Boost Your Credit Score For Better Mortgage Rates

Are you in the process of buying a home or refinancing your current mortgage? Are you getting an FHA loan, or a Conventional loan? What is your credit score? Before a loan officer quotes a rate, these are the questions they will ask.

Obama’s Plan to Help Responsible Homeowners

Click on Picture to watch the President’s speech.

By now, I am sure you have all heard about the President’s latest directive this week to help troubled homeowners refinance their mortgages, even if their loans are far higher than the value of their homes.

The bigger question should be – Will the big banks  adopt the presidents plan? Polls show a majority of Americans are in favor of his plan but we know that means nothing unless the banks and congress make it so. Continue reading

Lock Your Mortgage Rate : New Loan Fees Expected Within Days

Starting soon, nearly all home buyers and refinancing households throughout California and nationwide will pay higher mortgage loan fees. Congress has made it law.

As a Lender in Natomas, California, I am prepping my clients for higher fees. 13 months ago, as part of the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010, Congress enacted a one-year cut to FICA payroll taxes. Continue reading

Mortgage Payments Fall 12% Since February 2011

This is for my good friend Mark! We were at a year-end get-together (aka Drinking beer at the pub) with my rowing crew and he kept reminding me that rates are dropping. Thank you Mark! As mortgage rates drop, so do housing payments. It’s a good time to consider refinancing your home, or making an offer on a new one. Mortgage payment affordability has never been so high in history. Continue reading

Home Affordability Ranking: Where does California Rank?

As 2011 comes to a close, I pose the question I asked 9 months ago, should you buy or keep renting? It is a question I hear almost daily from first time homebuyers and those who lost homes when the housing bubble burst. Well, I have some good news!

Continue reading