Archive for February, 2008

Fixed Mortgage Rates Rise

This morning, the yield on a  30 Year conventional fixed rate mortgage rose by 0.625%. As shown in the Rate Watch Experiment, this sudden change in rate would have cost the average borrower $1562.50 on a $250,000 loan if they had not locked at the end of Friday! Rates are beginning to climb and if you want to lock while they are still low, you need to move now! Charlotte mortgage rates are still low! Act now to lock in your Low Charlotte Mortgage Rates!!!

Apply Now for a Low Charlotte Mortgage Rate

or call 877-411-9327 to get started.

What is a Pre-Qualification?

Simply put, a pre-qualification is an initial assesment of one’s ability to qualify for a mortgage loan. In it’s purest form, getting pre-qualified means that you have submitted enough general information to a lender that would allow a lender to offer an opinion as to your ability to get approved for a mortgage. This is not an actual approval nor the same thing as a pre-approval.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Mortgage Process

  Our Mission: We are dedicated to educating, inspiring and assisting in the American Dream.

As part of our mission to Educate, I wanted to begin a series on the mortgage process. While this series will focus on the basics of the mortgage process in general, it will be tailored to fit the way the Carolina Mortgage Connection does business in Charlotte.

With our dedication to the Charlotte Home Mortgage market, we really want to ensure that home buyers and home owners in the Charlotte area have a solid resource they can trust. One that will provide them honest answers to what really happens in the mortgage industry.

This series is designed to provide the average person a basic working knowledge of the mortgage process, inclusing the hows, whats and whys. It will not be a shameless plug of my services; however if there is a certain area in which our team does things differently it will be highlighted. And at the end of each article, we will give you the opportunity to get involved, either by commenting or putting your newfound knowledge to work by getting approved for a more a mortgage with us.

I hope that this series is beneficial for all who read it. If there are suggestions or comments, please feel free to contact us with your feedback!

View all Mortgage 101 Articles

Sincerely,

Ed Nailor

At first, I was only going to do this Rate Watch Experiment for a few days. But now I think I will try to maintain this for a while. With rates fluctuating so much, I think this could be a great resource for anyone trying to make sense of mortgage interest rate changes.

Please check it out at http://ratewatch.carolinamortgageconnection.foundbydesign.net

FHA is not Subprime

That’s the message lenders are trying to get out. To make this message heard, many lenders are putting their own parameters on the FHA loans they will underwrite, above and beyond normal FHA guidelines and requirements. With this article, we will get into what and why.

As of this posting, most FHA lenders are now imposing new minimum credit scores for many of their FHA products. FHA itself does not have any minimum credit scores. However, with the death of subprime many loan officers have been trying their best to force their subprime business into an FHA “manual underwrite” loan mortgage.

“Manual underwrite” means that a borrower does not have the minimum criteria for an automated approval, and therefore a decision must be manually underwritten by a person, not an automated computer system. The manual underwrite was implemented to allow borrowers with less than perfect credit, or limited credit references to provide enough alternative reasons to prove that they can handle a mortgage. Traditionally, for every 10 loans submitted in this manner 5-7 loans would actually get approved and be able to close. However, with the recent trend of typical “subprime” borrowers being submitted for manual underwritten FHA decisions, FHA lenders are seeing only 1-2 out of 10 being approved. And with the steep increase in submissions, that has required lenders to hire more underwriters to keep up with demand. Hiring more people to approve less loans means overhead increases… the costs of each loan is increasing.

To combat this rise, many FHA mortgage lenders in Charlotte and the entire country are imposing their own credit requirements. We are seeing 580 as the average score that most lenders seem to be seeking. That makes sense as most potential borrowers with mid to low 500 scores will typically have more frequent collections and recent late payments. With these changes, lenders are really asking for loan officers to better qualify their potential FHA mortgage loan borrowers. With these changes being implemented, the best news is that underwriting turn times should get back to less than 2 weeks!

Not sure where you stand? As a Charlotte FHA mortgage lender, let us help you get approved for an FHA mortgage loan. If you don’t qualify right now, we can help guide you in the right direction. If you do qualify, we can help you find the best FHA mortgage loan in Charlotte.

Apply Now or Call 877-411-9327.

The Rate Watch Experiement has been updated a few times today. Today, pricing got better, but we are still slightly worse that when we started the experiement. Check out the details at the Rate Watch Experiment.

UPDATE: The Rate Watch Experiment has been moved to http://ratewatch.carolinamortgageconnection.foundbydesign.net

Fed Rates to Lower?

The Charlotte Observer published an artice this morning in which they noted that Bernanke has stated that the Fed is ready to lower the rate again should the need arise. The article had an overall feel to it that this would happen sooner than later.

This is great news for credit card holders, home equity line owners and some short term ARM mortgage holders. The Fed rate is most applicable to the Prime Rate which many of these types of loans and credit are based. However, for those of you seeking a 30 year fixed mortgage, do not expect that this type of rate cut will impact the overall mortgage industry.

Bonds not Fed Rate

30 Year fixed mortgage rates are normally based on the yields of the 10 and 30 year Treasury Bonds. Their performance on the Bond Market is what will determine the pricing for mortgage rates, especially your longer term rate programs.

The bottom line is this… Make your move now. 30 Year mortgage rates in Charlotte are at all time lows! Now is the time to lock a rate and buy or refinance your home! Don’t wait for some magical rate drop… I doubt you will see that materialize.

Apply now and lock in the best mortgage rates in Charlotte now!

877-411-9327

FHA Limits Higher?

There is speculation that Charlotte’s FHA loan limits may be increased even higher than $230,470. Most of the speculation comes from lenders interpreting the results of the new Economic Stimulus package. So people think we may see limits over $300,000.

As I find out more information, I will share this with you as well. However, as of this posting, FHA’s website says that the Charlotte area has a maximum FHA loan limit of $230,470.

Get pre-approved for a Charlotte FHA mortgage now.

877-411-9327

$100 Down for Charlotte FHA

Mortgage Loans up to $230,740

With the new Economic Stimulus Package and the FHA / HUD Repo Incentive Program, you can now buy a Charlotte home and get a Charlotte FHA mortgage loan up to $230,740 with only $100 down! This is a great program for Charlotte area home buyers!

The Economic Stimulus Package raised the FHA loan limits in Charlotte to $230,740. The FHA / HUD Repo Incentive Program allows home buyers to purchase HUD foreclosed homes with only $100 down and still get a FHA mortgage loan to boot! Under normal circumstances, FHA mortgages require 3% down. With the new FHA loan limits for Charlotte, this means to buy the maximum home with FHA, you would need to put down at least $6,858. to cover the 3% and still maximize the $230,470 loan limit.

But if you choose to buy a Charlotte HUD foreclosed home, you can now buy a home with just $100 down and still get the new Charlotte FHA loan limits!

What a great opportunity!

Let us get you pre-approved for a FHA mortgage today! Then go find your dream home in Charlotte!

To get pre-qualified for a Charlotte FHA mortgage,
call 877-411-9327 or Apply Online Now.

Charlotte FHA Limits

$230,470 is Charlotte’s FHA Mortgage Limit

Yesterday, President Bush authorized the Economic Stimulus Package. In addition to the checks going out to the American public, this package permitted Jumbo loan limits for some areas of the country to be increased temporarily. Since Charlotte’s increase did not surpass the standard loan limits for jumbo loans, we did not gain any increase in the jumbo market. However, the FHA loan limits did increase for the Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord, NC-SC MSA!

Charlotte Areas with New FHA Limits 

This means that properties for sale in Mecklenburg county, Union county, Cabarras county, Gaston county, Anson county and York county now qualify for FHA mortgage loan limits up to $230,470. With the minimum 3% downpayment requirement by FHA, that means a Charlotte home currently for sale for $237,597 can be financed with FHA loan parameters with only 3% down. And until the end of March, we still have access to down payment assistance for Charlotte FHA loans, so you could end up with a new home with no money down!

This opens up a new window of opportunity for Charlotte home buyers that should be considered. FHA mortgage loans are not credit score driven and in many cases the low FHA mortgage insurance can save a home buyer a lot of money! And with great Charlotte FHA mortgage rates, today’s home buyer really needs to look into getting pre-approved for a Charlotte FHA mortgage!

To get pre-qualified for a Charlotte FHA mortgage,
call 877-411-9327 or Apply Online Now.