I am a man of many loves: family, friends, finance, and Florida Gators. But those who know me well also know I am a lover of fine wines – an oenophile (EE-no-FIL-e), to be precise.
The term oenophile was first coined in 1977, when New York restauranteur Shirley Copperman dubbed her new BYOB eatery “Oenophilia”. That [...]

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As we are all aware, qualifying for a mortgage these days is anything but easy. What if it was made even more complicated?
Recently a bill, called the Sensible Accounting to Value Energy Act, was co-sponsored by Sens. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.). If enacted, the bill would require all government-sponsored lenders (so that [...]

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Yesterday morning, I read an interesting and timely blog post from HSH Associates, “Economy sends mortgage rates down to new 2011 lows.” What struck me most was how on target this particular blog was about the confusion of mortgage rates and the recent downgrade of the US economy by Standard and Poors.
All of the recent [...]

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There has been much discussion around the impact of a proposed reduction in the Fannie and Freddie loan limits. Right now this is scheduled for Sept 30.  In the Carolinas, where the maximum limit for these loans is $417,000, there is nothing proposed to reduce this amount.
Instead, they propose to reduce the increase that [...]

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Starting your home search can be extremely exciting  – and nerve-wracking. You are about to embark on a great adventure. It can be easy to get caught up in all the excitement and lose track of the many different moving parts you need to keep in place. One of the most important moving parts is [...]

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Just imagine you have found the perfect house, started a new job and are ready to move forward with your life. Feels pretty good doesn’t it?
Now imagine that you have everything lined up except for one detail, a detail that is perhaps the most important of all. Prior to signing on the dotted line and [...]

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Let’s say you have begun your home search and you meet with a Lender.   That Lender will review your credit along with income and assets to determine if you qualify for a new loan.  What happens when you find out you do not qualify? While this type of situation is unbelievably frustrating, keep in mind [...]

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Over the past few weeks there has been a lot of discussion about the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, along with the direction of FHA.   This is important to all of us in the Housing Industry, as currently the US Government either insures/guarantees or purchases about 90% of all Mortgages originated today. I [...]

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Everyone has heard that mortgage financing is more difficult to obtain these days. What people may not be aware of, however, is the “why” behind the time it takes to get a loan approved and closed in the mortgage industry today.
Typically, your offer to purchase contract is written for a 30-day closing. In [...]

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As we near January 1st, we start to think about things we do at the beginning of each year, like making resolutions or changing the batteries in our smoke detectors.  This year, we are recommending you add one more thing to do at the beginning of each year and that is to review your own [...]

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