Niche lending is hardly a new phenomenon but with the tightening of lender balance sheets in recent years niche lenders have become more valuable to real estate professionals as they refer their clients to their trusted referral partners. Agents want to refer their clients to lenders they trust will get the job done right and be an extension of the customer service they have built their business on. Read more…
Posts Tagged: Underwriting
FHA Financing Still Popular
FHA insured mortgage programs have been assisting Massachusetts residents fulfill their dream of home ownership for decades. Since the FHA’s inception in 1934 with the National Housing Act, its’ goal has always been to improve housing standards and provide a viable system of mortgage financing. The last five years has been a period of growth and exposure management for FHA and with those challenges have come the dramatic increase to their Mortgage Insurance Premium costs. Despite this increase in borrowing costs, the FHA insured mortgage continues to be a great way Read more…
How the New Qualified Mortgage Rule will Impact Massachusetts Residents
Effective January 10th 2014, the pendulum of mortgage underwriting is going to be taking another swing towards facilitating a safer lending environment for the residents of Massachusetts. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or CFPB for short, has recently finished creating the Qualified Mortgage rule (QM). This new QM will become the blueprint that the vast majority of MA lenders will begin to utilize for qualifying mortgage applicants. Read more…
Using Compensating Factors to Beef up Your FHA Application
The FHA insured loan offers more flexible underwriting standards that its cousins Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. As a result, prospective Massachusetts home owners have been turning to FHA insured mortgage products more and more in recent years. HUD and FHA have recently announced their commitment to strengthen the FHA insurance fund and make sure that the FHA insured mortgage option is available for the next generation. This is a sugar coated way of saying that FHA doesn’t have enough money to back up its mortgage portfolio and in turn they have increased mortgage insurance premiums and are tightening up their underwriting guidelines. These changes come at a time when more and more renters are looking to get pre-approved for the first time, but don’t let this discourage you from the dream of home ownership. FHA has little known blue print to help you Read more…
Mortgage Underwriting Starting to Loosen its Grip
Massachusetts’s home owners and prospective buyers may possess the desire to buy a new home or refinance their current one, but if the mortgage financing is not available, the desire can quickly turn into frustration. Lending standards and practices have gone through some dramatic changes over the last decade. The Wild West pendulum of regulation was pushed completely Read more…