Dora Griffin's Blog

MORTGAGE BROKERS MAKING A COMEBACK   Mortgage brokers are well aware we are making a comeback. I recently listened in on a webinar by Matt Ishbia of United Wholesale where he said: “Brokers have the option to go to whatever wholesale lender has got the best opportunity, the best turn times, the b...

  IS YOUR REAL ESTATE AGENT WORKING FOR YOU? Is  your real estate agent working FOR you? And then, Is  your real estate agent working for YOU?   No matter where you put the emphasis it is important to know if the real estate agent you are working with is working for you, the seller, themselves, o...

SAVING THE SALT OFF YOUR POPCORN   In reading a comment on a recent blog I wrote about gas price savings it brought to mind savings and its importance to home ownership. There are plenty of mortgage loan programs these days where a down payment can be gifted or zero down is required. This does no...

WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH YOUR GAS MONEY?  When  you live in the world of consumer financing such as a mortgage broker you keep your eye on all kinds of data to help guide borrowers in making sound decisions. Generally negative economic news lowers rates and positive news drives them up.    Gas pri...

AVOID REFINANCE YO  YO   In working with a couple recently on a refinance we looked at several options. Because they had an existing rate in the "6's" refinancing totally made sense. The question was: To what? In explaining options I usually use "The Price Is Right" analogy. Door #1, Door #2, Doo...

WHAT LOWER FHA MIP PREMIUMS MEAN     For those in the lending world lower MIP premiums will cause us to take a second look at FHA for our borrowers.  Since HUD made some changes that increased the up front premium to 1.75%, increased the monthly MI to 1.35% AND made MIP permanent for maximum loan...

STICKY FHA APPRAISALS I am currently working on a FHA purchase loan where the seller had accepted a previous FHA offer. The first buyer of the property applied for a FHA loan and went so far that an appraisal was completed.   When an appraisal is done for a  FHA purchase it sticks with the proper...

WHAT DOES A MORTGAGE BROKER DO? As a Kentucky mortgage broker I get calls from home buyers and home owners who often simply ask me to explain what a mortgage broker does.  Mortgage brokers take applications, collect supporting documents, pull credit, and use their experience in mortgage originati...

CAN I STILL GET A SUB PRIME MORGAGE LOAN?   Are there still sub prime loans available? Over the last few years the mortgage lending field has changed a lot. Recently the "qualified mortgage" has been analyzed and implemented. The CFPB set new guidelines for a qualified mortgage, ability to repay,...

HARPING ON HARP REFINANCES   Our beloved government did several things to help housing recover from the collapse... Yes, it is possible they can do something well for us. One of the best things they did was the Home Affordable Refinance Program. (I know, wouldn't affordable home refinance be a be...