Mortgage Rate Update and How to Sell a Seller
By: Mark Simons
June 17, 2010 (FreeRateUpdate.com) - Today’s POV* came out with some Major Wholesale Lenders repricing for the better over the course of the day. Conforming Rates at 4.375% and High Balance Conforming at 4.625%. Super Jumbos at 5.375%. Jokes, conspiracy theories, and loan scenarios are always welcome at lololoans@yahoo.com
SO…the Market it getting better, the planets have aligned, a mysterious bag of TARP money has landed in your assigned parking place and you are ready to take the plunge for home shopping. GOOD! I love it when folks buy houses. But let’s do a little homework before you plunge into every website and open house for miles. Sellers, by and large, are going to want to see strong offers and more importantly strong borrowers. Your Realtor should be guiding you through this, however this is when you should be working with a Lending Professional. There is plenty of time to bond with your Realtor later as the process unfolds. “Get a pre-approval?” No. Well ok sort of. Syntax is at play here. There is Pre-Approved and Pre-QUALIFIED. Big difference. I have seen “Pre-Approval” letters from Lenders that are just short of blank paper with cut up letters from magazines pasted on. In other words they mean NOTHING. Ask your Mortgage Professional to run the Fannie Mae Desktop Underwriter program for you. This will require you furnishing somewhat detailed income and expense and asset information, but hey, the days of Liar Loans are over, so you will be furnishing all that anyway. The software program will then issue a standardized form, with a nice big “headline” at the top, which will hopefully say “Approve/Eligible”. This means that the numbers have been crunched and barring any financial skeletons in the closet, you have a damn good chance of getting your Loan approved.
*POV = Plain, Old, Vanilla Home Loan- 30yr fixed, fully amortized, at least 20% equity, single family home, owner occupied, purchase or rate and term refi only, slightly lower rates and fees for all the Giants fans who BOO’d Tommy Lasorda at the game the other night.