Matthew Kelly's Discussions

The best assitance you are probably going to recieve is in the form of a seller contributing to your closing costs. Most Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac programs allow the seller to pay up to 3% of your closing costs. This should be a concept that your Realtor or current Mortgage Banker should be aware of. Hope that helps.

Just curious to know how many Realtors out there are feeling the pinch of the tightening of Mortgage Guidelines. Any transactions cancelled due to lenders not funding loans?

Yes, there is still plenty of business out there. Here's what we see from the Lenders perspective, we have a bit broader view than many other Lenders given that we lend in 25 states and generate our leads through a variety of on-line sources:1) Many home buyers are experiencing a longer selling cycle when trying to sell their existing home which keeps them from closing on a new home.2) Alt A and subprime programs primarily No Ratio, No Doc, and Stated Income programs greater than 80% LTV are pretty much gone. Six months ago doing a wage earner stated generally wasn't an issue, today it is a different story especially if there middle credit score is less than 660. More programs will disappear in the near future unless there is more liquidity in the subprime and second lien markets.3) Rates on Jumbo loans have jumped substantially over the past two weeks, especially for loans with alternative documentation or occupancy other than primary residense.I have always felt like the best benchmark to gauge the housing market is the number of loan apps made since, generally speaking, a borrower will go to a lender first to get pre approved before engaging a Realtor. If you watch that number closely, the glass is still half full.As far as what you should tell other Realtors in your area what to do to stay busy here's what I have told a couple of Realtors:1) Align yourself with good producing Mortgage Bankers, we sometimes have the ability to refer deals out,2) Invest in technology, buy Zillow EZ ads, google ad words, and anything else you can to drive traffic to your website,3) List as many properties as you can and work the leads you get off of the signs,4) Get a blackberry or other similiar device so that you can be the first to respond.As Ted Turner said in an interview several years ago "Late to bed, early to rise, work like hell and advertise!"

I would try and find out who this Title Comany was an Agent for i.e. Stewart, First American and what not and take this issue up with them! I am sure they would not be happy to learn that one of their Agents was insolvent. If it turns out it was either a Stweart or First American Agent, let me know and I can probably get a name of someone in there Corporate office to speak to.

For the vast majority of Mortgage "Brokers", yes, it is a bad time to be in the business. I emphasize "Brokers" since there pricing, fees, and execution are not even close to what a Direct Lender of Coorespondent can offer.The paradigm has shifted from being able to make a nice living closing two-three loans a month to requiring six to twelve loans a month. If you can't achieve that sort of volume, then your going to have a very tough time competing with the Quickens, E-Loans, or firms like mine.

Quicken, E-Loan, and Ditech may very well be a 1/2 point higher in rate, but they can reach out to the masses where the Local Mortgage Broker can't. Lending Tree does level the playing field for borrowers by introducing them to experienced, knowledgeable, and reputable Mortgage Bankers. So yes, I think Lending Tree is great.Not only can the above mentioned Companies reach out the masses but they can process, underwrite, close and fund in house. Customers don't have to worry about their Broker calling them and saying "Sorry Mr. Jones I brokered your loan to American Home and they just went out of business. I'll give you a call in a couple of days when I figure out what I am going to do."Realtors and Brokers that slam Lending Tree (or an on-line Lender) typically do so because they loose business on a regular basis to LT Lenders or Realtors affiliated with realestate.com.Not only can they reach out the masses but they can process, underwrite, close and fund all in house. Customers don't have to worry about their Broker calling them and saying "Sorry Mr. Jones I brokered your loan to American Home and They just went out of business. I'll give you a call in a couple of days when I figure out what I am going to do."

Interesting point of view Rob......sorry that you worked for an LT shop that took the approach you outlined above.

I posted my thoughts on my first day on the Zillow Mortgage Market place on geekestateblog.com earlier but wanted to address three things I have read here. Rarely do we run into a consumer that tells us that have an 800 credit score when in fact they have a 500 credit score.  Obviously some might know exactly their score, but are generally honest about their credit being "Great, Average, or Poor."  My experience is that when asked the question about their credit they are better informed than we give them credit for, and very honest. I took a look at several hundred quotes form other lenders and the vast majority appear to be fair.  Why we all accuse each other of "bait and switching" consumers continues to baffle me.  I think we should all start admitting "maybe they will do the loan cheaper than I will. I love the feedback feature, gives me a way to keep tabs on my LO's.  Also gives the consumer recourse.  My experience with feedback (ebay, tripadvisor, citysearch)  is to take it all with a grain of salt.  Just because someone says they had a bad experience at one place doesn't mean it's always bad.

What I'm hoping will happen is the through the feedback system the borrowers will bring attention to the habitial low ballers which will eventually run them off.