My Mind on Mortgages

I got an email over the weekend from Terry Donahe, CFP(R), a financial planner in Lake Oswego and instructor at the University of Portland Pamplin School of Business.  He has put together THIS ARTICLE discussing alternatives to reverse mortgages.  It is a valuable read if you have thought about such a program.

The WSJ published this article on Monday in which they report that investors’ appetite for risk is growing.  This is evident in the fact that many Wall Street firms are re-introducing complicated debt instruments to the marketplace.  Although this may sound like a risky proposition it may be a good sign for those stuck with [...]

In another sign of the times Wells Fargo announced today that they were eliminating their 30 year fixed mortgage with interest-only payments for the first 10 years.
Because Wells Fargo is a bellwether in our industry other lenders are expected to follow suit.

Kenneth Harney wrote this article on the Washington Post regarding shared equity loans (I’m not even clear if this is the correct name for this).
From the sounds of it the loan would work kind of like a reverse mortgage where the lender would make a loan collateralized by equity in a home.  But instead of [...]

As I’ve written about multiple times in this blog the 700-page 2008 housing bill has many differnet provisions embedded in the law.  Although I don’t do a lot of reverse mortgage business I wanted to at least provide a link to an article which summarizes how these loan products were impacted by the 2008 housing [...]

History
In 1934, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) was formed as a part of the National Housing Act.  The objective of the FHA was to increase home construction, reduce unemployment, and operate various loan insurance programs.  (It’s important to note here that the FHA DOES NOT directly lend money for FHA loans.  They only provide the [...]

In order to do a FHA loan on a condo the condo devlopment must be approved by HUD. In order to search if a specific condo is HUD approved (so that a buyer can obtain a FHA loan) visit this link.

0% down financing is getting harder and harder to find these days. The most common approach of creating 0% down financing is through the FHA loophole which allows for a seller to contribute the 3% required down payment via a down payment assistance program such as Nehemiah and Ameridream. However, the Federal Government will eliminate [...]

When a home buyer takes out a new mortgage and has less than 20% down often times they will be required to provide mortgage insurance to the lender (exceptions exist when we’re able to provide “combination loans” which are fairly uncommon these days).
Mortgage Insurance (also known as “mi” or “pmi‘) is insurance which covers the [...]

What is a 2nd mortgage/ home equity loan?

A 2nd mortgage is a loan that is originated and subordinated behind a first mortgage. 2nd mortgages are also referred to as home equity loans, junior liens, or combination loans. These loans can take on various forms. The two most popular 2nd mortgages are the Home Equity Line [...]