Revival: A Blogger's Story

I AM STILL A MORTGAGE CONSULTANT!!!

Sure, I haven't posted anything to this blog in about 7 months, but most of the blog information is on my active rain blog.

No excuses! I neglected this little blog and those all important 8 subscribers. I have found renewed vigor in it as my foray into Facebook, showed me just how many people I know.

And yes it is more than I can count on my fingers and toes!

I actually feel lucky to know so many people. I hope they know that if they needed anything from me at any point, I would be willing to help.

Anyway, my goal is to make this blog better. To direct it in a way that people find it useful. But it will probably be more than just Mortgages. I will tell stories of my time as a Coach in competitve hockey in AZ, I will tell stories about my wife, our dogs, my car, the in-laws, the immediate family, the journey.

Hopefully, I will lead an interesting enough life that people will see the blog and decide that they might enjoy working with me as they choose to buy their first, second or last home. Perhaps they want to refinance their home.

So, here I am. Make of it what you will.

My Phoenix Lender

A couple of weeks ago, my former colleague at Silver State Bank, began her very own blog. Though I am jealous, as she seems to be more proficient at it than I am (see: Own domain name, good blog content, fun widgets), I am excited that she is continuing to increase her business through this tool. Her site is at the following link... www.myphoenixlender.com .

If for no other reason then to check it out, go to her blog and say hello. If you want, say that I sent you - I don't get anything for it, just the satisfaction of seeing her become successful.

I hope to someday match her when it comes to my own domain name, etc. but for now, I enjoy active rain and the social interaction it provides.

FHA to Change Guidelines due to Buy and Bail

A new mortgagee letter from the FHA was posted yesterday. In it the guidelines were changed for those homeowners who currently own a home and are looking to rent the property and buy a new primary residence. The goal of these new changes is to "respond to an unscrupulous practice arising in the housing market that poses a risk to FHA..." This unscrupulous practice is known as buy and bail, where current homeowners buy a new home under the guise that they will rent their former residence and in turn they let the house go into foreclosure.

Here are the highlights:

1) Cannot use the rental income from the previous home unless there is 25% equity in that property.

2) Borrower must qualify for the new mortgage with the new mortgage payment and the previous home's mortgage payment.

3) Surrounding properties with FHA mortgages would be negatively affected by the bail out on the old residences by these customers seeking new FHA mortgages.

Exceptions:

1) IF THE BORROWER HAS SUFFICIENT EQUITY (25% or more) THEN THEY WILL UNDERWRITE USING RENTAL INCOME PERCENTAGES.

2) IF THE BORROWER IS REQUIRED TO MOVE THROUGH JOB TRANSFER WITH CURRENT EMPLOYER THEN THEY WILL UNDERWRITE USING RENTAL INCOME. (NEED VERIFICATION OF SECURITY DEPOSIT AND ONE MONTH'S RENT TO THE BORROWER FROM RENTER)

Hope this helps. Good luck. For the actual mortgagee letter check the HUD website and look up letter 2008-25.