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I’ve been seeing an interesting phenomenon this year. Seems like some home buyers are so driven to “get a great deal” that they’re buying homes they aren’t even that excited about living in! I’ve been financing houses since 1990 and for the most part people are generally buying houses to improve their quality [...]

I think we can all agree the housing market needs a little kick in the pants right now! Well, your Federal Government to the rescue. This week congress passed a Housing Rescue Bill which will attempt to do a number of different things from foreclosure avoidance assistance, tax credits to some home buyers [...]

Breaking News!
Fannie and Freddie are changing the rules on how payments on existing primary homes are treated when a buyer is purchasing a new home and plans to rent out the old house. In the past, we have been able to offset the payment on their existing home by showing a lease [...]

There has been a lot of buzz out there this year about how mortgage brokers created the current crisis in mortgage lending.  Say it isn’t so!  Well, it isn’t.
Mortgage brokers can only work within the framework of guidelines set up by the investors (banks) who buy loans from them. The bank sets down rules for [...]

There has been a lot of bad press over the past year about real estate values declining, home loans being hard to get and foreclosure troubles with homeowners and lenders.  I have to admit it’s a very challenging time in the mortgage lending business.  In times of trouble there are also opportunities that present themselves [...]

I hovered over my crystal ball all night last night trying to figure out what the universe has in store for Southeast Michigan real estate. That darned thing was cloudy until about 3am but by that time I had had about 3 martini’s and things started to happen (besides the headache and blurred vision!). [...]

Yesterday President Bush signed the economic stimulus bill into law. One of the key points in the Bill for the real estate industry was an increase in conventional loan limits.
The conventional loan limit has been set at $417,000 for the past 2 years. Loans over this amount are Jumbo Loans and are generally subject [...]

The Federal Reserve Board cut the federal funds rate today by three quarters of a percent – the largest single reduction since 1990 and the first between meeting rate cut since September 2001.  The Fed wasn’t scheduled to meet to discuss interest rates until next week and it is quite unusual for them to reduce [...]

Turmoil and challenges generally result in change and there sure have been some significant changes in mortgage lending over the past year! I’ve been working in this business for over 15 years and have never witnessed anything like it. However, it’s not all bad. Sure some loans are not being made that [...]

The government may actually do something here that’s actually going to help us! We can all agree that one of the reasons why the real estate market is so soft right now is excess inventory. Foreclosures are only adding to this problem as banks list and sell distressed properties below market prices. Slowing foreclosure rates [...]

Great News! Mortgage rates are as low as they’ve been in over 2 years!! 30 Year Fixed rate loans have been as low as 6% this week for conventional loans up to $417,000 with zero points (2 points would buy you down to 5.5%). Some of you will also be thrilled [...]

There has been so much talk this year about foreclosures and it seems like most people really don’t understand the foreclosure process.  There is also an alarming mindset right now in that a lot of people seem to be willing to just throw up there hands and say “I’ll just give it back to the [...]