MortgagesUndressed

There has been a bug going around - from Seattle to St Paul. Teresa Boardman has caught it. So if you miss her inciteful posts say your prayers so she can live to write another day. Larry (her friend in the computer) Cragun

From Borrow Smart Retire Rich by Kendall Todd. A firsthand experience. click here for the entire article.

mortgage.com to Buy Three Companies

For anyone digging back this far, this was the press release issued by mortgage.com around the purchase of three companies we built from 1989 to 1999, a 10 year span. One day I’ll take my mental diaries (or diahhreas) depending on your perspective, and share the whiplash that comes with selling your company into a public offering after 10 years of effort, then watching it fold into a black hole less than 12 months later. It was a wild ride, and the most expensive tuition one might pay for a life time of lessons.

Piggy back loans.

How piggyback loans work
Piggyback loans are the new-wave method of dealing with a down payment of less than 20 percent. When you use a piggyback, you get two home loans: a primary loan for 80 percent of the house’s value and a second mortgage for the rest of the money you need. With a 5 percent down payment, you would get what’s called an 80-15-5 mortgage: an 80 percent loan, a 15 percent piggyback and the 5 percent down payment. Getting a piggyback eliminates the need for mortgage insurance.

The piggyback can be either a fixed-rate home equity loan or a variable-rate home equity line of credit. The piggyback has a higher rate than the first mortgage.

The combined payments on a piggyback mortgage are a bit less than the payment on a single loan with monthly mortgage insurance premiums. For years, piggybacks had a big advantage because the mortgage interest on both loans was tax-deductible, while mortgage insurance payments were not. Now that has changed, with caveats.

Did You Know That There Are Jumbo Reverse Mortgages-

I had a call from a disappointed viewer. They had looked into the reverse mortgage and were told they owed too much on their home. Well, now I discover there are jumbo reverse mortgages. As in jumbo mortgages you pay more. Still it might be worth looking into. Lar

click here for the business week article.

Cchalk drawings from Julian Beever.  Incredible!!!!!
Julian Beever is an English artist who's famous for his art on the pavement of
England, France, Germany, USA, Australia and Belgium Beever gives to his drawings an
amazing 3D illusion. Curtis Cragun

Check out of the misery. Stop rate gamble.

If you are not locked you are asking for trouble. The first week of the month I said one should stay away from gambling with rates. Since then each week the average rate has gone up. A common problem is you lose a bit, then hold on for a comeback. If you did this, you are losing. Stop playing the game and lock. Rates are still decent. Of course we could have a rebound down. But of course we could see more increases. If rates go down seriously after closing you could possibly refi. Lock Lock Lock. Ok?

Long long ago before the FICO score young couples would come to me for a loan with predicatable conversations. I would run their credit reports, the young wife would be fine, the young husbands - in the tank.

Gads how these guys would play dumb. “I dunno honey” in true Chimp (I mean chump) talk.
Nowadays that doesn’t happen. You see, we males like to compete. We learn at an early age to keep score. Baseball, golf, basketball, kisses, and credit score.

Typically the wifes score is higher, but the young men have learned to grow up financially at a much earlier age.

So what is your score? Is it your badge of honor? How high can you raise it? If it is 500 it will be easier to raise than if it is 800. Even an 800 is able to climb up. Scores range from 300 to 850. They are vital in obtaining credit and insurance.

Is your spouses score higher than yours? Come on guys compete.

Is 700 high enough? Is 500 unfixable? No to both.

This is one of series we will write on FICO scores. It is in conjunction with a new service we will be offering you the consumer.

Don’t condemn a 50 year loan. Most people refinance, or sell within 7 years. If it makes the payment easier, it is worth it.

Why this photo? Because I like it.

On this blog you will find about a years worth of mortgage content mixed with some fun and sarcasm. However, Currently Larry Cragun writes on the following blogs:

Real Estate Undressed

The Seattle P I Real Estate Blog

Issaquah Undressed

To find the new network of neighborhood blogs click here.

Larry’s articles are fed through:

My Space Real Estate News

KING TV’s Citizen Rain Real Estate Blog

When I started blogging it was to help consumers have the knowledge they needed to have a good mortgage experience. I knew first hand that many were spending all of their search time looking at homes. These same thorough researchers were giving little thought to the mortgage and as a result were getting burned.

Soon after I began writing real estate undressed.

After about a year the visits to this mortgage site were about 1/5 of the real estate blog. A few months ago I began writing all mortgage content on real estate undressed.

Recently I was approached by the Seattle P I Real Estate Professionals team to write weekly for the PI. This respected Hearst Newspaper has tremendous traffic and I jumped at the opportunity.

Along the way I concluded the application for blogs that I loved the most was community and neighborhood content. My wife Kathleen and I began that project over a year ago. It has been our payback. We feed our real estate business with customers from our Issaquah Undressed blog.

Our main focus going forward is serving our real estate clients, providing great content for the website/blogs we write on, and to build the neighborhoodsUndressed.com network.

Feel free to contact me if you have interest or comments. Larry (at) realestateundressed.com

Again, thanks for visiting, please visit our other sites….. lar

Chalk drawings from Julian Beever.  Incredible!!!!! Julian Beever is an English artist who's famous for his

art on the pavement of England, France, Germany, USA, Australia and Belgium Beever gives to his drawings

an amazing 3D illusion. Curtis Cragun