Jason Sardi, Mortgage Banker

A faded bush did appear, thick in foliage to any seer. It won't quite disappear, that foliage that I no longer fear.

~Gunther Moses~

If you think buying a home can be scary, try renting a house. We hear stories daily on the obstacles present when buying and then closing on a home. The fact is that once you own it, you freaking own it. You own its troubles, its grace, its everything... for the most part, it's your place. But if you are renting it ...

There's a little story I'd like to share. The participants are Lee & Shannon. They rented their house for five years. During that time, their Landlord seemed difficult, if not totally obnoxious. If something went wrong with the house, phone calls went ignored and any communication from said party seemed obsolete. However, when the rent was due, that Landlord was always available. And 'he would get back to them in a few days' concerning any problems with the house. Of course that 'few days' turned into the next month when rent was due. Yet again, the rent would be paid and the landlord skated around handling any problem with the living conditions.

Patterns persist.

Leaky facets, clogged drains, faulty electrical outlets, and a lack of hot water were only minor areas of inconvenience. Luckily, Lee knew how to deal with most of that type of stuff. But when the basement was flooded by a particularly feeble bout of rain and phone call after email after phone call to the Landlord went unanswered, the floodgates of change called their name. When they got a letter from the Mortgage Company to start making their payments directly to them, that calling started to scream.

Home-ownership had been a dirty word to Lee & Shannon for quite sometime. They had been content with renting. Truth be told, they had owned one over 5 years back and were put into an adjustable rate mortgage at the time. While a nice option for some people, it didn't turn out that way for them. It happened to be a treatment for buying over their heads. Lee & Shannon got out and thankfully suffered no severe credit ramifications from the experience. But they did suffer a very bad taste of what owning a home is all about.

With their rental situation in limbo, they opened all doors to make sure a roof was above their head.

From this front, they found a Mortgage Guy and I forget his name... though I remember the last name rhymed with 'Party'. ;) They compared the cost to rent vs. the cost to own in the price range of their particular area and financial ability to afford such. Not surprisingly, the numbers weren't so different. In fact, with lower home prices and interest rates to write your Aunt Susie about, it turned out that buying a home would be a cheaper expedition... at least in regards to monthly payment. Sure, leaky facets, clogged drains, faulty electrical outlets, and a lack of hot water could become an issue down the road, yet a Home Inspection intertwined with Lee's ability to deal with such things left a better taste of what owning a home could become.

They closed on their home on November 30th, 2009.

Oh the glory, the romance of that day. A fear arrived and was dead upon display. It didn't take a smile, nor new-born tear, yet for the rest of the story... you may want to click here.

~Gunther Moses~

In case you don't recognize the relatively blooming bald (yet still somewhat subtle) patch on that young gent standing in front of the sign, it's me. The place where I spent twenty-two years of my existence here on Planet Earth is a place called Clarion, Pennsylvania. One of my best memories is that of a business that is still thriving and somewhat of a legend in many circles. "Eddie's Dogs" is what we call it. Bar-none, the best hot-dogs on earth, and I've attended a Harlem Globetrotter game in my life.

Eddie is the owner and should be proud. In college, we probably gave him more crap than your local plumber can handle. But damn if he doesn't make the most fantastic hot-dogs around. And he has a pretty good sense of humor for a guy who looks like the Crypt Keeper never heard of moisturizer.

When attending back-to-back family reunions in my first visit to Clarion in years, we stopped by this legendary institution. It really wasn't churning in my head that we'd be stopping at Eddie's. I was there to help celebrate a monumental moment in my Aunt's Life and introduce the family to something other than a blow-up doll.

And then we passed Eddie's. At one point, he had two locations... one in Clarion (right across from a bar that was very popular among the college folks) and one that is shown in these pictures, which is the only operating one right now. My only assumption is that he shut the other one down because it isn't exactly easy for a 195 year old gent to deal with a bunch of dumb smucks like me... let alone the Frat Boys.

All stupid analogies and restless attempts at humor aside, the guy took what he did and does for a living and made it into something pretty special. If you want the best hot dogs in the land, visit him.

As far as the sunsets and other memories, well, some things you just keep to yourself. But they are good ones, none the less.

The most articulate version of the author's reaction to his first Taco Dog...

I was going to make this a rather technical piece of blogging information. I printed out page upon page of data to support my stance. I read through each page of data to compare it to what I really wanted to say about the subject of credit. Then, as typical, I ripped up the pages because they were quite boring... even though, informative.

My goal is to be less boring (I rarely have lofty expectations;) and just as informative.

To this day, I don't get why people wear shades. Okay, if the Sun hurts their eyes, I get that. But I'm convinced that many wear shades because they are under some grand illusion that they actually look cool. In reality, most just look like tourists. I bring this up because of the Title of this post. When you owe folks money, the easiest way to make it seemingly disappear is to hide. Hide from phone calls, certified letters, emails, and from your neighbor who just got information on your behalf.

Let's be Frank. You can be Susie. If you make enough money and handle it correctly... this stuff isn't an issue. However, if your credit score looks like Ted William's batting average from 1941, there is some serious 'issues' going on. While you can ignore creditors all you want, it will end up costing more than the comfort your so-called pride could ever allow.

Much has been written about this issue, even by yours truly. Instead of bombarding you, the reader, with facts, figures, and a brand new way to make money if you spend $19.95 on my 'Secret System', I will give you three Philosophical Facts (oxymoron, I know) about Credit. By the way, if you are interested in my 'Secret System' and are willing to spend almost twenty dollars for the privilege of implementing such, I'm also thinking about starting a cult in Waco.

Commercial Moment:)

When I read the word 'Dunning', I wondered what it meant. I'm no language genius and rarely study, as my college GPA can prove. Dunning is the process of methodically communicating with customers to ensure the collection of accounts receivable. Interesting. This would happen to be addressed by the first of three philosophies I have on credit. Be pro-active! Call them before they even think of calling you. Nobody knows your financial situation better than you. Calling the specific creditor and opening the lines of communication can go a long way in keeping things copacetic. If you are pro-active enough, it will ensure that you are more methodical than the counterpart you owe, which can help buy time to earn the time to appease your financial crime.

But what happens if I get someone on the line and can't pay them a dime? Here comes Philosophy Numero two. I'll use credit cards as an example. This one is a personal story. I had a credit card with an available balance of a mere $500.00. Because of finance charges and an overly high balance, I had incurred their over the balance fee just one month prior. The first time in seven years. I called to discuss and get rid of the issue. That wasn't much of a problem. Yet, the next month I ran into the same dilemma and their finance charges put me over my balance and I was once again confronted with a pretty staunch fee. I got on the horn and spoke to a young lady whose English wasn't akin to Shakespeare. She was passionate in her script in saying that the particular fee I was charged was only able to be waived once ever twelve months. After about twenty minutes, I asked her four times to let me talk to someone higher-up, a manager per se. According to her, they would say the same thing. On the fifth time, she put me on hold. Magically, she was actually able to waive the fee all by herself. Before your panties get wet as a reader, I had been a customer with them for quite sometime and had never been late on even one payment. But Philosophy Numero Two says that you be persistent in all dealings with those you owe money too. If you can't pay them a dime, they'll often accept a penny or two in the meantime.

Read up on this stuff. Information is extremely available, and as long as it's the accurate material, you should be quite fine. When I got my first collection call, I had more anxiety than O.J. after the whole Bronco Chase. Okay, bad analogy. But, I got through it. I learned to deal with it and keep my head about me. The majority of folks you talk to when dealing with any debts you have are hourly employees who probably are in the same boat. You'd be surprised about the credit profiles of collectors, doctors, lawyers, and what I do for a living. Never be intimidated, yet always be gracious. Don't kill them with kindness, confront them with Professionalism.

Pro-active, persistent, & professional. Tsk, I should have been a Social Worker. Then again, :)

The one thing I find missing from our Capitalistic Climate lies within the very title of this post. I deal with the lack of grace all the time and am damn sure I'm not the only one. Too many instances arise when you help folks, guide folks, try and point them in the right direction, and all of the sudden they disappear. Without notice, without a word.

Click here.

Perhaps they found a better deal. Can't win them all. I'm cool with that. That's competition and I don't fancy myself Rocky Marciano just yet.

It puzzles me and makes me understand the "churn & burn" attitude so many sales folks have. Get them in, get them out. It's more of a one night stand than a relationship. Maybe that's the way it should be done?

But I disagree, especially when it comes to something like, I don't know, your house for example. Do you really want to be sharing the sheets with Bill Maher when you can dance with Jon Stewart? Mysterious analogies aside, I want to be advised by someone who holds some semblance of trust and credibility with me.

I ran into a 'Rate Shopper' a few months ago and we've been in constant contact since. His decision on which Lending Entity to choose came down to three. I was one of them. When he made his decision, it was based upon my fees being higher than the competitor and that competitor happened to be the Mortgage Company he had already dealt with. He sent me a pleasant email articulating his decision. I was quite shocked! Not because of his decision per se, but because he took the time to let me know. My response back was a grateful message thanking him for doing what so few do. His response verbatim is as follows:

"You're very welcome, Jason. I felt that I owed you that in light of your helpfulness. As someone who's essentially a missionary (financially), I raise all my support, and get frustrated when people don't have the thoughtfulness and/or courage to let me know they're not going to support us (or stop doing that).

In any event, thanks for your kind words. That means a lot to me, too.

Grace to you,
Bryan"

I'll take Bryan as a prospective client any day of the week, even though I didn't earn a dime in my communications with him. He earned a reputation with me. I think I did the same with him. Reputation turns into relationships. And while almost every relationship I've heard of has rocky roads to travel, that's the way to do business the right way. At least until I find a goldmine under those covers with Bill Maher.

Smart Sales translate into closed deals. Smart Sales is also ensuring it's a long term gig and not a short-term (and often perceived) fortune.

First let me preface (one of my all-time favorite words) this with a cold reality in the Lending Atmosphere right now:

• Nothing is easy. I'm pretty lucky in that I have access to the ears and experiences of Lending Folks all over this Country, not just locally. It's across the board. Get on the gloves and realize that the days of two or three round fights are no longer the norm. It will take a war of sorts, to survive & thrive out there. Call it more Muhammad Ali/Joe Frazier than Mike Tyson/Michael Spinks.

I was more than shocked when I heard stories from various Retail Stores that are having trouble hiring. I mean, we aren't exactly in the 'Best of Times' economically. Are people not applying? Are they instead spending $39.95 to learn the secrets to making millions while doing butt slides across their marble floors as money rolls in from that 'Best Kept Secret Nobody Knows About'? Hey, maybe they looked up something online and realized they had a Rich Uncle in Rwanda and that lost fortune was now theirs?

Sadly, I suppose, none of that was the case. It seems many Retail Stores require you to have perfect credit to get hired. Let's call perfect credit 760 just for poops and grins. 850 is actually the number, depending upon the reporting agencies, but if you are over 740, you can probably give most White House Employees a lap dance and get paid for it. Well, now I understand why they're having a bit of trouble hiring.

Before I ever got into FHA Lending, most of the business I did was Conventional... and some was the infamous Sub-Prime. Those Conventional Folks had scores in the 700's most of the time and that was what I was used to dealing with. Color me more surprised than when I learned that in this day and age, you need a 760 score at some of these places to make $10.00 an hour selling moisturizer obtained from a frog's lip:)

It reminded me that while nothing seems easy in obtaining financing these days, we are still a bit more lenient and the outcome can be a whole lot more rewarding. Sorry, but long-term homeownership eclipses looking like Joan Rivers for a hot moment.

Standard FHA Loans with most investors require a Credit Score of 620, no blood sample needed.

Conventional Loans, these days, are mostly a miss when it comes to payment/cost when your LTV is over 80% of the value/sales price of the property your financing.

While the process can be so convoluted and seemingly incompetent (when buying a home),... look at our freaking world! Jimmy Fallon has a Talk Show!

Unless something changes and if you have a job, it's probably easier to qualify credit-wise to buy a home than work for a local Retail Store.

Strange Days, Indeed. Go out and buy a home with your 620 score. Leave the Retail Stuff to the Credit Worthy;)