George's Blog

I had planned to write a blog last week to enter into Colleen Kulikowski’s contest called “Laurie Manny Challenge - 3 Posts I Think You Should Read.”   For those of you who did not see the Post on this contest, the challenge was to get members of ActiveRain to read blogs outside of ActiveRain, and write a blog about three of them.  I thought that this was a great challenge for me, because I rarely go outside of ActiveRain to read other blogs.  So I would like to congratulate Colleen and Laurie, for accomplishing that goal with me, because of them I actually took time to go outside of ActiveRain to read other blogs.  Even though these other blogs were written by ActiveRain members whose blogs I subscribe to on ActiveRain, it is still a start for me outside the Rain.

The contest deadline was over several days ago, and I failed to meet it, but I still wanted to do a blog on the three of the outside blogs that I plan to continue visiting and read.

Linda Davis (The Great Carnac) – “Eastern Connecticut Real Estate” - Linda is truly an expert on the Real Estate Market in Connecticut.  Her other blog, which she has had for sometime, is extremely well written and professionally done.  Those of you who have subscribed to Linda’s blog here on ActiveRain, know that everything that Linda writes and does, is done with wit, class, and knowledge, and her outside blog is done with the same high standard as those that she Posts here on ActiveRain.  So if it is Connecticut news and conditions that you are looking for, then Linda’s other blog is your answer.

Ines Hegedus-Garcia – Ines’s other blog “Miamism” is another outside blog that I found very well done, but then again I would not expect anything else from Ines who is a professional in everything she does.  Her other blog covers a wide array of topics from Real Estate news to local news and events.  This blog is a great source of information to anyone who is living in or visiting the Miami area.  If you want to know what is happening in Miami, or all the great spots to eat, then Ines’s blog is a must read.

Jay Merton & Boomer Jack Boardman “The Codgers” -  Blogging can’t be all business and no fun, so for your blogging entertainment I would recommend a trip to “Danger Bay”.  Jay and Jack’s wit, imagination, and creativity make for very enjoyable reading especially if you are into “Soap Opera” like story lines.  Another special feature about this blog is that Jay & Boomer create all of their graphics, and it is a special experience to watch them construct the town of “Danger Bay” as well as all the characters that live and visit there.  The care, love and detail that they put into each and every one of their graphics shows in each and everyone them.

I would encourage those who are reading this blog to visit each of these sites, it will be well worth your time, and who knows it might even get you, like me to venture outside the Rain.  Thanks again to Colleen and Laurie to have provide a means that got me to explore more than the daily blogs that I subscribe to in the Rain.

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Info about the author:

George Souto is a Loan Officer who can assist you with all your FHA, CHFA, and Conventional mortgage needs in Connecticut. George resides in Middlesex County which includes Middletown, Middlefield, Durham, Cromwell, Portland, Higganum, Haddam, East Haddam, Chester, Deep River, and Essex. George can be contacted at (860) 573-1308 or gsouto@mccuemortgage.com

We are all aware of the Medias hunger to sell newspapers, and unquenchable thirst to get people to listen to their news station, even if it means coloring the truth to satisfy this desire.  For the Media to behave in this manor is bad enough, but when people from the industry that is being misrepresented are willing parties to this for the sake of a little free publicity, even if it will negatively affect their industry, it is even worst.

So is the case with a FRONT PAGE article in the Friday edition of the Hartford Courant by Staff writers Robin Stansbury and Kenneth R. Gosselin “Death Of Zero-Down”.  The article as the title implies is about the “Death Of Zero-Down Loans”.  This as in the case of the mistakenly reported “Death” of  Mark Twain has “been greatly exaggerated”

Yes, Subprime has discontinued their 100% Loan Programs, and SOME piggy back loans (80/20, 80/15/5, & 80/10/10) have also been discontinued.  But My Community loans that receive an Approved/Eligible and EA-I/ Eligible approvals from Fannie Mae, as well as other 100% Loan Programs like Flex 100, EA-I, Ea-II, and EA-III,  and State specific Loan Programs like Connecticut Housing Finance Authority (CHFA) are still very much alive and well.

But apparently some Mortgage Brokers who find themselves unable to do 100% Loan Programs have found it necessary to jump in bed with the Doomsday Media to be the prophets of doom and gloom of a market that is still very much alive.  In the article Michael Menatian, president of Sanborn Mortgage Corp. in West Hartford, CT., stated that "If someone walks in today with an A-plus credit history and a $200,000 salary but no money for a down payment, I can't help them anymore,"  Well maybe he can’t but there are still many Lenders like the one I work for, McCue Mortgage that can.  I am still getting approvals on 100% Loan Programs without any problems.  I placed one yesterday, and have three more ready to go as soon as the Borrower’s offers are accepted.  One of these is an EA-I on a Borrower that needs Seller Paid Costs, has only one months reserves, and has a 636 middle Credit Score.  Another is an EA-III with a 578 middle Credit Score, three months reserves, and needs Seller Paid Costs.

Not every thing in the article is incorrect or exaggerated.  For example it is true that “Two of the country's biggest home lenders - American Home Mortgage Investment Corp., which employed about 220 people in Connecticut, and New Century Financial Corp. - have filed for bankruptcy. Earlier this year, Middletown-based Mortgage Lenders Network also filed for bankruptcy and folded, costing 1,800 workers their jobs - 950 of them in Connecticut. Stocks of many surviving lenders are at multiyear lows, and it is common to find shares in the industry that have lost 90 percent of their value in the past six months, or even weeks.” 

But it is not true that "Our industry is changing by the hour,"  as Dan Rosenfeld, vice president of Landmark Financial Group stated.  He also went on to say in the same article that his "screen flashes all day long, `No longer available.' Lenders are really tightening their standards."  Talk about getting carried away and over exaggerating.  If this was true we would be all out of work with no loan product to sell.  I don’t know who he is placing loans with, but he needs to find some new Lenders if he is even experiencing a small example of this.

I would venture to guess that the reason why the Mortgage Brokers in this article are no longer able to write 100% Loans, is because they might still be trying to place loans that do not meet Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, or FHA guidelines.  Those of us who write loans according to these guidelines are still very much alive, and the “Report Of  Our Death Is Greatly Exaggerated”  Those that have gone on to their demise, are the ones that wrote loans that did not conform to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, or FHA, and could not get rid of them when they went bad.

If your Broker or Lender tells you that they can not do 100% financing, then pick up the phone and call someone like me.  We are more than happy to do them for you, as long as they conform to the underwriting guidelines of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, or FHA., which in my opinion are still very liberal.

Be very careful of what you read in the newspapers, or hear on the radio and TV these days.  Hype sells, and they are more than happy to provide it as long as it puts them on the FRONT PAGE, or the LEAD STORY to a broadcast.  And SHAME on those in our industry that are helping them deceive the public like this.

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Info about the author:

George Souto is a Loan Officer who can assist you with all your FHA, CHFA, and Conventional mortgage needs in Connecticut. George resides in Middlesex County which includes Middletown, Middlefield, Durham, Cromwell, Portland, Higganum, Haddam, East Haddam, Chester, Deep River, and Essex. George can be contacted at (860) 573-1308 or gsouto@mccuemortgage.com