HUD has long required properties to be held for 90 days by the seller before the property could qualify for an FHA mortgage loan. Effective June 9, 2008, HUD has waived the 90 day requirement in regards to homes being sold by lenders who foreclose on a property.

CLARIFICATION: After further review it appears that this waiver will only affect properties for sale by mortgage companies due to foreclosure and the companies that they transfer the proeprties to in order to sell. Investors who "flip" properties may still be subject to the 90 day rule.

This waiver is good for only one year and will expire June 9, 2009.

For more information on how this will impact Charlotte FHA mortgage loans, visit Charlotte Home Loans

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As a HUD approved FHA mortgage lender, Ed Nailor can provide FHA loans for home owners and home buyers in the Charlotte area (including Concord, Gastonia, Matthews, Monroe, Huntersville and Ft. Mill as well as all of North and South Carolina.)

Apply online for your Charlotte area FHA mortgage loan
or call 704-651-8704 for your free mortgage consultation.

"Oh, so you are a mortgage guy huh? What's your Shtick? What gimmick do you run?"

This was the question laid before me by someone calling themselves a sales professional. I asked, "what do you mean...Shtick?"

"You know... what's your game? How are you different from the rest. I see all those websites out there offering free quotes, no 'hidden' fees (wink wink) and claiming to revolutionize the mortgage world. Where do you fit in? What's your Shtick?"

Wow! Is that what we have become? Is the mortgage world this messed up? Have we relugated ourselves to such insane and insulting levels? Maybe so...

I too see the gimmickry going on. I see the websites offering ways to revolutionize the world! All claiming that for years lenders have been stealing from borrowers and now they will turn the tables. I hear the ads on the radio, "We'll use the lender's own money to get you a better rate!"

Its all a game it seems!

I remember when I was younger and wanted to buy my first home. The real estate agent I worked with suggested we sit down and consult with a local mortgage professional for advice. Gave us his name and number.

We went to visit this guy and he was great. explained how the mortgage process worked, shared with us what we needed to do and offered to help in any way we could. There were no gimmicks.. no trickery, no outlandish claims to beat back the lenders that were out to hurt us! He was simply a professional mortgage loan officer at a small brokerage.

So, what's my gimmick... my "Shtick"? I'd have to say the same thing that loan officer did for me... Honesty, fairness and respect. Treat others the way they want to be treated. If I have to resort to games it may be time for me to quit!

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Buying a home or refinancing your mortgage is not a game, nor something to be played with. If you want a real, honest and solid approach to one of the most important decisions of your life, I invite you to give me a call. If you want a "revolutionary website with promises gallore that will change the face of lending forever," well... that ain't me.

Ed Nailor - Home Mortgage Loans in Charlotte and beyond

704-651-8704 or visit EdNailor.com

AVM: Automated Valuation Model. A system by which public data is interpretted to come up with an estimation of a property's value. Many lenders rely heavily upon AVMs. IN the past, some lenders used ONLY AVMs in their lending decisions, a practice that has left many of them facing major defaults and losses. Today, AVMs are more typically used by lenders to validate the value of an appriasal. If the appraised value and an AVM value are dramatically different, the lender will require a review of the apraisal, or a second appraisal. To ensure the validity of the AVM, lenders actually pay for the AVM program and have some sort of insurance built in. This keeps the AVM companies working hard to enure as accurate a product as possible.

ZILLOW: Real Estate Website Portal. Zillow is a website that bills itself as providing an "edge in real estate." They offer free tools to the general public, most noteably the Zestimate. The Zestimate is Zillow's branded verison of an AVM. Taking information provided to the general public, Zillow's claims to be able to estimate the value of a property. According to Zillow's disclaimer on the values, they are only accurate to within 5% of a home value roughly 26-28% of the time. The values are only accurate to within 10% of the home's value 49-53% of the time. The estimates are within 20% of the actual value 68-70% of the time. Although they claim a "median average" of error as only roughly 10% (interesting math), the numbers they claim above would indicate that they are pretty far off at least half the time. The service is free and offers no insurance or guarantees. They make money on selling ads.

Reality: The difference between hype and what you really get. When considering Zillow as something to base any idea of value on, one should remember that the information they offer is free, comes with no guarantees or insurance, and is off by at least 10% half the time. AVMs offered by real companies trusted by Lenders will be much more accurate and offer assuances on their values. Lender's stake MILLIONS of dollars on the accuracy of AVMs provided by these companies.

My Conclusion: Zillow is simply an advertising medium, offering a free (and flawed) estimation of real estate property values.

Feel free to draw you own conclusions. However, I will leave you with the 3 questions that I can not shake, as follows:

1. What would happen if Realtors lived by Zillow's standards and were considerably off the mark 50% of the time? Would they lose their license? Be open to lawsuits? Go out of business as a whole?
2. How many Lenders are willing to risk Millions of dollars on Zillow's 50% accuracy rate? What would happen if they did? Even if it saved them a few bucks on the cost of an AVM, how much would it cost them in losses?
3. If Lenders and Realtors would be on the losing end by employing Zillow's standards, why in the world would home buyers and home sellers even consider placing any validity on this website when it comes to the single largest purchase of their lifetime?

The floor for discussion is open....

Ed Nailor, Charlotte Mortgage Lender

Waiting on the Right Time to Buy a Home? How about finding the right home to buy now?

Money Magazine punlished an article recently that echos what I have been saying for quite some time. Too many people are waiting for the perfect time to buy, thinking they can time the "bottom" of the market to get the best possible home. Yet even Money Magazine, one of the most trusted magazines about finances says this is not a wise move!

Check out more about this article at Great Home or Great Timing

Who knew I was as smart as those Money Magazine folks? LOL

Ed Nailor, Charlotte Home Mortgages

Apply online for a Charlotte Mortgage Loan or call 704-651-8704

Effective July 14, 2008, HUD has approved an increase in FHA mortgage insurance premium rates. The increases are "Risk Based" and will vary based on loan to value and credit score.

FHA still requires a minimum 3% down payment, but for those that put down more, the premiums will be lower. The better the credit score is, the lower the premiums will be.

For those on the lower end of credit with minimal down, they will see the most significant increases in FHA mortgage insurance premium costs.

So how much are the increases, and how much will it affect FHA mortgages? I have put together an example of these changes and the impact they will have on one's mortgage qualifications. Read Changes to FHA Mortgage Loans

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As a HUD approved FHA mortgage lender, we can provide FHA loans, including FHA Secure and FHA Rehab loans, for home owners and home buyers in the Charlotte NC area (including Concord, Gastonia, Matthews, Monroe, Huntersville and Ft. Mill as well as all of North and South Carolina.)

Apply online for your Charlotte area FHA mortgage loan
or call 704-651-8704 for your free mortgage consultation.

Ed Nailor, Charlotte FHA Mortgage Loans

704-651-8704 Phone or visit EdNailor.com

North Carolina Teachers deserve Special Treatment

Announcing special mortgage loan financing program for North Carolina Teachers.

My wife is a teacher, so I know first hand the stresses and under-appreciation NC teachers get. They do not get the support or credit they deserve. I may not be able to do a lot to correct that, but I will do my part.

All summer long, I will be offering special mortgage options for North Carolina teachers. With great low mortgage rates and discounted closing costs, I want to help encourage NC teachers to buy a home or refinance their higher rate mortgages.

Combine that with the Good Neighbor Next Door program that allows Teachers to buy homes for half price, this North Carolina teachers mortgage program can help our well deserving teachers and administrators to really save big!

Contact me at 704-651-8704 or visit EdNailor.com for more information on my Carolina Teacher's Mortgage Program.

Ed Nailor, Charlotte Mortgage Lender
Residential Mortgage Center
Charlotte, NC

704-651-8704 Phone
www.EdNailor.com

So you're getting money back from Uncle Same to spend. And yes, the idea is to spend it!

While I think its a great idea to save the money or at least pay off some debt with it, the fact of the matter is that most American's do not save. We spend. That's why the government is so sure you will use it to get the economy going.

So how do you spend while saving? Look for ways to spend the money that will provide returns in savings. One example... replacing a worn out storm door. The newer ones are more energy efficent and can help save you money.

Want more ideas... Check out Spend and Save

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This idea brought to you by Ed Nailor, Mortgage Lender in Charlotte NC

Apply online for your Charlotte area mortgage loan
or call 704-651-8704 for your free mortgage consultation.

Recently Zillow announced it's Mortgage Marketplace. I have to admit, I am not crazy about the idea of pitting lenders against each other for "blind" annonymous rate quotes. The whole idea of comparing my services against another lender with at best half the facts makes me nervous. Long term I see this giving the lending industry more of a black eye as the "rate shopper" begins to further feel as they have been mislead or lied to.

With rates changing 5 to 6 times a day it only compounds the problem.

That being said, I decided to test the Mortgage Marketplace, first as a "borrower."

I created a profile as John Q Public and submitted a request. I did not get much by way of response and the ones I did get were all over the place. As a borrower I would wonder why that is.

As a lender, I see where a potential borrower would quickly contact the "best rate" offer, even if that may not be the best rate.

I blasted Zillow for this product and claimed I would not be part of this. However, after discovering that the responses left much to be desired, I felt maybe I should try it before completely dimissing it. So to be fair, I have signed up as a Lender and once they have verified my information I will work a few leads and see how things go.

I am reluctant in some ways as I don't like typical "rate shoppers." Not that I can't compete... I usually win. But the borrower usually comes away with a bad taste in their mouth feeling as if they still got taken.

I will give this a little time and then come back and give my honest opinion as to my thoughts. I am sharing this with you all so you don't think I talk out of both sides of my mouth... and if I was wrong, I will admit it.

One of the biggest complaints from Realtors today is that it seems to be taking forever to close a loan, especially the FHA mortgage loans. The average turn time to get a loan submission through underwriting is roughly 21 business days... only counting business days means that's a month!

One of the main reasons for the slower processing of FHA mortgage loan submissions is that too many mortgage brokers that only did subprime mortgages are trying to convert these loans to an FHA mortgage. FHA is not subprime, and while too many past buyers that could have gone FHA were sent to subprime (due to faster turn times and good pricing at the time), loan officers must realize that FHA mortgages are not the same as subprime.

With the sheer volume of "manually underwritten" FHA mortgage loans, lenders are simply getting overwhelmed. There are not enough underwriters to keep up with the submissions, and the ones they are hiring need to be trained.

So what's a Realtor to do?

Get to know who can really do FHA mortgages. Find a local lender that knows how to package a loan properly to get it looked at quickly. Even if it takes a little longer to get it into underwriting, a completed loan package will get clear to close quicker than a half-hearted attempt.

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For Charlotte FHA mortgage loans, give me a call. I know how to package a loan for fast approval and clearing to get your loans to the closing table fast. Of course, a mortgage loan that needs to be manually underwritten will still take a little longer, but with the attention to detail I bring to the table, you can rest assured that the deal will be submitted with the best possible chance of getting it closed.

Ed Nailor, Charlotte FHA Lender
704-651-8704 or visit www.EdNailor.com

As a HUD approved FHA mortgage lender in Charlotte, Residential Mortgage Center can provide FHA loans, including FHA Secure and FHA Rehab loans, for home owners and home buyers in the Charlotte area (including Concord, Gastonia, Matthews, Monroe, Huntersville and Ft. Mill as well as all of North and South Carolina.)

Apply online for your Charlotte area FHA mortgage loan
or call 704-651-8704 for your free mortgage consultation.

Charlotte Area Firefighters: You too can buy a home for Half Price!

Yes, that's right. You can own a part of the city you risk your life to protect, and own it for only half price. As a full time Charlotte Firefighter, you can buy select HUD owned homes for 50% off!

Say you find a home that HUD is selling for $140,000. Using this special program aimed to give back to Firefighters in the Charlotte area, you can buy this home for only $70,000 and the rest is yours to keep! The selection is constantly changing and homes are typically available throughout Charlotte, NC. To really capitalize on this program though, it is highly recommended that you get pre-approved for the mortgage financing. With low Charlotte mortgage rates and mortgage programs that offer 100% financing, now is the best time for Charlotte firefighters to buy a home in Charlotte.

There are a few restrictions and items you need to be aware of. For those details and to get started, visit Half Priced Homes for Charlotte Firefighters

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Ed Nailor is a loan specialist with Residential Mortgage Center, a HUD approved Mortgage Lender offering mortgage loans for the Good Neighbor Next Door Program. This program allows Teachers, Firefighters, Law Enforcement Officers and Emergency Medical Technicians in the Charlotte area to purchase a HUD home for half price!
some restrictions apply

Apply online for your Charlotte area GNND mortgage loan
or call 704-651-8704 for your free mortgage consultation.