About Dan Tharp

Guild Mortgage is a California Department of Real Estate (DRE) licensed lender with 60 years of experience in all areas of home loan financing as both a Mortgage Banker and Mortgage Broker. For personalized guidance and expert assistance with your mortgage needs, feel free to reach out to me, Dan Tharp, your trusted mortgage lender.

It’s Back! Down Payment Assistance for Buyers!

breaking-newsCan you imagine buying a new home with little to nothing down? Don’t worry, this is not too good to be true, it’s a pure and simple government backed loan (FHA) with the help of our new Grant Program.

We have added this wonderful assistance program to our ever-growing arsenal of loan programs, and now I can finally spread the news! This Grant may help you take advantage of this very attractive real estate market and possibly be the difference in purchasing that home you have had your eyes on. But, with any program, it’s important to read the fine print to make sure this is something that will work for you. Continue reading

Should I Lock or Float? This Week- November 18, 2013

November_18th_2013_Mortgage_MarketThe Non-Farm Payroll numbers came in on the 8th of this month, well above expectations with 204K versus an estimate of 125K new jobs. In addition, revisions added 60,000 more jobs to the prior two month
releases and thus mortgage rates took a significant one-day beating – noted by the long red column shown on the far right of this graph. Prices are now almost back where they were before that report was announced.

For those of you shopping for a good mortgage rate, who did not lock at the time, may have just gotten your reprieve!

Continue reading

Does Zillow Work?

What is my home worthDoes Zillow work, and will it give you a good approximation of the market value for the home you want to buy, or sell? My simple answer – “Sometimes it’s close and sometimes it’s not even on the same planet.”  While Zillow offers many services, it is primarily known as a free website to help folks obtain a property value, without paying for an actual appraisal. It brings out the Curious George in all of us! Below, I will show you a few Zillow estimates and then compare them with an actual appraisal. Continue reading

Sacramento Beware Of Zombie Titles! Boooo

Zombie Outbreak on HalloweenWith the economic downturn, anyone dealing in real estate in Sacramento quickly became familiar with previously little-known terms such as foreclosure and short sale. Now that the housing market is picking back up and people are moving on, a new term is coming to light — zombie titles.

The Zombie Title

This is when a home has been vacated because the owners defaulted on their loan and their bank started the foreclosure process. However, for some reason or another the bank never completed the foreclosure and sold the home. Continue reading

Should I Lock or Float? This Week- August 19, 2013

Mortgage Rates Monday the 19th, 2013The market has opened this morning right where it left off last week. It continues to deteriorate. But, first let’s recap what happened last week. Looking at the graph to your right, the last 5 out of 6 trading days got worse for mortgage rates – note the “red escalator” on the far right of the chart. In addition, last week wasn’t kind to stock market investors as well.

Here is a review of the major events of the week: Continue reading