It was just over two years ago when President Obama vowed to eliminate the danger of financial institutions becoming "too big to fail," but now it has become apparent that the nation's largest banks are BIGGER than they were before the credit markets seized. The Federal Reserve reported that at the end of 2011, the Top 5 banks (JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, and Goldman Sachs) held $8.5 trillion in assets, equal to 56% of the U.S. economy. This is up from 43% from five years earlier. And these 5 banks combined are nearly twice as large as they were 10 years ago! So much for the plan.
Well as you know rates are hovering at historical lows. This week most of the banks showed very good profits and are putting less of into reserves for the next crash. We are seeing more players coming back into the market behind the scenes to buy mortgages. But what does this mean for us in the daily trenches, maybe more options and loosing of guidelines. There are rumblings of forms of state income coming back and getting back to make sense underwriting.
For today I would like to introduce you a product to help the Jumbo Market. Piggy Back Loans are back! We can now do the first and second loan combo's to 89.9% ... In house, no brokering. You can get the decent rates up to $625,500 add a second loan (heloc ) up to $350,000. Or it can be used to avoid PMI in any other case, more details are available.
I am here to Dispel a Myth. A myth I commonly see! It is that an FHA loan is harder and takes longer to close than a Conventional Loan. This is just not the case. I close almost all of my FHA Loans in under 30 days. They are no more tedious than a Conventional Loan, and often have more lenient guidelines to the borrower, than a Conventional Loan. Yes, the Property needs to meet Health and Safety concerns that are laid out to us by HUD. But, we would often see the same comments on a Conventional Loan Appraisal.
Many years ago, FHA was very stringent, and I think that "history" is what is still giving FHA Borrowers a bad rap today. The reason I decided that today I needed to dispell this Myth, is that I have several well qualified Borrowers that never seem to get their Offer(s) accepted and are frequently beat out of the running by a Conventional Purchase Offer. While I realize a conventional borrower may have "more skin in the game"...it does not necessarily mean that their loan will close any sooner or with less hassle or Conditions. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are keeping tight underwriting standards, too!
Listing Agents, please consider your FHA Offers as good and viable Buyers of your Listing. These are first time home buyers wanting to support our local communities. They are not Investors, but Home Owners. Let's give these folks a chance!
Good News for those of you with an FHA Home Loan. Not only are interest rates still at an all time low, but, effective in June, FHA will allow you to drop your Upfront and Monthly Mortgage Insurance Premium. (Prior Loan must have closed by 5/31/09). These two improvements could dramatically drop your House Payment for you! So, don’t consider doing an FHA Streamline Refi from 4/9/12, and wait until June, as FHA just did another Increase to FHA Insurance Premiums that went into affect today. FHA Streamline Refinance loans are unique to each individual borrower, depending on your own personal circumstances, prior Interest Rate and much more. I can help sorting out if this loan will be of great benefit to you or not.
Landmark Mortgage Group is a division of Opes Advisors and licensed by the CA Dept. of Real Estate, Real Estate Broker license 01458652 and NMLS 235584. Equal Opportunity Lender. 
