Many home owners don’t realise , but in the past several months mortgage underwriting guidelines have been drastically reduced. Many homeowners who are paying high mortgage payments can now qualify to have their Loans streamlined. Streamline refinances are the most simple, cost effective loans available to home owners. “Streamlines”  Some of the advantages are no appraisal , no employment verification, no credit check.  All of this and more info can be found on the Govenments site here.   http://www.fha.com/fha_article.cfm?id=27 When your ready to talk to a lender visit our sister site http://www.lenderscompete.net here you’ll be able to compare rates and programs.

A while back a friend of mine told me how he felt he had been ripped off by his local bank. He had just refinanced into what he thought was the best rate available on the market 4.75%. While this seemed to be a reasonable rate he went on to tell me he had paid close to  $8,000.00 in closing costs. I agreed it did seem like he had been ripped off. I asked him if he had checked around before making the comitment, he like most people just went with the first bank that took his initial application.

I explained that now day’s more and more people are going online to get quotes. It’s fast and simple. Most mortage refinance quoting companies ask for minimal information. ussually less that 2 minutes and the info is securly sent to 4 loan agents. He had thought about it but figured his bank would never take advantage of him. He said the next time he will definatly go online.

Not long ago, One of the users of my site wrote and said this;

Dear Dirk,

Just wanted to send a note of graditude! we recently used your site to obtain our refinance, but only after being turned down by our local bank. We thought we were the perfect borrowers good income, credit and home value. Apperantly the bank didn’t think so. After giving them a 75.00 application fee we waited 2 weeks to find out our home didn’t have the value we thought.

We found your site on google and were a little hesitant with all the scamming that is going on these days. One thing that made us comfortable was the fact that you didnt ask for a credit card # or our social security #’s we filled out the mortgage quoting form and were contacted by 3 lenders 2 of witch couldn’t help us, but John in Colorado made us feel comfortabe and really knew his stuff, we closed our home loan in Massachsettes in 13 days and it didn’t cost us a single upfront penny. we had no Idea that we could live in one state and have a loan agent in another state help us this way. Our loan closed with few hickups and we couldn’t be happier

Kevin and Marcia

Cambridge Massachsettes

Whenever you fill out any information over the net, you have to be very careful. Some sites ask for Information, that no one should have to sacrifice their  safty and security to. Here are some red flags to look out for

• Sites that ask for social security number’s. This should only be given to a loan officer in person or once you have verified the company writing the loan is legitimate and licensed with the state.
• They say they need a small deposit or creditcard! watch out for this one, If they say they need a deposit for an appraisal, tell them you will pay the appraiser at the door. This allows you to see who your giving your money to and check credentials. If possible pay with a credit card, and cross check the appraiser’s name with the state board of appraisers. Every appraiser has to be licenced and bonded
• Alot of mortgage quoting  companies don’t put thier address anywhere on thier pages because they’re mostly out of the USA 73% of the sites you see for mortage quotes are based in India, China and Russia to name few.

If you fill out an online application for a mortgage and they start asking you for money, then move on. You went on line to find some one to loan you money not for someone to take it from you. All of the loan origonators at mortgagetuneup.net are specific state licensed and are held to a higher standard. mortgagetuneup is a mortgage quotung service based here in the USA.

loan Officers are regulated by a government law called section 32 they can only charge a maximum of 7 points, in this seven points the loan officer must cover all costs associated with the loan such as title, appraisal doc fees courier fees etc. If he or she uses up 6.7 percent of the loan amount  on all fees not including  the loan origination fee, he/she will only receive 1/3 of a point for their time. This  can be considered less than minimum wage for some,and the main reason loan originators don’t like loans under 100,000.00. If you are in need of a mortgage and you fall into this category then you may want to talk to at least three different loan officers. Our sponsors specialise in this type of lending. visit http://www.mortgagetuneup.net

One of the most important things a home owner can do when preparing for an appraisal is to make the home astidy, clean and organized as possible. I remember back in the days when I was a loan originator, I had several appraisal come across my desk and the pictures in those reports told a story much deeper than the numbers on the report.  Luckily none of the appraisal reports werebad enough to compromise the loan. If your in question on whether or not your home needs some attention, let the loan officer know the situation. If he/she is local they  will come to you and check it out and make some suggestions, don’t worry about upsetting them. It is their job to do these types of things. the word officer isn’t in their title to look good. They are there to police the various organisation’s from the appraisal to the underwriting.

Some tips on quick clean up

Interior

1. Keep interior wall’s clean and wipe down any dirty wall’s with bleach and water
2. Keep the carpet clean and vacuumed.
3. Get rid of any excess plates and dishes a family of 6 only needs 6 plates and 6 dishes. You should store extras for future guests in a far away storage area preferably in a basement or closet.
4. Fix any leaking faucets, leaking faucets can be easily repaired by buying gaskets. The price for most of these are less than a dollar at your local hardware store.
5. On the day of your appraisal a clean counter-top and clean, dish free sink will be a plus.
6. Beds made are also a bonus.

Exterior

1. Overwhelmed with trash or debris? Most cities have a “residential trailer clean up program” This is usually free, cities will bring to you once or twice per year a dumpster ranging from 10 to 40 yards. There may be a waiting period so call your local city to find out all of the details and plan ahead.
2. Make a little extra room in that shed or garage. If you have an unorganized shed or garage you might want to consider reducing the amount of stuff you have by having a garage sale. Craigslist is a good way to advertise. what doesn’t sell on yard sale day you can list on ebay or donate to a local charity.
3. Install some shelves in that shed/garage.. You’d be amazed at the room you can gain by installing some OBS shelves,  the cost of materials  is about $20.00 for 64 square feet of shelving space. some ingenuity and elbow grease is required, If you don’t have a handy bone in your body, you can hire a handy man just check your local classified ad sites there are quite few.
4. Make sure the lawn is green and mowed in the summer and the walk and drives are plowed in the winter.

Some of these tips might be obvious, but I have seen appraisals with some pretty messy homes. and while the appraiser or loan officer may not be the judging type, the underwriter who makes the final decision might be. A photo tells a thousand words and you’ll want your photo to tell everyone involved, I am organised and clean.

article sponsored by http://www.mortgagetuneup.net  mortgage quotes 24/7 

If your in the market for a home loan and your wondering if you should hire a broker or banker, this article might help in making that decision. While they’re both considered loan officers they each have small differences that could affect the loan outcome.

Brokers usually work for multiple mortgage servicers. They tend to be a little higher on fees, but might be lower on interest rate. They Usually offer more options and more programs and can often get a home owner approved when a banker can’t. The fees that they charge are ussually only a few hundred dollars more than a banker. Keep in mind that by law they can only charge a certain amount of money. For example on a 100,000.00 loan they can’t charge more than 8,000.00 acording to the FTC the info is here http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/homes/rea19.shtm

Bankers work for one bank and thier options are limited. Thier rates are usually higher than thier fees. The bank makes thier money by servicing the loan for the life of the loan. They tend to have an interest in charging a higher interest rate.

The two different lenders are both considered loan officers. The end result is you get a loan for a home. You should always get multiple mortgage quotes and compare against one another. You can use our site http://www.mortgagetuneup.net to get up to 4 free mortgage quotes. If you have any questions or comments about  this article please post.

Dirk

I have been wanting to start a Mortgage blog for some time, Mortgage Lending has been a past and present passion of mine. I enjoy helping people come up with unique ways to  pay down thier debts, Pay off thier homes and create an Income stream from rental and other Income properties both residential and commercial. If you have a question feel free to ask with the form on this page.

 Thanks for visiting,

Dirk