Articles Published in: 2020

August 20, 2020

Househunters, Do You Need Credit Advice?

Are you a house hunter worried about your credit ahead of your loan application? It doesn’t matter if you want to buy a mobile home, a condo, or even build a house on your own lot with a construction loan, you’ll need to examine your credit closely long before you apply for your mortgage. Many borrowers are afraid to look at their credit report, or they don’t know how to access one. Fortunately, you can get help accessing and reviewing your credit with professional credit monitoring, and there are some things you can do on your own to improve your credit ahead of your loan application. Start As Early As You Can Working on your credit, no matter what state it may be in, takes time. If you find issues | more...

August 19, 2020

Changes To The Home Loan Industry

By Joe Wallace

Coronavirus has and COVID-19 containment measures have forced those in many career fields to change how business gets done–and the mortgage industry is no exception. It is clear that the economic fallout from the current crisis will be felt for years to come, and there are many who look to the amount of time it took for the nation to economically recover from the housing crisis of 2008, thinking that better long-term planning this time around might be the best approach. Mortgage Industry Changes Consumers have already experienced how Coronavirus has forced changes in procedures related to buying and selling a home. The in-person walkthrough, the open house, and the in-person appraisal are all much more rare at the time of this writing in many communities. Not all require the | more...

August 18, 2020

Mortgage Rates Give And Take In Mid-August

By Joe Wallace

Mortgage loan interest rates have had some interesting ups and downs in August 2020, with conventional loans AND FHA mortgages staying below the three percent line, at least some of the time in the case of conventional loans. There are many factors that affect the fluctuations of FHA and conventional mortgage loan interest rates–we won’t go into all of them here. But the pandemic, politics, international trade issues, and investor reaction to all of these things and more have kept mortgage rates at unprecedented lows (no, we aren’t tired of writing that phrase just yet). But at the time of this writing on August 18, 2020, conventional rates have risen above the three percent line once more. Rates are reported at a best execution 3.12% for the most well-qualified borrowers. | more...

August 17, 2020

Building A Home, Buying A Home

By Bruce Reichstein

Are you thinking about buying an existing home? Are you considering applying for a construction loan to build a house on your own lot instead? If you are trying to decide whether to build or buy, there are questions to ask before you commit to buying an existing construction property, or choose to apply for a One-Time Close mortgage to build on land you already own or purchase as part of the mortgage. What does it take to select the best option for your needs? There is an advantage to building a home from scratch–borrowers can influence the final outcome of the construction and help determine the nature of the house ahead of time. Some don’t enjoy sorting out such details, they gravitate toward the idea of looking at existing | more...

August 13, 2020

FHA Announces Changes To 203(k) Rehab Loan Rules During COVID-19

By Joe Wallace

The FHA and HUD have announced changes to the FHA 203(k) Rehabilitation Mortgage program to help borrowers affected by coronavirus issues. Some who started rehab loan construction work may have had income issues related to COVID-19; such borrowers are offered additional consideration to keep their projects moving forward to completion. The Rules As They Were Originally Written An FHA Mortgagee Letter announces the availability of an extension for borrowers who could not get their rehab loan construction projects completed on time. The original guidance in HUD 4000.1 makes provisions for this; it states that when the work is not finished in the agreed-upon time, “the Borrower may request an extension of time and must submit adequate documentation to justify the extension.” HUD 4000.1 also states that the lender normally grants | more...

the importance of credit for home loan approval

August 12, 2020

The Importance Of Your Credit For Home Loan Approval

By Bruce Reichstein

Why is credit monitoring, credit repair, and credit utilization so important for the purposes of getting a home loan approved? This is a serious question all borrowers should ask ahead of their loan application. It’s just as important to know the hows and whys of addressing your credit scores and history–and the question should be addressed long before applying for a major line of credit like a construction loan to build on your own land, or the purchase of a condo or suburban home. A participating FHA lender is required to make each loan applicant can realistically afford the home loan. For loan approval, your credit history must have patterns that indicate that you will pay on time and generally behave like a good credit risk. Approving a home loan | more...

August 11, 2020

Why Did My Home Loan Get Denied?

By Joe Wallace

The question, “Why did the lender deny my home loan?” is a good one to contemplate. Thinking like a lender helps a great deal when you are planning and saving for a construction loan application, condo loan application, or when you want to buy a multi-unit home. Do you know why a lender might deny your application? There are several factors to ponder, no matter what kind of borrower you might be. Are you looking for a condo loan? Mobile home loan? Multi-unit house? Some of the reasons lenders deny home loan applications are fairly obvious, others are not. Review the following circumstances to see if any apply to you. This is not a comprehensive list, but it’s a great place to begin and some borrowers find at least one | more...

August 10, 2020

FHA One-Time Close Loan Rules: Buying Land To Build On

By Joe Wallace

You can build a home on your own lot, even as a first-time home buyer. Thanks to the FHA single-family loan program, which includes a construction loan option, you can build a home instead of buying an existing construction house AND take advantage of low FHA loan down payment requirements. FHA loan rules require only a 3.5% down payment even for construction loans, making the option to build instead of buy within reach of many who are just now exploring their options for becoming a home owner. But when considering a construction loan it’s good to remember that you don’t have to own land already–not all construction loan borrowers own their own property and need to purchase the lot as part of the loan. Building Your Home With A Construction | more...

August 7, 2020

FHA Home Loans For First-Time Buyers: Choices To Consider

By Joe Wallace

Are you a first-time home buyer looking for the most affordable mortgage options? FHA home loans feature flexible guidelines, and those options come with lower downpayment requirements other advantages over conventional mortgages. FHA Loan Options Are Diverse There are many types of housing you can buy with an FHA mortgage–a condo unit, a house in the suburbs, even properties with up to four units the borrower can occupy while renting out the unused units. You have to occupy the property you buy, but being a landlord may be an option for some to consider. There are also FHA home loans you can use to buy a fixer-upper (the FHA 203(k) Rehabilitation mortgage) and there’s also the FHA loan program to help you build a house on your own lot with | more...

August 6, 2020

Who Should Apply For A Construction Loan?

By Bruce Reichstein

Who should apply for a construction loan? There are two basic types of borrowers who should consider doing so–the house hunter who wants to build a house instead of buying someone else’s, and those who want to purchase fixer-upper homes and renovate them. The home loan for borrowers who would rather build their home on their own lot is called a One-Time Close (OTC) construction loan. It features a single loan application for both the construction of the house and the purchase of it once completed. Non-OTC construction loans may required two separate loans–one for the construction phase and one for the purchase of the completed house. This makes the process more complicated and having a single loan is definitely an advantage for the OTC version of these mortgages. OTC | more...