Hi guys,

First I want to wish you a happy and safe memorial day. Take a look around you guys. If you did not know what time of year it is, I am going to tell you. It is spring time and the best time to look at Fort Lauderdale Homes for Sale.  If you are entertaining the thought of moving, relocating or trying to get into a better school district (like me), then now is the time.

In Fort Lauderdale, homes are at the best prices in 15 years. Quick story. My mom bought a town house in Miami in1990 for $53,000. During the peak of the real estate market it was worth $220,000. She chose not to sell it. I thought she was crazy. Today that property is worth 135,000.  My mom could care less about the price of the home because the house is a keeper. Why? You asked. She is in a tripple A school district so the home remains in high demand. It remains rented year after year because of the school district. She can sell when ever she wants no matter what the market is doing. Whoever says mom knows best was right. At least in this case.

Although I typically focus on the financial aspects of home buying because it is my expertise. You must still remember the basics of real estate. No matter what the price or location of you next Fort Lauderdale Home for Sale, a huge selling point of any home is the school district when you are thinking about your next home keep this in mind. If you  plan on having a family in the future, it should be a concern. 

So remember, when you are out there in the market looking for your next Fort Lauderdale home for sale or South Florida home for sale, feel free to take my moms advice or contact us for help buying that next home.

Hi guys and happy Friday,

Just wanted to touch base with everyone and remind them that cheaters never prosper. Especially with Ft. Lauderdale mortgages, they are being more scrutinized. You can not be getting away with the stuff that use to fly. You can not buy a house with out showing income or try and passoff a investment property as a primary residence.

I am going to give you a quick example. First a borrower from out of state who is a very affluent fellow decides now is the time to gobble up houses. So he decides to finance some and pay cash for some. He accidentally forgets to put on his loan application that he has already bought some houses. He thinks that it is not a big deal to omit it the properties he has just bought in the last two months. Besides they wont show up on his credit because he paid cash for them. Regardless he can afford to carry the properties because he makes great money.

Here is the problem. All Ft. Lauderdale Mortgages are being registered by lenders and banks in a database and so are the ones that do not get mortgages. Why are they doing this?  To prevent fraud. People are claiming investment homes as primary residences so that they can get an FHA insured mortgage. Or they are claiming investment properties as second homes. In the case of this borrower, he had bought a house in the same city as a second home already and was trying to buy another in the same fashion.

His brazen attempt to beat the system has landed him on the banned list in Ft. Lauderdale Mortgage circles. He is done. Bottom line dont lie on your application. You are trying to buy or refinance during the Great Recession.

Thats all folks. I will be giving you market conditions on my twitter. So you can follow me there at http://twitter.com/LoanFha or you can just follow me on this site. Have a great weekend and keep the questions coming.

Good Day all,

I wanted to take the time today to mention how important it is for someone to take care of their credit.  Do you know how credit can affect you getting a Ft. Lauderdale Mortgage? The fact the the FHA program is not a credit score driven program, doesn’t mean you should not care about your credit before you apply.

If you dont then you end up buying this :

Bad Credit = Ugly Home

Now if you dont want to end up buying this house or living in a neighborhood where this house exists, then you have to do something about your credit before you apply for a Ft. Lauderdale Mortgage. That Simple. Now I did not say it was easy. The difference in what you can purchase, what your monthly payment will be, what your interest rate will be and the points and fees on your mortgage is huge.

For example you have a 540 credit score (BAD CREDIT) and you want to buy a home. Your interest rate would be anywhere between 2.25% to 2.75% higher than the market rate.

Lets say you have a 680 credit score(average credit score) your Ft. Lauderdale mortgage interest rate is only .25% to .375% higher than the market. You can get a house that looks like this

You can get a house like this with good credit

This is just for explanation purposes and I might have exagerated just a little. Here is the truth of the matter. You could have a 540 credit score pay alot more in origination fees, broker points and loan discount fees or you could not. Folks do not realize how much can be done when working with a professional. Personally my team here uses Linda Shorr with Regal Credit.

We use her and her services because she is honest, dependable and does not price gouge. Oh and of course she has a track record of fixing our clients credit with great success. On Friday, we helped someone that could not refinance and go from a 548 to a 640 credit score. Saving the client both time and money. It is a no brainer to pay $400 dollars upfront to get your credit fixed as opposed to paying $40,000 in higher fees and higher interest rates over the life of the loan. My advice to you is clean up the credit before you buy or refinance your Ft. Lauderdale Mortgage

Unless you have been living in a cave or don’t come into contact with people on a daily basis then you know that America is having pretty tough economic times. Both the current Obama administration and the previous Bush administration have been addressing it by expanding the Fort Lauderdale area FHA Home Loan programs.

FHA mortgages are feeding the purchase market in Fort Lauderdale. Why? Because, conventional financing has dissapeared. No longer are there programs that will allow you to buy with “No Money Down”. The 2 large companies that wrote the rules on how to lend were government sponsored agencies are Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. During the real estate boom of the 2000′s, these two companies drove the market up. They became riskier as the years went buy because of the lack of oversight, greed, corruption within the ranks, and more importantly the demand for mortgages.  Their lack of properly reviewing the borrowers credentials to afford a home led to their ultimate demise and the US Government bailing them out and taking over.

Now, how does that affect us down here in Fort Lauderdale and the rest of South Florida? Well it means that the only mortgage to be had is an FHA mortgage. Well…that is not completely accurate. It just depends on a combination of credit, down payment and proof of income. Their is always an exception to the rule.

Basically, as stated in previous posts, lending is becoming exactly like the motto for the state of Missouri. Banks and lending institutions have become the show me state. For many people in Fort Lauderdale that can not prove their income, are in the hospitality Business, or choose to hide their income through their companies, they will have more limited opportunities. For the people in Fort Lauderdale and the surronding areas, that choose to prove their income. Their is alot of opportunity to get a nice piece of Real Estate.

You better hurry though. This will not last forever. If you are looking to make a move but are waiting for the bottom of the market, you could miss the opporunity you have been waiting for.

To celebrate here at Fort Lauderdale Loan FHA the holiday, I am at work. But for those of you that may have taken the day off to go to church or to celebrate with a large feast and a pint of beer, please enjoy the music.

For those of us that live in the real world, lets get to it.

Not so good news was released by the FHA yesterday. Thanks to the current economic crisis and President Obama’s current administraton, they are limiting the amount of “Cash Out” on any FHA Loan. What does that mean?

That means that as of this week, lenders all across the country and Fort Lauderdale will only allow anyone to take cash out of their home up to 85% of the value of the home. Not a first look you think, thats great we as a country dont want people to strip out the equity of their home and lose it by investing with Bernie Maddoff in a Ponzi Scheme. Truth is most folks take cash out of their homes only because they have to. Like a renovation on their home, debt consolidation, medical emergency or taking out cash to invest in their own business. etc…

By limiting Fort Lauderdale FHA Loans to 85% of the value of the home. You are limiting the exposure for the government has if you default on the loan. But what about the people the need to take the cash out for any of the reasons listed above. What does FHA say to them. Sorry you cant get any money here.

I will take it one step further, what if you bought a home some time ago and you need to renovate it because it is 10 to 15 years old. What do you do if they will not let you refinance and take the cash out? 

If you want to do something before its too late, then contact me so that we can get the cash out before its too late! Talk to you all soon.

Ben Bernake View on our Economic Future

According to Ben Bernake our Fort Lauderdale Loan FHA rates will be going up. You dont have to believe me just watch the news video. Folks if this is the case. We need to get of the fence.

These super low rates and great deals that are coming across my desk need to be taken advantage of. In 6 months we could bottom out. If that happens Fort Lauderdale FHA rates will begin to go up and you are going to kick yourself for missing out on a 4.75 to 5.125 % rate. Whether you are purchasing or refinancing, now is not the time to second guess. Like Nike says “Just Do It”.

Plus, I got a purchase contract on my desk today that is a sweet deal. A 4 Bedroom 2 bath in Fort Lauderdale with a pool and on the water. Guys it doesnt get much better than this. I dont know how long it will last. What I do now is that you got to get out there and start looking for deals. Talk to you all later!!

Hi guys and gals,

I am starting this topic because it is such a hot topic. It consumes every conversation I have with a borrower/home buyer. What is the Fort Lauderale FHA Loan Interest Rate?

In a nutshell,  FHA loan rates or any other mortgage rate is controlled by the mortgage bond market. So when investors and money managers are deciding and how best to invest their money, they look at stocks, bonds(mortgage bonds in our case) and other financial instruments. Why, because that is the job of a money manager and investors. BUT THAT IS NOT THE ONLY COMPONENT IN A FHA LOAN INTEREST RATE! 

So how does that affect us hear in Fort Lauderdale? When you are looking for the best FHA Loan interest rate, there are 3 basic components. 

1. Credit Score
2. Collateral
3. Cash

 Credit, there is a minimum credit score requirement with all lenders. Why? because the investors that are buying these loans expect a certain return for their money. In order to guarantee that someone will pay back a loan a credit score is used to determine some one’s prior payment history. So if you are likely to pay your bills than you are likely to pay back a FHA Mortgage loan. The better the score, the better chance you have of getting a great rate.

Collateral, what does that mean? It means that in Fort Lauderdale your single family home, town home, condo or other property type is what you will use as collateral for the lending institution. In other words you are pledging or guaranteeing a piece of property to a mortgage.

Cash, literally how much cash you make. Or how much income you can prove that you make. For example, in Fort Lauderdale you are a self employed widget maker. If you declare $500,000 in sales and only $50,00 of that is taxable income, then that is what is used to qualify you. ***Not true in all circumstances, it depends on your tax return.*** If you are an employee of a company it is pretty straight forward, show me your W2 and I will tell you what you qualify for. ***There are also some extra income that could be added if documented properly.***

So basically what determines your Fort Lauderdale FHA Loan mortgage interest rate is a combination of factors. It depends on what and what direction the market is doing and it depends on the 3 C’s. The 3 C’s are credit collateral and cash. Until tomorrow.