When You Co-Sign on a Mortgage: What to Know

You just did a good thing. You agreed to co-sign on a mortgage. Especially for first time homebuyers, qualifying on their own can sometimes be a challenge, especially for those who are having difficulty qualifying due to debt-to-income ratios, coming up with funds for a down payment, having some credit issues or having their very […]

Refinancing Your Mortgage: Reasons You May Not Know About

Refinancing your mortgage is nothing more than replacing an existing home loan with another. Why refinance? Most homeowners refinance their mortgage because rates have fallen below the interest rate on their current mortgage. Lowering Your Mortgage Rate Each week, Freddie Mac comes out with its weekly mortgage rate survey which reports an average rate culled […]

7 Top Questions Your Loan Officer is Going to Ask

Even if it’s not your very first home purchase, you can to be prepared to provide your loan officer with what is required. Experienced home buyers may like a refresher for all the things provided and questions asked. Here are some questions you can bet your loan officer will be asking before you get too […]

How Lenders Calculate Weekly or Bi-Weekly Income When Qualifying

  There is an ‘Ability to Repay’ or ‘ART’ rule that lenders follow when approving a traditional mortgage. When lenders calculate income, they are required to both determine and document that determination of whether or not someone can safely afford a new home loan. This is a result of the vast mortgage guideline changes implemented […]

Mortgage Rates Still at Record Lows — Don’t Wait!

It’s certainly easy to get distracted at this time of year. It seems that once we hit Thanksgiving Week, the rest of the year is a blur. Travel, festivities, family get togethers. They are smashed together within a 30 day period. Certainly the main priority is to enjoy the holidays with family and friends along […]

What’s the Reason for a Vacancy Factor?

If you’re new to the world of investing in real estate, one term you may run into is the vacancy factor. As part of the approval process to buy a rental property, one of the early qualifying factors will be income. Rental income from the property might be able to be used to qualify for […]

Overlays Explained

What are Overlays? An Overlay is a mortgage industry term. In simple terms, overlays are additional qualifying requirements on top of the guidelines set by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as well as FHA, VA and USDA. These guidelines are set forth for several reasons but one is to provide lenders with mortgage program stability. […]

Why Financing a Second Rental is So Much Easier

Financing a second rental property can be much easier the second time around. For those thinking about dipping into the investment real estate world, there are some important things to know. At its most basic level, financing a rental property is not much different as it relates to income, assets and credit. First time buyers […]

VA Home Loan Advantages

The Department of Veteran’s Affairs was first established back in 1930. Implementing and overseeing multiple programs and benefits to those who have served in the Armed Forces. One of the more popular programs is the VA Home Loan Benefit. This financing option provides multiple benefits that other mortgage programs simply cannot provide. For those who […]

Refinancing? Better to Close Sooner vs. Later

To understand how refinancing works when the loan closes, it’s important to understand how a purchase loan closes first. By comparing the two different processes, Home Purchase: How it Works on Closing Day The final settlement date for a purchase is listed directly on the sales contract. Once the contract is executed by both parties, […]