Allan Pape's (apape) Blog

This is a new website from Fannie Mae that you have got to spend a little tme on if you are struggling with your payments or otherwise considering walking away from your home.  In short you can ignore the issue and hope that it goes away...in which case you are flirting with foreclosure. You can ...

While not technically related to mortgages or home buying directly protecting your identity online is your first step in preventing tehft of personal information which could untimately lead to identity theft.  If you have never had your identity stolen you don't want to!!  If you have then you al...

If you, someone you know, or your client is looking to buy a house and can't quite seem to come up with the down payment don't fret!  Just look over the TDHCA - Bond 77 program and see if it's a good fit.  For details on this please click the graphic below (it will open in a new window so you may...

There is a new (sort of) DPA program floating around, it is H.R. 600: FHA Seller-Financed Downpayment Reform Act of 2009.  This will be a VERY beneficial tool for qualified homebuyers.  The key here is qualified, not someone with a 550 FICO and a part-time job making $8/hr. DPA is NOT what put us...

First and foremost, be candid and honest. Nobody can help if all the information is not disclosed. These are tough times and everyone knows it and tend to be sensitive to this. Also, always be nice...you will get so much further than if you become irritated and upset with the people or situation....

Anyone remember what rates were just a few short weeks ago, right before the Memorial Day weekend?  I do, I was looking at 4.5% for a 15yr FHA loan on a 15 day lock.  Anyone seen 4.5% lately?  I didn't think so. Unfortunately rates have been steadily on the rise since the end of May...so much so ...

Ok, maybe you should look at the big picture first. Yes, rates did hit an all time historic low last week.  What is that low rate...it's 4.78% on a 30 year fixed rate mortgage.  This is an average rate by the way and "historic" means dating back to 1970 when Freddie Mac started tracking this info...

Not according to this article it's not...in fact it paints the picture that things will not get better until after 2011. The most eye opening piece is the second graph in the article.  Look closely at which kinds or mortgages are resetting and when...just look at 2011.  This dropped me to the flo...

That's the big news of the day!!  Over the weekend the government stepped in and has taken some strong actions with these two and the overall outline seems to have four parts: 1)      Place GSE's in conservatorship. 2)      Treasury to provide capital to keep net worth of GSE's positive. 3)      ...

According to a montly report issued in May 2008 by Fannie Mae 23% of mortgages identified as being fraudulent and originated in 2006 and 2007 came from only 10 zip codes!  The report states that these top 10 zip codes are as follows: Detroit Minneapolis Tampa Atlanta Pompano Beach, Fla. Las Vegas...