Community Commentary - All Comments

re: Mortgage Industry Leads Accountability and Transparency Reform

Anthony Young — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 06:35:57 GMT

A great read. I wish I had 100% transparency when buying a car, wouldn't that be something. Or 100% transparency in the dealings of the FED...In my opinion why not. Good article.

re: Better Mortgage Origination: Financial Planning and Home Ownership Go Hand in Hand

Jason Harris — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 02:21:16 GMT

I know we (and other lenders I assume) have removed the requirement to wait after pulling it off the market. In addition, you mention 70/30 on condos? Are you referring to LTV? Even with condos 75% gets you a good deal and 80% isn't half bad either. I would guess you might have more opportunity then you think...

re: Top 5 SEO Strategy: Getting Your Website to the Top of Google

Shirley Bradbury — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 01:07:15 GMT

I'm happy to see someone else talk about the usefulness of additional domain names. I've been practicing this for a long time, with good success. However, some people talk as though this is a bad thing, to build a "side site" just to drive traffic to the main site. I find it a useful tool. Good observations.

re: Better Mortgage Origination: Financial Planning and Home Ownership Go Hand in Hand

Cid Jaeger — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 22:30:41 GMT

Thank you for the underwriting guideline suggestion - recently took my townhome off the market due to slow and lowball offers (way below negotiation and/or by unqualified buyers). I refinanced five years ago to a 15 year in order to build enough equity to meet 20% criteria to purchase a stand-alone home within five years. I've also put $25K into upgrades. I'm in no hurry to move, and can stay another 1-2 years. I would now like to go back to a 30 year - low monthly payment to get myself in a stronger buying position when I do move. Problem #1 - since it was recently listed, they won't even look at refinancing for another 6 months; #2 - 70%/30% new criteria - just out of my reach by about 6% - or if FHA, they charge huge upfront pre-paid insurance fee which also reduces the equity plus forcing you to pay PMI for longer period of time (double-dipping?); #3 - neighboring properties desperate to sell or bank short-selling lower and lower - pulling my market value with it. I can't sell it, can't refinance it in order to lease; or even consider rent/rent until market improves, can't get lower monthly payments. Each loan should be considered individually - strong buyers with good credit are being penalized. Very frustrating. Clearly the good buyers are tapped to pay off all of the debt incurred by the poor lending choices.

re: Better Mortgage Origination: Financial Planning and Home Ownership Go Hand in Hand

Trevor Frew — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 02:52:34 GMT

Every person financing anything over $10,000 ought to review a household budget that considers their NET income along with ALL household expenses to determine if they can afford the item they are buying in a monthly payment. In fact I would welcome a new form added to mortgage disclosures that was a real budget signed by all parties involved in the transaction: Loan Officer, Realtor and Customer... Everyone aware of the exact financial picture and what the buyer can afford. Along with a underwriting requirement that used NET income...

re: Better Mortgage Origination: Financial Planning and Home Ownership Go Hand in Hand

Susan Frenette — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 14:37:54 GMT

I could not agree more with this post. We have an extraordinary opportunity to promote our skills and expertise as we work with our borrowers.

re: Better Mortgage Origination: Financial Planning and Home Ownership Go Hand in Hand

Frank Ceizyk — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 00:18:26 GMT

Couldn't agree with you more--but I'd say take it one step further. Non profit organizations like CCCS (Consumer Credit Counseling) have budgeting and basic homebuying courses offered for free every month. What if we started taking our clients to these classes as a show of good faith and transparency about our intentions? What if we agreed to submit a preclosing HUD to CCCS HUD certified counselors prior to closing so they could "check our work". After all--we've got nothing to hide, right? Seem crazy? We're already living through the alternative: HVCC,MDIA, HERA, proposed YSP elimination... are aimed at protecting the consumers--but isn't that our fiduciary responsibility as financial mortgage professionals? And if we actually FINANCIALLY EDUCATE future generations of homebuyers/homeowners, how many more referrals and repeat clients will we have? The 2008 Presidential Council on Financial Literacy graded 40,000 students on their basical financial knowledge--and they got a 53%. Absent a generous bell curve that's a big fat Fail. Perhaps a financial literacy initiative born from the same industry that nearly "brought the system down" could be just what we need to restore trust in eyes of consumers, the media and the government. Maybe the mandate should be a "C" grade on the next financial literacy test in 2010? Or at least a C on the mortgage literacy section? Maybe the intelligent, ethical and inspired minds that have brought us MND have already built the platform and community needed to make that mandate a reality. Thanks for the great post, and the great point. These kinds of ideas can truly revolutionalize our industry.

re: How I Got to #1 on Google for ‘Mortgage Brokers'

Eric Fang — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 22:32:23 GMT

If you have enough resource on your web, people will come and surf it. My website brings me lot of business now. I have over 400 reviews everyday. I know a lot of website just have rates, that's not enough. And rate should be updated with the market changes. A lot of buyers also wants to know the purchasing process, closing cost, etc. You should build a site which "attract" those interested parties.

re: How I Got to #1 on Google for ‘Mortgage Brokers'

Warren Goldberg — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 20:07:12 GMT

OK. You've gotten my attention. Details please, my friend. Details.

re: Housing Professionals Reluctantly Joining Labor Organizations

Brian Brady — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 15:45:46 GMT

Big mistake. Guild socialism is what started this whole mess (about 100 years ago)

re: Enhancing Your Social Media Presence With Email

Sean Elliott — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 19:04:31 GMT

Great post!

re: Enhancing Your Social Media Presence With Email

Charles P. — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 17:26:23 GMT

Nice idea. I had thought about that before but had never executed. Thanks for the instruction on how to do that in Outlook. HELPFUL !!!

re: MBA Proposal Makes No Progress

Greg White — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 19:52:44 GMT

Well said

re: Why Has The Obama Loan Modification Initiative Been Unsuccessful?

Liz Dunda — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:11:13 GMT

I'm a single mom with a son who has cerebral palsy. After losing child support and health insurance for my son because his father quit his job, I tried to just refinance my mortgage. My loan specialist was very helpful, but he said that rather than a conventional mortgage re-fi, that I should try to loan modification through my mortgage company and the government. He was trying to do the right thing for me. I am NOT behind on my mortgage at all, but did have a hardship. I received and signed all of the paperwork for the loan mod, and followed every rule by the letter. What I received 2 1/2 months later, was a mortgage invoice that I owe more than 3 times my regular mortgage payment, by October 1, 2009. My loan modification payments were listed, but not applied to my account. It's a very long story, but long story short, I feel that my credit and my mortgage are so totally messed up now by this program that I don't know if I can get out of it. I recontacted my mortgage specialist, and he is trying hard to get me out of this, but I'm not sure he can. Why not truly help those who do help themselves. I would have been better off if I hadn't paid my mortgage for 6-9 months prior. That's simply WRONG. I work very hard to take care of my son, myself and our home, and this is the thanks I get from our country. Needless to say, I'm very upset, and very disappointed :( Liz, New York

re: Making Obama's Foreclosure Plan Work

Frank Ceizyk — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 22:31:20 GMT

Kirk-glad to see someone else convinced that "short sales" are nothing more than a bait and switch sales tactic being perepetuated once again on unsuspecting homebuying consumers. Glad to hear at least in your example the buyer didn't take the bait. Perhaps the folks who drafted MDIA for us "bait and switching" mortgage monsters on the tpremise that an APR should not increase more than .125% from origination to funding can explain this frequently occurring phenomena?