Sorry It's Been Awhile

Posted on January 22, 2010

It has been quite some time since we last blogged.  Sorry about that.  So far 2010 has been a crazy year.  I say this because everyone in our industry is trying to learn on the fly and adjust to the new Good Faith Estimate (GFE) 2010.  All in all the changes are good and were made for the right reasons.  However, getting used to them is a different issue.  There are different ways to interpret certain aspects of the new law and it will take some time before we are all 100% used to it.  So please bare with us.  As always we strive to be the best so we are being very detailed in how we handle the new GFE and all the regulations that go along with it. 

More new changes have also been announced.  Yep I said it, MORE changes!  Here we are trying to adjust to one of the many rounds of changes and another one is coming our way.  These are FHA changes.  For credit scores under 580, 10% will be required down instead of 3.5%.  This one will not effect us at all because we cannot lend to a 580 borrower anyway.  We need a minimum of 620.  The 2nd major change is the Up Front Funding  fee of 1.75% is changing to 2.25%.  The 3rd major change is that seller concessions are now capped at 3% of the sales price which is down from 6%.  This too should not effect us because 6% is excessive anyway.  3% typically is enough to do the trick.  These changes go into effect April 5th, 2010.

Lastly, lets talk about some good news.  If you watch our rates at all you will notice that they are rather low.  The MBS market has performed well and we have seen rates improve.  If you have a deal closing soon I would really look at locking, but as always have this discussion with your mortgage banker  You both know your rate goals and your mortgage banker can fill you in on the pros and cons and the latest on what the market is doing.  Rates have stayed low for quite some time, but they are at a low point for the past couple months and near the lowest rates of last year.  Lets all hope this trend continues!

So that is the lowdown for the year so far.  Be sure to check back for further updates.

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Flat Branch Home Loans, Inc.