Two More Days until Appraisal Process Changes: Home Valuation Code of Conduct

One final reminder about the appraisal process. If you sign and date an application and disclosures prior to May 1, 2009, and get your credit report pulled to justify those dated forms, we have control in who to order the appraisal from. If you wait until May 1st and after, we will have to order through AMCs.

If you take care of these items through Thursday the 30th, then we can order the appraisal at some point in May (or even June). The magic date will be to close the loan within 90 days of the date you signed the application and disclosures. I recommend to get this taken care of if you are intending to refinance within the next few months, even if you are unsure.

If you would like to join me in fighting the Home Valuation Code of Conduct, please write a letter to your local legislators. If you’re unsure of how to proceed or what to write, send me an email directly and we can go over it together.

Published in:  on April 28, 2009 at 11:21 am Leave a Comment

9 More Days Until the New Appraisal Law Goes Into Effect!

We have 9 more days until appraisals have to be ordered through AMCs. The rule is that your application and disclosures must be signed and dated prior to May 1, 2009. If you do so, then we have control over who to order your appraisal from. If you sign and date your application and disclosures May 1st and after, then we will have no control.

I recommend that if you’re thinking about refinancing, even if you want to float the rate, that you get your application in to your mortgage professional now. It will be much less headache and much less costly.

For those unaware of the new appraisal law (The Home Valuation Code of Conduct), read here.

Published in:  on April 21, 2009 at 8:15 am Leave a Comment

Update on the New Appraisal Law (Home Valuation Code of Conduct)

Lenders are accepting broker-ordered appraisals (i.e. from me) when any application is dated and submitted by the borrower before May 1st, 2009. If you date your application May 1st and after, then we have to go through Appraisal Management Companies (AMCs). The significant negatives of being forced to order through an AMC are:

1. The charge for appraisals increases. Because of my relationship with independent appraisers that I have used and trusted that past eight years, their standard fee is $350. The minimum charge for appraisals through AMCs is $440 on the cheap side. It will often be more.

2. They will not do comp searches. We just have to order the appraisal and see what value the appraiser determines. We will not have an idea beforehand to see if refinancing makes sense. This will incur a cost regardless of value because they did the work for the appraisal. Please be aware of your value and what homes in your immediate neighborhood are selling for.

If you get your application in before May 1st, we can avoid ordering through an AMC.

I wrote a thorough blog post about the Home Valuation Code of Conduct here.

Published in:  on April 8, 2009 at 9:48 am Comments (5)

Fannie Mae Refi Plus Program (Making Home Affordable): It’s Here!

Lenders are slowly starting to roll out the Making Home Affordable program, which will allow some homeowners to refinance their mortgages up to 105% of their home’s value. The background of this program can be found here.

First things first: You need to see if your loan is currently owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. You can find out through these two websites:

http://loanlookup.fanniemae.com/loanlookup/

https://ww3.freddiemac.com/corporate/

• If your loan is owned by Fannie Mae and you fall into all the other criteria, I may be able to help you.
• If your loan is owned by Freddie Mac and you fall into the other criteria, you must contact your current service provider directly; only they will be able to help you. (Your service provider is who you write your mortgage payments to).

Right now, lenders are only allowing a maximum of 95% LTV/CLTV. The 105% LTV allowance will not be rolled out until May 2nd.
UPDATE 4/8/09: Lenders are now going up to 105%, so this feature is available.

Some other items you need to know:
1. If you currently have Mortgage Insurance on your existing loan, you do not qualify for the Refi Plus program.
2. If you have a 2nd mortgage, the 2nd mortgage lender must agree to subordinate. You cannot pay off any 2nd mortgage balance with your new 1st Refi Plus mortgage.

May’s roll-out will bring many new features, such as the 105% max Loan-to-Value ratio with no restriction on Combined Loan-to-Values (if you have a 2nd mortgage), as well as no minimum FICO requirements and no maximum qualifying ratios.

Of course, remember that you are not going to get the optimal interest rates with this program. There will be pricing hits, so we will look at your situation together to determine if it makes sense to refinance.

More to come soon! Call or email me with your situation if you have specific questions.

Published in:  on April 7, 2009 at 8:05 am Comments (2)