Allen Mische's Discussions

The FHA MIP and/or the VA Funding Fee affects the APR, so they should be disclosed, but not in the cost and fees section. The FHA FMIP and/or the VA funding fee should be shown in the Loan Details section. You should have a Base loan amount, then the the financed MIP or VA Funding Fee, and then the final loan amount. Obviously the P&I would be based off of the final loan amount. This way you can disclose these fees, calculate the APR correctly, show the actual lender fees, and give the borrower the ability to accurately compare the difference between the FHA/VA and Conventional loans. Thanks for using Zillow.Zillow.com:Terms of Use | Privacy PolicyZillow, Inc., 999 Third Avenue, Suite 4600, Seattle, WA 98104© 2006-2008 Zillow.com. All Rights Reserved.Please do not respond to this message. We do not reply to e-mails at this address.

Wayne - you can also follow the ticker symbol MBB and see if that helps.  It's free, and you'll notice that as this changes, so will rates. 

Greg Darlin - Your post above Classic example of API quoters giving a borrower quotes on products that were not asked for , it appears to me that the borrower requested a 30 year fixed rate, and got 17 out of 17 quotes for a 30 year fixed rate.  Some were manual, some were automated.  What is your point?  That API works great and is very effective?  I would agree with that. It saves a tremendous amount of time to have a computer look at the loan amount, LTV, and area and then search our pricing engine and different investors to let the borrower know what rate we can offer.  It's not rocket science.  I would say that less than 1% of all quote request enter anything into the comments section, yet this is your biggest argument against API.  That they are not getting what they requested.  I monitor these quotes and make adjustments if needed.  I assume that you are fumbling thru rate sheets that are faxed to you every morning and possibly still using a rotary dial telephone?  There is no reason to spend hours manually quoting rates (and I have been here from the very beginning manually quoting 3000-4000 before API was available), when we can utilize the latest technology....and be more productive doing something else.  Since API and Zillow is relatively new, I've been monitoring the quotes that have gone out to make sure everything is working correctly...and now it appears to be.  What seems to be the problem?  I understand that you service a small area, so this may not be for you at this point.  But to suggest that we are in someway trying to "trick" the borrower or "lowball" them is absurd.  I see that a lot of brokers on this tread that are intentionally misleading customers and violating Zillow's new policy.  I will address that in another tread.   The bottom line is that a computer looks at our pricing and quotes rates that are lockable based on a certain margin at that moment in time.  If you think that a quote has no margin, then all Zillow has to do is contact the API provider to see if that is the case.  It's all electronic, and can be documented. 

All of my API quotes at 95% or higher is at .55%, and under is at .50% PMI.  This is the guidelines per FHA.  I notice that on your quotes though that you do not only leave off the cost of the appraisal, but you leave off the upfront MIP premium...see ZQ-JYBXBRB  [this is not a new quote, but the most recent that was sumbited, all of his quotes are like this]  Both of these are in direct violation of Zillow's policy.  If you look at the history of your quotes, you have always left off the cost of the appraisal.  You can do a cash-out refi or a FHA purchase without an appraisal??? That's awesome.  You don't have to pay the FHA UFMIP, which affects the APR?  Wow...you have re-invented the wheel and I would like to know how. 

Here is your latest quote ColoradoLender ZQ-ZBWGSPX, you leave off the FHA MIP as well on all of your quotes.  I don't like the way that Zillow shows this as a lender fee either.  But they made it clear of how they want this shown.  This is a clear violation of Zillows new policy.  Here you are complaining about the "system shooting out inaccurate/misleading/horrible quotes", and here you are doing it intentionally. 

Joe, this is the policy "Some lender fees, like the appraisal fee, may be payable to third parties. By omitting any fees here, lenders are telling borrowers they will not charge these fees. Lenders may lose access to Zillow Mortgage Marketplace if they do not accurately quote the fees in this section."  They address the appraisal and didn't leave any gray area.  What they did 6 months ago is different than today.

Greg - I don't give out multiple quotes if they only request a 30 year fixed.  I think when API first came out, it did for some lenders.  But they made the correction and should be working fine now.  Now if a customer request rates for a 30, 20, and 15 year fixed, then they will get quotes for a 30, 20, and 15 year fixed.  This is what the customer request, and this is what we are providing.  Since API was introduced, I have been quoting FHA for everything over 90% LTV in all 50 states to leave no room for error regarding the declining markets.  However, just the other day, I sent the API provider a list of declining markets so we will now be able to quote conventional loans up to 95% in non-declining markets.  They should make that fix soon.

GregD - I hate to stick up for this guy (Scmidt), because I don't know him or his bank.  But I don't think he is quoting Provident.  I show two investors at 0.655 and higher before lender fees at 5.625%.  I think his rates are real. 

Hey Joe - I never said that I would have the best offer in every scenario.  But I were manually pricing that...it would have been the exact same offer. 

Joe - haha...I guess you found a niche.  Pretty soon people will be calling wanting to know how you've priced your loans so cheap compared to everyone else, and starting nasty threads about you, and flagging your quotes.