If you are a prospective home owner you are probably aware of the tax deduction you receive from mortgage interest on your income tax returns. However, there’s another tax benefit available to you that you may not have heard about. This tax benefit is called a Mortgage Credit Certificate (MCC). …and, it’s not just another…
Attention Texas Residents… If you live in Dallas / Ft. Worth, Houston, Austin, or San Antonio, and you want to buy a house for no money down here’s a way to do it!… There is a little known program from the department of Rural Development that allows for 100% financing. We use this program often in…
If you have been considering purchasing a home now is the time to do it. With rates rising your buying power is diminishing daily. In fact, on average for every 1% rise in rates your borrowing power will go down by about 10k per every 100k you borrow. Mortgage rates got higher last week. There…
There are events scheduled today that will likely effect interest rates, and probably the stock market. At 1:00 PM Central Time, the Fed will release their updated estimates for future economic growth. It is widely expected that Mr. Bernanke and company will not change key short-term interest rates at this meeting, but there is a…
If you need financing to purchase a home in the country I would use either USDA, FHA, or VA. The reason I didn’t mention conventional is that a conventional loan generally will have more restrictions on the comparable sales used in the appraisal. Specifically conventional loans have a conservative limit on how far they will…
When you are buying or selling a house, and there are notes written into the contract regarding repairs – keep this in mind… The buyers loan underwriter will see the repair notes in the contract and he or she will make these repairs a condition of the loan. The underwriter will request that the appraiser…
It’s possible to include the build out of a pool into a conventional purchase mortgage. …it’s done on a purchase with an escrow hold back for the pool. Here are some basic guidelines for the pool escrow hold back… 1) It would have to be a conforming loan – so at least 5% down payment…
With it’s Mortgagee Letter 2013-04 HUD has made changes to their Mortgage Insurance Premium (MIP) that went into effect June 3rd, 2013. It’s not good news, but here is the news… HUD has removed the MIP exemption for loans with terms of 15 years or less and less than or equal to 78% loan to…
One of the most important things you will have to do when you apply for a loan is to show that you have the money for the down payment. This is called sourcing in the mortgage industry. For instance, the down payment on an FHA loan is 3.5%. If the seller is paying your closing…
If you are like me you tend to get caught up in the details of life. …solving little problems day to day. …trying to meet deadlines. …attempting to make others happy and fulfill commitments. Nothing wrong with this. It’s a necessity of life. …but, it’s easy to lose perspective on what’s really important sometimes. I’m…