Mortgage Loans

Mortgage Loans

10 Reasons to carry a Big, Long Mortgage for Delaware Home Owners

John Thomas September 11, 2007

I am going to outline 10 Reasons to carry a big, long mortgage. If you are a Delaware Home Owner or are a Delaware First Time Home Buyer, he is what you need to know about your mortgage as part of wealth creation.

1) Your Delaware Mortgage Loan Doesn’t Effect Your Homes Value.

2) You going to build equity anyway.

3) A Delaware Mortgage Loan is Cheap Money. A mortgage is cheap because it is secured by the property, unlike credit cards.

4) The Mortgage interest on your Delaware Home Loan is Tax Deductible.

5) The Mortgage interest on your Delaware Home Loan is Tax Favorable.  The tax deduction is at your top tax bracket. Keep Reading...

Delaware First Time Home Buyer – Importance of Checking Account

John Thomas September 9, 2007

If you are a First Time Home Buyer than you need to know the value of having your own checking account. It looks best if you have a checking account in your name.

I sometimes get clients applying for a Delaware Mortgage that don’t have a checking account. I counsel them right away to open a checking account because the lender likes to see a checking account, but there are also other advantages. First, it is easier to write a check than to get money orders to pay bills. Second its safer than carrying cash. Third, it makes it easier to keep track of where you spend your money.  Fourth, you can have paychecks, pension checks, social security checks, or other checks deposited directly into the checking account. Fifth, you should have your emergency fund in a bank account. I counsel all of my Delaware mortgage clients to have an emergency fund and to put those funds into an FDIC account. Keep Reading...

Delaware Home Owners – Fall Maintenance Checklist

John Thomas September 7, 2007

Do you have a Fall Maintenance Checklist that you perform each year in the Fall for your home?  If not then you are going to miss the little fixes now that will turn into expensive big fixes later.

For a free Fall Maintenance Checklist to be e-mailed to you please send an e-mail with “Please Send Fall Maintenance Checklist” in the subject line of the e-mail to jthomas@balancegroup.net and I will e-mail out the list to you so that you can protect your home and your family.

If you would like to apply for a Mortgage Loan, you can APPLY ONLINE HERE, you can call John Thomas at 302-703-0727. Keep Reading...

Countrywide to cut 12,000 jobs

John Thomas September 7, 2007

Countrywide to Cut As Many As 12,000 Jobs Because Company Sees 2008 Loan Originations Dropping. The cuts, amounting to as much as 20 percent of its workforce, are needed because the company expects new mortgages to fall about 25 percent in 2008 from this year’s levels, Countrywide said.

Countrywide Cheif Executive said this is market cycle is the most severe in the contemporary history of our industry.

Countrywide is also changing the products it offers to only include products that are conventional mortgage loans. Keep Reading...

Delaware Mortgage Rates & Market Update – September 7, 2007

John Thomas September 7, 2007

The Labor Department reported a loss of 4,000 Jobs in August. This is in sharp contrast to the 110,000 new jobs that analysts were expecting. Making a bad number worse, was the downward revisions of 87,000 to the last two months. This month’s loss in Jobs was the worst report in four years. On a positive note, the unemployment rate remains steady at 4.6% and is seen as the only piece of good economic news within the report.

This morning’s surprisingly weak Jobs Report has helped the Bond climb further above the 200-day Moving Average. For now, I recommend floating and I will be watching closely as the market volatility may continue Keep Reading...

History of FHA

John Thomas September 6, 2007

Congress created the Federal Housing Administration in 1934. At this time, nearly two million construction workers were laid off. Only four out of ten people owned their own home. In addition, mortgage loan terms were outrageous. Borrowers had to put 50 percent down, and the note ballooned in 3 to 5 years. So the mission of the FHA was to encourage home ownership.

The FHA became a part of HUD, which is the Department of Housing and Urban Development, in the year 1965. In the mid-1980’s, the FHA transitioned to what we call direct endorsement and began approving lenders to underwrite and close their own loans. Prior to this time, the FHA did have a hand in the process of the loan. Keep Reading...

The Truth Behind the Mortgage Market

John Thomas September 5, 2007

Subprime mortgages have now been credited for bankrupting well over 110 lenders and seriously damaging operations at many major mortgage firms. They’ve reportedly wiped out 5 hedge funds, tens of thousands of jobs, and have led to millions of foreclosures with millions more on the way. And, as if that weren’t enough, subprime mortgages are also blamed for massive volatility in the stock, bond, credit, futures, and real estate markets here in the US and around the globe. Some say losses in the mortgage securities market alone could reach hundreds of billions of dollars this year. Keep Reading...

President Bush annouces FHA secured loan that will bail out Delaware Home Owners

John Thomas September 5, 2007

On August 31, President Bush announced that HUD will help families avoid Foreclosure by providing a brand new FHA loan called the FHA Secured loan.  This loan will directly impact Delaware Home Owners facing foreclosure.  Under the new FHASecure plan, FHA will allow families with strong credit histories who had been making timely mortgage payments before their loans reset-but are now in default-to qualify for refinancing.

FHA will implement risk-based premiums that match the borrower’s credit profile with the insurance premium they pay.  This means riskier borrowers pay more for their insurance. This common-sense, risk-based pricing structure will begin on January 1, 2008.  This is what happens when a person receives private mortgage insurance with non-FHA loans. Keep Reading...