Rain City Guide

Effective tomorrow (August 1, 2008) borrowers who convert their existing residence to an investment property or second home will be treated to tougher standards if they’re using a Fannie Mae loan.    Here are the new requirements:
Converting existing residence to a “second home”.

Borrower must qualify for both payments (this is not new).
Unless the borrower has at least [...]

Today President Bush signed a housing “rescue” bill HR 3221.  I’m really still absorbing all of this (I think it’s taking me a bit longer after my trip to Inman Connect).   Here are a few quick pointers:
The FHA risked base mortgage insurance pricing (which I’m in favor of) that was to be effective last week is now postponed until September [...]

The rumors floated on Friday regarding Fannie and Freddie turned out to be true.  This first bailout proposal, released a few hours ago, has three parts.  I say “first” because there is no way that this is going to be enough to save what’s headed our way nor will this be the only time the government will [...]

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac opened trading at record lows due to rumors about a possible bail out.  I’m writing this waiting to hear an announcement from Treasury Secretary Paulsen….
If you are in a transaction at this time and your mortgage fits within the FHA loan limits ($567,500 for King, Pierce and Snohomish County), I [...]

Fannie and Freddie are implementing new loan level price adjustments (LLPA) based on credit score and loan to value. This is a change for the worse from my previous post announcing the original LLPA. Now your credit score is even more critical. Some lenders are implementing these changes immediately with terms on [...]

This morning it was announced from OFHEO that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have agreed to some major changes with regards to how appraisals will be ordered for conforming mortgages:
“…including eliminating broker-ordered appraisals, prohibiting appraiser coercion, and reducing the use of appraisals prepared in-house or through captive appraisal management companies in underwriting mortgages. The agreements [...]

As a Correspondent Lender, it’s difficult for me to call myself a mortgage broker or a mortgage banker since I’m an odd mix of both.  I’m sure my sister-in-law who happens to be the President of our company would prefer to say the “best of both worlds” and she could be right.   This is not what [...]

Earlier this week I told you about how Fannie and Freddie are increasing the cost of mortgages for anyone with credit scores under 680 using less than 30% down. This impacts A LOT of people. Since I posted that article, I have received many memos from some lenders saying that they are implementing [...]