Blog - JVM Lending

Trench Experience; Wartime In the Mortgage Industry

August 17, 2018/in Our Blog

WWII LEADERS LACK COMBAT EXPERIENCE Prior to WWII, far too many Allied military leaders lacked combat experience or were simply way out of touch. I am reading Goodbye Darkness about the war in the Pacific where the blunders were especially costly, and it’s what prompted this blog topic. For example, the British and US military leaders […]Read More

Things That Delay Closings: Insurance; Unsourced Cash and Gifts; Last Minute Credits

August 16, 2018/in Our Blog

Here are a few things that often delay escrows unnecessarily. We warn buyers about all of these issues repeatedly, but the problems resurface time and again anyway. Hence, we like to share this info with agents as well, so they can coach buyers too and help avoid delays. Evidence of Insurance: Lenders must have proof […]Read More

Why Inflation is Good For Real Estate

August 15, 2018/in Our Blog

According to the WSJ, consumer prices rose 2.9% over the last 12 months. This is the most prices have risen since 2011, indicating that inflation may finally be returning. We like to remind readers, however, that Real Estate is an excellent inflation hedge. As a hard asset, its value often keeps pace with inflation at […]Read More

Mortgage Middle Managers – Why They Matter

August 13, 2018/in Our Blog

DECAY TOUR OF DETROIT I took my 17 year old daughter on a “decay tour” of Detroit last summer. She of course hated it, but I found it fascinating. From WWII through the early 1970s, Detroit was one of the mightiest industrial cities of the world, and it is now only a shell of its […]Read More

Fighting Giants With Digital Presence!

August 10, 2018/in Our Blog

I wrote yesterday about how Zillow is coming after both loan officers and real estate agents, and received a lot of positive feedback. I also mentioned a few things lenders in particular need to do to stay ahead of the game, but I didn’t address one of the most important things: Digital presence and social […]Read More

Financing Our Own Demise – Zillow Buys a Mortgage Company

August 9, 2018/in Our Blog

AMAZON EATS ITS PARTNERS In the excellent book about Jeff Bezos and Amazon called “The Everything Store,” the author tells numerous stories about partnerships Amazon established with various manufacturers and sellers. And in almost every instance, Amazon would start small, learn the business, enter the business itself, and eventually all but wipe out its former […]Read More

When Loan Officers Compare Apples to Oranges to Win Business; Rotten Fruit 🙂

August 8, 2018/in Our Blog

One of our agent-partners called me this week b/c another lender was trying desperately to lure away one of our borrowers in contract. Our longtime agent-partner was spoiled by our service levels and was very concerned about a switch to a lender she did not know b/c she has been burned many times. Most interesting […]Read More

HUGE NEWS: We Lowered Our Rates By 3/8%! Especially JUMBO Rates! How & Why We Did It

August 6, 2018/in Our Blog

“BIG BANK RATES WITH JVM SERVICE” No other mortgage bank anywhere can make that claim. We are now offering $1 Million JUMBO Loans at 4.25%* at NO POINTS! (No mortgage bank that I know of can make that claim either.) But, JVM can make both of these claims because we have aligned multiple new investors. […]Read More

Absolutely Essential Travel Tips!!

August 3, 2018/in Our Blog

I try to keep my blogs business or mortgage oriented 99% of the time, but my dental hygienist forced me to write today’s b/c the tips are so important :). While I was getting my teeth cleaned last week, she told me she went to Tahoe the previous weekend and got stuck at a jam-packed Safeway for […]Read More

Fixing a “Fixer” Before The Appraiser Arrives

August 2, 2018/in Our Blog

One of our agent partners called me last night to discuss an “as is” contract for one of her listings, a clear “fixer” with some rotted siding and substantial debris in and around the home, among other things. She asked me if she could include a comment in the addendum stating the “buyer will be […]Read More

Why The Fed Needs to Raise Rates

August 1, 2018/in Our Blog

Back in my 1990s loan officer days, most of my business involved refinances as opposed to purchases. As a result, I watched rates daily and resented Alan Greenspan every time he bumped the Fed Funds rate, even though I knew it was probably a good thing. Everyone in real estate (both agents and loan officers) […]Read More

Polish Your Pitch: The Importance of Conveying Competence

July 30, 2018/in Our Blog

$45 MILLION PER YEAR ON MARKETING A large mortgage company we know spends $45 million per year on marketing and lead buying, procuring tens of thousands of leads every year. They are able to track every lead they get all the way through close, finding out which lender the lead closes with (even if it […]Read More

Interviewee Gives Us Negative Glassdoor Review; Hiring Procedures & Standards

July 27, 2018/in Our Blog

GOLDMAN SACHS DIDN’T HIRE ME I interviewed for an investment banking job at Goldman Sachs back in the 1980s, and the best investment bank in the world figured out that I was the worst employee in the world and didn’t hire me. But, before they didn’t hire me, they ran me through a gauntlet to […]Read More

Watch Out For A “Credit Refresh;” Don’t Pay Cards Down to Zero or Close Them

July 26, 2018/in Our Blog

We once had a borrower who stopped making mortgage payments on one of her properties after we pre-approved her. A few days before funding, we ran a “credit refresh” only to find out she had late mortgage payments and her credit score had dropped to 617 (we had to pull the funding and re-structure her […]Read More

Marketing Aesthetics vs. Marketing Effectiveness

July 25, 2018/in Our Blog

$12,000 WASTED ON POSTCARDS BECAUSE THEY WERE BEAUTIFUL About ten years ago, with the help of our branding consultants, we spent $12,000 on a beautifully designed postcard for a massive marketing campaign. We happened to be doing a loan at the time for an extremely successful marketer so we proudly showed him our stunningly beautiful […]Read More

Bank Statements – Why They Are SO Important!

July 23, 2018/in Our Blog

STRONG BORROWER DENIED FINANCING – WHY? We once had a borrower who qualified for financing in every way (income, assets, credit, etc.) but she was denied financing. The reason? She had five unexplainable overdraft charges on her bank statements that indicated she could not manage cash. Every borrower has to provide bank statements for every […]Read More

English Soccer Learns from NBA; Learning from Other Industries

July 20, 2018/in Our Blog

MORTGAGE PEOPLE LEARNING FROM REAL ESTATE PEOPLE Years ago Heejin and I attended a KW Family Reunion in Austin with several of our agent-partners and we were amazed by the quality of the speakers and the info available. I attended all the events and took feverish notes while most of the agents partied like rocks […]Read More

When Rich Borrowers Can’t Get Loans; “Salability” Once Again

July 19, 2018/in Our Blog

SUCCESSFUL COMMERCIAL LOAN OFFICER DOESN’T UNDERSTAND RESIDENTIAL LENDING We recently had a very successful commercial banker apply for low down payment financing b/c he wanted to preserve his cash for improvements and other projects. He, however, had side businesses with losses on his tax returns, he wanted to use a business bank account for his […]Read More

Beware of False Marketers

July 18, 2018/in Our Blog

“Beware of false marketers, who come to you in 2018 clothing, but inwardly are stuck in 1990.” Matthew 7:15 I should note that Matthew is my neighbor, and he said that to me last night at 7:15 when I was getting the mail. 😊 I love Matt’s warning though b/c there are so many marketers offering […]Read More

Recession News – Not So Bad; How Chinese Buyers Affect CA Real Estate; Bullish On Real Estate

July 16, 2018/in Our Blog

The National Real Estate Post had a great video today with information I thought was well worth sharing. Marketing commentator Barry Habib discusses margin compression, the coming 2020 recession, why he is bullish on real estate even if a recession hits, and why Chinese buyers influence California real estate so much. MARGIN COMPRESSION This is […]Read More

“Don’t Just Dive Into Action: Stop to Think First”

July 13, 2018/in Our Blog

“We prefer to be seen doing something rather than nothing, but our bias for busyness keeps us from learning.” I stole the above subject line and phrase from another excellent WSJ article that you can find here. (as always, we are happy to send key excerpts) GOALIES MISSING PENALTY KICKS The article sites a famous […]Read More

Early Payoff Penalties – Six Months Is All We Ask 🙂

July 12, 2018/in Our Blog

A borrower with substantial funds recently requested an $8,000 lender credit from us to cover his closing costs. In order to give him the large credit, we had to increase his rate substantially. Knowing all this, we asked the borrower why he wanted the large credit and he told us it was b/c he had […]Read More

Why We No Longer See Prepayment Penalties

July 11, 2018/in Our Blog

PREPAYMENT PENALTIES EXPLAINED Prior to the mortgage meltdown of 2008, mortgage prepayment penalties were common. These were penalties that borrowers had to pay if they paid off all or a portion of their mortgages. Lenders imposed the penalties b/c they wanted to be able to recoup the cost of the loan before the borrower refinanced […]Read More

Bump Clauses For Contingent Offers

July 9, 2018/in Our Blog

I have blogged several times about options for buying a new home before selling an existing home. An example is here. Buyers often don’t want to sell first b/c they don’t want to end up homeless while they search for a new home, and in hot markets sellers won’t accept an offer that is contingent […]Read More

TRID – Closing Disclosures & “3 Day Review” Period Explained

July 6, 2018/in Our Blog

This blog is one of the most viewed pages on our website, so I thought I’d update it and send it out again b/c there is clearly a lot of interest. People always want to know the exact day we can close when we prepare a Closing Disclosure (CD) and send loan documents to title. […]Read More

Why Are Rates Going Down When They’re Supposed to Be Climbing?

July 5, 2018/in Our Blog

This is the year when rates were finally going to increase. So why have mortgage rates stopped rising even though the Fed keeps increasing short-term rates? (Short answer: b/c of tariffs and the Fed) And – will mortgage rates start to increase again? (Short answer: probably 😊) These are the questions a lot of people […]Read More

Fake Reviews, The Power of Reviews, & “The Shed”

July 2, 2018/in Our Blog

APPRECIATING YELP’S FILTERS The next time Yelp filters a positive review of yours, don’t complain. Even though Yelp’s algorithms often frustratingly filter authentic reviews, they do a great job of filtering fake reviews. As a company that relies heavily on review sites to authenticate our marketing claims and service levels, we remain big fans of […]Read More

Stick to Your Knitting

June 29, 2018/in Our Blog

HOWARD SCHULTZ’S DISASTROUS NBA TENURE I recently came across some stories about Howard Schultz and the NBA’s Seattle Supersonics that were so interesting I had to blog about them. Howard Schultz is one of America’s “celebrity CEOs,” as the founder and former Chairman and CEO of Starbucks. He is currently worth $2.5 Billion. Mr. Schultz […]Read More

Housing Correction – When? Could Be Now, 2020, 2024, 2027, or ….

June 28, 2018/in Our Blog

I blogged yesterday about how much house prices might correct should a downturn come. Today I am going to share some views on when a possible downturn will come. Hedge Fund Dudes – 2020? Some prominent fund managers think a recession that will tank both stocks and real estate will come sooner rather than later. […]Read More

Housing Correction – When & How Much? WAY LESS Than in 2008

June 27, 2018/in Our Blog

Whenever I blog about housing bubbles, agents invariably ask me when and by how much housing prices will correct. I am no expert, but I am happy to share some observations. I will discuss “How Much” today, and “When” tomorrow. HOW MUCH WILL PRICES CORRECT, IF THEY CORRECT? Here’s the best answer: Nobody has a […]Read More

The Best Way to Stay In Touch With Past Clients

June 25, 2018/in Our Blog

NO MÁS MAGAZINES, CANDLES & CHIP-CLIPS! One of our agent-partners recently mentioned she was going to pay for expensive magazine subscriptions to send to all of her past clients so she would remain top of mind after their transactions closed. And I screamed: “NOOOOOOOOO, DON’T DO IT!!!” OK – I didn’t scream, but I did […]Read More

What Strategies Get Offers Accepted?

June 22, 2018/in Our Blog, Privately Published

REDFIN COMPARED STRATEGIES ON THOUSANDS OF OFFERS Redfin evaluated thousands of offers in order to compare which strategies worked the best for getting offers accepted. The results are set out in the table below, and the full article can be found here. Cash is obviously king, but most buyers don’t have “all cash,” as everyone […]Read More

Scariest Guy In Business? The “Get Lucky Genius”

June 22, 2018/in Our Blog

YOUNG LOAN OFFICER TELLS ME HE’S GOING TO BUY JVM About a year ago, a young loan officer/branch manager asked one of our business development officers if he could visit our office to meet me and the team. He seemed like a nice guy, he said he was doing well, and I always like to […]Read More

To Pay Points, or Not to Pay Points

June 21, 2018/in Our Blog

To pay points or not to pay points, that is the question – so said Hamlet when he bought his first house. 🙂 (He only contemplated “to be or not to be” after he found out he paid two points for a horrible ARM with a 5 year prepay penalty.) Anyway – Hamlet probably should […]Read More

The Tricks Lenders Use When Quoting Rates

June 20, 2018/in Our Blog

We recently had a borrower go into contract after she had been pre-approved by both us and one of America’s largest mortgage banks, via an online portal. The borrower was shopping us against the online lender, making for some very good blog fodder. Here are a few observations: 1. She used JVM’s pre-approval letter when […]Read More

Why We Have to Pull Credit, and Why Buyers Don’t Need to Worry About “Inquiries”

June 18, 2018/in Our Blog

We frequently have borrowers ask us to provide pre-approvals without pulling credit b/c they are concerned about too many “inquiries” on their credit reports. It is, however, impossible to provide a pre-approval without pulling credit. WHY WE HAVE TO PULL CREDIT The below is from the FAQ Section of our website. “Along with your income, […]Read More

Cost Cutting to Prosperity? Not So Much

June 15, 2018/in Our Blog

MAJOR LENDER CUTS COSTS – GOES OUT OF BUSINESS In 2011 when we were in the broker channel, we sent almost all of our loans to a single lender (a major bank) b/c their rates and service were so good. But then in an effort to increase profits, the lender laid off staff and cut […]Read More

Wasting Rent Payments? Another Appraisal Horror Story

June 14, 2018/in Our Blog

APPRAISAL HORROR STORY PART 297 Because we want to always do what is best for our borrowers, we recently switched a borrower from our internal banking channel to the “broker channel” to take advantage of a specific loan product that a wholesale lender was offering. Even though we already had an appraisal in at $512,000, […]Read More

How Do Higher Rates Affect Qualifying? Potentially A Lot.

June 13, 2018/in Our Blog

RATES ARE GOING UP, REST ASSURED We’ve said that at least a hundred times over the years but this time it is a reality b/c the Fed is no longer buying bonds to push rates down, and b/c the Fed is very determined to push rates up in general. We saw a slight dip in […]Read More

A Few Things to Know When It Comes to Condo Financing

June 11, 2018/in Our Blog

Fannie Mae recently loosened their condo guidelines. So, we thought this was a good excuse to share a few condo reminders: A FEW THINGS TO KNOW WHEN IT COMES TO CONDO FINANCING 1. Concentration Rule. No single entity can own over 20% of the units in the complex. It used to be limited to 10%. […]Read More

How to Succeed Like the Simpsons!

June 8, 2018/in Our Blog

I love stories about successful organizations b/c there is so much to learn that can be emulated and blogged about. So, I was extra excited when this story popped up in the WSJ: How To Succeed Like the Simpsons. (As always, if you don’t subscribe to the WSJ, we’ll happily send you key excerpts.) The […]Read More

What to Say To Appraisers? A Lot – But In the Right Way

June 7, 2018/in Our Blog

Ryan Lundquist is a Sacramento appraiser who writes an excellent blog about appraising. It is called the Sacramento Appraisal Blog, and it is chock full of invaluable info. I am sharing a portion of one of his excellent blogs with a great tip below (with permission and full attribution of course). A “cheat sheet” for agents […]Read More

Mortgage Industry Shakeout Is Coming; What It Means for You?

June 6, 2018/in Our Blog

“It’s a brutally competitive market right now,” Weinbach said. “Typically the way this ends up is a shakeout, and the sooner the better.” That is a quote by the CEO of Chase Home Lending at the recent Mortgage Bankers Association conference in NYC. Every mortgage industry executive is predicting a shakeout, and humorously, they all […]Read More

“External Influences” (Busy Streets, BART, Cemeteries, etc.) Can Significantly Impact Values

June 4, 2018/in Our Blog

Real estate agents involved in transactions with external influences sometimes under-estimate their effect and get frustrated when appraisers have difficulty supporting value. The most common problem involves properties on busy through-streets. A loud or busy street near a property can shave as much as $50,000 to $100,000 off the appraised value, depending on the price […]Read More

Leave Money On The Table – If You Want to Be Successful

June 1, 2018/in Our Blog

When I was around seven years old, I loved my oldest brother’s microscope and was constantly sneaking into his room to play with it. My brother did not want me in his room nor did he want me to play with his microscope, so he decided to sell it to me. I can’t remember the […]Read More

The Scary Thing About FHA Interest Rates

May 31, 2018/in Our Blog

WHY WE LOVE FHA I blog often about why we love FHA financing so much: (1) Speed – we can close in 14 days. (2) Flexibility – in regard to credit and debt ratios. (3) Low down payment – 3.5%. (4) Condition – properties can be purchased “as is, and no Section I clearance is […]Read More

Comparable Sales We Can’t Use In Appraisals

May 30, 2018/in Our Blog

Realtors often send our Appraisal Manager comparable sales (comps) that they want our appraisers to use in their appraisals. The problem is that we often cannot use them b/c they are so far outside of appraisal guidelines. Last week was no exception, when we received comps that were in different cities than the subject, 25% […]Read More

Down Payment Assistance (CALhfa) Explained

May 25, 2018/in Our Blog

We offer several Down Payment Assistance programs, even though they have limitations that include higher rates, slower closing times, higher fees, and income caps. Down Payment Assistance programs are, however, sometimes absolutely necessary for borrowers who cannot access enough cash to buy a home. One of the best programs for borrowers with limited cash is […]Read More

Integrity Stories – Extreme Integrity Always Pays Off

May 24, 2018/in Our Blog

STORY #1: GIVING BACK MONEY WHEN NOBODY WOULD KNOW When I closed my first mortgage loan in 1994, the commission check from the wholesale lender was $1,500 too high. Everyone told me to just keep the money b/c lenders were unable to catch errors back then. I needed the money badly but I still sent […]Read More

What Could Bring House Prices (and Rates) Down? The Elephant In The Room

May 23, 2018/in Our Blog

DUDE SELLS TOO SOON! I was at a graduation party yesterday and the host told me how his law partner sold his Silicon Valley home two years ago b/c he was convinced the market had peaked. It hadn’t. The poor guy’s former home has gone up another 20% (several hundred thousand dollars) since he sold, […]Read More

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