We have heard many market reports that 2007 was bad and that 2008 might be worse. For some, 2008 has been a great start, but has slowed down. Do you have a game plan for 2008?  Do you have a business plan?  Or are you just putting your head down just praying that it gets better?   There are many ways to market yourself. The end result is that you are the one that controls your own destiny. Being strong, showing perseverance, open minded, one that thinks outside the box, and determined is a formula for success in my opinion. So what can we look at that would help us to continue to be successful and to grow our business. Type of marketing plans : Marketing yourself & branding yourself  (Part 1) Blogging  (Part 2) Networking  (Part 3)       Marketing Yourself & Branding Yourself :  - Pa... 02/23/2008

  The good old Good Faith Estimate....  it could sometimes be your worst enemy, depending on the loan officer and how they actually fill it out. It doesn't matter if you are applying for a FHA mortgage or a conventional mortgage, all good faith estimates should be accurate. I have seen many loan officers low ball their estimates not only on their points, but on the 3rd party charges. This can make shopping for a mortgage frustrating and more difficult. I just had a client recently compare my good faith estimate with that of another lender. My title charges were about $500 more in costs. But I knew my estimate was alot closer because all title companies basically charge the same amount. The lesson to learn here? Please read below.   It doesn't matter if you are applying for a FHA, conve... 02/20/2008

  Okay, the stimulus package has been approved.  The President signed the Stimulus Package about a week ago. Part of this bill included HR 5140, which talks about the new FHA loan limits.  The FHA loan limits are suppose to hit a ceiling of $729,750, but when will this go into effect? There were some rumors that it would not be until around mid-March that this would go into effect. There are some rumors which state that this bill won't go into effect until late July. And two other unconfirmed reports state that it will be permanent and another stating that it will only last until the end of December of 2008.  Now, I know that they said the new Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac limits were going to expire at the end of 2008, but now the FHA limits? What's worse is that you can't really find th... 02/19/2008

Helping people is a passion of mine, but getting a thank you when not asking for it is even better. I received a contact e-mail through Active Rain from a consumer looking for some help in regards to financing on 01/21/08. We finally closed on her loan on 02/15/08. I received an e-mail from her later on that day which read : Jeff, I do have to say, I’m not so sure we would have a closing if it were up to another company. You persevered more than anyone else; kept on top of all the requests and details and always kept me informed as to the status. We have had several refinances in the past that were nightmares. We have been overcharged fees as well as promised a closing date in a few weeks. The closing took 10 weeks because the mortgage broker promised things he couldn’t deliver. You go... 02/17/2008

  What is the uproar in regards to yield spread premium (YSP) that is paid to brokers by offering higher rates. The politicians that don't know how YSP's can help the consumer and not hurt them.  I am not here to debate politics and what is right and wrong, but to give the true understanding what YSP is used for and how it can help the borrower when purchasing or refinancing a home. Yield Spread Premium known as YSP is defined by wikipedia as the cash rebate paid to a mortgage broker based on selling an interest rate above the wholesale par rate that the borrower qualifies for. It just becomes wasted time in my opinion, when a loan officer has to defend the reasoning behind how they make money. When the consumer can assume that the loan officer makes more money, that's if they see the ... 02/15/2008

  I was tagged by Jason Crouch to share with you a few hidden gems here on Active Rain. This was started by  Melissa Grant a few weeks ago.  Please read : Hidden Gems In the Rain...Are you up for a challenge ?   The rules are below and don't specifically state if you have to find one hidden gem, 2, or possibly 3. But I have found 2 that I would like to share with you.  Here are a few of my Gems in the 'Rain" :  I have been reading many blogs by Rich Sweum who is a loan officer for Homestead Mortgage in Washington. Many of us know that mortgage related topics are boring. And most of Rich's are just that, plain mortgage blogs.  BUT....  they are on target and many are must reads. They are quick and informative. What Rich brings to the table are those mortgage blogs that give up-to-date in... 02/14/2008

  Project Lifeline, what does it all mean??   The Bush administration just announced Project Lifeline on Tuesday the 12th, 2008. This new plan is suppose to be an extension of the previous plans to help homeowners who are having difficulty in keeping up with their payments. The previous plans had strict guidelines to where you basically couldn't be late on your mortgage prior to the rate adjustment on your adjustable rate loan. President Floyd Robinson of Insurance Services Group said, "We want homeowners facing foreclosure to take the urgently required first step and reach out to their servicer, or housing counselor, and get started on a recovery plan. Project Lifeline represents a broad, national approach to looking at each homeowner's situation individually - making sure that we stop... 02/13/2008

  Fran White has been so kind to invite me to her weekly so-called talk radio show this Friday, the 15th. When I say so-called radio show, she is the host, conducting the interview and the incoming calls. It's all done through her, her phone, and an online program. Technology has come a long way, wouldn't you say? It will be live 1pm CST time and will be available online to listen to around 2 pm CST. You can call in to ask questions or just listen to the program live by calling 1-646-652-4765. Part of the show, we will focus on a specific topic that Fran wrote about, should realtors pre-qualify their clients prior to showing them a home.Would YOU Show A Home To A Buyer Who Said, "I'm Not Pre-Approved, But I Want To See The House Anyway"  The rest of the interview, we will talk about FH... 02/12/2008

    Okay, you truly feel that you could be in the market to purchase a home in the next year, possibly in the next 6 months, or you decided to look into it now. You feel like it shouldn't be that hard, that you have decent credit and that you can prove your income. In reality, after doing mortgages for over 15 years, it shouldn't matter what you think. With the ever changing world of mortgages, you should try to be semi prepared before jumping right into it. Especially if your credit is less than perfect. So, what should you do?  I personally recommend that you speak to a mortgage professional no matter how long that you are away from purchasing a home. Keys to home ownership sometimes take some elbow grease and can put a stress on your loan approval if you aren't prepared ahead of time... 02/11/2008

 Politicians are wanting to step in and squash the yield spread premium (YSP) that is paid to brokers by offering higher rates. I am not here to debate politics and what is right and wrong, but to give the true understanding what YSP is used for and how it can help the borrower when purchasing or refinancing a home.Yield Spread Premium known as YSP is defined by wikipedia as the cash rebate paid to a mortgage broker based on selling an interest rate above the wholesale par rate that the borrower qualifies for. It becomes a balancing act when a loan officer has to defend the reasoning behind how they make money, when the consumer can assume that the loan officer makes more money if they see the YSP on the good faith estimate or on the HUD settlement sheet. It becomes worse when that con... 02/09/2008

 Have you been locked up in your house per se, because the lender forced you into your current mortgage situation?  Did they change the rate, or the terms, or the fees on you last minute? Where you scared, because you didn't know what to do, especially since it was last minute, at the closing table? Hence you signed the documents anyhow?  It happens and if it happened to you, who are we to blame? Well, I read two different blogs in the last 24 hours talking about changes and what has has happened to many consumers. One of the blogs finally describing that there might be some changes that would help the average consumer not be taken advantage of. It goes into licensing issues, better income verification, and keeping the lender from steering the client into something that was not original... 02/07/2008

 Google is at it again with it's marketing and awareness campaign per se.  As many of you know, I keep an eye on Google and what they do to their logo every month.As you can see, they have a new logo relating to the Chinese New Year. I think this is a genius move when it comes to marketing and awareness.     As you can see, Google is always thinking of new ways of staying fresh in a certain way. What can we learn from this?  If you have a web site or a blog site, we can change up the home page from time to time. If you market to a local area, you can add logos and a specific section on the home page for new changes or events in your local area. Always getting your reader in coming back for some more.What can you do to make yourself stand out more from your competitor? Being creative doe... 02/07/2008

  FHA mortgages, in my opinion, are still one of the best mortgage options out there, as long as your credit score is above 500 and that you can prove your income. This is a continued series showing you that in many cases, FHA mortgages might be your best solution when purchasing or refinancing your mortgage. Many lenders are still not FHA approved, which means that they might not have your best interest at hand, even though they are giving you their best mortgage program. But is it the best mortgage program for you? As explained in previous blogs of mine, just because someone tells you that you are getting a conventional mortgage, doesn't mean that you are always getting the best rate. The main reason is because there are some pricing hits depending which I will mention below. This is... 02/06/2008

Loan limits are going up, loan limits are going up. First off, between the House, the Senate, and the President, they are still trying to finalize the figures so the President will sign off on the new bill. They are now recomposing such numbers to possibly include in the President's economic stimulus package.  Why do you ask?  Because by raising loan amounts, it will also in many ways, add more money to the economy. For any of you who aren't economic majors, it is to prevent a recession that we could possibly be facing. What I hate about the term recession is that it has a definition meaning when there is a decline in GDP for 2 consecutive quarters or more. In my honest opinion, we have been in a slight recession in the last several years and not just because of real estate. But since m... 01/29/2008

    The mortgage industry is changing right in front of us, basically on a monthly basis now. Which is why you need the advice of a mortgage professional and not an order taker. The word conventional mortgage doesn't mean that great rate or wholesome loan, that it did just several months ago. Don't be fooled by your typical loan officer or lender telling you otherwise. In many cases, your rate could be much higher on a conventional mortgage than on a FHA mortgage. To get a better understanding why this might be possible, please read FHA mortgages are better than conventional mortgages -- Why is that? What I wanted to share with you is a basic example of someone putting 5% down on a home. Keep in mind that these examples can be used for refinances also, depending on how much equity that ... 01/28/2008

 Giving those that don't give up, all the credit in the world. I hate when I speak to a client that is trying their hardest to stay above water. Trust me, I am a firm believer that good things do come to those that are good, true to themselves and others, and help others. But there are just sometimes when you act good, being a good person in general, that bad things will just happen to you.I spoke to a client yesterday that had to file a Chapter 13 bankruptcy around May 2007 because their pizza store went out of business. They happen to live in a very good town, have 2 kids, and seem to be hard workers. They filed bankruptcy to save their home and to try to get out from under a bad situation. What's even sadder is that they have an adjustable rate mortgage at 9.87% which is adjusting in... 01/26/2008

Okay, so what have you heard on the street in the last several days? I am sure many of you have heard that interest_rates were lowered.  Now, I don't want to confuse you, because I want to keep this very simple and educate you from my past experiences in the mortgage industry. I want to make one bold statement before we move forward. We all get our money from the same place. Meaning, if your loan officer works for a bank, a correspondent lender, or as a broker, we all deal with the same money at the same price. I need to make this statement because I see to many lenders or loan officers advertise that they have the best rates, no matter if the market was up or down. So many people confuse best rates with great service. Meaning, there is a higher god per se that sets the pricing on Wall... 01/24/2008

 For many of you know that I follow Google and their marketing strategies, today is another holiday that they have marketed around.  Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day which takes place on the 3rd Monday of January once a year. For many of you that are history buffs, Martin Luther King played a prominent role in the mid to late 60's, until he was assassinated in 1968. The 1960's was a very instrumental piece of American history in regards to the Vietnam War, the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963, Martin Luther King, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and several other factors and issues surrounding our history in the 1960's.   What is very unique about marketing is that Google teaches us different marketing techniques. Just in name recognition in itself is a lesson to be learned. How do ... 01/21/2008

  Home purchasing, existing or new homes, now is the time to buy. If you are a seller needing to sell, why wait, take that offer now, before home values go down in some areas. If you are buyer, you don't always need money to buy, that's if you have a great mortgage professional working for you. If anything, as long as you are in the market and sure of yourself, don't just look for the best deal. Home values have been coming down for a year now. Don't think by waiting another month, that you will get a better deal. For the most part, it's a buyers market. Home values are down 10 to 15% in many areas. Rates are down a full 3/4% in the last 6 months. Overall, if you are on the fence, the time is now. Again, you need to work with a great mortgage professional that will break it all down fo... 01/19/2008

    I know many of us are probably sick of reading about Countrywide and Angelo Mozilo, but let's take a look behind the scenes. Many of us know that Bank of America will buy Countrywide for 4 Billion dollars, that's if everything goes through. Matt Heaton talks about a break up fee if Bank of America decides to pull out of the deal. But it gets more interesting. Let's take a peek behind the scenes that aren't widely talked about within the media.   Did you know : Mozilo is receiving compensation for his empire that he not only built, but allowed to crumble. Those are just my opinions, but if the BofA deal goes through, Mozilo will reportedly walk away with over $100 million for his troubles per se. Countrywide received $20 million in tax payers money in exchange for creating 7,500 new ... 01/18/2008