Blog - JVM Lending

Holy High Appraisal Fees, Batman! Please Warn Clients!

August 6, 2021/in Appraisals, Our Blog

Economist Milton Friedman famously said, “Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon.” (meaning that it is always caused by increases in the supply of money) But, when it comes to appraisals Milton might be … wrong,** as hard as it is for me to type that. 😊 Appraisal fees have risen from as low […]Read More

Rent Vs. Buy Comparison – Follow Up To Responses; ADU Follow Up Too

August 5, 2021/in Homebuying, Our Blog

Yesterday, I blogged about Rent Vs. Buy Comparisons In The Age of Inflation, and I got a surprising amount of feedback, including the following: “I put 5% down, and my housing payment is $500 lower than my Mom’s rent.” “You are not accounting for maintenance costs!” “Do you guys do ITIN Loans?” “Unsubscribe” 😊 5% […]Read More

Rent Vs. Buy Comparisons In The Age Of Inflation

August 4, 2021/in Homebuying, Our Blog

$500,000 HOME APPRECIATES $200,000 IN 9 MONTHS My wife Heejin bought a house in Plano, TX, in November for $519,000. We put down 20%, and our PITI is $2,725. The house was rented for $3,700 per month when we bought it, so we could have cash flowed nicely from the start. The tenants moved out […]Read More

Using PMI To WAIVE Appraisal Contingencies

August 2, 2021/in Homebuying, Our Blog

I am beating the Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) dead horse again, at the suggestion of an agent who inspires a lot of my blogs (thank you, Jeff Weissman). In any case, he suggested explaining PMI options up front to clients who might want to make offers with no appraisal contingencies. This of course is a […]Read More

Why Housing Is Actually More Affordable Today Than In 1980!

July 30, 2021/in Homebuying, Our Blog

WHY HOMES ARE MORE AFFORDABLE TODAY In the midst of my daily excursion into the bowels of Twitter, I saw a great tweet from the Center for Human Progress. It had a link to this excellent article, titled U.S. Housing Became Much More Affordable Over The Last 40 Years. It was fascinating to say the […]Read More

How To Use Single Premium/Lump Sum PMI To Cover Appraisal Shortfalls

July 29, 2021/in Appraisals, Homebuying, Our Blog

Recently, I blogged about why Private Mortgage Insurance is “Awesome,” pointing out why its stigma from the 1990s is so underserved. One of the many benefits of PMI is using it to help cover appraisal shortfalls, and I wanted to elaborate on that in this blog. $900,000 PURCHASE APPRAISES $100,000 UNDER Assume the following: Purchase […]Read More

No Housing Bubble Here Part XXII; 12 Million More Households Than In 2007!

July 28, 2021/in Homebuying, Our Blog

17% ANNUAL APPRECIATION SCARES PUNDITS Housing appreciated 16.6% from May of 2020 to May of 2021. This is a record and it is again sparking media concerns that we are in a housing bubble. So, I am hitting the issue again to allay concerns, and I am again relying on our friend Barry Habib, founder […]Read More

Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) – When & Why It Is Pretty Awesome

July 26, 2021/in Mortgage Industry, Our Blog

Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) earned an unjustified bad rap back in the 1990s. Investopedia in fact lists “six reasons to avoid PMI,” including: (1) Cost; (2) No Longer Tax Deductible; (3) Heirs Get Nothing Because It Is Not Benefits Insurance; (4) Hard To Cancel; and (5) Payment Is Permanent. But – many of those “reasons” […]Read More

Reverse Mortgages For Millionaires? Removing The Reverse Stigma

July 23, 2021/in Financial Planning, Our Blog

I recently chatted with a couple that owes about $800,000 against a $2.5 million home. They are in their early to mid 70’s and they want to keep their home, lower their housing payment to free up cash for other expenses (such as long-term care insurance), and fully retire. Most of their net worth is […]Read More

Virtual Assistants – Why Everyone Should Hire Them; Changing the Labor Landscape

July 22, 2021/in Our Blog, Self Education

MORTGAGE BANK HAS 2,000 VIRTUAL ASSISTANTS My wife Heejin and I were recently chatting with the president of a major mortgage bank and he mentioned that his firm employed 2,000 virtual assistants (VAs) in the Philippines. He was not entirely sure what they all did, but he was amazed by their resumes, as many had […]Read More

Cash Buyers & “Scary” Signs Of The Times; False Mailers; Selling Info

July 21, 2021/in Homebuying, Our Blog

OVERHEATED MARKET AWASH IN CASH – OR SIGN OF THE TIMES? A close friend of mine bought a home in Scottsdale, AZ, in November for less than $1.1mm. She visited the home a couple of times, played a bit of golf, swept the patio, made a few improvements – and listed the home for sale […]Read More

BEST NEWS EVER! Fannie And Freddie Eliminate “Adverse Market Fee;” Reduce Rates By 1/4%!

July 19, 2021/in Interest Rates, Our Blog

I can think of many examples of things that would constitute “the best news ever.” Hearing “snow day/school canceled” announced on the radio when I was a kid on Western Minnesota’s prairie is definitely up there. And, so is the time my friend’s older brother scored us not one but TWO kegs of beer for […]Read More

Financing And Building ADUs Or In-Laws

July 16, 2021/in Appraisals, Our Blog

CUTEST HOUSE I EVER SAW I have been in the mortgage industry since 1994 and have seen thousands of homes in every setting imaginable. And the cutest house I have ever seen was a 3,500 square foot brick, single-level ranch house on ten acres in the wine-growing region of Livermore Valley in California. It had […]Read More

Nothing Makes Things More Unaffordable Than Affordability Subsidies!

July 15, 2021/in Homebuying, Our Blog

FOGGING THE MIRROR People often make fun of my alma mater (The University of Arizona) by saying that “kids only need to fog a mirror to get in.” And that makes me so mad b/c it is so misleading. And, this is why: The kids that could fog a mirror were the smart kids! No […]Read More

Mortgage Applications Down 30%; What Does It Mean For Borrowers? Refi Boom Coming?

July 14, 2021/in Mortgage Industry, Our Blog

2020 = BEST YEAR EVER FOR MORTGAGE INDUSTRY The mortgage industry had its best year ever last year (over $4 trillion of funded loans), as rates fell to all-time lows and both purchases and refis shot up to record levels. Industry capacity could not come close to meeting demand, and lenders were able to charge […]Read More

Are Lenders Obligated To Share Appraisals?

July 12, 2021/in Appraisals, Our Blog

We often pay for purchase appraisals upfront on behalf of clients for a few reasons. Rush Fees: We pay a large rush fee that we don’t charge our clients and b/c we can’t separate the rush fee from the standard fee, we just pay the entire fee upfront (we don’t want our clients paying the […]Read More

Real Estate Commissions; Antitrust; Follow The Money; OPEC; Why It’s A Moot Point

July 9, 2021/in Our Blog, Real Estate

OPEC BRINGS AMERICA TO ITS KNEES! OPEC is probably the most famous “cartel” of all time b/c it effectively brought America to its knees in the 1970s with its oil embargo and price floors. OPEC or the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries was founded in 1960 and by the 1970s it had so much power, […]Read More

Is Co-Signing By Non-Occupant Co-Borrowers Overrated? Blended Ratios Explained

July 8, 2021/in Homebuying, Our Blog

“MY MOM MAKES $25,000 PER MONTH AND WILL CO-SIGN TO HELP ME QUALIFY” A young borrower told us that b/c his Mom was a successful CFO who wanted to help him buy a home. BUT, Mom had a $6,500 housing payment of her own, a $1,500 Range Rover payment, $3,000 of support payments to her […]Read More

Beware of VACATIONS :) Rates Way Down Again; Why? Stimulus Will End

July 7, 2021/in Interest Rates, Our Blog

HOLY LOW RATES, BATMAN! (Wallowing in Wrongness) For months now, I have been repeating the warnings of various pundits about runaway inflation and rising rates. But rates seem to continually fall despite inflation concerns, and this week was another example as rates fell precipitously again. I and many others (like Barry Habib) thought we’d see […]Read More

DON’T Pay Down Your Mortgage With Lump Sums; Here’s Why

July 2, 2021/in Financial Planning, Our Blog

Yesterday, I blogged about “recasting” or re-amortizing a mortgage after a lump sum paydown. And a friend of mine who runs a major mortgage company on the East Coast (Craig Strent with Apex Home Loans) emailed me to suggest today’s follow-up blog – pointing out why paying down a mortgage too quickly is usually a […]Read More

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