Blog with MAE Capital

A Loan Officer is Licensed by the National Mortgage Licensing System (NMLS).  This holds true across our great nation.  A Loan Officer can do multiple things but our discussion today will be for first-time home buyers and move-up buyers looking for their primary residence to live in.  This type of home loan is called a Qualified Mortgage and certain rules have to be followed by your loan officer to stay in compliance with the law.  If you are looking for an investment property you are not a qualified mortgage home buyer as under the law and you are not protected under the same rules as a primary home buyer.  When finding a Loan Officer you should know these basic facts of the law so it can benefit you.  If your Loan Officer doesn’t even understand these basic rules of the industry then you might need to find one that does.  Of course, there are many factors that we will be covering to pick the right Loan Officer for you.

 So how do you know what Loan Officer or Company to pick when shopping for a new Mortgage?  The first thing everyone should know is you have to feel comfortable with the loan officer.   You have that little voice in the back of your head and if it is screaming at you to not trust the person on the other end of the phone that is your first sign.  A little knowledge of what a Loan Officer actually does goes a long way.  Trust your intuition with the person on the other end of the phone as we are in a mortgage market right now where every deal is important to have as it is so slow and interest rates are on the rise.  Loan Officers are having to compete like no other time in the industry so some of the things that they will say are misleading or bait and switch.

I know this as I have clients telling me daily that they have been quoted interest rates far below where the actual market is.  For example, you are shopping for interest rates for a home you will be living in, or as we stated above a Qualified Mortgage.  You are getting quoted consistently in the low to mid 7’s for interest rates based on your credit qualifications.  When you call and talk to a Loan Officer that tells you that the interest rates are in the mid to high 6s anybody’s first reaction would be to think they have found the perfect deal.  The trap here is that you have been fooled but you don’t know it yet.  So you gather all your documents, complete the loan application and deliver it to the loan officer you talked with earlier.  Then you wait for all the inspections to be done on the house you are in contract on to see what might be wrong with the house and you become distracted with the house and not the financing.  A loan officer understands how this process works so about this time when the inspections start to come in, the Loan Officer sends out the disclosures, required by law, and you realize that the terms are not what you were told on the phone.  So you call the Loan Officer and he or she tells you that things have changed and that this is your interest rate which happens to be in the low to mid 7’s.   So you think “Oh well I don’t want to have to go through delivering all that paperwork to another lender so I will just stay here.”

If this happens to you, you should run as fast as you can to one of the Loan Officers you talked to that you felt comfortable with as if they lied to you in the beginning to get your business what will stop them from lying more and possibly getting your loan declined because they were untruthful to the processor and the underwriter.  Because the actual people who are working on your loan may not trust that loan officer because they know they are not a truthful person.  This kind of deception is called the Bait-and-Switch sales technique which is highly unethical, but people will do it to get the business in the door.  

When shopping for a Mortgage you should always go with the Loan Officer who you are comfortable with and although they can’t match that low rate that was told to you by the untruthful Loan Officer, you can trust that they will get the job done for you with an interest rate that is real.  This brings me to the fact that if you are a home buyer, with good credit and you are looking for a home to live in you are not only protected by the law but you now know that all Lenders and Mortgage Brokers have to get the interest rates from all the same sources like the Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA or Fannie Mae) or the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, FHLMC, or Freddie Mac.   So if you are being told something different be very suspect as all Lenders that are dealing with FNMA and FHLMC will be in the same basic interest rate range.  Some lenders or Mortgage Brokers can be slightly better in interest rates only because they may have less overhead but there should only be at the most a .5% difference in interest rates between all lenders and Brokers on any given day and that may be high.  

The moral of the story here is that if it is too good to be true it usually is.  Your Loan Officer should be your advocate through the process.   Your Loan Officer will be integral in helping your loan get through the process as fast and efficiently as possible.   You will be in contact with your loan officer once you have found a house almost every day so you should have a good working relationship with them.  I also would be looking for energy in my Loan Officer as it takes a lot of energy to get your file through the system fast and efficiently.  Your Loan officer should have a working knowledge of how your Realtor does his or her job, in fact, if your Loan Officer also holds a Real Estate License you will know that he or she has an advanced knowledge of how the Real Estate Process works.  At MAE Capital Real Estate and Loan, all of our Loan Officers will have both a Real Estate License and an NMLS license.  Be careful of Credit Unions and Banks as they are not under the same rules that we are so they generally have slower turn times and Loan Officers that do not hold Real Estate Licenses and in some cases, you may be talking with someone at a bank or credit union that doesn’t hold any license.  We are here to help and we will not mislead you in the process of buying a home in fact we don’t even get paid until we close your transaction so it is in all our best interests to get your transaction closed as quickly and efficiently as possible.       

Posted by Gregg Mower on July 26th, 2023 2:14 PM

Have you been trying to enter the Real Estate market but just cannot save the money required for a down payment and closing costs?  Then you have come to the right place.  We have a new program that will give first-time buyers or homebuyers in general up to 5% of the purchase price for a down payment and closing costs.  This program is great as you are not required to be a first-time homebuyer to qualify for this.  We have partnered with a company that has a program called Chenoa.  This is a pool of funds that are designated to assist home buyers with the costs of getting a home.

The Chenoa program is paired with an FHA Loan and this works great as FHA only requires a 3.5% Down payment and that would leave you with 2% left for closing costs.  It is conceivable for a home buyer to get into a home with no money out of pocket.  In this crazy Real Estate Market, I would advise my clients to have at least 1% of the sales price as a minimum.  This would be for additional items such as inspections to make sure the house you are buying is in good condition.  Although the market is crazy, and sellers are calling the shots you still have the ability to negotiate work to be done on a house prior to closing.  

Since the Real Estate market is so competitive this program will allow for a buyer to still be “in the game” as a buyer you will not need to ask the seller for any concessions towards the purchase because you as a home buyer do not have enough money.   In a regular Real Estate market, sellers will generally help pay closing costs if the price of the home can absorb those fees.   In this market asking the seller to pay for anything is tough as there will be a line of people trying to buy the same house with more money down or no concessions from the seller.  This is where this program makes good sense for a buyer as they will not have to ask the seller for any money towards closing costs.  

The documentation for this program is the same as a regular FHA loan.  You will need to provide 30 days of pay stubs, 2 months of bank statements, W2s for the last 2 years, and a 620 Credit score.  There are income limitations that are you cannot make more than 130% of the median household income for your area in Califonia.  It can also go fast as there is no more additional underwriting that some other Down Payment Assistance programs require such as CalhFA.   This will also help to get your offer accepted as you can close this in 30 days or less.  At MAE Capital Mortgage we are here to walk you through this loan and all the loans in our arsenal.  It doesn’t cost anything to see if you qualify for this we are just a phone call or a click away.  We look forward to assisting you with this product in California.  Call us at 916-672-6130 to talk with a licensed Loan Officer or Click Here to provide your information confidentially.  



Posted by Gregg Mower on April 23rd, 2021 10:11 AM

So 2017 is the year you are going to buy a home.  I would say that is the best financial goal anyone could have.  Aside from the tax advantages owning your home changes the way you look at life.  As a home owner, you are entitled to fix your home as you please, paint it any color or colors you like, and when you nail the first picture on your wall in your home it suddenly becomes real that you are about to put a hole in your home, so the once simple task of nailing up a picture has changed to add a little more thought to the process.    Home ownership also gives you an inner sense of achievement that only other homeowners feel.  But before you get to enjoy all the good that is owning a home you first have to go through the process of qualifying for a home loan and looking for a home in your price range.   It’s like my father would say to me when I was growing up “anything worth having is worth working for”.

If 2017 has been the year you have designated to purchase your first home, there are some important steps you must go through in order to get your goal.  The first step should be figuring out how much money you should have saved to buy this home.  It’s not too late it is still early in the year and you have time to save. The minimum down you would need to have saved without any kind of down payment assistance would be only 3.5% of the sale price unless you are a Veteran and we can get you into a home with no money out of pocket (Thank you for your service).  So, if you have been looking at buying a $350,000 home you would need to be able to show $12,250 (3.5%) and that could come from savings or a gift from a parent or an employer, again zero if you are a Veteran.  Now if this amount is too hard to save up for there are some programs that can assist with the down payment and closing costs.   Most of these programs will require that you attend a class either on line or a traditional classroom setting.  These programs can help with the money it takes to acquire a home, but there are some limitations.  The biggest limitation is income you can make.  You see if you make too much money you don’t qualify for the programs and each program will have different income limitations.  You would have to call and speak with one of our qualified loan officers to get the correct income limits per program. 

After you have figured out how much money it will take to buy a home you should also know if your credit is good enough to qualify.  Generally, you can have a Credit Score (low mid score for a couple or mid score for single people) of no lower than 550 and that would be for an FHA loan or a VA loan.  If you were putting 10% or more down and you were looking for a conventional loan your score would need to be above 640.  If you are not sure what your score is we do run your credit as part of the Pre-Approval process.

Before even looking at homes that might be outside of your price range we recommend that we get you Pre-Approved before looking.  The Pre-Approval process is fairly simple, we gather some documents from you, analyze your finical position, and we will give you a Purchase price that you would qualify for,  and you could purchase any home up to that limit.  We would have you either apply online or you could call in and we can take you application over the phone or we can meet in person.  The idea is that we are here to help you.  We have an online checklist of the items we would need you to provide us with.  The basic items we will need you to provide are: 1. Current Pay-Stubs for the last 30 days; 2. Your last 2 months Bank Statements; 3. Your last 2 years W2’s; 4. Your last 2 years Federal Tax Returns.  We would ask for divorce documents or child support information if you paid or received any support.  If you are retired, we would ask for your retirement information.  If you have a complex financial situation we can figure out how to be able to show it documents.  Our job, when qualifying our you, is to be able to paint your financial picture to someone who has never met you with your financial paperwork and letters from you to fill the gaps so the lender can see you as a good credit risk.  This is an art and has taken many years of experience to be able to do this efficiently and we are here to get it done for you. 

Once we have taken your application, ran your credit report, reviewed your income documents, and determined you have enough funds we then issue the Pre-Approval Letter.  This letter is essential to be able to be given to a potential seller of a house  to show them you have already gone through the process and are ready to buy.  This letter can put you at a competitive advantage as other people wanting to purchase the same house may not have the same letter, thus making your offer more attractive and more apt to be accepted.  At MAE Capital Real Estate and Loan we work with you on the loan side and the Real Estate side so you only have to go to one place to get you needs fulfilled.  When you work with us with the loan and as your Realtor we will bundle our services and reduce your fees and we will buy you a home warranty.  This could save you thousands of dollars upfront to do with as you please.

Now comes the fun part, looking for the house you are now qualified to purchase.  We have a free online toolkit to get you organized in your planning of the wants and needs of the home you want to buy.   We recommend that you use these tools as it will help you organize what you want in the house and our Realtors can use your lists to search for the homes that fit your wants and needs.  Our Agents use the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) to search for homes as well as word of mouth from other Agents in the industry.  Having your list of items you want in a home such as number of bedrooms and bathrooms, size, location, whether it has a pool or not, whether you want land, horse property, can all be inputted into our system and we can only show you the homes that fit your parameters saving you time money and energy.

Also in our toolkit are comparison sheets so when you are out looking at the houses you can write down what they have and don’t have and be able to easily compare what you just looked at.  Don’t get discouraged it is rare that you find your dream home the first time you go out looking.  It is our Agent’s jobs to show you everything you would like to see on the market in the areas you want to be in.  This process can take weeks and sometimes months as you may want to wait for other homes to come on the market in the specific area you want to live.

Once you do find a house that meets your expectations and you want to buy it you will need to make an offer to the seller to buy their home.  Our Agents are experienced in the art of negotiating the sale price for you.  Negotiation techniques will vary based on the type of market we are in (i.e. a buyer market or a seller’s market).  If it is a buyer’s market usually there are more homes on the market than there are buyers to buy them and sellers have to be aware of this and be willing to negotiate on their price or pay cost for potential buyers.  In a Seller’s market, there are generally more buyers interested in buying homes in the area than there are sellers to sell them, thus prices are generally firm and there might be multiple offers on the same house.  Each type of market your Agent will know and advise you accordingly before you even start looking.  As a first time buyer, you also want to make sure the house is sound when you purchase it.  Our Agents make sure home inspections, pest reports, and any other inspections are complete so you know exactly what you are buying and the condition of it.  Again, our Agents will buy you a home warranty at the close of escrow so if anything goes wrong with the house in the first year after purchasing it you will be covered. The warranty covers, appliances, plumbing, and the heating and air, giving you peace of mind that you have been taken care of by MAE Capital Real Estate and Loan.  

We here a MAE Capital Real Estate and Loan strive to help our clients have a smooth and easy experience.  We will walk you through the process every step of the way.  We will make sure you are compliant with the paperwork and we will take care of the title company that will act as a disinterested third party to bring buyer and seller together to sign at the end of the transaction.   We look forward to working with you in your 2017 goal achievement of purchasing a new home.   

Posted by Gregg Mower on January 31st, 2017 11:06 AM

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MAE Capital Real Estate and Loan

CA DRE #01913783|NMLS #806170

4940 Pacific Street Suite A
Rocklin, CA 95677