Bob Stewart announced a new ActiveRain Challenge on Thursday called Using Your Blog To Enhance Existing 
Relationships. The purpose of the Challenge is exactly what it says but please follow the link to get all the details.
My purpose for blogging is to provide information and to better educate Home Buyers as well as to keep Realtors that follow my blog. I have taken many of my blogs and created packets as well as flyers that I give to my clients and Realtors whom I call on.
Examples of blogs that I have created packets for my Borrowers are:
First Time Homebuyer Seminars.....Part #1.
First Time Homebuyer Seminars.....Part #2.
First Time Homebuyers Seminars.....Part #3
First Time Homebuyer Seminars.....Part #4
Major Impact on Credit Scores (edit/delete)
Credit Scores Where Did They Come From & What Are They???
Why Are Credit Scores Different Between Credit Reports & Reporting Agencies???
Most of my business comes from Realtors who refer me to their Buyers, so a major part of my work week is to stop by Realtor Offices and provide them with information on loan programs like FHA, CHFA, VA, and USDA Mortgages.
FHA The Main Loan Program In Connecticut!!! 
FHA & CHFA Condo Lists
PMI Changes Making FHA and VA Much More Go To Loan Products
FHA Condominium Approvals
HUD Website Great Resource For Homebuyers 
CHFA Not For Just First Time Homebuyers.
New Tax Credit .................... Connecticut Housing Finace Authority (CHFA)
CHFA ................ Federal Recapture Tax 
USDA Loan Program
USDA Loan Program ........... Part II
FHA Appraisals
I also provide flyers that Realtors use and make part of their Open House Packets. Lately many of the Realtors that I partner with have also started to include these flyers as part of the material that they leave at each of their listings. My most popular flyer that Realtors request is the I wrote the following blog about.
Open Houses Not Just For Realtors...A Great Marketing Tool For Loan Officers Also!!!
There are many blogs that I have written, that I have then converted to into material that I hand out to my Borrowers and Realtor partners, such as resent blogs that I have written on FHA Condo Approval changes. I see a major part of my job as a Loan Officer keeping the public and especially the Realtors that I partner with, informed of many industry changes that we are experiencing these days. Writing a blog and then using the blog to create flyers to hand out to my Borrowers, and Realtor Partners, is a great way for me to do that, and I would encourage others to do the same.
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Info about the author:
George Souto is a Loan Officer who can assist you with all your FHA, CHFA, andConventional 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 or
I do not have all the details yet, but was I informed this morning at out Monthly Sales Meeting, that we have received word that the New FHA Condominium Approval Guidelines will now not go into effect until December 1, 2009. This is great news, because it means that Spot Approvals will continue to be available until then.
We also received word that even though the New FHA Condominium Approval Guidelines will not go into effect until December 1st, that the change on "The Right of First Refusal" restriction will still go away on November 2nd. This would mean that for at least one month (and in my opinion FHA will continue to delay the New Approval Process) that we will be able to do Spot Approvals on Condominium Complexes that have "The Right of First Refusal". There is also early indication that the new proposed 30% limitation on available FHA Loans within each Condo Complex will be increased to 50%.
No this is not official yet, and I would normally wait to put out this kind of information until it was made official, but our source is excellent, and there is a lot of concern about the new changes with only 2 1/2 weeks left before they were to go into effect. Even though a new Mortgagee Letter will be published within the next couple of weeks announcing these changes, I felt that a little heads up notice was appropriate. As soon as I know that the New Mortgagee Letter has been published, I will provide a link to it.
There will be other changes besides the ones that I have mentioned, but I do not have any details on those yet.
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Info about the author:
George Souto is a Loan Officer who can assist you with all your FHA, CHFA, andConventional 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 or gsouto@mccuemortgage.com
It is unbelievable how busy I have been since I returned from vacation, I have had barely enough time each evening to comment on some of the blogs that I follow. Today was a little slower so I figured that I would take 
this change to post some of the pictures that took when I visited the Ripley Aquarium in Gatlinburg.
The Ripley Aquarium is a huge Aquarium containing over 2,000,000 gallons of salt water, 
which is the home for thousands of fish. They claim that there are more fish in this Aquarium than there are people in Gatlinburg.
There are multiple floors to the Aquarium and several rooms. Tthe area that impressed me most was a large tunnel that you go through on a conveyor that takes you from one end of the tunnel to the other. The glass above and around you is about 8" thick but as clear as if you were 
looking outside your window. While traveling through the tunnel both large and small fish are swimming around you including several large sharks and stingrays.
I tried to capture some of the fish in these pictures, but the pictures do not even come close to what it is like to be there. I don't know what was 
more impressive the sharks or the look on children's faces as they watched these huge creatures swimming towards them.
If you visit Gatlinburg, the Ripley Aquarium is a must see, and an experience that you will remember for a very long time.
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Info about the author:
George Souto 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 or gsouto@mccuemortgage.com
Well I finally have a chance to start posting some of my pictures from my vacation in Gatlinburg, and I thought I would start with some of different and more unusual shops and restaurants that I found there
. One of the places that I definitely wanted to stop at was "Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.", and it did not disappoint. Before going into the restaurant they have all sorts of things with Forrest Gump sayings, like license plates, tee shirt, mugs, and a lot more. They also have a replica of the bench that Forrest sat on along with his famous box of chocolates. You know the one "life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get". OH yes and there was also a pair of oversized sneakers which you 
could step into that were
replicas of the ones he wore on that very long run.
Gatlinburg also had one other restaurant that was named after one other notable character "Cooter's" named after Cooter from the "Dukes of Hazzard" and of course it to had things like the General Lee, and one of the girls that stole my heart, Daisy Duke.
I got a kick out of places with names like "All Sauced Up" which had all of the kitchen fixins that you could ever want. When I first saw the name All Sauced Up, somehow I thought it was referring to another type of sauce ..... LOL
"Jiggling George's" caught my eye for obvious reason's. I should of had my wife take my picture in front of the sign, but I did not think of it until I was already on my way home.
My sweet tooth was satisfied at "Fannie Frakle's" as well as my cholesterol needs. I can still feel those hot dogs running through my veins.
If you like shopping, Gatlinburg has 2 1/2 miles of shops, and my wife made me walk every step of those 2 1/2 miles, and go into everyone of them. For some reason my wife also felt that we were not allowed to leave a shop unless she made a stop at the cash register. But I have to admit that I did have fun, and I might have been even responsible for a couple of those cash register stops myself.
There were many other things things to do in Gatlinburg, like several shows, and museums, as well as a huge Aquarium. We did not have time to do the shows and museums, but we did go to the Aquarium, and I will blog about that next and share some of the pictures that I took.
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Info about the author:
George Souto 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 or gsouto@mccuemortgage.com
Back on June 16 of this year I wrote a blog "FHA ........ Major Condo Approval Change!!!" which covered the New FHA Condo Approval Process that was to go into affect on October 1st of this year. Well FHA has just made it known that the New Condo Approval Process will now not go into affect until November 2nd. This means that we have an additional month now to be able to do "Spot Condo Approvals" instead of a "Full Condo Complex Approval" on Condo Complexes that are not presently on the FHA Condo Approval List.
A quick recap of what the major changes will be to the new process are:
I will try to keep everyone informed on any further changes or delays to the New FHA Condo Approval Process as I am made aware of them.
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Info about the author:
George Souto 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 or gsouto@mccuemortgage.com
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McCue Mortgage is a Connecticut based Mortgage Co., that specializes in first time homebuyers. However, we are equipped to service all homebuyer with many loan programs such as FHA, VA, & CHFA.
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.
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.
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
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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.
ActiveRain Corp. is not responsible for the accuracy of the site's content (which is written by members of the ActiveRain Real Estate Network) and does not endorse the views of the real estate agents, mortgage brokers, and others listed here.
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FHA The Main Loan Program In Connecticut!!! 
New Tax Credit .................... Connecticut Housing Finace Authority (CHFA) 
