Pat Pribisko's Q&A

Yes, in general for conventional loans, lender's will allow you to "buy down" your rate before the loan documents have been prepared.  However, you have to pay your lender to "buy down" the rate; and, you may not want to incur further cost.

Yes, your new lender wants to have the 1st mortgage of record (1st one filed with the County Recorder's Office).  If the equity loan was not paid off, the equity loan would have the 1st mortgage of record & your new lender would be a 2nd mortgage. 

You should be able to find the information on-line at your county Assessor's/Auditor's web site.

Zillow gets info from your local county Assessor's/Auditor's Web Site not vice versa.

You can obtain most of the info you want by going to your County Assessor's/Auditor's Web Site.

The answer is that both Houses of Congress are looking at a possible extension of the tax credit, extending it for first time home buyers & expanding it for some repeat buyers.  The time frame being discussed is: Purchase Agreements must be in place by April 30, 2010 & transactions must be closed by June 30, 2010.  We are in a wait & see status.  Contacting your local Federal Congressmen & Congresswomen will definitely help.

You can find the owner of a home at your County Assessor's/Auditor's Web Site.  Just make sure you have the exact address.

Often, a Realtor will list the homes on Zillow that he or she has for sale.  You can ask your Realtor to do that for your home.

Zillow gets its info from from public records.  So, your new appraisal will not change Zillow's Zestimate, since the appraisal is not part of the public record.  Also, with the square footage of your home, Zillow only takes the info from public records, so the appraiser's number will not affect Zillow.

It depends on your reason.Seller's Agents & Buyer's Agent's provide a broad scope of services that cost those Agents a great deal of money to provide.  And, in general, a significant portion of the commision goes to the Agents' Broker.  In addition, since Agents are independent contractors, from the income they receive, they must pay for their own benefits; self employment taxes; federal, state, regional & local incomes taxes; etc. So, asking  Seller's Agents & Buyer's Agent's to reduce their commission is a lot to ask, unless you have a good reason.Are you asking the question because you can no longer afford to make your mortgage payments for a valid reason?