Joe Petrowsky's Blog

“AH”A motorcycle police officer stops a driver for shooting through a red light. The driver is a real jerk, steps out of his car and comes striding toward the officer, demanding to know why he is being harassed by the Gestapo! So the officer calmly tells him of the red-light violation. The motori...

“This Topic Drives Me Crazy” CFPB Issues Advisory to Protect Privacy When Companies Compile Personal Data Advisory affirms that “permissible purposes” are required to use and share credit reports and background reports Washington, D.C. – Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issu...

Sprout Mortgage Shuts Down – National Mortgage Professional >>“Sprout President Shea Pallante informed the staff, which totaled more than 300 people, that the company would close its doors immediately – including both its retail and wholesale divisions”I did a transaction with them about 4 years ...

I recently received this email after a phone call: “Joe, thank you for taking my call yesterday. As promised, Ruth and I went over the options and your recommendation. We are going to move forward with the refinance. As you said, giving up a 3.25% rate to go into a 5.125%% rate is a tough pill to...

In church Sunday morning the preacher said, "Anyone with 'special needs' who wants to be prayed over, please come forward to the front by the altar."With that, JB got in line, and when it was his turn, the preacher asked, "JB, what do you want me to pray about for you?"JB replied, "Preacher, I ne...

FGMC Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection “FGMC said the Chapter 11 filing was necessitated by significant operating losses and cash flow challenges experienced by the company due to “unforeseen historical adverse market conditions for the mortgage-lending industry, including unanticipated ...

“Refinancing is Not Necessary” Hi Joe,I hope all is well with you and your family. We have been discussing our monthly mortgage insurance, do we need to refinance to eliminate it? What are your thoughts, as we owe under $380,000 and I'd think we would appraise over $500,000? Thanks! With values h...

“The Money Changes Everything” A man went to church one day and afterward he stopped to shake the preacher's hand. He said, “Preacher, I’ll tell you, that was a damned fine sermon. Damned good!”The preacher said, “Thank you sir, but I'd rather you didn't use profanity.”The man said, “I was so dam...

“Licensed to do Mortgages in CT, RI, MA, ME, VT, NH, NY, and FL.” Hey Joe, Have a referral for you. One of my mortgage brokers from Connecticut has a client that is buying a second home in Vermont, near one of the ski resorts. I told him I have someone that is licensed in all of New England. I do...

“Nearly 50 Years of Working Together” We are at it again Joe. Thinking back, we did our first transaction in 1974, the world was a much different place. In any case we will be putting our current home on the market and Beth is retiring next month and we will be moving to Florida. We will also be ...