Over the past few weeks we’re received a lot of questions regarding the recent changes to the FHA loan program. I might as well address some of these questions and concerns publicly. The changes are due to the recently signed Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008.
Changes to the down payment requirement: The minimum down [...]

Major changes go into affect on the FHA loan program on Monday July 14, 2008. These changes are very significant and will impact the affordability of these loans for many borrowers, especially those will less than stellar credit who can’t put 5% down. Basically, almost everybody in todays market.
Essentially, the Upfront Mortgage Insurance Premium (UFMIP)and monthly [...]

Shannon Hubbard from BlogArizona.Com left a really great comment on my post “The VA Loan: Perfect 100% Home Financing for Veterans“. I had always intended to follow upon on these points but she covered it for me. So, I’m going to use her comment and elaborate where I may be able to add  some value.
The VA Funding Fee
The [...]

Borrowers with a subprime mortgage who are refinancing to a FHA mortgage are often not aware of the upfront mortgage insurance premium (MIP). As the name implies, this is paid upfront at the time of close. During the subprime heyday MIP was one of the reasons not to do a FHA mortgage. How the tables [...]

Here is an important update on the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 (H.R.‚3648) from the Daily Herald:
the House Ways and Means Committee voted to permanently remove the so-called “phantom income” tax penalty that haunts financially distressed homeowners whose debt is partially forgiven by a lender after a foreclosure or a “short sale” to [...]

Back in August I had suggested that borrowers re-think the use of Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) as they consider different home financing options. I pointed out that since PMI is tax-deductible for all purchases made in 2007 it is worth the consideration. Also with the demise of the 2nd lien market those fancy 80/20 [...]

Over the past several years Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) has gotten a bad name. There is a now a whole group of first time home buyers who think PMI is evil. That is because we mortgage pros have been placing everyone on these 80/20 deals. Don’t get me wrong, it makes a lot of sense [...]

This last month has been a great month for me and my business. The reason being is that I have had multiple opportunities to engineer custom financing packages based on specific borrower needs. To me this is the hallmark of providing great service if you’re in the mortgage business.
What do I mean by this? Not [...]

I attended a presentation today on Mortgage Insurance. The presenter was pretty excited since she believed MI would be making a strong comeback this year. She gave several reasons for this, one of them being the fact that MI is now tax deductible.
I challenged her on the tax deductibility part since the provision only allows [...]