“Your Successful Career as a Mortgage Broker” by longtime mortgage broker David Reed explains the details of making an above-average income helping other secure affordable mortgage loans. According to Reed, the average mortgage loan officer earns $76,000 per year, but those who make it to the top 5 percent of the industry earn more than $360,000 annually. This career oriented book explains the three primary types of mortgage lenders: bank loan officers, mortgage bankers and mortgage brokers. After discussing the key personnel involved in mortgage brokerage, the author shifts to the topic of getting started. Because all states now license mortgage brokers, he says the first step is to get licensed. The book contains a state-by-state license information contact list.

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American consumers have a “poor” grasp of the mechanics and importance of credit scores — a lack of knowledge that can cost them thousands of dollars needlessly when it comes to obtaining a home mortgage. Simple concepts that point to the need for more consumer education include 1. Less than a third (29%) of respondents were aware of the meaning or uses of credit scores — that they predict the risk of nonpayment of loans; 2. Less than half (47%) knew that Experian, Equifax and Trans Union are national credit bureaus; 3. Less than a quarter (24%) knew that the lowest FICO score needed to qualify for a low-cost mortgage generally is around 700; 4. Only 45 percent of consumers polled were aware that they have more than one score-one each from the three credit bureaus. Scores on the same individual from the bureaus differ at least slightly because each bureau has different information on file.

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New York has the most expensive mortgage origination and closing fees in the country according to a recent survey. A resident of New York City getting a $200,000 mortgage would pay an average of $3,830 in origination, title and closing costs, according to the survey of lenders. On the other end of the scale, an Indianapolis resident would pay $2,339 for the same loan, or 39% less. Mortgage-related fees vary from place to place because of differing taxes, customs and regulations. Title insurance is another budget buster. In each state, the insurance department sets the rates, with heavy input from the title agencies and insurance companies. Because the state establishes the rates, title companies don’t compete for consumers by offering lower prices.

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Most foreclosure properties, also known as REO’s (or pre-foreclosures, also known as short-sales) are dirty, have a lot of junk inside them, are in disrepair and there’s limited information on both the property and the deed. If mortgage payments are not being made, then that means the owners are in financial stress. If you’re in financial stress, that means you have only enough money to pay the grocer. If all you have is money for groceries, then you’re not going to pay for a cleaning lady, roofer, painter, creditors — and lastly, the lender. If you agree to buy the house, you get it in its current condition, no exchanges or substitutions allowed. You get the soiled carpet, busted a/c, vermin infestation, etc. What you get in exchange is a house that is truly under the market as far as pricing is concerned, and you get to add some repairs and sweat-equity to create a healthy financial gain.

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search for : foreclosure, REO, short-sales

Reverse mortgages, sometimes considered controversial, are enjoying a surge in popularity.

In the next five years, 1.4 million Americans will see their mortgage payments more than double. Already, half a million homeowners are 90 days behind on their payments. Foreclosure rates are up 30 percent from 2006.

Senior homeowners are taking equity out of their longtime residences to make ends meet during their retirement years, and to remodel their homes and help their children and grandchildren with the financial challenges of higher education. Conventional reverse mortgages allow senior homeowners, with a minimum age of 62, to receive proceeds from a lender — either in a lump sum, regular monthly payments, a line of credit or in a combination of those options. When the house is sold, or the last remaining borrower dies or moves out of the home, the loan amount plus the accrued interest is repaid. The borrower can’t owe more than the value of the home.

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State financial overseers are bringing new subprime regulations to state lenders not regulated by the feds. For the subprime lending industry, the mandates call for clear and effective management practices, underwriting standards, and consumer protection provisions that institutions must follow when marketing and selling to subprime borrowers, including Curtailing predatory lending. Loans should be based on the borrower’s ability to pay rather than the foreclosure or liquidation value of the home, tightening underwriting controls. Loan approval should be based on the borrowers ability to pay the loan based on the fully indexed rate, not the starter rate, predatory lending, poor underwriting habits and other industry behavior has left consumers suspicious about the lending process.

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search for : subprime regulations, borrower’s ability to pay

Two out of three adults believe mortgage pitches are either only slightly credible or not credible at all. More than one in five adults, 22 percent, are convinced mortgage advertising and marketing is not credible at all and that could be putting the industry’s reputation at stake, according to a recent poll. During the last housing boom, the mortgage industry experienced growing levels of predatory lending, fraud and financial crimes that spawned a swarm of complaints from civil and class action lawsuits to federal investigations of organized crime. Collusion, conspiracy and insider aiding and abetting among other sectors of the real estate industry share the blame for consumers who believe mortgage ads are empty lures.

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A Virginia company is buying Rancho Cordova-based Liberty Reverse Mortgage, the nation’s largest non-bank source of reverse mortgages for senior citizens, in a $50 million deal expected to close late this year.