Every DEBT counts. The industry has determined that ; to get a solid and accurate picture of a consumers’ debt obligations, a complete assessment of  debt (including Private Mortgages, unsecured loans, vacation homes, land, second homes, investment properties or time shares MUST ALL BE DISCLOSED. It is inconsequential if a borrower has the financial backing to support the debt OR if the particular debt has no bearing on the transaction in process.  The investor wants to get a complete picture.

For a Private Mortgage (a mortgage held by an individual or LLC – not held by a bank or lender)  An investor must see the Principal Balance, interest rate and terms and conditions from which the loan will be paid back.

A FREE AND CLEAR property (a property owned without a mortgage against it),  An investor must see the tax bill and insurance bill so that ; even though there is no mortgage, the other debt is included in the overall equation.

A “lot” or “land” – Investors must know if you have a plot or land- in some instances  this can affect the overall qualification of the loan in process. The tax bill for this lot will also be requested

A second home, vacation home, or investment property- Mortgage statements must be provided IF the Taxes and insurance are included in the overall payment. If this is not the case, a  copy of the most recent tax and insurance bill suffice.

A Time Share- Again, if it is not  listed on your credit  report, full disclosure must be presented.

 

In a “common sense” environment, showing a financial portfolio of additional properties and solid payment history on credit SHOULD only enhance an Investors’ confidence . Unfortunately , due to the erratic economic climate, each additional debt is looked at in its entirety when making a determination.

Thank you Marcy for your valuable feedback! Any questions you may have we are always here – just touch base!

In more good news – Trident Mortgage has secured an option to offer the most aggressive jumbo financing in our marketplace – we can now secure jumbo financing up to a $750,000 loan amount with as little as 10% down with one loan and a reasonable PMI factor. So up to a $833,000 sales price your buyers can secure 90% financing!  (unfortunately this is not available on condos right now though)

Lastly on the mortgage front…Trident also now has the ability to secure financing for clients who have more than 4 financed properties. We now have investors who are finally following Fannie Mae’s guidelines of up to 10 financed properties. This is very important for our real estate investor clients and if you have a situation where the client owns multiple properties with a mortgage against them we should be able to help.

 To our Prudential Fox & Roach Realtors - Thanks again for a fantastic 2011 year with all of your support! You’re support and trust put us in another record breaking year where Trident provided financing for SIXTY percent of every buyer that came through our office! THANK YOU!!!! 

Trident Mortgage Rate Sheet 1-14-2012

Effective February 20th, 2012 recording fees across the board with Philadelphia county will be rising. Here is a general breakdown of the new costs for each type of recording:

     Deed Recording = $230

     Deed Recording for deceased spouse/partner = $26.00

     Mortgage Recording = $200

     Assignment of Mortgage Recording = $198

     Release of Mortgage Recording  = $198 

     Mortgage Satisfaction Piece Recording = $198 

     Power of Attorney Recording = $88.50

The costs have risen by about 13% across the board compared to the existing fees for the above instruments being recorded this past year.

Here is a link to the city’s recorder’s office and their FAQ page

The Department of Housing & Urban Development runs the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) who has been a huge part of keeping low down payment home purchasing a viable option in this market. The last few years, in order to responsibly keep up with the significant growth in market share, FHA has implemented some revisions to how the loans they insure are structured. Here is a summary of the most basic FHA features which make this type of financing a very popular choice for first-time home buyers as well as any other buyer who wants to keep their cash out-of-pocket to a minimum when buying a home: 

• 3.5% minimum down payment
• All of the down payment can be from a gift 
  • Gift monies should be from a family member, but can be in any amount as FHA does not require any of the buyer’s actual monies to close (mostly all non-FHA type loans require at least 5% of the down payment be from the buyer’s actual funds in their own account)
• Up to 6% of the sales price can used to have the closing costs be paid for by the seller 
  • A seller-credit or seller-assist are monies you can negotiate from the seller in your agreement of sale to have them pay a certain dollar amount of money towards your closing costs. While FHA allows for up to this 6% figure, it cannot exceed the actual costs of the transaction. In other words if your closing costs are only 3% of the sales price that figure is then your cap on the seller credit 
• Use of co-signer(s) 
  • FHA will allow a co-signer to help establish an approval  for the buyer that will occupy the home. This helps many first-time home buyers that need a little help to become approved for their mortgage. 

While there are some other unique advantages to using an FHA insured loan to purchase a home these are the four most popular advantages we see. FHA has some liberal policies lender’s can follow, but they also have some very particular rules too so be sure to use an experienced mortgage professional that can guide you through this great method of home financing! 

Here are some links to HUD.gov which has a great portal for potential homeowners’ research and information:

Buying a Home

What is FHA?

Looking for the Best Mortgage

HUD’s History/Timeline

We’ve gotten several economic numbers – both good and bad, as well as new information out ofEuropeto throw a monkey wrench into things as well.

• Weekly unemployment was unexpectedly higher (generally good for bonds and bad for stocks)
• CPI was Higher than expected (bad for bonds – good for stocks)
• Industrial Production slightly higher than expected (also bad for bonds – good for stocks)
• Philly Fed Index was better than last month, but still negative (neutral for bonds)
• And Capacity Utilization slightly better than expected (bad for bonds – good for stocks)

On top of that we get notice out ofEuropethat there will be liquidity sales sponsored by the Fed, Bank of England, Bank of Japan, and Swiss National Bank to help bolster the balance sheets at key European banks.  This had given stocks inEurope(especially financials) a boost.  We also have Treasury Secretary Geithner proposing that Europe leverage their bailout fund along the lines of the US TALF program, thus boosting banks balance sheets, and alleviating some pressure on them (at least temporarily).  These 2 steps should help European banks to hopefully get their feet back onto solid ground.

All this has bonds down some on the morning, but as the glut of data is digested, bonds seem to be rebounding from the lows of the day.

In order for the existing higher FHA loan amounts to be secured through the deadline of 9/30/2011 as stated by FHA the loan needs to have a fully reviewed/approved appraisal and a ‘credit approval’ meaning that the FHA underwriter will have had to sign off on the appraisal and all financial documentation and disclosure provided by the homeowners. 

The chart says it all, green bars are the rates dropping:

Here is a quick market update from MBSQuoteline which is a service I use to have a live feed into the mortgage backed securities market:

This morning, July Retail Sales increased 0.5% from June, matching the consensus forecast. Retail Sales ex-autos also rose 0.5%, which was higher than expected. MBS markets initially moved lower after the news, but they then turned higher. The Dow is up 100 points. Consumer Sentiment will come out at 10:00 et.

There may be a slight adjustment higher, but s&p is being reckless. Any investor on this planet, when looking for the safest place to park their money comes to the US and this perception is all that matters. Besides the fact after the subprime crisis the rating agency’s credibility is worse than that of the us politicians they criticize.

All that said, us gov’t NEEDS real solutions to the very REAL deficit and borrowing issues and I think that is the point s&p is trying to make

It is just an incredible time for folks to get locked in regardless of purchasing or refinancing. We have only been at this level one other time in the history of US finance! (ironically that one other time was around the same time last year)

 Trident Mortgage Rate Sheet 8-6-2011