The Chicago 77

So, you are facing foreclosure, and are worried and scared and don?t know what to do? Well, you are not alone. Millions of people nationwide have been foreclosed on or will be soon. There?s been all kinds of blame and finger-pointing (see my Who?s to Blame post for further info on that), but that’s not [...]

Ok, so just about everybody has heard about loan modifications, or loan mods for short. They are also called loan workouts, loan restructuring, among others. I’m going to explain what types of loan mods exist, and who can or can’t likely get them. What kind of loan modifications are there? There are a few different [...]

There are two types of 203k loans: regular 203k, and a streamline 203k. A streamline 203k has a maximum of $35,000 in repairs, and is much, much easier to get done. If you must have over $35,000 in repairs and upgrades, it can get done, but those are much more tedious and time consuming.

Almost anybody who has ever purchased a home, or refinanced a mortgage has probably heard of a ?rate lock? or ?locking the rate.? However, what does it mean to you, the borrower, and how can it affect your financing?

Why should I refinance? The obvious answer is that it will save you money. But it?s more than just your monthly payment going down. You might say, ?But Brad, I have no problem making my payments right now, why should I bother??

I hear people say all the time, ?Oh, a reverse mortgage? I’ve heard those are bad,? or some variation. I?d like to tell you why they can be a lifesaver for the right person. First, Who Is Not Right for a Reverse Mortgage For instance, my parents are debt free, and pay for everything in [...]

Being someone who deals with dozens of banks and lenders daily, I can emphatically state that the banks have not been loosening up the purse strings. They take the money, and extend credit to only the most-well qualified, who likely aren?t feeling the brunt of the recession anyhow.

Mortgage bonds, like stocks, and just about everything else in a free-market society, work on supply and demand. When demand goes up, so do prices. And when prices on mortgage bonds go up, rates go down.

Everybody knows there is a huge housing crisis. Foreclosure rates are higher than ever, and property values are plummeting as a result. There?s plenty of blame to go around, from Wall Street, to the banks and lenders, to the individual loan officers, to the home buyers and homeowners. How Did It Start? Wall Street investors [...]

There seems to be a lot of misunderstanding and many misconceptions around what mortgage insurance (MI for short) actually does. Mortgage insurance is typically required on mortgage loans where the amount borrowed is 80% or more of the appraised value. The other distinguishing characteristic of mortgage insurance is it can be expensive.

Maybe you may have heard all the buzz about Republicans wanting a 4% fixed mortgage rate for mortgages. Let’s take a look at it a little more closely. It’s a HUGE undertaking that will be wildly expensive, and hard to implement, despite what the idea’s proponants are saying. And, you still need Wall Street’s buy-in.

Reaching for 5 Percent Government loan giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as well as the Federal Housing Authority (FHA), a division of the Dept. of House and Urban Development (HUD), have been slowly, but surely, tightening up guidelines, and making it more difficult for all but the very most qualified borrowers to get the [...]