JohnsBlog (articles, news, thoughts, advice)

I will be upgrading johnsrate.com to the next level within the next coming days...during the next month there will be many changes, all for the better, including additions and resources for my clients and potential clients.  For one stop shopping for mortgage info, rates, questions concerning the market or processes within obtaining a mortgage, this will be the place to go.  I'm very excited, but it will be a lot of work, so please bear with me as I put the work in and make these changes.

The blog will still be here, calculators will be added, mortgage news will be added, resources to financial partners will be added, and a ton more.

Please feel free to let me know what YOU would like to see on this site.  If you were led here via a google search, yahoo search, or other means, please let me know what you would want from a site that others don't offer...if you're looking for info, let me know what you want, and I will deliver. 

I look forward to this project to offer even better service for everyone out there.

Just this week I was notified that any loans not registered and clear to close by Friday, March 28 would not be able to close at 100% financing on 1 loan.  Mortgage insurance companies are the culprits this time around, refusing to insure loans at 100%.  Looks like we're getting closer and closer to the way things used to be, 20% down, and people buying homes they can afford..

My job gets more difficult each and every day as new legislations aversely effecting brokers are passed and loan programs disappear with lenders....Bear Stearns being the latest casualty.  However, as much of a struggle as it has been, I have thus far been able to not only weather the storm, but find success in these troubled times.  I have brought on board a company still offering 100% financing in the form of an 80/20 first and second mortgage....not only does this eliminate mortgage insurance altogether, but with the prime rate being 5.25 currently, the second mortgage (home equity line of credit) is at such a low rate this type of loan can save borrowers tons of money over traditional 100% loans.  

The downside?  Whereas I could get a borrower qualified with 1 loan at 100% with a 620+ FICO, and could entertain debt-income ratios around 60%, things are a little tighter with this program (for good reason!).  I need a 660 FICO score for this program, and debt-income cannot exceed 50%.

So as lenders fall off, they are being replaced, and as programs disappear, new opportunities come around---this cycle will likely continue throughout the year until things calm down and this housing market reverses......and when new programs come about and new lenders rise, I'll be here to tell all about it : )

I've been noting/discussing with clients the fact that recession seems inevitable from where we're at concerning the economy...just a couple of days ago, Mr. George W. Bush shared his opinion that the country is NOT heading into recession.

This morning, I came in to read the following:

``All the lights are flashing red,'' said Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at Global Insight Inc. in Lexington, Massachusetts, in an interview with Bloomberg Television. ``We're in a recession. I don't think there is any doubt about it at this point.''

Funny how an economist and our president share completely different views.
However, as I've been saying for a while now (read prior blogs) recession was inevitable with the combination of a credit crunch, depreciating home values, and a weakening dollar.  Common sense should have shown for months that this was coming, but it seems some just didn't get it.

Anywho, todays weak job numbers gave mortgage rates a little much needed boost, hopefully we can get a wave of good news for rates (unfortunately at the expense of the stock market most likely) and ride it into the 5% range again before the Fed cuts rates again!