MortgagesUndressed

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Be careful not to be tricked by radio advertisements. One of my friends uses the radio, but he doesn’t promise the moon, low rates, or tricks. He is a likable kind of guy you would like to know and do business with, his advertisements convey that message.

I was prompted to write this posting by a radio advertisement I heard. It made a big deal about no closing costs. Understand, every lender has that option. To have no closing costs means you pay a higher rate, so the bank can give the lender a rebate. Out of the rebate, the lender pays your closing costs.

What concerns me also, is if you choose the lender like this, for this reason, you are doing it for the wrong reason.

Another radio and media come-on is the low interest rate gimmick. Understand, loans are sold to investors. It is very competitive and no one should be much lower than the group. Watch our Thursday postings of Freddie Mac rates. They should be a guide to reality. When someone offers to beat the market in a big way, beat a path elsewhere, you are probably about to be tricked into something you may regret.

Larry Cragun

11 Hours ago USA today and Reuters report that mortgages were the weekest since 2003. Clicke here… So maybe I will wait to restart our mortgage company.

Then immediately thereafter Google reports that the Scotsman says Mortgage Lending rose to the highest level in 3 years. click here and scream.

PS: I will start up the old mortgage company. Larry Cragun

PSS: We give a T-Shirt and Kudo’s to the first to comment the answer why the opposite reports. Larry Cragun

From Sellsius Blog: Subject: Getting rid of PMI

Truly a consumer service and topic of Interest. Click for the article written on 4/3/2006

A beautiful video adaption written by John Mitchum, narration by John Wayne, and music by Billy Liebert. Thanks to SagebrushPatriot.com for producing this and to our roving reporter Curtis Cragun esquire.

Includes beautiful scenes of our great country: Including Kansas, Arizona, Lousiana, San Francisco, The Carolinas, Appalachia, Niagara, Massachussets - Plymouth Rock, New York City, The Rockies, Nevada, The Columbia Gorge, Gettysburg,The Tetons,The Mississippi,Lake Michigan,Hawaii, Alaska, the Rio Grand, and Maine.

This is the rest of the story to the article I posted on August 11th titled, If You Are A Rip Off Loan Officer”.

Because the borrower was in a bind, had to close the loan within a week, I have waited to finish the article. They asked me too, didn’t want the loan to not close. Doesn’t that tell you a lot?

This true story has a lot of lessons in it, yet it is a hard one for me to write. I hope you can tell I am an upbeat, positive, and full of hope type of guy. That person in me resists writing these types of articles. But at the same time, I began this blog to undress and make transaparent the home loan industry. This me, must write this article for you.

I was pretty upset with this situation August 11th and promised to expose this rip off loan officers name and all. I have all the facts documents and all. I will summarize them for you, you decide: Rip Off or Incompetency? In the end, it was the type of experience that give the mortgage industry a bad name, so does it really matter which it is?

This situation is a purchase. The borrowers were using a 1st and 2nd combination mortgage. They were given a good faith estimate showing they were to bring in $4700.

Five days before closing they received papers from the escrow company requiring $13,000.

Lesson number one: Require your loan officer to look at the papers first. Have them compare them with what they gave you. This would have found $1000 in errors and $1700 in things the loan officer would not have known about.

A big mistake was that the loan officer, I give her credit for it being a mistake, did not provide a good faith estimate for the second mortgage. It had an awful $1700 in fees, mostly to the lender. I dissaprove of charging for the second.

Another omission was an amout for property taxes. The loan officer just wrote TBD. This is a purchase. The amount of taxes were on the MLS listing. TBD is a slothful response and left the borrower with bad data.

The real shame is what the loan officer was trying to make on this transaction, almost $10,000. These borrowers have good credit, just needed a non standard loan, one hard to shop and compare for rates.

Had the loan officer cared about good will over the almighty dollar, had she been diligent and professional, none of this stress and uproar needed to happen. What professionals do, is fix it. Professionals deliver the terms and conditions they disclose in the good faith estimate. They make sure that they see the closing papers before the borrower, they fix their mistakes with a credit.

This mistake got fixed because I interfered. I found out the laws, that two were violated; the no good faith for the second and not disclosing the exact rebate up front. I threatened to turn them over to the state. Despite being told go ahead, they like me over there, a credit was issued for the errors.

Rip off or incompetency, greed or stupidity. You tell me. I won’t make you wait for my opinion - I say all of the above and it still ticks me off.

LarrY Cragun

US: Reverse Mortgages Gaining in Popularity:Not with this couple though.

In response to their growing popularity, Mortgage Loan Place has begun offering reverse mortgages to qualified senior citizens. In previous years, only about 50,000 reverse mortgages were acquired, but this figure is expected to rise dramatically as the “baby boomer” generation ages. Many see reverse mortgages as the new key to making the assets of senior citizens more accessible.

Click here for article from MatureMarket.com

Here is the link for your free credit report, mandated by congress.

Internet addicts halfway house opens in Shanghai

The article from Reuters starts like this

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Mainland China has opened its first halfway house for Internet addicts, offering shell-shocked teenagers counselling, books — and the use of computers.

The shelter can hold four minors for one-night stays and help bridge gaps between children and parents, the Shanghai Daily said.

“None of the teenagers are forced to come here,” the newspaper quoted Wang Hui, the house’s chief social worker, as saying.

“We wander around in nearby Internet bars at night and bring them to the halfway house if the teen agrees.”

click here No way is this the person to borrow money from. No way. Yet, he could be your neigbor or relative. Go somewhere else. Use a referred lender by a real estate agent.