Ask the "Mortgage Man": How is the Government Strike going to effect My Mo...

Ask the "Mortgage Man": How is the Government Strike going to effect My Mo...: How is the Government Strike going to effect My Mortgage? The answer is very little.  Other than the slow down of an already slow mortgage...

How is the Government Strike going to effect My Mortgage?

The answer is very little.  Other than the slow down of an already slow mortgage product (USDA), there will be very little delay to new loans and loans currently in progress. Unlike any other type of mortgage, the USDA loans require a full underwritten mortgage packet to be sent to them so that the USDA can rubber stamp the file with their seal of approval.  Assuming the strike continues for another week, this will delay the USDA loan closings for up to 2 weeks.  FHA, VA and other government backed mortgages will continue to get funded without delays.  These loans are insured by the government but not funded by the government, so they will continue without delay.  The only possible hiccup is that most lenders require an income tax transcript from the IRS prior to allowing funding on a loan.  This can be done at the very beginning of the loan process or just before the closing.  Most loans already in process have the transcript  in hand.  New loans that won't be closing for several weeks have plenty of time in which to obtain the transcript before closing.  The transcripts are usually processed within 48 hours, so there still remains plenty of time after the strike has ended, to get these documents from the IRS.  Rest easy, there is a 95% chance your loan will not be effected.

Andy Williams NMLS # 118317
President
Abacus Regional Mortgage
484 695 5972

Why The Mortgage Man?

Why do they call me the mortgage man? I started my career in finance with Beneficial Consumer Discount in 1986 and became a collection manager.  Once I was given the option of moving out of town to manage my own branch, I decided to pursue a career as a Mortgage Underwriter with Merchants Bank of Allentown in 1988.  Once I had a thorough understanding regarding collections and underwriting, I took a job with Meridian Bank as a mortgage loan officer.  I continue to service 27 real estate offices and builders in three counties ( Monroe, Northampton, Lehigh ).  When Meridian was being sold to another bank, I decided to go out on my own as a Mortgage Broker in 1997.  I've owned my owns business for 16 years and know all the ins and outs of the mortgage industry.  I've seen interest rates as high as 16% and as low as 2.5%.  I've witnessed market bubbles, corrections, booms, busts, short sales, foreclosures, bankruptcies, wrap around mortgages, recasts, bridge loans, divorces, identity theft, fraud, subordinations, straw buyers, owner financing, hard money lending, and many other situations in my years in the industry.  Through it all, I've used my knowledge, experience, and contacts to help over 5,000 families purchase their home. I have almost any program or lender to get the job done.  If I do not, I know who may be able to help a potential home owner purchase their home.  It takes just one phone call to get the right answer!  Please call me with any situations or scenarios that you wish to discuss in confidential manner.


Andy Williams NMLS # 118317
President
Abacus Regional Mortgage
484 695 5972

3 Great Reasons for Selling Your Home Now!

Even if you, as the seller, are taking a loss from what you paid , you are still making out.  Here are three great reasons why:

1. You may be losing as much as 20% of your value on the sale of your home, but the owner of the home you are buying is doing the same thing.  Because you are buying, the savings for you is larger than the loss.  For example, you sell your house for $ 160,000 which originally cost $ 200,000,  this is a $ 40,000 loss ( 20%).  The home you are looking to purchase is $300,000, but the owner paid $ 375,000 when they originally bought it.  They too lost 20%, but their loss is more since it is based on a much more expensive home than the one you are selling, because they originally paid $ 375,000.  They lost $75,000 and you lost $40,000.  Your net gain is $ 35,000.

2. The interest rates are again at New historic lows, so you will get the lowest interest rates ever!  Not only will you buy a home for much less money than the same house cost a few years ago, but the monthly payment will also be significantly lower, too.

3. The level of selling activity has picked up in the past 8 months.  The National Association of Realtors has seen a steady rise in the number of homes sold since the fourth quarter of 2011. This is making it a great time to find a buyer for your home.  Why not take advantage of all these factors and buy a new home now...even if it means taking less money to sell your home.

Andy Williams
President NMLS #118317
Abacus Regional Mortgage NMLS # 113984
484 695 5972

CLASSIC HOMES DOES IT AGAIN

Why is it that a builder can sell inflated new homes to unsuspecting buyers and get away with it? This has been going on with builders in the Poconos for many years, but after many law suits and criminal charges, it continues to go on today. Classic Homes of Pocono Summit purchases lots at tax sales in A Pocono Country Place for up to $ 500 and builds homes on them. Doesn't seem like anything is wrong, does it? Well, when a buyer goes to get financing for them the lenders require an appraisal on the new home. Even though a newly constructed home costs more to build, you still have to compare the price of the new home with comparable sales within the same community. These sales must be within 6 miles and 6 months of the current property, and the comparable properties used MUST be Resale Homes and NOT newly constructed ones! Since the average sales price of homes in A Pocono Country Place over the past 6 months hovers under $ 60,000, it seems hard to believe that the average New Home with Classic Homes costs $190,000. They have closed over a dozen homes this year! How?

Andy Williams
President
Abacus Regional Mortgage
484 695 5972

FREE CREDIT RESTORATION

I have just signed up with a new credit reporting agency to run all of our credit reports. They offer a service where they will give any potential customer a list of helpful hints and advice on how to improve and restore someone's credit score. If a home buyer follows the advice step by step, they will be able to buy a home any where from 2 months to 24 months later. The time frame is contingent upon the severity and depth of the buyers credit and the amount of work needed to bring it to an acceptable level. I've seen scores improve by 15 points in 5 days and as much as 80 points in a matter of months. More and more customers need the extra help that I can give to help them to become buyers and realize their dream of homeownership. For more information, or to refer a potential buyer, please feel free to contact me on my cell phone at 484 695 5972.

Andy Williams
President
Abacus Regional Mortgage
NMLS # 118317
licensed by the Pennsylvania Department of Banking

I HAVE REDUCED PMI INSURANCE RATES FOR YOUR BUYERS

I recently signed up to do business with a credit union in California who writes loans in Pennsylvania. One of their unique products offered to their customers is reduced PMI insurance. Because they are a credit union, as opposed to a bank or mortgage company, they get reduced rates on PMI insurance from two different PMI insurance companies. The average reduction in monthly payments is 41% less than what the large banks and mortgage companies charge for PMI insurance. The payment savings has made the difference in some people qualifying for a larger home than they otherwise would have been able to do. Plus the credit union offers fantastically low rates that match or beat my lowest banks and mortgage company's rates, too. For a PMI chart please contact me at 484 695 5972.

Andy Williams
President
Abacus Regional Mortgage

Ask the "Mortgage Man": USDA Announces changes to PMI insurance

Ask the "Mortgage Man": USDA Announces changes to PMI insurance: Effective today, October 1st, the USDA has announced the changes to their up front Funding Fee. The amount of up front insurance premium th...

USDA Announces changes to PMI insurance

Effective today, October 1st, the USDA has announced the changes to their up front Funding Fee. The amount of up front insurance premium they require to be financed in with the mortgages was reduced from 3.5% to 2% of the purchase price. In addition, they will impose a .3% annual fee which will be added to the borrowers monthly payment on a monthly basis. As an example, if someown is buying a home for $100,000, they will be financing
$ 2,000 and incurring a monthly expense of $ 25. These changes are more attractive for the borrower making this type of financing an effective way to sell real estate. They will still finance 100% of the sale price, allowing the borrowers to finance the closing costs to a maximum of 6% of the selling price. The seller can pay the closing costs if the house doesn't appraise high enough to allow the buyers to finance them. This is another positive sign of the economic recovery in the mortgage industry.

Andy Williams
President
Abacus Regional Mortgage
484 695 5972

Why aren't more people buying homes?

Interest rates have officially reached an all time low of 3.75% for a fixed rate..Can you believe it? Why aren't more people buying homes? Home prices in most areas of the United States have dropped at least 25% from their all time high in 2007. Why aren't more people buying homes? Many economists have predicted that the housing market has bottomed or is near the bottom. This means that prices have fallen just about as far as they are going to fall, eventually beginning their rise, again. Why aren't more people buying homes?

COMMON MYTHS of CREDIT and FREE WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR SCORE

I have been in the business for 25 years and learned to read credit reports way before there were credit scores. We were taught to carefully assess the credit risk of a buyer based on their pattern of payments, number of late accounts, how recent the delinquencies, type of debt, etc. This training went by the wayside when credit scores were derived.

Today, a loan officer looks at the score to determine the ability for a borrower to obtain a mortgage. With this simplistic approach it has made it much easier to determine a buyers ability to get a loan, but it doesn't help a loan officer to properly council someone with less than stellar credit on how to boost their credit score. I have the experience and am better adept at assessing a person's credit report and showing them ways to improve their credit scores.

There are a few myths about credit which are commonly known yet misunderstood. One of the most common myths which I know not to be true is that most people believe that you must open a charge card, charge it up,pay it off, and close it to establish credit. While it is true you must open an account to establish credit, you don't have to use it at all! When you look at a charge card on a credit report it will show the payment patterns for the past 24 months. If the account has never been used it will still show excellent payment patterns as if the card has been actively used. This is an excellent way to build your credit without ever having to use it. You can open a Mastercard or Visa and cut up the card. This will boost your credit score immensely.

Another common myth is when people tell me they paid their late credit card off in full and closed the account. Unfortunately, this doesn't help your payment history. It is true that by paying off the account will bring it current, but the last few months payment history on the account will display the last few late payments for a long time. It becomes an old account and will no longer rate. It is much more effective to pay the account current and continue to make timely payments for at least 24 months to clean up the recent history on the account.

"I've heard that a bank can turn you down if you have too many unused credit cards...they feel that you have the potential to charge them up?"
This is very untrue. I council people how to improve their credit scores by lowering their credit card balances. If you have revolving charge balances below 50% of the limits you will increase your credit score. If you don't have the money to pay down the balances, perhaps you can have the creditor increase your credit limit to obtain the same objective. For instance, if you have a $500 credit limit and a current balance of
$475, by raising the limit to $1,000 you will be able to artificially be able to reach the same goal. Don't close the unused accounts. They are helping you amass a higher credit score.

For a free assessment and credit counselling please contact me at

Andy Williams
President
Abacus Regional Mortgage
484 695 5972
andrew.williams@abacusmort.com

HEALTHY SNACKS AREN'T SUPPOSED TO TASTE THIS GOOD!

This concoction is one that I came up with over the years that tastes fantastic yet is super healthy. Here are the ingredients:

1 cup of fresh strawberries
1 tablespoon of Lowfat Vanilla Yogurt
1 tablespoon of Lowfat Cottage Cheese
1 teaspoon of Wheat Germ
1 teaspoon of Vanilla Granola
1/4 cup of whole walnuts

Slice the strawberries and mix with all of the ingredients. It stores well in a container to pack for lunches and makes a fantastic snack. It is half the calories of ice cream yet contains Omega 3s and packs alot of protein to increase metabolism and fat burning.

PROVEN STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE YOUR CREDIT SCORE

There are three main strategies to improving your credit and boosting your score. The first and most obvious is to continue paying all debts on time. If you have the money, but are sloppy with paying your bills, try utilizing your bank's on line banking system. You can automatically set up your account so that each bill is paid on the same day each month electronically. This method will ensure the timeliness of your payments. The second strategy is to payoff any existing collection accounts, either by negotiating a partial settlement with the creditor, or paying them in full. Once all judgments and collections are paid your credit scores will improve quickly. Many of my customers' scores have improved 20-40 points within weeks of clearing their debts. The third and probably the most important strategy is to pay down any outstanding credit card balances to less than 50% of the credit limit. By having a balance near the maximum limit makes it appear that you may be living on credit to sustain yourself and could be a candidate for impending bankruptcy. If you don't have the money to pay down these balances, try contacting each credit card holder and increasing the credit limit. This strategy is especially effective to raise the scores because an artificial inflation of the credit limit will do the same thing as lowering your balance. These are all effective and rapid ways of improving your credit scores.

Is this Real Estate Market going to improve?

The current real estate market reminds me of the time I started in the business. 1990 was the beginning of a down turn in home prices. We were coming off of some recent highs in terms of average prices and number of sales. The Gulf War had caused widespread panic among many Americans, whose last memory of war as a nation was the Vietnam fiasco. Interest Rates were dropping into the single digits for the first time in 12 years. Still the housing market continuted to spiral downward.

Today we have prices dropping, home sales way down, foreclosures increasing and re-emergence of short sales. We are still in the Middle East fighting terrorism having just killed Osama bin Laden. Interest rates continue to fall, yet we don't have an upturn in the housing market. Fear not because history does repeat itself. We will again experience rising home prices and increased sales. Hang in there because the market will come back.

For a free credit report contact me at 484-695-5972

Andy Williams
President
Abacus Regional Mortgage

WHY AREN'T PEOPLE BUYING HOMES RIGHT NOW?

It’s an unbelievably good time to consider buying a home with prices down at least 20% from their 2007 highs and interest rates at almost historic lows. The average consumer has so much more buying power today as compared to years past.

The principal and interest payment on a 2007 house selling for $ 240,000 at 2006 interest rates would be $1,200. That same house selling at a 20% discount and at current interest rates is now $ 800. What is your opinion?

Andy Williams
President
Abacus Regional Mortgage

WHICH IS BETTER FHA OR CONVENTIONAL FINANCING?

Is FHA still the best way to go? I was recently asked this same question when the subject of PMI insurance came up. The monthly risk premium on FHA increased from .9% of the base loan amount to 1.15%. This marks a 27% increase from last year and 130% increase from three years ago. With many conventional programs offering no PMI insurance with a slightly higher interest rate, the total monthly payment is less than loans with PMI insurance. Is it better to go back to conventional financing?

POCONO COMMUTERS EFFECTED BY GAS PRICES

The last time gas prices spiked sharply in 2007 was the beginning of the end for the "Real Estate Boom". At that time, commuters rethought their idea of moving to the Poconos due to the high cost to commute from NYC and back. With the bus companies hauling the majority of commuters into the city each day, they are raising their prices in accordance with the rising gas prices. These additional commuter costs may be enough to deter the person looking to move to the area from doing so until the price of gas comes down to an affordable level. Hopefully this doesn't adversely effect the amount of home a buyer can be prequalified to purchase.

Andy Williams
President
Abacus Regional Mortgage
484 695 5972