http://blog.therenovationloanguy.comQuick Blogcasthttp://blog.therenovationloanguy.com/2011/07/22/when-should-you-recieve-a-good-faith-estimate.aspx?ref=rssA good faith estimate is a tool that allows borrowers to use a loan cost estimate that was done in "good faith" to compare costs to other lenders costs. The good faith estimate is a bit difficult to read, especially when looking at one for a 203K renovation mortgage, but it IS A REQUIREMENT!Often, loan officers do not want to send out a good faith estimate becuase of the difficulty in reading it and, istead, will send out a closing cost worksheet. I have seen many lenders guilty of not sending out an actual good faith estimate and ...MortgageThe Renovation Loan Guy2011-07-22T14:40:11Zhttp://blog.therenovationloanguy.com/2011/06/01/skin-in-the-game--what-is-qrm.aspx?ref=rssOver the last month you may have heard from various mortgage interest groups regarding the implementation of the Qualified Residential Mortgage (QRM) rules. At its source QRM is part of the Dodd-Frank risk retention regulation. The Dodd-Frank rule requires that a direct lender retain a 5% interest in any loan that they originate and sell to the secondary market subject to certain exemptions and loan specific criteria. As you might imagine there is a great deal of debate about the types of loans that are exempt. To this point, there is broad agreement that government insured ...The Renovation Loan Guy2011-06-01T14:01:30Zhttp://blog.therenovationloanguy.com/2011/05/17/fuse-boxes-and-fha-insured-loans.aspx?ref=rssA common misconception in the real estate world is that FHA will not insure a home with fuse boxes. In truth, as long as the service is 100 amp service, FHA will insure the loan. Of course, as a homeowner, you would want to have 200 amp service with a circuit breaker. The real issue with the fuse box is homeowner’s insurance. Many of the insurance companies will not insure a house with ...The Renovation Loan Guy2011-05-17T12:46:00Zhttp://blog.therenovationloanguy.com/2011/05/13/fha-insurance.aspx?ref=rssIn my last post I promised a comparison of a FHA insured loan with 3.5% down compared to a conventional loan with 3% down and Private Mortgage Insurance. Although FHA is still a great option and is far less restrictive than conventional mortgage insurance, you can see that PMI makes sense in some cases. FHA LOAN CONVENTIONAL LOAN SALES PRICE $200,000 $200,000 MORTGAGE AMOUNT (WITH UP FRONT PREMIUM) $194,930 ...The Renovation Loan Guy2011-05-13T13:17:00Zhttp://blog.therenovationloanguy.com/2011/05/10/mortgage-products-make-a-comeback.aspx?ref=rssIt has been a long time since I last posted a blog. Sometimes I don’t know where the time goes. In any case, during my hiatus from writing I noticed that the pendulum is shifting. Lenders are starting to bring back some of the programs that helped buyers get into homes with less money down. I am not referring to the subprime,” if you have never paid your bills that is OK type of stuff”, because the loans that are coming back are high loan to value, full income verification, PMI loans. Lenders are ...The Renovation Loan Guy2011-05-10T13:21:00Zhttp://blog.therenovationloanguy.com/2011/04/01/buying-a-home-with-instant-equity.aspx?ref=rssThe easiest way to purchase a house with instant equity is to purchase the least expensive house in the neighborhood that you want to live in. This particular type of property is traditionally a little run down and sometimes smaller than the other properties surrounding it. In today’s real estate market, there may be at least two or three of these in each neighborhood. The instant equity in this property comes from renovating the property after purchasing it. Usually, you do not get a dollar for dollar increase in value when you do a ...Fannie Mae RenovationmortgageRenovation MortgageFHA 203KThe Renovation Loan Guy2011-04-01T11:26:00Zhttp://blog.therenovationloanguy.com/2011/03/10/mirror-images-charlie-sheen-and-the-housing-market.aspx?ref=rssAfter tons of research (I came up with this at Dunkin Donuts, while having coffee), I have realized that the rise and fall of Charlie Sheen mirrors the rise and fall of the housing market. Let me tell you how: Charlie had a long run with a successful show, supported by marginal acting skills, his value as an actor increasing exponentially. The housing market, supported by marginally documented mortgages, had values increase more drastically than ever before. ...The Renovation Loan Guy2011-03-10T17:28:00Zhttp://blog.therenovationloanguy.com/2011/03/09/a-different-way-to-purchase-a-home-with-great-equity.aspx?ref=rssThe renovation loan is a perfect fit for a buyer who is purchasing a dilapidated bank owned home or distressed home. There is, however, another great use of the program. Most real estate agents will tell you that the most important factor in purchasing real estate is location, location, location. I tend to agree. My idea, and it is proven, is to purchase the smallest home in the best neighborhood and use the FHA 203K renovation loan or the Fannie Mae Homestyle Renovation loan to expand the ...FHA 203KFannie Mae RenovationMortgageFor Buyers and HomeownersRenovation MortgageFor RealtorsThe Renovation Loan Guy2011-03-09T13:37:00Zhttp://blog.therenovationloanguy.com/2011/03/08/loans-for-federal-disaster-areas.aspx?ref=rssPresident Obama officially declared seven counties in Connecticut a disaster area this week. He did this due to the damage to residential and commercial property that occurred from the record breaking storms that hit us in January. It seems apparent that we will see even more damage due to the flooding from the melting snow and recent rain. FHA will assist people that are affected by the storms by insuring loans through their 203(h) program. The 203h insures mortgages to 100% loan ...MortgageThe Renovation Loan Guy2011-03-08T18:03:00Zhttp://blog.therenovationloanguy.com/2011/03/04/no-credit---big-problem.aspx?ref=rssLast year, and I mean the twelve months ago kind of last year not the three months ago kind, I wrote a mortgage purchase loan for Bill. Bill was a first time homebuyer that was purchasing a run-down two family in New Haven. Bill had graduated from college the year before, obtained a good job and saved money. Bill had no credit score because he made the decision not to borrow any money because he never had a need for it. ...MortgageFor Buyers and HomeownersNew GuidelinesThe Renovation Loan Guy2011-03-04T18:03:00Zhttp://blog.therenovationloanguy.com/2011/03/02/foreclosures-are-great-deals.aspx?ref=rssI am going to throw some numbers around here so please bear with me. Realty Trac just published their year end 2010 foreclosure sales report, which shows that foreclosure homes accounted for nearly 26 percent of all U.S. residential sales last year. One quarter of the market last year was bank owned homes! The most important and exciting number is that the report also shows that the average sales price of these foreclosure properties was more than 28 percent below the average sales price of properties not in ...FHA 203KMortgageFor Buyers and HomeownersRenovation MortgageFor RealtorsThe Renovation Loan Guy2011-03-02T17:06:00Zhttp://blog.therenovationloanguy.com/2011/03/01/the-chfa-urhome-program-is.aspx?ref=rssIf you are working in and considering purchasing in New Haven, Bridgeport, New London, Waterbury or Hartford then you must consider the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority’s Urban Rehabiliatation Loan (CHFA URHOME LOAN). The UR Home loan allows for the borrower to receive an addition $20,000 - $25,000 in repair funds as a forgivable second mortgage. Simply put, this is free money to rehab a purchase with. Coupled with the fact that you can take advantage ...FHA 203KMortgageFor Buyers and HomeownersRenovation MortgageFor RealtorsThe Renovation Loan Guy2011-03-01T11:09:00Zhttp://blog.therenovationloanguy.com/2011/02/28/matts-monday-morning-marketing-madness.aspx?ref=rssTo Contact Matt for a FHA 203K renovation mortgage or any mortgage, please call him at 203-937-3343www.therenovationloanguy.com ...For RealtorsThe Renovation Loan Guy2011-02-28T18:35:00Zhttp://blog.therenovationloanguy.com/2011/02/24/second-home-rehab-loan.aspx?ref=rss...Fannie Mae RenovationMortgageFor Buyers and HomeownersRenovation MortgageFannie maeThe Renovation Loan Guy2011-02-24T11:00:00Zhttp://blog.therenovationloanguy.com/2011/02/23/hard-money-investor-top-ten-list.aspx?ref=rss...The Renovation Loan Guy2011-02-23T11:00:00Zhttp://blog.therenovationloanguy.com/2011/02/22/does-my-kitchen-installer-need-a-license.aspx?ref=rss...FHA 203KFor Buyers and HomeownersRenovation MortgageThe Renovation Loan Guy2011-02-22T11:00:00Zhttp://blog.therenovationloanguy.com/2011/02/21/monday-marketing-madness.aspx?ref=rssHere is the link for the magazine subscription. They are not an affiliate of mine. Sample text for the email: Hi ___________________, I am writing you today to let you know that there is a major change coming in the mortgage market that may affect your buying power. As of April 18, 2011 FHA is raising their required mortgage insurance. If you register ...The Renovation Loan Guy2011-02-21T18:04:00Zhttp://blog.therenovationloanguy.com/2011/02/18/home-values-in-new-haven-are-set-to-rise.aspx?ref=rssMany of my buyers say that they want to wait until the market starts to turn for the better before they purchase their first home. Their idea is that they do not want to purchase a house and then have it depreciate as soon as they move in. This is kind of like buying a new car, but unfortunately you can not buy GAP insurance on a home. In any case, it looks like the turn for the better is on its way. CNNMoney.com recently posted an article that anticipates the New Haven area real ...The Renovation Loan Guy2011-02-18T13:21:00Zhttp://blog.therenovationloanguy.com/2011/02/16/the-fha-203k-higher-rate-is-still-worth-it.aspx?ref=rssThe FHA 203K renovation loan does carry a slightly higher rate than the standard FHA loan. Usually, the rehab loan rate is about .25% higher. Many of my clients decide that they want to try to obtain a standard FHA loan in order to receive the lower rate.I decided to do a little research into my last three closings to see if the .25% increase in rate was justified. Below are the details:Deal #1:It isn't fair that I include my most recent 203K closing in this comparison because the buyer received such a great deal. But since ...The Renovation Loan Guy2011-02-16T13:11:00Zhttp://blog.therenovationloanguy.com/2011/02/15/fha-to-increase-the-cost-of-borrowing-again.aspx?ref=rssGet out there and put your offers in and buy your house in March. David Stevens, the commissioner of FHA, just announced that FHA will be increasing it's annual mortgage insurance premium on 30 and 15 year fixed loans by .25% in April of this year. This is in addition to the increase in annual premium that just took place in October 2010. On the average the cost per month of each loan will increase by $30 per month.The increase is to help FHA bolster it's financial position. I understand that FHA is over extended and there ...MortgageFor Buyers and HomeownersNew GuidelinesFor RealtorsThe Renovation Loan Guy2011-02-15T10:51:00Z