There’s a couple ways to answer the question of when to lock your mortgage rate.  If you are purchasing a home, you likely have purchase contract constraints such as the settlement deadline that forces you to lock by a certain date in order to close on your house in time.  In the case of a [...]

If you’re trying to make the plunge and lock in at a low mortgage rate, you’re either going to need to depend on the advice of your mortgage professional, or take the time to “read” the market.
If you are relying on your mortgage professional to lock your rate (which in reality, should be the case), [...]

This is a common question.  People want to know why mortgage brokers have an advantage over banks when it comes to interest rates (and hopefully fees).
You need to read the YSP (Yield Spread) post to understand this unless you already know what it is.
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A certain retail bank that starts with “W” (and it [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

I remember when I went to buy my first home. It was an exciting experience searching for the least run-down property in the worst part of town. But hey, that didn’t matter because that’s what I could afford. When it came to finding a mortgage company, I just went with the recommendation [...]