It’s very easy to assume and or want something without always thinking it through. Emotions can play a role in your decision when purchasing a new home. But are you always asked the right questions or led down the right path? How much of a mortgage can I have now is a question often asked.  But what about what you can personally afford, without strapping yourself financially on a monthly basis.  Many focus on the interest rate or how much of a house they can afford and lose site of their basic goals.   When a loan officer starts asking the borrower a question, in my opinion, the first thing that should be asked of that borrower is how much of a mortgage payment can they afford and not based on their income. Secondly, the loan officer should be asking about the buyers goals also. Thi... 01/08/2011

Cherry Hill, NJ Homes for Sale - Information you need for your next home purchase Its an exciting time looking to purchase a home.  Whether looking for Cherry Hill, NJ Homes for Sale or Homes throughout South Jersey , there is excitement but also likely some anxiety about making the right decision. For most Buyers, their home purchase will be their largest and most important asset they own. I spoke with 2 Buyers this morning and they brought up some great questions with respect to schools.  Specifically they wanted to know how to select the best school for their children. My advice was general in nature as each child is obvioulsy unique in his or her needs.  Many Buyers find it worthwhile to call the local school district and ask pointed questions about school curriculum. Its also advan... 01/05/2011

Welcome to Ralph's Weekly Feature: Two Truths and a Lie: Guess Which One Is The Lie? Each week, I'm going to feature one Active Rain Member, with their photo, and what they are going to do is tell you 2 Truths about them and 1 Lie. The object of the game is to guess which of the 3 bits of trivia about them is a lie! I will post the answer in that same blog at the end of the week on Fridays so you can all find out! It's a great way to get to know your fellow Active Rain members and staff. This week, we will be featuring: Jeff Belonger Jeff is a mortgage loan officer with Infinity Home Mortgage, Inc., in New Jersey.  He is an FHA expert and has over 18 yrs in the mortgage industry & real estate market. He brings expert knowledge and creativity to financing options & loan programs. Being ... 01/02/2011

    Trying to understand Credit Scores can seem to be complex at times, especially when there are so many so-called experts online and or credit repair companies. Trust me, I have sat next to loan officers in the past that just made up things as they went along. Many that come to me and seek my help or advice usually seem to be those borrowers that were previously approved. Yet are denied last minute and in most cases it was because of their credit. And for two months while in processing, that borrower was told all was okay. So how can this be?   In my own opinion, there are three main factors that a loan officer should look at. 1.) Credit scores aka fico scores 2.) All items that are derogatory, to include : latenesses, judgments, collection accounts, bankruptcies, etc 3.) Your credit ... 12/30/2010

  Click this video before reading and enjoy... In the last 3 days, all I have been doing is running around... tonight, company Christmas party....         I am taking Jennifer Prestwich's challenge of doing 31 one things in 31 days.  Are you up for a Challenge? 31 Days of December Challenge What do you have to do?  Do 1 thing per day that would further your business.  This might be a blog post, Facebook note, tweet, text, phone call or email.  It could be a newsletter, event, or postcard. In my opinion, you should be doing this many times a day, besides your normal business, if it were showing homes or doing mortgage applications. Keeping in front of people daily is marketing and branding. But in my opinion, don't spam yourself, do it naturally and genuinely.     Day 16 - 12/16/10      ... 12/18/2010

    When shopping for a mortgage, one needs to know and understand their specific goals, and this should be done even before you start to look at a home or speak to a loan officer.  The reason being is because there are several ways of looking atzero points, in which some advertise with no points or no costs, and if you should pay points for your interest rate. The first step is to have a list of  your short term and long term goals.  Not only should you know your goals, but your loan officer should be asking about your goals. Below is what I consider to be the most important questions that should be asked in the first 5 to 10 minutes. What mortgage payment would you feel comfortable with. (not the max amount that you could be approved for) What are your goals, short term and long term.... 12/17/2010

      For those that don't know, my sister has been blessed with 6 kids... yes, 6.  And it is just like the Brady Bunch or you could possibly say, like Noah's Ark.. two by two.  3 boys and 3 girls... 11, 11, 8, 6, and twins at 2 1/2 yrs of age. And my brother-in-law is an excellent person and father... In any case, they sometimes have this girl Michelle help out with the twins during the week and or weekend. She sometimes takes them to places for hours or even a full day. Well, she took them some place to where Santa was present. As you can see, Ava is still a tad shy of new people, especially those in funny costumes. But her baby made it on Santa's lap.. lol  And Joey, he is in his glory, just loving it. Overall, such great kids, the whole bunch.. whoops, the Brady Bunch.. lol         ... 12/12/2010

  I am just tired from writing these follow up posts.... In any case, I am taking Jennifer Prestwich's challenge of doing 31 one things in 31 days.  Are you up for a Challenge? 31 Days of December Challenge What do you have to do?  Do 1 thing per day that would further your business.  This might be a blog post, Facebook note, tweet, text, phone call or email.  It could be a newsletter, event, or postcard. In my opinion, you should be doing this many times a day, besides your normal business, if it were showing homes or doing mortgage applications. Keeping in front of people daily is marketing and branding. But in my opinion, don't spam yourself, do it naturally and genuinely.     Day 6 - 12/6/10 I made my follow up calls to those that had contacted me over the weekend and in which I gav... 12/07/2010

  Purchasing a home can sometimes be confusing and stressful, and some people in the mortgage/real estate industry will take advantage of consumers. Yes, sometimes there are problems and or issues that come up. But sometimes these problems were known ahead of time, yet never brought to anyones attention. Better yet, some of these problems should have been talked about prior to the mortgage application when the loan officer did their pre-screening of that borrower.  Overall,  it comes down to honesty, integrity, knowledge,  very good service, and just being upfront when problems arise. First time homebuyers that have never experienced buying a home can sometimes be taken advantage of. In my opinion, there are some key phrases that can sometimes be cause for concern. I call these Red Flag... 12/06/2010

  VA loans can be an excellent way to purchase your new home if qualified.  But what if you could save even more money by decreasing your utility bills. With VA energy efficient mortgages, this certainly can happen. Congress started a pilot program in 1992 demonstrating the use of energy efficient mortgages, known as EEM’s. And the Veterans Administration added this to their arsenal of VA loans. Energy efficient loans can be very effective, unless you are having an energy efficient home built.  If you have an older home, it probably won’t be up to current standards, which could cost you hundreds of dollars monthly.   How does the Energy Efficient Mortgage program work for VA loans? The Veteran can increase their loan by up to $6,000 in energy costs without the approval by the VA, as lo... 11/22/2010

  Trying to understand the mortgage process or all of the different programs, it is hard enough. But when you either read or hear different answers regarding  the same issue at hand, it can really be confusing. Who do you believe?  Do you believe the three people that gave the same answer, and not trust the person that gave the lone answer that is actually correct.   There are just so many questions in regards to mortgages of which consumers and realtors search for places to ask such questions. My problem from searching the internet is that I have seen some really bad, false, or misleading answers to such questions. Sometimes even answered by those that aren’t even in the mortgage business. I have seen this happen so many times on sites such as Trulia and or Zillow. These sites allow a... 11/21/2010

  Energy Efficient Mortgages aren't talked about much, which some might think they aren’t as good as a regular FHA loan. In my opinion, it’s because many loan officers and or lenders don’t know much about them. Yet there is no huge difference between the two. And one could easily associate an energy efficient mortgage with a FHA 203-k loan. But that would be a very bad assumption, because there isn’t much more to an energy efficient mortgage, known as an EEM loan, as opposed to the paperwork and understanding that goes into a 203-k loan. Do you have high energy bills? Unless you are having a new home built that could be an energy efficient home, in many cases, the older home probably won’t be up to the current standards, which could cost you hundreds of dollars monthly. So how can you o... 11/18/2010

  When it comes to FHA co-signers for FHA loans, it is the same when talking about non-occupant co-borrowers. The term co-signers sometimes gets confusing when talking about mortgages. When co-signing for a mortgage, that person will still be on the mortgage and it will still count towards their overall credit. The co-signer can only be taken off if the primary borrower refinances the loan, even with a FHA Streamline. In this post, I will be talking about co-signers for FHA loans, because this is different when using a co-signer for a conventional loan. The main reason is because the primary borrower on a FHA loan does not need to qualify on their income own income when using a co-signer. On a conventional loan, the primary borrower still needs to qualify with certain income ratios.   ... 10/31/2010

  Mortgage Market Reports   We keep hearing reports that Mortgage interest rates are still be very low, ranging from 4.00% to 4.50% for a 30 year fixed rate. This is all dependent on your credit scores, your down payment (usually just on a conventional mortgage), the size of your loan amount, and the type of mortgage program. And if you want 3.875%, you just have to pay some points. I am sure many of us have been extremely use to the low rates in the last 6 months, to where we have reached record lows since interest rates were first recorded back in 1971. But don't get to comfortable, because what comes down most go up. But when is the question...       Can predicting interest rates be tough?  You betcha, especially in this market and you will have experts from both sides of the fence t... 10/27/2010

Mortgage Interest Rates - One of the first things a borrower wants to know is what mortgage interest rate the lender has to offer. And for the fact that many want the lowest interest rate. Okay, it's all human nature. But what's missing? It certainly can be a balancing act when you are trying to get the lowest interest rate when your main focus should be about your actual mortgage payment. One of the first questions that should be asked is what kind of mortgage payment you would be comfortable with, or at least a range. I have been criticized by a few loan officers in the past for asking this as one of my first questions. But believe it or not, about 95% of the buyers that I speak to, already have a quick idea. This shows that they have been pro-active in their thinking and not trying ... 10/22/2010

    Information on locking your mortgage interest rate, securing that home interest rate, can be very important at times. This information should be given to the borrower when shopping for a mortgage. What I know is that not all loan officers or lenders are on the same playing field when giving you such information to when and how you can lock your mortgage interest rate. Current interest rates are at an all time low. Many are seeking a low interest rate and this is usually the first thing on the borrowers mind.  Your focus should not be on the best interest rate. What you should know is not always told to you. So when are you allowed to lock in your mortgage interest rate? There is only one answer. Can you guess it?     Lock-in period for your mortgage interest rate :    - Once the app... 10/20/2010

    Please join Robert Ashby and myself today at 11 am EST for basic mortgage talk.   What will we talk about? Robert will start off with his mortgage rate forecast for the day. And then we will talk about the Home Buyers Tax credit, QE2 (quanitative easing), and the seller-funded DPA as it relates to government actions. A little inside information in regards to what the government had to say about allowing for home buyers to use other means. This information came from Scott Syphax and I will be sharing this on the call.     Call-in Number: (646) 381-4632 Link : Blog Talk Radio Show   10/18/2010

    The Home Buyers Tax Credit has come up in the news and in discussions again. It seems to be an addiction and such talk could further hurt our economy. You might ask, how is this?  Just thinking about this, could keep potential home buyers on the fence longer.  If a buyer could imagine our awesome government handing out more money, our money, the tax payers money, why not wait 3 to 6 months, right?  Everyone loves free money, I know I do. But at whose expense? As we know, elections are around the corner. Are some politicians just using such talk for voting bait?  I would think so.... With home sales being down in some parts of the country, some seem to think that the Home Buyers Tax Credit could be the answer. Fox News reported some of this the other day. Home Sales remain dismal : B... 10/15/2010

  FHA loans are not dead and shouldn't be going any where soon. The other day a loan officer sent me an e-mail asking me if FHA loans are going away anytime soon.  I asked, where did you hear this nonsense.  The loan officer replied, “from 3 realtors in my area.”  Sounds like water cooler talk to me. My Common sense – If FHA loans disappear, so will our economy, right off the map. Here is why..   Positives with FHA loans - FHA still allows you to put 3.5 percent down as your down payment, even with a credit score of 620.  Yes, there are VA loans and USDA loans, which are very good loans, but they have restrictions for many borrowers.  In regards to conventional loans, it would be very difficult to find a lender to do them below a 680 credit score with 5 percent down, because of the MI ... 10/12/2010

 FHA loans have been the major talk in the news as of lately. One loan officer e-mailed me the other day, asking if FHA is going away. I asked, how did you come up with this?  Because three realtors had mentioned it to them. I have not heard a thing, but let's use common sense.  If FHA loans would go away, then the housing market would crash for good. Just my opinion.Just the other day, a realtor made a comment stating that the buyer was better off putting their 20 percent down with a conventional mortgage and not with a FHA mortgage, so they could avoid the mortgage insurance. Okay, in theory, this sounds great, but there is a huge unknown that is not talked about. The borrower's credit score, which was a middle score of 623.  Yes, you could still do a conventional loan down to a 620, ... 10/11/2010