Reminder: We are VA Financing Experts. What makes us so good at them is the fact that we see more VA loans as a team over the course of a year than any one loan officer might see in an entire career. We love VA! We also happily pay Per Diem Penalties if a transaction […]Read More

Borrowers often ask us if we think rates will fall further before they lock, and they often want to “time to the market” and lock in their rate at the “bottom.” As a result, they are sometimes reluctant to lock or get us their paperwork. This in turn delays purchase transactions and sometimes causes borrowers […]Read More

One of our most frequent credit issues involves reported “disputes.” Borrowers report an account in “dispute” whenever they believe some credit data (usually late payments) is reported in error. We usually need to remove the “disputes” from the credit report altogether with an expensive “rapid rescore” and borrowers often do not like this. We must […]Read More

We are seeing borrowers come to us with quotes from online lenders for conventional loans with LTV > 80% but NO mortgage insurance. What the borrowers don’t realize is they are being quoted for a Lender-Paid Mortgage Insurance product (LPMI). With LPMI, a lender simply waives PMI requirements in exchange for a higher interest rate. […]Read More

There is often a lot of confusion about the names and types of mortgages available in the market place. Here is some general information to address some of the confusion. I. “Government Loans” are mortgages that are either insured or guaranteed by the government or a government agency. They include FHA, VA and USDA loans. […]Read More

FHA and VA Amendatory Clause. This form is required for all VA and FHA loans. It lets buyers know they are entitled to the appraisal and not bound to buy the property if it does not appraise. This form needs to be signed by all parties and dated prior to the appraisal. Residential Purchase Contracts […]Read More

“Adverse external influences” are structures or entities near a property that negatively affect its value. Appraisers often use the phrase “External Obsolescence” when describing these influences. Adverse influences include freeways, busy arterial through-streets, railroads, BART or mass transit trains, cemeteries, schools and commercial buildings or establishments. Real estate agents involved in transactions with external influences […]Read More

We collect the last two years of filed tax returns from almost every borrower, as required for almost every loan program. If the tax returns indicate that income taxes are owed, we must show proof that the taxes have been paid. Proof can be in the form of a canceled check, a receipt from the […]Read More

Every lender is required to get the last two years of tax returns from every borrower for almost every loan. We then have to prove that the tax returns are authentic and that they were actually filed with the IRS. This is why every borrower has to sign an IRS Form 4506-T as part of […]Read More

We received a purchase contract last week, and immediately emailed our confirmation of terms request to the Realtor and then ordered our rush appraisal, as per usual. Four days later, we received the appraisal at the contract price of $830,000. Yaaaayyy, right? Wrong. The Realtor forgot to send us the addendum indicating the price was […]Read More

I have endured some stunningly dull college commencement speeches, most recently at Columbia University for Heejin’s niece. At most of the ceremonies, administrators give the speeches, exhorting the kids to go forth and administrate :). OK – it is not quite that bad, but I often think about what I would say to make the […]Read More

I was listening to The Investors Podcast recently when I heard an investment guru give excellent advice in response to a question about how people should act in the face of so much potential trouble in the world. The guru advises people to be like a biscuit maker in Portugal, who only focuses on making […]Read More

Today we welcome three new hires to the JVM team! We preach this often, but always think it bears repeating. We have discovered over much trial and error that it is almost always better to hire “brains and character” over experience. By using a strong screening process and our training program, we figured out how […]Read More

We often have buyers who want to buy a new house before selling their current house. They often want more time to move, more time to fix up their current house before selling, or more time to fix up the new house before moving in. They also sometimes want to make offers on a house […]Read More

Here are a buyer’s options when an appraisal comes in low: 1. Negotiate a price reduction with the seller. This option is often not viable in a competitive market like today’s, when sellers have ample back-up offers. 2. Bring in the extra cash necessary to make up the appraisal shortfall. This option too is often […]Read More

Many renters don’t realize how much house their income will buy in this environment, when rates are so low. We often maximize buyer’s qualification by having them use their savings to pay off consumer debt and put less down. For example, paying off debts that total $700 in monthly payments can increase a borrower’s purchasing […]Read More

Heejin is aggressively exploring JVM’s expansion into the Texas market, and amazingly it only took her about three hours to find high-end, class A office space like we need to attract talent. She used websites like WeWork and Truss to map out everything – commutes, demographics, leasing costs, layouts, furniture design, etc. In contrast, when […]Read More

Last I week I blogged about our office manager who embezzled $200,000, and how she was a result of a “panic hire.” We needed help so badly that we hired the first person we found with experience. As we started to grow, we frequently turned to applicants with experience to fill slots even when we […]Read More

We frequently get husband/wife borrowers where one spouse has stellar credit and the other has awful credit. Most people know that the solution is simply to do the loan in the name of the “good-credit-spouse” only, as long as the good-credit-spouse has sufficient income to qualify on his or her own. The bad-credit-spouse can do […]Read More

The Fed raised its short term “Fed Funds Rate” again yesterday, but long term mortgage rates fell. Once again, the Fed Funds Rate is only a short term interest rate (the rate that banks charge other banks for overnight loans necessary to pad their required reserves). This short term rate does not always directly influence […]Read More

Nobody, and I mean nobody, expected rates to fall this much in 2017. When rates do fall, we reach out to all of our eligible borrowers and offer the option to refinance – usually at “no cost” (where JVM pays for all non-recurring closing costs). Borrowers sometimes wonder how we get paid when we offer […]Read More

This is a popular blog from January that we think is worth repeating b/c the info is so important. Things to know about mortgages and divorces: 1. Spouse can quit-claim off title, but NOT off the loan. The only way a spouse can get “off a loan” is with a full refinance. 2. If a […]Read More

If you’re looking at a Condo, there are three numbers to know: 1) % of owners delinquent with HOA Dues: Less than 15% of owners must be less than 60 days late. This number is often an issue after market corrections b/c people are more likely to walk away from condos (and stop paying HOA […]Read More

Prior to the meltdown in 2006, almost 90% of all refi’s were “cash out,” meaning that borrowers increased the size of their loan with their refi. Borrowers effectively used their homes as ATMs, and used the cash from their refi’s to buy expensive cars, time-shares, vacations, boats and other luxury goods. Heejin and I bore […]Read More

Some of our selling agents have us call the listing agent every time they make an offer. They do this b/c it works. The effectiveness of listing agent calls was illuminated again this week when our phone call pushed our offer from a solid 2nd place to a rock solid 1st place, and we’re now […]Read More