please keep in touch with me or follow me to find out the date and time.

 

 

What does all of this mean?  Yes, there are some of you the disagree with this program and want to see homeowners save their own money. Some of you have other reasons to dislike this program. But the positives far out way the negative. It comes down to morals and ethics, when working with a program such as the seller-financed DPA programs. Reinstating DPA's could help ensure continued liquidity in a stagnating housing market that is crippling us financially towards bankruptcy per se. Possibly to another Great Depression. Sorry if these are harsh words, but this is reality.

At this moment, our government is throwing money at new programs, throwing money at banks and corporations, in return for possibly taking it upon themselves to restore financial freedom. But do you know that the seller-financed DPA programs won't cost the government or the taxpayers any money?  This type of program could actually save the government over 12 million just this year alone.

 

 

Overall.....

• How many of you sellers had a buyer use these DPA's to buy your home? 

• How many of you buyers used this program because you didn't either want to use your savings or just couldn't save enough money.  Do you know that FHA changed it's downpayment requirements for the beginning of 2009?  If not, please read : New FHA loans downpayment changes 

• How many of you realtors had clients that used this program to either help your sellers sell their home or to help your buyers buy a home?
  

 

FYI.... Nehemiah actually has something up their sleeve. I am in constant contact with Nehemiah. Even if the seller-financed DPA's don't work, Nehemiah has 2 to 4 new plans in motion. That is all that can be mentioned for now. And for those of you that didn't know, I had the pleasure of being asked to speak at a rally in D.C. last year with Scott Syphlax, CEO of Nehemiah.  If you missed that, you can read several articles about it here.

• Mr. Belonger goes to Washington - by Patricia Kennedy

• The March to Washington D.C. - Taking back downpayment assistance programs
  

• Video :  Here is a video of myself at the rally  (PS... I spoke longer than what shows on the video, but someone cut out the first 5 minutes.. oh well)
  

 

 

Here are some things that HUD wants to see part of bill HR 600 are :

• Borrowers with credit scores from 620 to 680 could be subject to higher insurance premiums. (I personally wouldn't have a problem with this)
• Borrowers with credit scores below 620 would be banned from using the down payment assistance program until mid 2009. ( I truly think that we could improve on this one. First off, why down to 620?  Secondly, even people with credit scores of 570 or such can still have decent credit, under FHA's credit guidelines.

 

 

In ending, in my opinion, such permanent elimination would put another severe strain on the already strained housing market. And it could add a ripple affect to those houses on the market, adding more days not sold. If you think about it, if you are moving up, someone needs to buy your home and that is usually a first time homebuyer. 

At this moment, the hour-glass might be out of sand soon. That rope trying to pull us out of that quicksand might be coming to an end. Stay tune next Tuesday, the 20th of January, for more information regarding DPAs. And keep this in mind... those stats that you heard about from HUD last year, making DPA's sound bad?  Many of them were just thrown out into the wind. There finally were independent studies that found many of those stats to be very misleading. The biggest one of all, that 1 out of every 3 DPA loans went into foreclosure. A FYI, there were political reasons behind the misinformation.

 

 

 

- FHA Loans - USDA Loans - Conventional Loans - VA Loans - Mortgages -

Experience & Knowledge at its BEST !!!

 

 

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For more information on FHA loans, please go to this link. The FHA Expert

For more information about the 2008-2009 Tax Credit for First Time Homebuyers : 2008 Tax Credit

For important mortgage insight to watch for, please read : Consumers need to be aware of these Red Flags !!!!!

Copyright © 2009 by Jeff Belonger

Today, your credit score is more important than ever.  A good credit score can be the difference between being able to refinance, or not... or be the difference between being able to afford the house of your dreams, or not.

If the latest bouts of economic frivolities have left your credit a bit worn and bruised, never fear.... here are a few tips for repairing mildly bruised credit.

  1) Order your credit report from the to three credit bureaus (Equifax, TransUnion and Experian)... It's possible for the three reports to be slightly different, since creditors aren't required to report to all three, and they typically only report to the one that they're members of.  Sometimes that one will send out reports to the others, but not always.  This applies to good news too!

The "free credit reports" website do offer a free version, but they're often not as complete as the ones you order directly from the company.

2) Read those credit reports, and read them carefully.  If you're not clear on how to read them, contact the agency who generated the report, and they'll happily walk you through it, or you could probably call your local Realtor, and they'll be happy to help (won't we?!).

You're looking for typos, inaccurate information, open credit accounts that have been closed, or don't belong to you... or even those you don't recognize.

3) If you find something that's wrong... dispute it.  You can fill out a dispute letter, or if the dispute is more involved, write them a letter. Make sure you send a photocopy of the report involved with the mistake circled in big red pen.  Include any photocopies of any documentation you have (they're not just going to accept your word for it).

4) Document, document, document. (did i mention Document?) Keep copies of everything you send them... copies of your letters, copies of their responses.  The credit bureaus are required by law to investigate any relevant dispute within 30 days of receiving your letter.  Any item that they cannot verify MUST be removed.

5) Follow up.  If you haven't heard from them, follow up with a phone call, or letter to see what's being done.  Be a bulldog, you are your own best advocate.

6) The knee-jerk response, when trying to improve your credit scores, is to close open credit cards. But closing a credit card, that's in good standing, that you've had for 20 years could actually damage your score.  If you're trying to improve your credit, talk to a credit professional before opening OR closing any credit account.  This includes any store cards (Macy's, Target) as well as any gas cards (Shell, Exxon), not just the big ones like VISA and MASTERCARD