Brian P.'s Blog

Thanks to Jane Kolocotrones, our Underwriting Manager extraordinaire for some much needed sanity about allowable fees and payments on the Purchase of Pre-foreclosure or Short Sale Properties!   The following is directly from Fannie Mae’s Selling Guide to distressed properties. While it is permiss...

You would think that because our country’s veterans made personal sacrifices to defend and protect the United States that we wouldn’t pull a fast one on them wouldn’t you? Well, apparently the VA is all about bad magic tricks and pulling nothing but empty promises out of their shiny black hats. I...

We’re not actually in the mortgage industry; we’re actually in the business of navigating underwriting and guideline minefields. If you’re a recent home buyer, a Realtor, a title company professional or a fellow lender you’ll understand that I am not being overly dramatic! We tread cautiously wit...

If a mortgage banker can have a fan club, I guess I sort of do. I have worked really hard for many years and I am as trusted for my in-depth investigations to assemble fair and honest mortgage files as I am for my knowledge of all the changes that swirl about the lending industry on a daily basis...

Hey all you Realtors out there…I think you know I’ve always had a great deal of respect for how difficult your job is. You really bear the lion’s share of responsibility for getting a real estate transaction underway: You unravel client wish lists to ascertain what they’re really saying You condu...

Well, as of two weeks ago Fannie Mae is over it. If you’ve got an account with the IRS, she doesn’t want to know you; she’s paranoid. If you owe back taxes and worked out a payment plan with the IRS, that’s all well and good as far as the IRS is concerned. You have an agreement and a payment sche...

What I tell everyone is that their perception of their credit situation is not clear until it’s verified by a professional. This cuts both ways…. I’ve had clients in my office who believed they had no stumbling blocks that stood in their way of obtaining a million dollar mortgage at an interest r...

Our friends at FHA are back to adjusting the loan max limits. And again…change often equals panic. This is not only evident in our emotionally-driven stock market. We also see it just about every time there’s an adjustment to a mortgage policy; whether the perception is that it is a good or a bad...

Call it karma, or ironic or just really funny; but I love when real life reinforces a truth that I hold self-evident: you need a professional to represent you when there’s a lot on the line.   What’s the recent real life reinforcement that prompted this post??  The story in the Wall Street Journ...

While politics are more of a hot button than ever before and Americans are currently caught in the cross fire of Congressional finger-pointing; we still need to get perspective about how the country’s recent downgrading by Standard and Poor’s is really affecting you and getting a mortgage.   Whoe...