Nationwide Home Mortgage Loan Company

View a Sample Rate Sheet

(more…)

Many deals have been killed by a loan officer over looking this simple little check box on the 1003 (Standardized Uniform Residential Application). The fact is, we often forget that lenders are holding our home as collateral, and more times than not own more of the house than the borrowers do. Lately, lenders have become more and more skeptical about the type of property they choose to hold as collateral for these loans. (more…)

Occupancy type is pretty straight forward. Conventional mortgages are designed to help everyone buy a home, specifically a primary residence (owner occupied) . When you use conventional financing to buy an investment property (non owner occupied) you are charged more by way of a higher interest rate or fees.

Many people will buy homes as a primary residence then convert them to rentals. This is ok as long as you legitimately stay in the property for a year. There is another classification of occupancy type called a second home . Second homes can be purchased very close to the same pricing as a primary residence, the biggest difference are the loan to value restrictions.

One thing to be careful of is that many people try to purchase second homes and use them as investment properties. Lenders are wise to this, and if you are caught using a second home as an investment property you could have your loan called due, this is not fun. Not to mention, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac consider this fraud and can carry Federal fines or imprisonment. Lenders regularly make occupancy checks to ensure they are within conventional lending occupancy standards.

Here are three main occupancy types:

• Primary Residence - A home you intend to occupy, affords you the best rates.
• Second Home - A home at least 50 miles from your primary residence, or situated within a resort or vacation area. Affords you the best pricing with a larger down payment.
• Investment Property - A home purchased with the intention to flip for profit or rent. Usually will have higher pricing 1 - 2 points depending on down payment and loan to value.
• Commercial Property - This property type is not insurable by the conforming agencies.

When you are applying for a refinance or to purchase a home the loan to value (LTV) is usually the first value a loan officer will compute. Most borrowers under estimate the ramifications loan to value LTV has on pricing and qualifying for a loan. What you really need to know here is how to arrive at the loan to value ratio. It’s pretty simple. You take the expected loan amount and divide it by expected appraisal value. (more…)

Lendfast.com - Having worked in the mortgage industry for some time I have come across some pretty informed borrowers, and they are usually the ones who get the best deals. Rarely do uninformed borrowers get the “best deal”, if they are working with reputable lenders they more than likely get a good deal. However, the difference between a good deal and your best deal could be many thousands of dollars over the life of a loan. For this reason I decided to put a list of things you should know before you go. (more…)