If you are considering buying a home or refinancing in the next year, do meet with a Mortgage Professional as soon as possible to make sure you’re in the best position possible.  The difference between a 719 and 720 credit score for a conforming mortgage is a half point to fee with 20% down payment!  For example, using the rate below for 30 year fixed conforming, if a borrower has a 719 credit score, they will have to pay a half point (or $2000 based on a loan amount of $400,000) in order to have the same rate a 720 credit score borrower would have at zero points!  One digit with your credit score may cost you.  Here are some tips that may help you improve your credit scores.  

Here’s a quick look at where rates are as of 8:00 a.m. this morning.   All rate quotes below are based on a 30 day lock.   Please refer to my original rate quote for specific criteria I use to price rates.

Conforming 30 Year Fixed – loan amounts up to $417,000.   This scenario is based on a sales price of $500,000 with a loan amount $400,000 and minimum credit score of 720.    6.375% @ 0 Pts. (APR 6.433%).  

Conforming Jumbo 30 Year Fixed – loan amounts up to $567,500 for Pierce, King and Snohomish Counties.   This scenario is based on a sales price of $650,000 with a loan amount of $520,000 and a minimum credit score of 720.   6.375% @ 0 Pts. (APR 6.468%).

Jumbo (Non-Conforming) – loan amounts up to $1mil.  This scenario is based on a sales price of $850,000 with a loan amount of $680,000 and a miminum credit score of 720.   7.375% @ 1 Pt (APR 7.531%) or 7.750% @ 0 Pt (APR 7.811%).

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FHA 30 Year Fixed – loan amounts up to $362,790 for Pierce, King and Snohomish Counties.   This scenario is based on a sales price of $375,000 and a loan amount of $362,790 with a minimum credit score of 620.   6.250% @ 1 Pt (APR 7.032%).

FHA Jumbo 30 Year Fixed – loan amounts up to $567,500 for Pierce, King and Snohomish Counties.   This scenario is based on a sales price of $585,000 and a loan amount of $567,450 with a minimum credit score of 620.  6.375% (APR 7.160%). 

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Prime Rate:  5.00% -  what HELOCs are based on.

NOTE:  If you are considering a FHA mortgage loan, please seek out a Mortgage Professional who is experienced with FHA mortgages.  I recommend working with someone who has an on-site FHA underwriter and who is HUD direct endorsed lender.  Many brokers are not approved for FHA mortgages or have never provided one before.   Experience counts as does legally being able to provide a specific program.   I am having to move “conforming” borrowers to FHA mortgages due to the tightening in underwriting guidelines with Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac (conforming).   Do make sure your loan originator has the ability to offer FHA loans.

To see real-live rates that I’m quoting for clients, click here.    This is just a small sample of what programs are available.  For your personal rate quote, please contact a Mortgage Professional.

Rates quoted by Rhonda Porter, CMPS and Licensed Loan Originator 510-LO-32047 with Mortgage Master Service Corporation located in Kent, Washington.

Mortgage rates continue to be very volatile often times changing 3-4 times per day.   I post live rate quotes on Twitter and you’re welcome to “follow me” to see what scenarios are currently being quoted.   The rates below are based on the same criteria that I used for my first rate quote and are priced with zero origination fees or discount points unless otherwise noted.

Conforming Loan Amounts up to $417,000

30 Year Fixed:  6.625% @ 0 Pts (apr 6.685%)

30 Year Fixed with 10 Year Interest Only:  6.875% @ 0 Pts (apr 6.932%)

5/1 ARM @ 0 Pts:  6.25% (apr 7.228%)

5/1 ARM @ 1 Pt:  5.75% (apr 7.084%)

Conforming-Jumbo Loan Amounts up to $567,500 for Pierce, King and Snohomish Counties. 

30 Year Fixed:  6.625% @ 0 Pts (apr 6.681%)

30 Year Fixed with 10 Year Interest Only:  6.875% @ 0.5 Pts (apr 6.973%)

5/1 ARM:  6.00% @ 0.5 Pts (apr 7.142%)

FHA Loan Amounts up to $362,790 in Pierce, King and Snohomish Counties

30 Year: 6.375% @ 1 Pt (apr 7.147%)

FHA Jumbo Loan Amounts up to $567,500 in Pierce, King and Snohomish Counties

30 Year:  6.625% @ 1 Pt (apr 7.394%)

VA  30 Year Fixed:  6.500% @ 1 Pt (apr 6.828%)

Rates posted are as of 9:30 a.m. June 12, 2008 and may and will change at any time. 

I first met Rhonda while I was with John L Scott in Federal Way. She regularly visited the office to distribute marketing materials. As my office was located in close proximity to the agent mail boxes, I often had occasion to “bump into” her.

Over the years I’ve recommended a number of different lenders to my buyer clients based upon their performance, integrity, and fair pricing. And by integrity I don’t just mean straightforward and honest – that’s a given. I mean delivering what’s promised… cause neither I nor my clients like surprises.

It was during the real estate run up of the last several years when the lender I was then using left the area.

Coincidently I was seeing a lot of what I considered bad actor lenders on the other side of my transactions. I was primarily listing properties where I represented sellers, but since I always review the HUD-1 (settlement statement ) I could see what the lender was up to.

So I set out to find a new lender. Being in the business as long as I have, plus spending some time digging into common lending practices, I knew what I wanted in a lender for my clients.

When you buy a home, it’s pretty much what-you-see-is-what-you-get (yes, you need a good inspector).

Not so in the lending business. Practices tends to be opaque. Unless you’re in the business (or invest substantial time learning), there’s just no way you’re going to know all the ins and outs. And even if you do invest the time, you really won’t know what you’ve got until closing (and as we’ve seen in the press, often not even then).

And that’s what led me to Rhonda. Although she’s got all the credentials in the world, is referenced and quoted nationally, that’s not really important to me.

It’s that she knows her stuff, is transparent and straightforward, and can be depended upon her to take excellent care of my clients. In other words, she’s worthy of not only my trust, but of my client’s trust.

And so again, it’s my pleasure to welcome Rhonda.

One would have to be rather cavalier (or naive or dumb) not to read all loan documents before signing.

Sympathy for those who don’t? Please… If you’re going to give someone a signed blank check, don’t complain later when they cash it.

Sure there’s a lot of paper involved. But most of it is boiler plate. If you need more than an hour or so (typical time) to thoroughly understand what you’re signing, take the documents home to study and bring them back another day. (It’s unreasonable to ask the signer to spend 3-4 hours to sign.)

Or ask your agent to attend signing with you. If your agent won’t attend closing, or doesn’t know what’s important to check, you can find a buyer’s closing table checklist here to use as a guide to get you started.

One of the documents you’ll normally sign is a statement saying you have had the opportunity to read all documents and that you do understand them. If escrow urges you to sign before knowing/reading what you’re signing, I suggest changing escrow companies.

This is an in depth article not designed for the casual reader – but a “must-read” for a buyer who wants to gain more than a superficial understanding of loan pricing.

I’m a big fan of Tantra. I highly recommend the site in general and this post in particular.

I’m glad I’m not an officer at American Home. I’d fear for my safety.

Loose your home due to lapsed insurance coverage because payments you made weren’t forwarded… foreclosure proceedings because tax payments you made weren’t passed on by a loan servicer?

These may be just threats from posturing lawyers, but I can’t imagine anything more enraging to a homeowner.

Update: Ailing lender’s checks bounce

Jack Guttentag, The Mortgage Professor wrote a post last year recommending you save all your mortgage statements until your mortgage is paid off.

His post is even more germane today given the total revamping of the mortgage business landscape.

The first is Mortgage Ripoffs and Money Savers by Carolyn Warren. Rhonda Porter over at The Mortgage Porter has already posted a fine review. I concur with her comments although I’m not sure of her issues with the description of YSP (yield spread premium).

The second book I’d recommend is Mortgage Confidential: What You Need to Know That Your Lender Won’t Tell You by David Reed.

Both books cover much the same material about the ins and outs of the loan business, albeit in a different fashion. After reading both, any buyer seeking a home loan will be well prepared.

I always counsel my buyers that when you’re buying a home, it’s pretty much “what you see is what you get” (after the home inspection). With a home loan, you really don’t know what you’ve got until you’re at the closing table (although you can get some idea if you can review the HUD-1 first). And you might not know until sometime after closing if you don’t read and review the documents you should.

For those buyers not relying on an experienced expert agent for advice and guidance (nor already using a real mortgage professional like Rhonda), just spend the time and read the books.

If you’re an agent wanting to improve your expertise with respect to home loans, you’ll also be well served reading either or both.

There’s a lot of turmoil in the mortgage business right now, and some of the more egregious loan offers/procedures are no longer an issue… although you’d never know it from the dozen or so different ‘come-on’ radio commercials for mortgages I still hear every day offering no closing costs, no appraisal fee, etc… (what’s with that anyway??).

Buyers, you don’t know what you don’t know. You’re easy prey if you go loan shopping nude.