My Mind on Mortgages

RESPA reform has been in the works for sometime now.  I sat through an excellent continuing education class last week put on by the one and only Ken Perry of Broker Knowledge Group. In the class he briefed us on the proposed changes to the good faith estimate (GFE), HUD-1 final settlement statement (click link [...]

I have been a user of twiiter.com for almost a year now.  I think it’s a great way to stay in touch with family in friends. However, this morning’s story in the WSJ.com about the professional applications of twiiter.com got me thinking of ways that I could apply twitter.com to business. Any ideas would be [...]

I came across this blog yesterday and started sifting through the postings.  This site does an excellent job of providing educational postings covering various topics in the mortgage industry. Specifically, I really liked this posting which explains the factors that contributed to the development of the mortgage-backed bond market.  I also blogged about this topic [...]

I am happy to see that one of my industry’s trade publications is touting the importance of fiscal literacy in our profession.  Maria Valentin wrote an article entitled, “Fiscal Literacy- The First Steps to Responsible Lending” in which she called for increased financial education on the part of mortgage professionals.  This is a core piece [...]

A few weeks ago I blogged about tighter underwriting guidelines pertaining to conventional loans for home-buyers who are seeking to close on a new home prior to selling their existing home. Today we got notification from HUD indicating that FHA loans would also adopt similar guidelines (click this link to view the announcement for yourself). [...]

I came across this article in the Huffington Post today and the message resonated with me. Although the article is directed towards the advertising & media industry the underlying message is fundamental to all businesses. The author describes what I see as a dichotomy in many industries today.  At one extreme is a push towards [...]

The Economist had a great article in their Technology Quarterly section of the latest issue which talked about green homes.  Much of article talks about some of the technological innovations which are occurring specifically with windows. If you’d like to read the article yourself you may download by clicking here. Especially in the Pacific NW [...]

This morning Fannie Mae released updated guideline changes for conforming mortgages.  This is a sign that we can continue to expect tightening in the area of loan approval guidelines which will make it more difficult for borrowers to qualify for loans in the future. I don’t think these changes will drastically impact most real estate [...]

The following model is the basis for successful long-term financial management.  In our view, the following four pillars represent, in order of importance, the key to incorporating financial responsibility into a person’s life.  It is our goal to introduce and educate our clients on how the decisions they make surrounding the house that they buy [...]

I was excited when I picked up this week’s edition of the Portland Business Journal last night and saw Kate Myer’s picture on the front cover.  Kate was quoted in the story (click this link to download complete story-subprime-problems-loom-pdxbiz-kmyers2) not only because she recently purchased a home but also for her professional opinion on the [...]