FHA Mortgage Expert - Tri-State Area - New Jersey/PA/Delaware

How many of you usually shop with those that have a better name or what we think, those who have a better brand name? I know I do. When I shop for clothes, I love shirts made by Polo. And yes, I generally pay for it in price, but I am also buying very good quality.

But what about it when it comes to you shopping for a mortgage? It doesn't matter if it's an FHA loan or a conventional loan, do you go for the best recognized name? Such names as Countrywide, Wells Fargo, Bank of America?

Here is the skinny of it.  No matter how big nor small may that company be, we all get our money from the same place when all said and done. With that said, you should seek out a mortgage professional. One who is honest and ethical. By not doing so, could cost you thousands of dollars in the long run.

Here is why I decided to write about this. I received this from a consumer last night.

"I am in the process of purchasing a new condo from Taylor-Morrison.  They told me if I used their lender then I would get 10k towards closing costs .  I wanted an FHA loan and they told me they were in the process of getting their FHA approval.  So I filled out an application form on the spot and got pre-approved,  gave them a deposit of around $7500 and then set-up and appointment for the design center.  On to the story, I had an appointment with a loan officer from Countrywide who is the builders lender and at the time rates were 5.87 I wanted to lock-in and she told me " my gut tells me that rates will drop in the week to come " and she thought that I should hold out.  Well 2 days later rates went down to 5.75 I immediately called her then I get " you know since you're doing an FHA loan I don't think you would get that rate ".  She told me she would look into the matter and get back to me.  I email her about it and never got a response.  Til about 2 weeks ago someone from the underwriter's office calls me asking about my 2007 taxes." 

The story goes on to where he might now seek a lawyer to get out of this contract.  But the main theme to this post is that you might not always deal with a true professional or one that has experience or knowledge, that works for a large lender. Those loan officers that you talk to at large mortgage companies that work in a centralized area or state, ie. call center, they are usually not experienced. And you also have to be careful of those lenders that are used by builders. You need to keep in mind that nothing is ever free in this business. They might credit you $10,000, but they are getting it from you one way or another. And by tacking on that amount to your purchase price, might cost you more money in the long run.

Lastly, always be careful of Red Flags !!!!!. This particular loan officer used the term, "gut feeling". Would you work with a stock broker, who was investing your money, and say, "I am going to go on a "gut feeling" and pick x,y,z stock"?  I don't think so. So why would you want to work with a loan officer that uses the same term, when it comes to locking your rate in? Or giving you advice on what strategies that you should take when it comes to rates and mortgage programs.  You want to speak to a professional loan officer that knows the market, knows the market indicators, knows how to read the market reports, and understands how the bonds work and the mortgage back securities.  Advice?  Seek someone with knowledge and expertise, and not just someone that can quote a rate.

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For more information on FHA loans, please go to this link. The FHA Expert

For more information on how you can obtain your dream home, please click here : Mortgage Financing Options

For important mortgage insight to watch for, please read : Consumers need to be aware of these Red Flags !!!!!

Copyright © 2008 by Jeff Belonger

Dad,

Where to begin.....  I remember moving around a lot, not happy most times, because we were always leaving friends behind and had to make new ones on the fly. I didn't like it at the time. But looking back throughout the years, it has made me a better and stronger person. I was shy back then, but it challenged me to make new friends. I have learned to take the good with the bad. Looking back, just as much as we had to sacrifice some, you had to sacrifice also.

As much as your worked long hours to support us, you always found a way to support me in my activities. If it wasn't Indian Guides, to Boy Scouts, or helping coach some of my basketball, baseball, or soccer teams, you found a way. I can still remember early on, when I was around 7 or so, how you would come home after 10 hour days and still throw the baseball around with me. If it was hitting grounders to me or having some batting practice. You sacrificed your nights and weekends for me and I thank you for that.

I remember our first camping trip in Texas, that you went fishing with me. I caught a small little perch. You taught me that we should eat what we catch. I just wish it had been a tuna instead.

As I got older, I remember some of those times that we shared while watching M.A.S.H together almost every night at 7 pm. Sometimes it was All in the Family with Archie Bunker, or even some of your favorites such as Laurel & Hardy. To this day, I try and watch M.A.S.H almost 3 times a day, thanks to such channels as the Hallmark channel or TV Land.

To this day, I can still remember the day that I left for the Army. I can remember the little white van picking me up at 6 am in the morning and how you gave me a hug prior to me leaving. Most of all, I still remember those little tears that you had shed as we said our goodbyes.

No matter what I did in life, you always stood by me. You were leery of my decisions when I first got into the mortgage industry 15 years ago, because I was changing mortgage companies every so often. Not knowing that I was looking for a good company not only for myself, but for my potential clients. You had been a one company man for almost 30 years and it took a while for you to understand. But you made an effort because you cared.

Dad, overall, we have had some good times and some not so good times. You have told me that you love me, but haven't always liked me for some of the decisions that I have made. Yet, you are my father and I am still your son. And you haven't let me forget that. I have always been proud of you and I love you..... 

I look forward to spending time with you today and hopefully some golf in the near future.

Happy Father's Day, Love Jeff, your son.......

Mortgage Accelerator programs  :  Well, you sell mortgage accelerator programs.  Or you are a consumer that is fascinated by certain programs such as the MMA (money merge accounts) which is sold by UFF or by CMG.  UFF's program is all done through a second mortgage, home equity program. CMG does the same type, but with a 1st mortgage. In my opinion, both are as good as advertised. Not only do you need discipline to get even close to the standard ways of paying down your mortgage, but it's a risk in many areas.

Here is how they addvertise these products most of the time.....

Compared to a traditional mortgage you could...

...Save tens of thousands in interest

...Pay off in half the time

And do it with no change to your spending habits!

Okay.... let's attack the last statement.  It's called common sense. How do you or how could you pay something down quicker without changing your spending habits?  I sat in on a presentation by UFF and yes, their program had me wooed in the first 10 minutes....  but then I started to look deeper and not be "wooed" in regards to how quickly my principal accelerated. Here is what actually happened...

You take your whole paycheck and dump it into the program. Yes, you then paid your bills from this account, while it still paid down your pricipal. I questioned the UFF reps. over and over and never got an exact answer. In their example, you still had to leave an extra $1,000 a month in your account for this program to truly work, paying your mortgage off in 15 to 20 years.  But wait, you said that this whole method wouldn't change my spending habits.  How many of you have a $1,000 extra month that you could pay down your mortgage?

Now, I am not going to even get into the specifics on how this program works and what they tell  ityou. That is not the point of this post. Just make sure that you aren't "wooed" by a program that works wonders.  yes, it does, as long as you put "X" amount of dollars into your mortgage per month. Then they have the nerve to tell you that you can spend most of this money, your check, even at the end of the month, and that it will still work. People, common sense again.  They make it appear this way, but it doesn't. I ran the numbers and it didn't work out this way. And many people that sell these programs, don't even have a license or the knowledge to sell mortgages in general.  And if you want to see what numbers that I ran, here is a post that I wrote a while back :  Money Merge Accounts aka Mortgage Accelerator programs...... beware!!!

So, do you want more conformation on the fact that these programs don't work?  Robert Ashby wrote this post : Money Merge Accounts: My Sincerest Apologies to Those With MMAs

Overall, the real truth are in the numbers and not a program that people can manipulate to make it look great and foolproof. Don't become the fool.  And one last thing that disturbed me a little. Now companies are coming back out of the wood work to sell you the program for the bi-weekly payment plans.  Again, these work, but first off, they cost you money. Secondly, you can still save pennies by doing it yourself.  If you want to read some comical comments, please go here....  06/13/2008 02:26 PM  and  06/14/2008 12:37 PM  You basically can do the same yourself, without spending any set up fees.  Besides, you are locked into this type of payment and if you ever ran into financial problems, you are stuck with the monthly payments.

Be smart......yes, these are my opinions, but with 15 1/2 years experience in the mortgage business. I run numbers every day.  thanks for listening.....

FHA loans are now acting slightly based on previous foreclosures and first payment defaults. Yes, there is some risk in any loan. HUD/FHA has been around since 1934 and even though they truly pride themselves on helping first time homebuyers and those with challenged credit, they are now raising certain requirements. Nobody ever is in business to take a loss on anything.

I delayed in writing about this, as so many others have been publishing this new change and the chart, because it was never official. So many loan officers fail to realize that anything that is agreed upon with HUD, is not official until they send out their mortgagee letter. Hud released this mortgagee letter 08-16 on June 11^th, 2008. So it's now official. Any and all FHA loans that are registered with a FHA case number on or after that July 14th, 2008 will be affected by this change.

This new change is either positive or negative, depending on what side of the fence that you sit on. It will reward those with higher credit scores and in some cases, if you have 5% or more down. This chart is for both those that are purchasing or refinancing. The new change is for calculating both the Up Front Mortgage Insurance Policy (UFMIP) and Monthly Mortgage Insurance (MMI).

** This chart was copied from the HUD mortgagee letter  :  mortgagee letter 08-16 **

Overall, some will think that this is negative or discriminating. But FHA still makes this very affordable for most homebuyers or those refinancing. In order to make sure that you understand this chart and how FHA loans can work for you, you need to speak to a mortgage professional. Not everyone that says that they can do FHA mortgages, will be able to help you effectively. The chart is very self explanatory, but if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to e-mail me or call me.  jbelonger@ihmci.com

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For more information on FHA loans, please go to this link. The FHA Expert

For more information on how you can obtain your dream home, please click here : Mortgage Financing Options

For important mortgage insight to watch for, please read : Consumers need to be aware of these Red Flags !!!!!

Copyright © 2008 by Jeff Belonger

If you are a consumer looking to purchase or refinance, this is a must read. It could cost you thousands if you don't pay attention. This is not a threat, but a warning from someone that has almost 16 years of experience in the mortgage industry.

When shopping for a mortgage, no matter if you plan on using the person that you first spoke to, or you have spoken to 3 different lenders, you want to get a good faith estimate from everyone that you speak to. You also

So, you need to understand how to read a Good Faith Estimates and not just what the loan officer tells you. There are many things to look at, but the two main things are the interest rate and the lender's fees. Just don't go to the bottom of the good faith estimate and compare the total costs. Why? I explain a lot of that in this post : Good Faith Estimates - FHA loans or conventional loans -- A true understanding  One main reason not to compare total costs and use this as one of your major decisions is because the title insurance fees are just an estimate in which they vary. And another reason is because some loan officers don't properly estimate your property taxes, which would be a part of your escrows.

So, here is my pet peeve.  This is a major red flag.....  if you speak to a loan officer and when you get off the phone with them or leave their office, and they didn't offer you a good faith estimate.... Run Away !!!

Let me ask you this. If you are shopping for a car, don't you want to see your payment, interest rate, and total costs?  I certainly do. Do you know how many people that I qualify on a weekly basis that never received a good faith estimate from the loan officer that they spoke to?  At least 1 out of 3. Sometimes two out of 3.  My clients never have to ask for one before we are done talking.

Overall, it doesn't matter if you are applying for a FHA loan, a conventional loan, or any other type of mortgage.  And my biggest complaint?  If they pre-qualified you or pre-approved you, the numbers are already in their system then. Meaning, that it wouldn't take more than 3 minutes to either print it out for you or to e-mail it to you.

Summary :  If you don’t get a Good Faith Estimate once the loan officer pre-qualifies you over the phone or in person within the first 24 hours, don’t go with that lender. In all honesty, it doesn’t take more than 10 to 15 minutes once I pre-qualify you. If the loan officer pulls your credit,asked income questions, and told you your monthly payment, the good faith estimate is already in the system.  There is NO EXCUSE then.  Any excuses other than the loan officer died in a plane crash is not acceptable. I am very serious about this. Unless you like games at the end of your closing, why trust this loan officer. The loan officer usually has a reason if they don't share a good faith estimate with you. I am pre-warning you. Don't be a shopper that shops themselves right out of the market.  I basically want my clients to be educated and not in the dark.  To alleviate this issue, make sure that you speak to a mortgage professional, not an order taker.

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For more information on FHA loans, please go to this link. The FHA Expert

For more information on how you can obtain your dream home, please click here : Mortgage Financing Options

For important mortgage insight to watch for, please read : Consumers need to be aware of these Red Flags !!!!!

Copyright © 2008 by Jeff Belonger