Packing before moving has to be one of the most frustrating tasks known to man. If you're like ...

Smart homes are a smart idea. Even if you have trouble using the toaster, you've probably heard about ...

The goal of most credit repair scams is to get you to pay a monthly fee for as ...

Restoring your credit after bankruptcy can be surprisingly easy if you follow this advice. Bankruptcy can be a ...

Should You Co-Sign for Someone?  How will it Affect Your Ability to Qualify for a Mortgage? In this ...

Evan Wade - Expert Interview Evan Wade is a professional mortgage loan officer, and valued member of our ...

Buying a home in a competitive seller's market can be an uphill battle for the unprepared home buyer.  ...

Now that you have enough money for your down payment, here's how to get your closing costs paid ...

Home owners are rushing to refinance as the last hope of lower rates looks to have passed, again. ...

This article looks at 2018 interest rates, taking a cautiously optimistic approach toward being prepared for what the ...

CAIVRS is an automated monitoring system that tracks defaults on Government debt. If you have  been a victim ...

Buyer assistance is a great way to get into your first home, and it's important to understand the ...

Freddie Mac announces a NEW first time home buyer mortgage 3% down payment first time home buyer mortgage ...

USDA Guaranteed Rural Development home loans offer 100% financing to eligible home buyers throughout the United States. In ...

Home buyers will face higher home prices this summer, here's why! If you've been thinking about buying a ...

Is a cash out refinance to pay off debt a good idea, or not? There are two sides ...

Did you know there are low cost conventional loan programs with no income limits? Available in Low to ...

Mortgage tax deductions and credits make tax time a little less stressful when you own a home. If ...

When you have student loans, qualifying for a mortgage can get tricky. UPDATED September 2018:  Watch my NEW ...

March 2018 - NEW Conventional Jumbo home loan alternative was announced earlier this month. Conventional Jumbo Highlights Up ...

Refinancing your home is one of the great benefits of homeownership.  Unlike most retirement accounts, you can borrow ...

Increasing interest rates are causing big issues for home loan shoppers in 2018.  Shopping for a lender that ...

The NEW California School Program offers more down payment and closing cost assistance to first time home buyers.  ...

2018 Interest Rates Are Rising Faster Than High Tide During a Full Moon.   In this article, we explain ...

https://www.facebook.com/FMWHome/videos/1840061916028356/ Meet Mia Ferraro Schultz I had to laugh when Mia referred to her self as a "mortgage ...

NEW 2018 Income limit allows more California first time home buyers to qualify for down payment assistance. Income ...

2018 home loans use big data and automation to make your mortgage easier to qualify for and less ...

A home equity loan allows you to borrow against the value of your home by taking out a ...

Buying a home is something that most folks would love to do, but many believe they could never afford ...

The short answer is Yes.  All homeowners, and most home buyers will still be able to write off ...

MCC mortgage credit certificates are a dollar for dollar Federal tax credit only available to eligible first time ...

Veteran Homeowners Receive a Huge Win Against Predatory Lenders. Any VA streamline refinance loan started after March 25th, ...

2018 FHA loan limits were announced last week, As predicted, FHA has followed the Conventional loan limit increase ...

NEWS:  FHA Announces loan limit increases in 2018!  See update here The 2018 FHA loan limit was not ...

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announces that Conventional loan limit will increase in all but 71 Counties ...

The mortgage interest deduction is again at risk as the House tax plan looks to limit this tax ...

Richard Cordray, Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) resigned from his position as head of the ...

Katy Parsons Expert Interview Katy Parsons is a professional loan officer that specializes in helping self employed families ...

J.D. Power, a global leader in consumer insights, advisory services and data and analytics, releases a telling 2017 report ...

Steven Woloszyk Expert Interview Steven Woloszyk is a professional loan officer, and an expert at guiding first time ...

Qualifying for a mortgage with income based student loan payments just got a little harder. Freddie Mac stops ...

Jim Duffy Expert Interview It was my great pleasure to sit down with Mortgage Expert Jim Duffy the ...

Guest Author: John A. Krochman | Branch Manager - NMLS# 278683 | Broadview Mortgage Corporation Cell / Text ...

Avoid Surprises One of the final and most important steps toward closing on your new home mortgage is ...

When Telemarketers Compete, You Lose!     It Could Happen to Anyone These are actual, recent (2017) online ...

The Question The CAIVRS waiting period is important if you had a FHA mortgage on a home that ...

The Question I received a great question this week from one of our readers regarding the waiting period ...

Show Notes On this week's show, I've invited two mortgage veterans to discuss mortgage options that are available ...

What is Temporary Leave? Temporary leave from your place of employment is usually short in duration and is ...

HUD Hurricane Relief Options In the wake of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria this, HUD announced a reminder ...

Show Notes A Multi-Family residence, also known as a duplex, triplex or fourplex, is a powerful investment strategy ...

Show Notes FHA mortgages don't always get a fair shake. I often speak to home buyers that claim ...

Including a mortgage in a bankruptcy will not prevent you from buying again, and you might be surprised ...

Show Notes Homebuyer assistance programs, for the purposes of this discussion are defined as money available for the ...

Show Notes Who wouldn't love an easy button?  The internet, and technology has created easy buttons for many ...

2017 HECM Update I would like to extend a special thank you to a lender friend of mine ...

Josh Lewis has been in the mortgage business since 1995, and he shares a wealth of knowledge and ...

Over the weekend of July 29th, 2017, Fannie Mae rolled out it's latest major update to Desktop Underwriter ...

Show Notes A portfolio loan is not necessarily a specific loan program, but an approach to lending that ...

Show Notes It is very common to use "gift funds" to help with the down payment and closing ...

Show Notes Automated underwriting systems (AUS) are used by all traditional lenders to determine your eligibility for a ...

PodCast Show Notes: Student loans weigh heavy on many Millennial first time home buyers. These loans will show ...

Show Notes Having a financial hardship in the past does not mean that you cannot qualify for a ...

This guest post was contributed by Real Estate Experts, a leading real estate agency in the Chapel Hill ...

Primary Residence Units Millennials have figured out a little used, but very smart strategy for jumping into real ...

Rent is Crazy Can I afford a mortgage? There's got to be another way, right? The cost to ...

The Problem Are you hitting road blocks getting your offers accepted by home sellers?  It could be your ...

Bait and Switch? Home loan denied because it's not easy enough? Yes, it's true, and it happens every ...

Experience Matters Jim Duffy is one of the experts that we count on to solve underwriting challenges that ...

VA Experience This is another great example of VA manual underwriting heroics. As part of our series on ...

Manual Underwriting VA manual underwriting success stories are something that we love around here! VA loans are a ...

Second Chance If your lender is unable to get an automated underwriting approval, or if you've been turned ...

Refi Fast Lane Refinance options are available to many homeowners that were forced into bankruptcy during the recession ...

Home Loans Easier? In an aggressive move to make qualifying for a Conventional home loan easier, Fannie Mae recently ...

Self Employed Easier? On May 30th, 2017 Fannie Mae announced a shocking relaxation of the guidelines that determine ...

Updated July 29th, 2017 In a May 20th announcement, Fannie Mae released a sneak peek of it's 10.1 update ...

Not Easy Enough One of the biggest challenges you will run into while applying for a home loan is ...

February 2018 UPDATE - A cash-out refinance is going to be more expensive in the future as interest ...

Updated Guidelines Fannie Mae recently announced a new refinance underwriting guideline that relaxes lending rules on borrowers with student loans. ...

Income Based Payment It is not uncommon to have a zero payment ($0) on a student loan that ...

Get the Low Down A Jumbo home loan is any mortgage that exceeds conventional conforming loan limits for the ...

Specialized Solutions A portfolio loan is a home loan that falls outside of the underwriting guidelines of more ...

Effective Immediately A new student loan guideline published by Fannie Mae will make it much easier for you ...

Removing Hurdles Fannie Mae announced today that they are removing hurdles that will help homebuyers with student loans. Previously, ...

Find the Right Lender We created this website to protect consumers from misinformation and inexperience. Our goal is ...

Why Are You Lying? Statistically speaking, the volume of lies that loan officers tell readers of this site ...

Do I Qualify? The truth is, the most risk comes from working with a loan officer that is inexperienced, ...

Portfolio Loans Portfolio loans give homebuyers options for buying a home after a financial hardship with little to ...

Down Payment Grant There is an experimental new conventional loan program available that offers a down payment grant for ...

Buying Your First Home Buying your first home can be both exciting and scary at the same time. ...

Ease Into Ownership A new home loan program lowers your interest rate by 2% in your first year, and ...

Confused? When something goes wrong with your loan approval, who's responsible? Have you been told that you qualify, ...

Community Home Advantage Program A new community assistance home loan program is now available for specific zip codes ...

Refinancing an investment property is much more difficult than a traditional refi on an owner occupied home. There ...

Paying For Education Pursuing an advanced education is getting more and more expensive. Especially if you're pursuing an ...

Buying after bankruptcy is a topic that we have become experts at. We get readers from all over ...

My Lender Said.... This is one of those times when I wish I had a bigger megaphone than ...

Safe and Predictable Option If you got caught up in any of the mortgage mess from the past ...

Get the Low-Down Few people know that Conventional financing will allow less than a 20% down payment. I ...

We have been informing, educating, and empowering consumers on this website for almost 10 years now. We get tens ...

Failure to Launch Rocket Loans are all over TV, radio, billboards, and it seems like everywhere you look. ...

FHA Lowers Costs This morning, in one of the final moves before handing over the reigns to President ...

Deferred Payments VA Guaranteed loans are the only underwriting guidelines that will allow you to have deferred student loan ...

Deferred Payments FHA does not currently allow you to have deferred student loan payments when qualifying for a home ...

Deferred Payments Fannie Mae does not currently allow you to have deferred student loan payments when qualifying for a ...

Your options when trying to refinance after bankruptcy are most often limited by the experience of your loan ...

Deferred Payments Freddie Mac does not currently allow you to have deferred student loan payments when qualifying for ...

Qualifying Income Let's face it, the only difference between a standard, traditional loan and a "self employed" home ...

Is there a Difference? The short answer is Yes, there can be a huge difference. But it's probably not ...

Increased for Most UPDATE:  See California 2017 FHA loan limits UPDATE:  See California 2017 Conventional loan limits UPDATE:  See ...

Minimum Down Payment The biggest hurdle for most first time homebuyers is coming up with the down payment. Minimizing ...

A lot of people have had challenges in the past, resulting in a collection, charge-off, or judgement showing ...

Jumbo Loan Woes There are many areas in the Country that require a Jumbo home loan if you want ...

Assistance Alternatives There's a good chance that you're here as the result of a google search about homebuyer assistance alternatives. ...

Interest Rates are on everyone's radar after the Election. Regardless of which dog you chose in the race, ...

The Finish Line Once you've signed your Closing Disclosure, you're almost done. You are able to sign your ...

Hiring a Loan Officer Hiring a loan officer is more important than hiring a lender. You will not ...

If you're here because your "so called" loan officer is launching abbreviated mortgage terms and acronyms at you like ...

Getting Lucky Finding the best homes for sale relies heavily on your ability to be lucky. When I say ...

Motivation It's important to understand how your Loan Officer and your Real Estate Agent are paid and why ...

Congratulations! You've successfully closed on the purchase of your new home and you are officially a Homeowner! Once ...

Now it's Our Turn This is where your preparation pays off.  I trust that you've chosen well, and ...

Trusting Data Searching homes for sale online is incredibly easy to do, and can actually be quite fun! There are ...

A Helping Hand Buyer assistance is a topic that I'm very experienced with in my home State of California. ...

Getting Pre-Approved Getting pre-approved for a home loan should be one of the first steps towards becoming a homeowner. ...

Start Here Buying your first home is both scary and exciting at the same time.  It gets incredibly ...

Education is Empowerment First time homebuyer education, also called first time homebuyer counseling, is a requirement of many buyer assistance ...

When Can I Buy Again? Trying to figure out the waiting period after Bankruptcy? Foreclosure? Short Sale? Deed ...

Credit Qualifying Over the weekend of September 24th, 2016, Fannie Mae is updating DU to Version 10.0, and introducing ...

A mortgage insurance policy is required anytime you have less than a 20% down payment, or equity, at the ...

Investor Relief? Fannie Mae policy changes the reserve requirements for borrowers with multiple financed properties in Desktop Underwriter ...

An FHA streamline refinance might be your ticket to lowering your rate and payments with no waiting period ...

Frustrated with FHA? Why? Are you one of those people that hate their FHA mortgage because it has ...

Don't Be Surprised When applying for a home loan, your credit is one of the most important factors ...

Short Term Solutions It's been a few years now since your bankruptcy, foreclosure, short sale or deed in ...

Foreclosure Nightmares A second mortgage included in bankruptcy can foreclose years after it has been discharged, and can ...

Somewhere along the line, FHA loan got a real unfair reputation as being a loan option that you should ...

Changing the Game? Big box lenders are those companies that advertise on television and radio with claims about ...

Have you been looking for home financing options that allow recent credit challenges related to Bankruptcy, Foreclosure, Deed ...

Mortgage Discharged? My expertise is helping homebuyers understand the lending guidelines for buying a home after a financial ...

Buying Multi Family With interest rates as low as they are after 1st quarter 2016, home loan financing ...

Home Sweet Home You have worked hard to prepare for the purchase of your new home and are ...

Building Wealth Many of us dream of owning a portfolio of rental properties. Acquiring a property and using ...

Unique Perspective I am in a unique position as lender.  Because I have been educating and empowering homebuyers ...

Getting a Mortgage with Student Loans Qualifying for a mortgage when you have IBR student loans can put ...

Low Rates When it comes to paying interest on a mortgage loan, everybody likes low rates, that's too ...

3.5% Down Payment Do you dream of having your tenants make your mortgage payment for you each month? ...

Everyone loves getting a great deal. In the mortgage world, the concept of a great deal usually means ...

Not What You Think When you hear terms like hard money, or private money, or portfolio loan, many ...

A Jumbo loan is typically much less flexible than traditional financing like Conventional or FHA if you've had ...

Beyond Guidelines Understanding what lenders are looking for in the documentation you provide when trying to qualify for ...

Rising Rates Wrong? Many thought that the Federal Reserve’s decision in December to raise interest rates by .25% ...

A Penny Earned Saving money always feels like a great accomplishment.  Have you ever noticed when you're at the grocery ...

Tax Benefits Homeownership is one of the most powerful tax savings vehicles available in America today. With the ...

A Critical Question A quick Google search for the phrase “rent vs own” returns 283,000,000 results. Obviously, this ...

The Ugly Truth There is a very disturbing and ugly pattern of discrimination against VA Loans that happens ...

What Are Your Rates? On almost a daily basis I receive calls from people interested in purchasing or ...

What is a Reverse Mortgage? A Reverse Mortgage is a loan secured by a primary residence of 1 ...

December 12, 2015 Fannie Mae will update its Automated Underwriting System (AUS) to implement changes to file requirements ...

Your VA Benefit When it comes to home financing, it is hard to beat the opportunities provided through ...

Education Reduces Risk Whether you are getting ready to purchase a new home or are looking to refinance ...

Mortgage Assurance I often hear that homebuyers, and homeowners want to avoid mortgage insurance on their home loan. ...

Get the Facts I'm sure you've heard it from parents and mentors your whole life..."If it sounds too ...

Rare Rate Drop The reality of mortgage rates is that they change every single day.  The ability to ...

New Guidelines FHA is going through a significant overhaul of it's underwriting guide, as well as the guidelines ...

How Much Downpayment Do I Need To Buy A Home Depending on what kind of loan you are ...

Not Bad Credit Having a low credit score does not necessarily mean that you have bad credit, or ...

What We've Learned Interest only loans were very popular at one time, and were mostly associated with what ...

What is Automated Underwriting? Computer generated mortgage loan underwriting decisions are the most common way to get approved for ...

Planning for Profits Selling your home for the highest price is much more science than it is an art. ...

Mission Impossible? A recent Associated Press article, Mission nearly impossible this spring: Finding a home to buy, talks ...

A Mortgage Credit Certificate, commonly known as MCC, is a dollar for dollar tax credit similar to the first ...

Repairs Preventing Refinance? There are two types of home improvement projects.  The first type is not necessary, but ...

Restriction Removed Approximately 1 year after the rapid decline of home values in the aftermath of the great ...

Your credit score has a direct impact on the cost of your home loan.  Knowing how this works ...

Save Yourself Time, money and sometimes your dream home could be at risk if one of these mistakes goes ...

If you are an eligible military Veteran, you are eligible for a special home loan program that allows ...

Qualifying Income Assuming you have good credit and assets to buy a home, the most important factor in qualifying ...

Your interest rate is directly impacted by your credit score and the equity in your home. While there ...

A loan level price adjustment (LLPA) is a method that conventional loans use to factor in risk factors ...

Financial Lockdown Once you’ve received a Pre-Approval from your lender, it is vitally important that nothing changes in ...

Changes to the waiting period for mortgage debt that was discharged through bankruptcy took place over the weekend of August 16th, ...

After a financial hardship like having to short sale your home, it's important to know that your next home is within ...

Low Rates There are very few people complaining about interest rates plummeting to near historic lows in July ...

The VA streamline refinance offers a reduced cost, reduced paperwork solution to help eligible Veterans take advantage of ...

An FHA streamline refinance is a reduced cost, reduced paperwork loan program available to anything that currently has ...

From qualifying for a home home to shopping, offering and closing on your first home can seem quite ...

Tax Advantage Mortgage Insurance is a great option for buying or refinancing a high Loan to Value (LTV) ...

A Simple Plan Going through bankruptcy is both emotionally and financially exhausting. Buying a home after a bankruptcy ...

Student Loan Payments The biggest challenge with student loans is that they are often deferred while you are ...

VA loans becoming more and more popular as market changes have brought to light the features of this ...

Private mortgage insurance offers much more flexibility for home buyers with less than a 20% down payment. Many ...

A Home Equity conversion Mortgage (HECM), also known as a Reverse Mortgage, is government insured loan program offered ...

There are many ways that you can raise the money to cover your down payment and closing costs ...

The ability to remove mortgage insurance is a topic that not many home owners understand. Both Private Mortgage ...

You're Not Alone A local lender friend of mine, Brad Yzermans of HomeLoanArtist.com, is one of the good ...

Warning: Falling Rates Last week interest rates dipped to near historic lows again, driven by global economic volatility ...

You can now buy sooner after Guideline changes announced by Fannie Mae on July 29th, 2014. Fannie Mae has changed ...

Buy Again After A Short Sale - And Have 20% Down UPDATED: Last week Fannie Mae announced a ...

On July 29th, 2014 Fannie Mae made an unprecedented move to loosen up waiting period for borrowers that ...

You do not want any surprises while you're in the middle of an escrow on a new home.  Most ...

I am always surprised at how many potential home buyers are unwilling, or reluctant to gather all of ...

The danger of window shopping at an open house is that you could fall head first into an ...

Not Now.  Not No! Credit improvement is not something you should spend money on if you are trying ...

The "rent vs own" argument doesn't even begin to address the questions that first time home buyers have. ...

Credit preservation is proactive act of doing the right things to increase your credit scores. In many cases, ...

Your employment history includes calculating income and establishing continuity of employment. There are a lot of moving parts ...

What is the best loan for a first time home buyer? FHA loans get a bad rap, but ...

There's No Excuse Homeowners and homebuyers have plenty of reasons to be both suspicious and cautious about working ...

Reduce housing costs and enjoy lower payments and fixed costs on your home.  We all want to save ...

Return on Investment I know it seems counterintuitive saying that spending money will save you money, but that's ...

Victims of the recent recession may be eligible to buy a home in as little as 12 months ...

2018 home buyers should prepare for a very competitive real estate market. The key to winning is planning. ...

Start at the Beginning Buying your first home is one of the most exciting things you will ever do.  It ...

An Adjustable Rate Mortgage, or ARM, is a valuable home mortgage financing option that can offer a wide ...

Credit scores are calculated each time you pull your credit, based on which model the creditor is using. ...

Challenges with the economy, job loss, lay offs and a slow recovery has forced many homeowners to file ...

Boomerang buyers are those families that fell victim to bankruptcy, foreclosure or short sale in the past and ...

When this phenomenon first began to rear it's ugly head, I initially tried to avoid using the term ...

Improving your credit after bankruptcy is like getting a complete fresh start. This past week I've had 3 ...

Errors On Your Credit Report Could Cost You Thousands The credit monitoring companies aren't lying when they make ...

Maternity leave does not have to prevent you from buying a home. One of the greatest motivating factors ...

Qualifying for a FHA loan 3 years after meeting the waiting period is not a guaranteed. Tens of ...

FHA mortgage insurance has been required to be remove automatically when the current balance hits 78% of the ...

Mortgage insurance is something that most first time home buyers are going to have to deal with.   ...

Your debt to income ratio is what determines how much you qualify for when applying for a home ...

.Seller concessions occur when an interested third party like a seller, real estate agent or lender contribute to ...

To reaffirm your mortgage is a topic that comes up quite often and seems to be very misunderstood. ...

I have written several articles about how bankruptcy, short sale, foreclosure or deed in lieu of foreclosure will ...

Conventional financing with a 3% down payment is, for certain home buyers, a far better option than FHA ...

Protect yourself with an Appraisal and Home Inspection as part of your due diligence when you buyer. The ...

If your VA loan was denied, it's possible that your loan officer made a mistake or the lender ...

Since 2011, I have been focusing much more time and energy to educating folks about being able to buy ...

I know that sometimes FHA home loans get a bad rap because of the mortgage insurance premium, but there ...

Coming up with the down payment and closing costs is the most common reason renters give for not ...

NOTE:  Short Sale and Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure guidelines were changed in August, 2014 - See new ...

Avoiding mortgage advertising landmines is not a topic that I'm real happy to have to write about. Thing ...

Adjustable rate mortgages, or ARM loans, are often blamed for the "toxic mortgage" time bomb that went off ...

An adjustable rate mortgage, or ARM, is an incredible option under the right circumstances. ARM loans made up ...

Buying after foreclosure is a topic that I am passionate about.  You should know that there is light ...

Is your home upside down? Falling home values and record low interest rates make this an incredible opportunity ...

December 2017 UPDATE:  When Fannie Mae changed the waiting periods for a foreclosure on a mortgage included in ...

Rent to own sounds like a really good idea until you start asking questions. I get this question ...

UPDATE: Last week I passed along a recent guideline update regarding FHA's stance on allowing the financing of ...

FHA will waive the waiting period after a short sale, if you can meet some pretty strict criteria. ...

A tax refund is one of several ways to come up with a down payment and closing costs ...

The Jobs Act and Tax Cuts bill modifying the mortgage interest deduction was signed into law on December 22nd, ...

Home buyer beware as call center lenders hit the airwaves and internet with better ads and bigger promises. ...

FHA loans are a very popular and affordable choice if you are a first time home buyer. It ...

Did you know that receiving credit card offers in your mailbox can hurt your scores? Have you ever ...

Gift funds are sometimes a very misunderstood closing costs solution. Receiving gift money is a very way that ...

Here's an article that I originally wrote when the real estate market was a little more competitive back ...

Qualifying for a mortgage after financial hardship is normally only a matter meeting a minimum waiting period. The ...

When Buying a home, the month of the year and the day of the month can affect your ...

What's the difference? There is no greater misunderstood term in Real Estate than the loan "Pre-Approval."  (See our ...