It is reported Mortgage Interest Rate are near all time lows, well as that news comes out Dec. 3 & 4th coincidentally these past few days the interest rates have actually have been going up. This morning the unemployment report that came out this morning was quite a surprising which in turn caused mortgage interest rates to deteriorate. With a continued flow of positive news in the market like this, could mean the end low mortgage rates. With the government purchasing Mortgage Backed Securities program ending come March /April the chances are good that, that is going to be the beginning of the end of these extremely low rates, but with this type of positive flow of information that end could start sooner than that. This might be the time for those who have been sitting on the fence to take this as a bottom of the lowest rates and make your move. Barring any other shoes to fall scenarios that could drag the economy back down; such as the woes in Commercial Real Estate or maybe unemployment isn’t really as it seems to be and further job loss and the negative impact on housing too could drag the economy backyards again, this would be the signal of the end of the really low rates. So if you have been sitting on the fence you might want to ask yourself if you want to take the chance that there is going to be another leg down; also something else to keep in mind that as time passes since the mortgage meltdown the trend for more conservative lending standards is continuing to tighten making it more and more difficult to refinance or purchase. There is a continued movement to reduce Loan To Values requiring either more money down or more equity in your property in order to qualify for a mortgage. Other changes that are continuing to make it more difficult to qualify is the reduction of qualifying ratios or debt to income ratios.If you would like an interest quote and are considering a refinance CLICK HERE to visit my website and fill out a secure application.

Andrew Hahn Specializing in superior customer service.

In an already difficult lending environment as of December 12th Fannie Mae is updating their underwriting standards to make obtaining a loan just that much more difficult. One of the main changes is they are lowering the bottom ratio for qualifying for a loan from 50% to 45%. The bottom ratio is the amount that includes your monthly obligations and your  house payment. If your considering a refinance (which now is a really good time) you need to get your application in and underwritten by December 11th to be able to use the current guidelines. For some this could be the difference in being able to qualify. If your interested in refinancing here is a link to my secure online application. When Considering Refinancing in Denver, Commerce City or the State of Colorado please give me a call Andrew Hahn

Bare with me on the first part of my explanation

                One seemingly complicated aspect about financing a property is the HUD form that discloses the fees involved with the transaction; there can be a lot of fees. There are necessary fees such as title company fees and generally an underwriting fee; then there are the fees collected on your behalf this would include the monies collected to reestablish your escrow account. More often than not the lender will require that you have an escrow account (there are some exceptions) these monies are collected and held in an escrow account to pay your annual insurance bill and your property taxes which in Colorado is  generally paid out twice a year, ½ on February 28^th and the other ½ on June 15^th. The timing on this can make a big difference in the amount that needs to be collected. For the taxes the closer you are to the date the taxes are due the more they are going to collect at closing to make sure there is enough to pay them when they are due. The amount needed for the escrow of your insurance depends on the anniversary date when your annual payment for your insurance is due. Also collected at closing on your behalf is the interest from the day you close tell the end of the month, so if you close at the beginning of the month they are going to need to collect more than if you close toward the end of the month (*if you are paying off an FHA loan it’s best to close at the end of the month).  NOW , for the other fees. OK now there is the appraisal fee, this is a necessary fee that due to the new mortgage industry rules needs to be collected and paid for upfront to an Appraisal Management Company or AMC this fee is around $370.00 unless you have a Jumbo or unusual property. We’ll have another Blog addressing this new rule the HVCC; Home Valuation Code of Conduct (it’s really not good). The remaining in my case FEE is my origination fee, this is what I make. For most other lenders it’s FEE’S there can be origination fee, credit report fee, processing fee, admin fee and in some cases even more fees. MY philosophy and the way I do business is my origination fee includes the credit report (**usually $25.00) I process my own loans so I don’t charge a fee for that.  The admin fee and those other fees are to collect more money from you with a different label, and I don’t operate like that. Now when you see other lenders offer free appraisals or some kind of closing rebate or discount, we all know that the appraisal gets paid for somewhere in the process and usually what they do is credit you at closing to make sure it’s paid for in case for some reason it doesn’t close. Nothings free it all gets accounted for one way or another. They way I prefer to do business is to quote the lowest fees from the beginning. The only fee collected before closing is the appraisal fee and that’s paid to the AMC not to me (because of the new rule it’s the new protocol). I do not undercut my fellow mortgage brokers to steal business. I prefer to take the professional high road on this one. There are good hard working brokers that provide a good service with reasonable fees; even though I rarely get beat on fees if I’m given the opportunity to give a second opinion I well be honest and upfront with you. Sometimes it’s not worth switching for a hundred bucks. Now don’t get me wrong competition is good and that’s why I always give my best quote and do not need to go back and change fees in order to compete for your business. I don’t want to get to long winded here so I’ll continue this on the next blog. Have a Happy Halloween.

For more information CLICK HERE to visit my website.

Refinance Philosophy for those with ARM loans

In today’s chase for the best rate, for those who have a *conforming Adjustable Rate Mortgage or to be more specific a loan owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac the chances are your ARMs interest rate has been going down and is lower than today’s fixed interest rate loans. If you want to get out of the uncertainty of an ARM and want a fixed rate loan have you a decision to make. More than likely to make the move to a fixed rate loan your rate is more than likely going to be higher and therefore your payment is going to go up. Now the challenging aspect is going to be timing. You want to take advantage of your lower rate as long as possible yet when you make the move to a fixed rate loan you want to lock in at the lowest rate you can. Timing the market is always a tough call and trying to guess when the 30 year fixed rates are going to reach their lows is even more difficult given the challenges in the markets today. Unless there is another sizable drop in the market we might have seen the all time lows and rates are starting the trend back up. Now could be the time to start watching the rates to try to catch them on a dip and get locked in, in the upper 4%’s to low 5% range, at this time 4.75% or lower doesn’t appear to be in the stars; unless you buy the rate down (not usually money well spent unless paid by some else). So what I recommend is that we start crunching the numbers now to determine a strategy and to be at the ready when rates get to your sweet spot. To sign up for my rate quote click here.

* Non conforming loans such as subprime loans or portfolio loans (some institutions keep their loans) are probably seeing their rates go up and are not eligible for loan programs created by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.