George Souto

Zillow APP For Both The iPone & Droid

02-13-12

For those of you that have not seen it yet, Zillow now has an APP for both the iPhone and Droid. I am not a big fan of Zillow, but I will check Zillow for a quick value on a house if I do not have a better source at the time, or I just want to get a ruff estimate. I find that this happens quite a bit when I am on the road, away from the office where I can get a better estimate.

Even though I feel that Zillow is lacking in accuracy in estimating house values, I have to say that it is a cool APP. Here are some of the features:

It lets to search for houses for:

For Sale
For Rent
Recently Sold
By House Price
By Rent Price
House In Nearby Neighborhoods.

It has a Favorite Home Section
It lets you draw on the maps that it pulls up
A Mortgage Calculator.

Best of all it is fast and easy to use. I have played around with it a little bit, and so far I am impressed. Now if we could only get Zillow to do a better job on these property value estimates.

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Who To Call For Your Mortgage Needs In Connecticut:

George Souto NMLS# 65149 is a Loan Officer who can assist you with all your FHA, CHFA, and Conventional mortgage needs in Connecticut. George resides in Middlesex County which includes Middletown, Middlefield, Durham, Cromwell, Portland, Higganum, Haddam, East Haddam, Chester, Deep River, and Essex. George can be contacted at (860) 573-1308 gsouto@mccuemortgage.com, or visit my McCue Mortgage Homepage.

3 Comments

CHFA .......... Homeowners Equity Recovery Opportunity (HERO) Loan Program

02-11-12

George Souto

The McCue Mortgage has recently become one of the few Lenders in Connecticut to be able to offer the CHFA .......... Homeowners Equity Recovery Opportunity (HERO) Loan Program. This program offers an excellent opportunity for both First Time, and Existing Homeowners to purchase a property at the current CHFA interest rate of 3.25% with 1 point.

The HERO program was specifically designed by CHFA to help Homebuyrers purchase Foreclosed, Abandoned, or Bank Owned properties. Below are the highlights of the program:

Only for Owner Occupied Properties, that will be the homebuyers primary residence.
Eligible properties are need to be a Approved FHA Condo's, Pud's, or Single Family detached properties.
No Income Limits like with the regular CHFA First Time Homebuyer Program, unless Homebuyer is doing a DAP Loan.
No Sales Price Limits.
Not Limited to First Time Homebuyers.
Existing Homeowners do not have to sell their current home, but they must occupy the new property purchased through the HERO Program.
30 year fixed loan
3.5% Downpayment required, but DAP Loans are available to cover the Downpayment & Closing Costs.
The HERO Loan can be combined with a CHFA 203K.
Additional .25% off of the interest rate if purchasing withing a Targeted Area.
120 Day Rate Lock.
Debt-To-Income Ratios 31/43
Minimum Loan Size $50,000

The CHFA/HERO Program opens the door to every Homebuyer in Connecticut, to an incredible low Interest Rate to who is purchasing a Foreclosed, Abandoned, or Bank Owned properties. Of course like all loan programs the Borrower must be able to meet the guidelines in order to qualify. But for those that do this is an amazing opportunity to be able to purchase a Foreclosed, Abandoned, or Bank Owned property, at an unbelievable Interest Rate.

4 Comments

Chamber of Commerce Eastern Connecticut ........ After Hours Networking

02-10-12

George Souto

Here is a great opportunity that is coming up in just two weeks to Network in Eastern Connecticut. Networking at events like this is one of the easiest and best ways to meet other business professionals that can help grow our business and have a great time doing it as well.

Networking events like this is like partying, while building our referral sources at the same time. So if you if you are able to attend the up coming After Hours Networking event at:

The Garde Arts Center
325 State Street
New London, Ct.

If you plan to attend, you need to register ahead of time. Mark you calendars and register now.

5 Comments

And The Survey Says???

02-09-12

George Souto

A recent survey by Fannie Mae has reveled some interesting
results. The Fannie Mae surveyed reveled the following:

That 28% of Americans believe that in 2012 home prices will rise.

However, they believe that interest rates will remain where they are.

A small percent think that interest rates will go even lower.

They are optimistic about the economy, and expect it to improve in 2012.

71% feel that it is a good time to purchase a home.

But only 10% thought that it was a good time to sell.

64% are hoping to purchase a home.

While only 30% want to remain renters.

30% of Americans believe that the economy is on the right track.

The reason that is being attributed to this positive outlook is because of reports that more Americans are back to work, and these reports are producing increased consumer confidence. However, Americans are still being very cautious about acting on this optimistic outlook for 2012. Therefore, economic recovery will probably continue, but at a slow pace.

16 Comments

Non-Bank Lenders And Loan Originators Will Soon Be Required To Report Mortgage Fraud.

02-08-12

George Souto

This might come as a surprise to many people, but presently Non-Bank Lenders, and Loan Originators do not have a legal responsibility to report "Mortgage Fraud". What may even be more surprising is that even if a Non-Bank Lender or Loan Originator wanted to report "Mortgage Fraud" at the present time, there is no set procedure to do so. They can report fraud, but without a clear procedure or agency that is specifically set up to act upon the reported "Mortgage Fraud" the reports can fall upon deaf ears. Yes the Banking Commission will receive complaints against Lenders and Loan Originators, and do the best that they can to address them. But they are not really set up, or have the man power to investigate every complaint, as a result many complaint do not get the attention that they should.

Well that was the case up until now. In another two or three months the mechanism to report "Mortgage Fraud" will be in place, and "Non-Bank Lenders And Loan Originators Will Soon Be Required To Report Mortgage Fraud." On Tuesday a financial fraud task force was final created and operate under The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. Once this task force is in place Non-Bank Lenders and Loan Originators will be required to report any and all suspicious activity that is believed to be "Mortgage Fraud"

I for one thing that it is about time that this task force is formed and put in place. I just hope that this does not end up being one more agency that has a lot of bark, but no bit. That this task force is given the necessary resources to really do the job. The government already has to many agency that operate in name only and do not accomplish what they were created to do. Many of these agency only seem to accomplish one thing, and that is waste more taxpayer money. The task that this new agency has been appointed to do is way to important for it to just operate in name only. They need to be given the resource to investigate, and prosecute those that are committing "Mortgage Fraud", as well as those that are aware of "Mortgage Fraud" and not reporting it.

9 Comments

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George Souto
George Souto NMLS# 65149 FHA, CHFA, VA Mortgages Connecticut

George Souto : Mortgage Company in Middletown, CT

Office: (860) 573-1308

Mobile: (860) 573-1308

George Souto NMLS# 65149 is a licensed Mortgage Loan Originator for McCue Mortgage a CT based Mortgage Co., that specializes in First Time Homebuyers, and FHA, CHFA, VA, & USDA Loans.

Photos from George Souto

Main Street Middletown, Inn At Middletown

About Me:

I am available 7 days a week, and can be contacted on my cell phone (860) 573-1308 until 10:00 PM. My primary focus is to serve you.

Areas of Expertise

I specialize in first time Homebuyer Loans like CHFA, and no money down programs. I also enjoy helping people repair their credit, and helping them purchase a home.

Testimonials

Thanks George – McCue certainly makes it easy! I have to tell you at this point that my experience with McCue Mortgage has been the very best experience ever (and I’ve bought and sold 4 homes)! I will recommend McCue highly to everyone I talk with who’s thinking of buying a home and looking for a mortgage...Pat Anderson, Program Assistant II, University of Connecticut

I just wanted to say thank you again. The refinance went incredibly smooth, not a single glitch! I received the check from the lawyer yesterday and I will be on the way to being free from credit card debt. I will be sure to send anyone I know your way if they need any home financing expertise...Regards, Lou Moffa, Middletown, CT.

Thanks for all your help. I'm passing your name along to my (new) boyfriend as he is looking for a condo or house within the next 6 months! You have been a tremendous resource and help to me with this whole process and I'm sure Chris will need your guidance as well.....Pam Neumann, Portland, CT.

I have a closing coming up next Tuesday, a short few days away. I have someone from our Activerain family to thank for this, our own George Souto from McCue Mortgage took a bad situation and made it all better! I can't thank George enough, and if I am lucky I will get to meet him at the closing! My clients found out the day after their offer had been accepted that the bonus the wife just got put them over the allowed earning limit for the program we were using. That was on a Friday afternoon. By Monday, we were back on target, and with no hitches in our git along, George pulled the deal together with a USDA Rural Development Loan. The rates my clients got made my jaw drop, lower than I have seen ever, they were more than pleased too. It was UNDER 5%! After my clients met with George they called me and told me just how wonderful he had been to them. They couldn't say enough good things about George, and were over the top impressed. Me too actually. This is my first time having a client use a USDA loan, I am very excited. I will be informing all my first time home buyers this is one loan to check out for sure. Kudos to George Souto! From the bottom of my heart, thank you. And I really hope that you make it to the closing! You are "da bomb"!

Andrea Swiedler, Realtor with Prudential Adams & Associates, New Milford, CT

I found George through Activerain, sent my clients to him, and we closed the deal today. As we were all at the closing table my clients turned to me with that first time home buyers star dust in their eyes look and said that George was "totally awesome"! George, if I didn't say enough about you the other day in the first post, I want to say it now. Thank you, you really rock! And our clients think so too.

Andrea Swiedler, Realtor with Prudential Adams & Associates, New Milford, CT

Mario and I would like to take this opportunity to thanks you and your team with all your assistance and advice in purchasing our first home. Your partnership throughout the process was valuable and very much appreciated.

Thank you and you are awesome!!!! :-)

Pam Charoenratan & Mario Ribeiro, Westbrook, CT

Next month will be a year in our new home! Thank you Mccue, and George Souto!

Erica Fjellman Mychajlowskyj, Clinton, CT

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Get Pre-Approved Today.

This is a great time to purchase a house, the prices and interest rates low and Sellers are motivated to sell. So whether you are a First Time Homebuyers or have bought several homes in the past, you still need to get Pre-Approved for a loan first to determine what price range you are qualified to purchase in.

A Realtor will most likely not take you to see a house unless they know that you are qualified to purchase a house in that price range. So it is important to get Pre-Approved as early as possible so that neither you or the Realtor are wasting yourr time looking at houses that you can not qualify for a mortgage on.

It is not only important that you get Pre-Approved before you start to look at houses, but it is equally important that you contact a Loan Officer that will take the time to go through all the steps that are needed to Pre-Approve you. Once you have contacted a Loan Officer, that mortgage professional needs to go through the following steps

They need to first identifying your ability to purchase a home, so that they can establish the Purchase Price Limit that you qualifies for. In order to do this a Loan Officer is going to have to check your Credit, take a full Loan Application, and submit the Credit and Loan Application through their Automated Underwriting System. It is important that they take all three of these steps, because it is the ONLY way that you can be reasonably assured that you will qualify for a Loan. Once the Credit Report is pulled it will provide the Loan Officer with all of your revolving debt, which will have to be taken into consideration in determining what you can afford. The Credit Report will also show your payment history, and Credit Scores. The Loan Application will include your Income, Residency, Employment, and Bank Information. Once all this information has been submitted, the Automated Underwriting System will determine if you are qualified to purchase a house within your desired price range.

Once this has been done, the Loan Officer can provide you with a Pre-Approval Letter for you to provide to a Realtor. If you are not working with a Realtor, the Loan Officer will be able to provide you with a list of “Trusted Professional Realtors” that the Loan Officer works with for you to choose from.

This Pre-Approval process should not be confused with the Mortgage Commitment that you will have to obtain once you have found a house. A Mortgage Commitment can only be given once there is a Sales Contract on a property, and documentation has been collected to verify the information that you gave to the Loan Officer. Also at this time a Property Appraisal will be done to determine if the property is worth the price that you have agreed to pay. You need to make sure that you are working with a Loan Officer that will take the time to go through everything that I mentioned above. If a Loan Officer does not do that, then you needs to contact one that will. In my opinion if a Loan Officer does not all this, then all that the Buyer will have is a Loan Officer’s guess, and not a very good one at that.

Seasoned Money ............ What Is It???

The term "Seasoning Money" or Seasoned Money" is a very common term in the Mortgage Industry. A simple definition for what is "Seasoned Money" is that it is a reference to the length of time that has past since funds were deposited in or withdrawn from a Bank Account..

Why is "Seasoned Money" important in the Mortgage Industry? It is important because when you apply for a mortgage, the Lender is going to require that you produce bank statements for a certain period of time. These days any deposit or withdrawal of funds of $1000 or more, that are not a normal monthly deposit or withdrawal will need to be explained.

This is not a problem if you can document where the funds came from. For example you sold a car and can produce a sales slip and copy of the check, or you cashed in some stocks or bonds and can produce the documentation for that. But most often Borrowers can not produce documentation for these deposits or withdrawals, and stating that you just had it laying around the house is not a good explanation (that is referred to as mattress money).

So what needs to take place if there is a large deposit or withdrawal it needs to be "seasoned" (be in your Account long enough so that it does not show up as a deposit or withdrawal on the Bank Statements that you need to produce.

Depending on the Loan Program, the length of time to "season" the funds is different. For example, on Conventional Loans (Fannie Mae, & Freddie Mac backed loan) the time needed to "season" is 31 days, because all that is required for you to produce is a 30 day bank statement. Therefore, if the funds have been in the bank account for more that 30 days they will be included in the balance, but not listed in the deposits or withdrawals. For a FHA Loan, the Underwriter (at least my Underwrite) is going to want to see two months of bank statements, which means that the money needs to be "seasoned" for at least 61 days. On a CHFA Loan, the Underwriter as well as CHFA usually want to see three months of bank statements so the money needs to be "seasoned" for at least 92 days, since within a three month period there is bound to be a 31 day month.

This all may sound simple, but "seasoning money" produces more problems than you might imagine. A lot of the times it is because the Borrower got money to purchase the house from someone that would not be an acceptable source for gift money. Or the person was an acceptable source, but does not want to produce the documents needed to show that it was an acceptable gift.

Please keep in mind that if you are thinking of purchasing a house and are going to be depositing or withdrawing any large sum of money ($1000 or more) that you talk to your Loan Officer first to make sure that it is being done correctly so that you do not run into a problem at the time of the loan.

Connecticut FHA, CHFA, VA, and USDA Mortgages

These days here in Connecticut as well as in many other states FHA Mortgages have become the main Loan product. Not long ago Conventional Mortgages were the loans of preference, but with all the changes brought about by Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac, Conventional Mortgages have become costly and difficult to do.

During this time I have written about these changes and how FHA in particularly has become the loan product of choice. These blogs are a little spread out so I thought that it was time to provide links to some of them so that they could be easily found.

Besides FHA, CHFA, VA and USDA Mortgages have also started to become more and more popular during this time. CHFA and USDA are proving to be a great loan for First Time Homebuyers, because 100% financing is available through them. But existing Homebuyers also have 100% financing available to them through VA Loans if they are a Veteran.

Below are links that provide details on all of these loan programs and their advantages. I hope that they prove to be of value to those looking for information on these loan products, and that the links serve as a good point of reference.

FHA The Main Loan Program In Connecticut!!!