Mortgage Changes Coming Up…………….

FHA Monthly Mortgage Insurance to Increase and How to Save Your Clients’ Money in Their Monthly Payment On Monday, February 14, 2011,  HUD announced the premium change for mortgage insurance on all FHA cases for those case numbers issued on or after April 18, 2011. Currently, the monthly mortgage insurance on an FHA loan is [...]

Every Other Tuesday Update – November 9, 2010

      Sue Botelho |  850-362-6901 | sbotelho@waterstonemortgage.com | www.sue-botelho.com NMLS #26520 Waterstone Mortgage Corp. (NMLS #186434) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of WaterStone Bank SSB (NASDAQ: WSBF) Florida Office of Financial Regulations Licensee Exempt    Employment Picture Helps Housing MarketHousing and employment levels are directly linked, so it is great news that our nation’s [...]

Every Other Tuesday Update – 10/12/10

Fannie Mae Rolling Out New Lending Rules Effective December 13, 2010, FNMA is changing its mortgage lending guidelines.  For some applicants, this will simplify the loan approval process; for others, it will toughen the process.  How it affects a client depends on their credit profile and loan characteristics. When the new rules roll out, accepting [...]

What Makes a Loan Officer a Success?

I am being interviewed for a podcast that will be on iTunes this coming week and the subject is “What Makes a Loan Officer a Success”. Having pondered this, I have concluded that two traits are needed: knowledge and involvement. While trying not to appear demeaning, all of us can market, learn to market, or [...]

10 Real Estate Deal Killers

I attended a class the other day called “10 Things to Ask Your Buyers Before Taking Them House/Condo Hunting” and will be addressing those issues in an upcoming blog entry but wanted to put together a list of what can kill a deal for a buyer or a seller. Please feel free to share this [...]

The Stimulus Package

Today may be the day that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (aka the Stimulus Package) is passed; the Senate is voting on it right now. It is anticipated that it will be on President Obama’s desk to sign into law this weekend. While we don’t have all of the information about this [...]

Fannie Mae LOOSENED a Guideline – A Step in the Right Direction!

Over the last 18 months, since August, 2007, mortgage guidelines have been tightening due to the conditions of the industry.  It seemed that every day since then we have gotten updates from Fannie Mae, HUD, Freddie Mac and our individual investors that made mortgage lending a little tougher, albeit still possible and not as hard [...]

USDA Doesn’t Lend Money – So How Can They Be Out???

It is amazing to me to see how many phone calls we are getting from around the country asking how we can still do USDA Rural Housing loans since they are “out of money”!  It is a misconception that the USDA lends money – they don’t!  Their role in the USDA Rural Housing Loan is [...]

USDA Proposed Income Limit Increase Postponed

Even though we had it on good authority (we even had it in writing that unless someone complained it would take place January 20), USDA has postponed the 2-tiered income system, which will allow more buyers to qualify for this program, until March 20.  I have heard that the reason for this postponement is that [...]

How Many Homes Can Be Sold With a 3.25% Fixed Rate Mortgage That Ends Up at 5.25%???

Imagine this: You, as a Realtor have a house listed for sale and a motivated seller.  This seller is willing to pay up to 4% to 6% or higher towards the buyers’ closing costs and prepaids.  You have a prospective buyer that qualifies for a USDA Rural Housing Loan (the income limits starting January 20, [...]