One of the books that most inspired Gary Keller (of Keller Williams) was Sam Walton’s Made in America. And having recently read the book, I can see why. The book is short, interesting and chock-full of great lessons (no matter what you might think of Walmart itself). If Sam Walton was alive today, he would […]Read More

I wrote Monday about the debacle Heejin and I endured after we chased interest rates in Texas (the bank lost our file for 17 days). Interestingly, the bank is now trying to save the deal and won’t take “no” for an answer, but we know there is no way it can perform in time. I […]Read More

We recently received a humorous response on our post-close survey and thought we’d share it. We never “mansplain” and are happy to answer every question a borrower can throw at us. Q7 Please let us know what impressed you in particular about JVM, if anything? Before choosing JVM, I was speaking with another lender. This […]Read More

James Altucher told a wonderful story about his daughter in a recent podcast. She had just graduated from high school and desperately wanted to be an actor, but was sitting on the couch. She wasn’t auditioning b/c she didn’t have an expensive head shot, a resume, acting lessons, and sample reel among other things. Altucher […]Read More

Many buyers get credits for closing costs in lieu of credits for repairs, as most people know. If credits are for repairs, underwriters will require that they be completed prior to close which could cause delays. As such, it’s easiest on the lending side for the credit to be referenced on a simple RPA addendum […]Read More

Borrowers who are still in the pre-approval stage or making offers on properties often ask if they can lock in their interest rate when they hear rumors of pending rate increases. For purchases, we are usually unable to lock in a rate until we get a ratified purchase contract that identifies a specific property address […]Read More

Wells Fargo is in the news again for all of the wrong reasons. This time it is b/c they were charging borrowers for “lock extensions” even though the delays that fostered the need for the lock extensions were clearly Wells Fargo’s fault. It was blatantly dishonest on the part of Wells and they deserve the […]Read More

We recently had an FHA approved buyer cross the bridge from Contra Costa County to Solano County to make a $500,000 FHA offer on a property. This price would have been no issue in Contra Costa County, but Solano County’s FHA Loan Limit is only $431,250 and the buyer only qualified for FHA financing. As […]Read More

Yesterday, I wrote an all too complex explanation about macroeconomic influences on interest rates, and got this wonderful feedback from a top producing KW agent: I’m dying of boredom reading this….😁 OK – that is not the feedback we hope for, but I was just trying to be thorough…  :). Today’s subject will be simpler […]Read More

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