Recently, somebody asked if credit unions were mortgage brokers.
Credit unions are not necessarily mortgage brokers, however some of them do broker mortgage loans.  This basically means that they originate loans that are funded by a lender other than themselves.  This is usually practiced among the smaller credit unions and it’s not uncommon to see smaller [...]

Late Rates…
Late post on rates, however, if you went to lock today, you will have noticed that rates went UP.  Sorry.
Expect near 6% on a 30 year fixed through competitive lenders.

Huh?  Yeah, that’s right.  American Express received the go ahead to become a regulated bank.  Why?  To be bailed out of course.  The financial service giant needs to refinance billions in bonds…

Rates are basically unchanged from Friday.  They are still competitive at 5.75% on a 30 year fixed for good to excellent credit borrowers.  ARM’s should be pricing better by about .25% or more.
This is not an offer to lend.

Expect rates to be worse than yesterday by 1/8th of a percent.  It could be worse by 1/4 of a percent depending on the market.  5.875% on a 30 year fixed is average, some competitive lenders still offer 5.75% at par.

It has been announced that JP Morgan will be modifying mortgages - and as much as 70 billion dollars worth of them.  That’s a lot of option ARM’s!
They are not all option ARM’s, however mortgages owned by Wachovia will also be eligible for modification with investor approval.  Wachovia did fund billions of dollars worth of [...]

Credit seems to be flowing more freely, the stock market is under 9,000, and rates are DOWN too.  Competitive 30 year fixed mortgage rates should be at or near 5.75% for good to excellent credit borrowers on conventional loans.

Mortgage rates are up for fixed loans. 6.00% is a competitive rate for those with good to excellent credit.
Adjustable rate mortgages are being offered as low as 5.375% on 5/1 ARMs.
These are not offers to lend.

When your home appraises less than the purchase price, how does this affect your mortgage or loan approval? Nearly all lenders, and by nearly all, we mean 99.99% of all lenders, use the lesser of the purchase price or appraised value in the LTV calculation.

When the home appraises for less than purchase price, there [...]