If there have been 60 and 90 day late payments on your credit report, your score would drop. Foreclosures, bankruptcies and collections affect your score very badly.

Your FICO score can be obtained by the credit reporting bureaus. A 3-in-1 report will pull your score from the three of them.

It is not clear exactly how FICO score is calculated. High credit score means that the borrower has no recent bankruptcies, foreclosures and more than 30 day late payments.

www.MortgageQnA.com

First, both 15-year and 30-year loans hit record lows for the second week in a row.

Second, as Reuters reports, the tax credit extension has passed a key hurdle:

The House backed by a vote of 409-5 a measure to extend the closing deadline to September 30 for buyers who already met the April 30 deadline to have a signed contract. The current deadline requires those buyers to close the transaction by June 30 to receive the $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers.

The measure must also go before the Senate for approval.

Rates are dropping and home sales are also down.

What this means is an exceptional window of opportunity for those looking for a new home. Please contact one of our loan officers today and allow us to help you find out what is available to you. We think you’ll be glad you did.

As MortgageDaily.com reports (subscription required), the change is part of a spate of positive news:

“Mortgage insurance companies are easing guidelines, increasing loan amounts and eliminating declining market status for many metropolitan areas. The relaxed standards are emerging as the sector is seeing improved conditions.”

Other areas removed from the list included Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, Boston, Seattle and Washington, D.C.

The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco describes Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) as “extra insurance that lenders require from most homebuyers who obtain loans that are more than 80 percent of their new home’s value. In other words, buyers with less than a 20 percent down payment are normally required to pay PMI.”

Here at Frost, we’re happy to see positive changes in the market that will make it easier for qualified buyers to access this invaluable resource.

If you are looking for a home loan for your next life move, please call us today and let us help you.

We’ve written before about a move to raise the minimum net worth worth requirements for loan originators. The FHA recently set out a timeline for implementation (MortgageDaily.com; subscription required). Among the requirements is a $1 million net worth for all new FHA applicants, with at least 20 percent being liquid. The timeline was announced in a mortgagee letter.

The new requirements are likely to shake up portions of the mortgage industry, making it all the more important to look for evidence of stability in your potential lending partner (such as Frost Mortgage’s “Full Eagle” status). If you have any questions, please feel free to contact one of our loan officers today–we’ll be happy to talk with you about our qualifications and the depth of our resources.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Treasury Department have announced that they’ll be distributing a monthly “scorecard” on the national housing market, including updates on FHA programs. This should be a good resource for those of us who follow the industry closely and should help  us and our branch partners continue to provide you better service and useful products.

If you’re in the market for a loan, now is a great time thanks to low interest rates, and if you’re considering making a move up in the business, it’s a great time for that as well–Frost Mortgage has one of the best programs in the mortgage industry, and we’ve got the resources to thrive even in an environment like this one.

Here at Frost Mortgage, we’ve consistently said it’s impossible to time the market, and we believe great producers make their own fortunes. If you’ve got what it takes and you’re looking for the best platform in the mortgage business, please look at our Branch Partner Opportunities today. We think once you’ve compared our numbers to the competition’s, you’ll be glad you did.

Say you’re buying a $200,000 house. If you are using FHA [Federal Housing Administration] financing under current rules, you can structure the contract so that the seller agrees to pay at settlement all closing costs and even the cost of some needed repairs, up to 6 percent of the price, or $12,000. On a $400,000 house, allowable concessions go to $24,000. That’s huge, especially if you have to struggle to come up with a 3.5 percent down payment and you’re not sure where you’ll find the closing and repair money.

Contrast that with using Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac conventional financing, in which seller concessions generally are limited to 3 percent. For many buyers, the extra negotiating flexibility built into the FHA program makes the choice of programs a no-brainer.

Sometime this summer, though, seller concessions will be cut to a maximum 3 percent. The precise timing is unknown because the announcement had not been made in the Federal Register, but the message is clear: Act now if the concession affects your deal.

We can help. Frost Mortgage is a “Full Eagle” FHA expert. Please contact one of our experienced loan officers today and we’ll quickly help you work through any questions. Because at Frost Mortgage, we don’t just close loans–we open doors.

If you’d like to join a mortgage group that values smart thinking and solid principles like these, please look into our Branch Partner Opportunities. We’re always looking for qualified new partners for this industry-leading offering.

Even though HUD officials say the appropriation for the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) may not receive its appropriation in the coming fiscal year, we hope you won’t be discouraged from looking into the program. For the moment, we’re able to provide loans as usual, and even should the appropriation fall through, we know many of the fine points that can make the difference in tapping into your home’s equity.

So please, contact one of our loan officers today and let us help you leverage your home in a way that will give you long-term peace of mind through a top-quality reverse mortgage.

A Xerox vice president is quoted as saying, “We’re big believers that this is going to be the year for e-mortgages.”

At Frost Mortgage, we’re also big believers in technology (as evidenced by our participation in social media). If you’re interested in joining us on the cutting edge, please visit our Branch Partner Opportunities page and then call us.