Tag Archive for: mortgage broker

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 […]

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. […]

The Importance of Non-QM Mortgages

Yes, they’re not only important but necessary in the mortgage world. What are non-QM mortgages you ask? Non-QM is short for Non-Qualified Mortgage. To understand what that means and the importance of a non-QM loan, we first need to understand what a Qualified Mortgage (QM) loan is. Qualified Mortgage (QM) Loan Explained The Consumer Financial […]

The Main Difference Between a Mortgage Banker and a Mortgage Broker

For many, a mortgage banker and mortgage broker are the same. They’re really not. They are the same because they’re a source for home financing but how they get a home loan ultimately to the closing table is different. A mortgage banker and broker might sound the same to the everyday consumer but there are […]

Why Working Virtually With Your Loan Officer is a Smart Move

Wondering how your new mortgage loan will be handled now that many of us have been officially considered “non-essential?” Well, for one, the mortgage industry is up and running regardless of any status. Yes, there are many who are currently in a work-from-home status and don’t have an official office to go to, at least […]

The Online Mortgage Business Just Got Personal

If you’re like many, you’re probably working from home these days. All so-called “non-essential” employees have been asked to stay home and work remotely. For some, this takes some getting used to. There are no other employees around, no office chatter and the communication between coworkers is done either by phone or via online meetings. […]

Why Wholesale Lending is So Important

If you’re not familiar with the term “wholesale lending” in the mortgage industry, you’re not alone. If you have heard the term, it’s easy to misinterpret its meaning. “Wholesale” might imply universal or overall but that’s not the definition. Wholesale lending plays a crucial part in the mortgage business and I’ll explain why. What is […]

Four Tips to Generate Positive Cash Flow on Rentals

Real estate is one of the unique asset classes that appreciates over time while at the same time providing the owner a monthly dividend. Name any other investment that does the same. Active real estate investors seek out rental properties that point to long term appreciation while getting paid each month to own it, to […]