Should Loan Originators Retract Preapproval Letters?

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Someone interested in buying a home interviews a couple of Loan Originators and selects one to become preapproved with. The Loan Originator meets with the buyers and takes a complete loan application, reviews their credit and obtains all of their documentation. The LO provides the buyers with all of the possible mortgage scenarios and they select which program is best suited for their financial goals. The LO then submits that loan scenario to their processor and/or underwriter for loan approval. (With our current market, I am submitting all supporting documentation to the underwriter to sign off on before issuing a preapproval. Before August, I would review the findings with the borrower’s supporting documentation and a majority of the time, I would issue the preapproval letter without underwriter review. I’m not taking any chances).

The Buyers are very excited and write an offer on a home with a real estate agent that the LO has not worked with before. The real estate agent uses the LO’s preapproval letter when submitting the offer to the Listing Agent and Sellers. The offer is accepted.

A few days later, the Buyer emails the Loan Originator and says, “Gee thanks…we’ve decided to go with the real estate agent’s preferred loan officer

In good company…

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Over the past two years, the team over at Inman has done a particularly good job reaching out to the real estate blogging community (RE.net for short), and their latest article listing the top 25 most influential real estate bloggers was not only a great outreach tool, but particularly flattering of the Rain City Guide team.

If I had to hazard a guess as to why RCG was so well represented, two ideas come to mind… One is the good fortune we’ve had to bring on a group of engaging (and downright fun!) contributors and two, we’ve had awesome source material with interesting start-ups and a great local blogging community that goes beyond RCG contributors. Inman recognized as much by not only including Ardell and myself in the list, but also including a slew of Seattle bloggers including Marlow Harris, John Cook, David Gibbons and Glenn Kelman. All great people who have engaged and improved the RCG community over the past two and half years!

UPDATE:
Don’t miss:

Are YOU a Contractor?

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Based on recent changes in Washington law, you might be if you own real estate and either work on it yourself or hire others to work on it.

Without great fanfare, the Washington legislature recently made subtle, yet significant, changes to Washington’s Contractor Registration laws (RCW 18.27 et seq.). Generally, the Contractor Registration laws deal with the regulation, registration, and licensing of contractors. Historically, a contractor’s failure to comply with the registration requirements could lead to civil fines and criminal prosecution. The legislature, acting under pressure to better protect consumers, expanded the definition of contractor; stiffened the consequences for violations and strengthened the Department of Labor and Industries’ enforcement powers against unlicensed contractors.

The biggest change occurred in defining who is required to be licensed. RCW 18.27.010(1) now defines a contractor as:

. . . any person, firm, corporation, or other entity who or which, in the pursuit of an independent business undertakes to, or offers to undertake, or submits a bid to, construct, alter, repair, add to, subtract from, improve, develop, move, wreck, or demolish any building, highway, road, railroad, excavation or other structure, project, development, or improvement attached to real estate or to do any part thereof including the installation of carpeting or other floor covering, the erection of scaffolding or other structures or works in connection therewith, the installation or repair of roofing or siding, performing tree removal services, or cabinet or similar installation; or, who, to do similar work upon his or her own property, employs members of more than one trade upon a single job or project or under a single building permit except as otherwise provided in this chapter. “Contractor” also includes a consultant acting as a general contractor. “Contractor” also includes any person, firm, corporation, or other entity covered by this subsection, whether or not registered as required under this chapter or who are otherwise required to be registered or licensed by law, who offer to sell their property without occupying or using the structures, projects, developments, or improvements for more than one year from the date the structure, project, development, or improvement was substantially completed or abandoned. (emphasis added)

These changes now make it clear that businesses engaged in real estate development activities, even on their own property, must now register. For example, under the old law, a developer who subdivided their own property and made required plat improvements would have previously fallen outside this definition. Now, that same developer fits squarely within this definition, especially if the developer does not “occupy or use

FHA: A Siren Who Just Might Break Your Heart

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It’s an FHA love fest! We have national trade organizations smiling and shaking hands with members of the House and Senate over proposed legislation to modernize FHA.  The House approved the bill, suspiciously titled “The Expanding American Homeownership Act of 2007” (I guess “FHA Reform” might have hurt FHA employee’s feelings). This bill will provide some nice upgrades such as increasing conforming loan limits, reducing downpayment requirements, simplifying approval requirements for condos and co-ops, and allowing people with little credit history to use, for example, utility bill records to establish a credit history.  Now we’re waiting on the Senate where opinions differ.

I don’t mean to spoil the FHA happy party, but FHA loans ranked as “seriously delinquent” are higher than subprime ARM loans right now in Washington state as well as overall in the U.S.

See page 13 of this PDF, released last week at the Wash Assoc of Mtg Brokers state convention in Bellevue:

So what do rising FHA delinquencies mean for real estate agents?

Lenders must fully underwrite FHA loans.  If a loan goes into delinquency, the lenders must take a look at what happened:  Lenders and FHA-approved underwriters are held accountable for their bad underwriting decisions. 

What the industry use to do: sell that homebuyer a subprime ARM underwritten on the initial teaser payment rate, which made their debt-to-income ratio look great.

Worse, the industry might have shoved that person into a stated income loan where the borrower “magically” comes up with an income figure that comports with a decent debt-to-income ratio.

This transferred the risk away from the lender and onto the borrower “if” the borrower is unlucky enough to get prosecuted for mortgage fraud.  Stated income subprime high LTV loans are now gone. We’re now living through the painfully obvious proof that borrowers make lousy underwriters.

That risk now falls back on the lender. If the loan defaults, bank auditors and examiners call into question the decisions made by the underwriters.  Recall that with a stated income loan, the borrower inflated the income so the debt-to-income ratio looks great to auditors. With fully-underwritten FHA loans, the bank can go back and examine the decision. Speaking as a former underwriter, banks and their underwriters are not thrilled about re-living their underwriting decisions. If FHA delinquencies continue to rise, banks are going to tighten FHA underwriting policies, as they well should. 

[photopress:FHAsiren.jpg,thumb,alignright]Realtors following this thread ought to continue to be reminded that the “anyone can get a loan” party is OVER and FHA ought not be thought of as an easy and fast way to inject corpses with an FHA drug to bring them to life as first time homebuyers.  Said another way: just because anyone, even zombies, could have received a subprime loan in 2006 doesn’t necessarily translate into FHA-approvable borrowers in 2007 and 2008.

Realtors, add some time to the “loan approval” section in the purchase and sales agreement and please make sure that the FHA borrower is working with 1) a federally chartered bank with current FHA approval (state chartered banks may or may not have this in place); or, 2) a mortgage broker that ALREADY HAS FHA loan approval.  This would mean a medium to large sized mortgage brokerage firm, preferably with an FHA-approved underwriter on staff locally.

If your client is working with a mortgage broker, Realtors: query the LO to see how much experience the LO has with originating FHA loans.  Why let an LO practice on your file? Also, some mortgage brokers might have rules in place that direct the loan originator your client is working with to transfer your borrower’s FHA loan file to a main office. Check on this ahead of time.

Redfin on Guy Kawaski's Blog

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[photopress:guy2_0_1.jpg,thumb,alignright]Over on Guy Kawasaki’s Blog “How to Change the World – A Practical Blog for Impractical People”, Glenn Kelman of Redfin posts their Actual Numbers against “The Redfin Model” figures in a post titled “Financial Models for Underachievers – Two Years of the Real Numbers of a Startup”

Seems the model is based on worst case scenario, to increase the odds of repeated rounds of funding.  Glenn says: “…we heeded Guy’s advice that ‘the three most powerful words you can utter at a board meeting are, We beat projections’. This convinced us to develop the worst possible financial model that could still be used to raise money.”

Hmmmm.  So you set your sights artificially low, so you can say you beat projections when asking for more money.  Had the sights not been intentionally low, maybe there wouldn’t be a new round of funding.  I guess that’s a strategy.  But it sounds a bit deceptive, doesn’t it? 

Surely people spending lots of money, aren’t totally awed when someone says “We beat projections!”.  One would hope that they would first ascertain if those projections were intentionally placed at worst case scenario, just so they could say “we beat projections!” to get more money.  One would think investors on a grand scale are a little smarter than that…or at least we hope they are.  But looks like Guy and Glenn know for fact that they are not, and are capitalizing on that fact.

It really is a great article, and Glenn is offering sanitized versions of the model for others to follow.  But if people looking for money can read this and use that model, wouldn’t the people handing out venture capital also be reading this?  Wouldn’t they in turn learn to scoff when someone says the magic words: “We beat projections!” again and again?

Yup, it’s “A Practical Blog for Impractical People” alright.  Sounds like the practical people are the ones asking for money, and the impractical ones are the people giving the money.

Other blog posts commenting on Guy Kawasaki’s post:

Sneak a Peak Inside Redfin by Joel Burslem on FoREM

Nick Bostic on Radiohead and Redfin (not quite related, but cute and noteworthy)

Greg Swann’s take on it

Tim Berry of Up and Running quotes the quote “Plan slow; Run fast”

 

A Seller's Guide to FHA

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FHA insured mortgages have received a stigma in past years for creating a challenging transaction.  Sellers seem to prefer conventional financing, even subprime financing, over an offer with an approved FHA buyer.   

The Federal Housing Administration was established in the 1930s following the Great Depression.   These innovative low down payment loans were intended to help more people become home owners with intentions of creating more stability in neighborhoods.  FHA insured mortgages are woven into American history.

Here are some reasons you,as a Seller, should consider an offer with FHA financing.

  • Preapproved FHA buyers are full documentation loans.  These buyers have been scrutinized and have provided income and asset documentation in order to have a true preapproval.  
  • FHA mortgages are not going to “disappear

Autumn season always one to savor

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As we stride into October, I’ve found myself wondering where the year has gone (like we all do). It was a year ago this weekend that I journeyed to Seattle from Chicago and was spontaneously whisking my way through Seattle with a friend and touring the gargantuan Mt. Rainier. And though the temperatures are quite brisker this year than when I visited last year, longtime residents have insisted this year’s September weather is an anomaly. But there’s nothing like watching the lush greenery morph into bright reds and oranges and leaves dance from trees. Autumn has always been my favorite season, so, in spite of my sometimes overwelming schedule, I’ve been taking advantage of some of the local events. With Fremont just a stone’s throw away from my home, enjoying Oktoberfest was a given, though it seemed slightly overhyped.

Both the Fremont and Ballard farmers markets have become mainstays when it comes to my Sunday routine. When I first dropped by Ballard’s market, I could not believe the breadth of the vibrant vendors and just the vast amount of fresh fruit, fish, dairy etc. all centered in one dwelling. The Pacific Northwest and the Midwest versions of farmers markets, not surprisingly, are just not comparable.
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Recently, I managed to take a jaunt via the Victoria Clipper to Victoria, B.C., with my Mother while she was visiting from Chicago. Our weather could have been a smidge better during the morning portion of our trip, but the afternoon sun that poked its head through the ominous clouds more than made up for the initial gloom. The absolute pure beauty of Victoria is just breathtaking; it melds modernity with antiquity in a dynamic that gives it a cozy and classy, yet hip feel. If you have never been there, you must try High Tea at the picturesque Empress Hotel (pictured), which is nestled amid much grand beauty. Replete with tea sandwiches, petit fours and other delicacies, the overall afternoon tea experience is something analogous to what you would enjoy in London, and you should not skip it if you plan to spend time there.

Now that fall is upon us and the full-fledged rainy season is soon to set in, I am quickly warming up to Rihanna’s hot last-summer song, “Umbrella.” It seems it will be a good IPod song now that I am riding the bus to work and grad school – yes, I barely drive my car anymore and I can’t stress enough how much it thrills me. Banished from my mind are the days of braving brutal Naperville, IL traffic. It always seemed no matter how prematurely I left for work there was always a snag (usually random, unannounced lane closures, courtesy of seemingly construction) that would prevent me from being punctual.

Although I have some trepidation about Seattle’s impending winter, when I think about trudging through Chicagoland’s cumbersome snow and the street salt and muck that constantly encapsulated my car, and often my clothes, I’m hardly fazed. The tepid temperatures here have been a welcome change and as long as we don’t have to cope with negative figures, frequent clouds and snow, it will be a breeze to endure.

From 'A&E's Flip This House' to You!

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[photopress:REIA__Image_Download__flip_this_house_logo_jpeg_from_mhv_reia_1_.jpg,thumb,alignright]Have you been watching the current real estate market and wondering how  to find the pot of gold in it? Fix and Flip guru Than Merrill from A&E’s Flip this House will show you how right here in Seattle on October 11. Than, like many other saavy investors, is building his business taking advantage of sellers in trouble.  Even though Seattle seems to be somewhat insulated from the current trend across the nation, there are still great opportunities to grab up distressed properties. Banks are looking to unload properties as are many homeowners on the brink of foreclosure.  These often become the inventory and raw product for the ‘fix and flippers’. But how do you find these elusive properties?

My husband and I have been involved with about 2 dozens ‘fix and flip’ properties, but finding the right properties at the right price, i.e., below market, is a challenge. As a realtor, I live and breathe the mls, but once a property hits the mls, it’s generally going to be sold at retail, and paying retail is not the way to make a profit on a ‘fix and flip’.

There are several real estate investment groups in the Puget Sound area that will help you get started and offer advice in marketing, legal issues (recently, state law passed requiring a flip in less than one year to require a contractor’s license.  More about that later) and tips of the trade. Says Shirley Henderson, President of REIA, ” flipping is profitable and a lot of fun if it’s done right”.  And the members want to help you do it right.  Usually they have monthly meetings and from time to time offer educational events to help their members. Members are happy to share their knowledge and are there to help each other.

On October 11, The Real Estate Investors Association of Washington (REIA) is hosting a fabulous Special Event straight from television land.  Than Merrill of A&E’s ‘Flip This House’ will be speaking at a this very low cost event ($15)  to show you how he and his team did 30 deals his first year and after that, double each year over the next 2 years.  The team has 260 deals under it’s belt at an average of $27,000 profit per deal.  $7,000,000 in three years, I could live with that!

If you’re interested in learning how he did it, join REIA on October 11 from 6-9pm to hear about Than’s systems and marketing to find those distressed properties and fix them for the best financial return.  This will be my first ‘fix and flip’ seminar and I’m anxious to hear from the best. Of those 2 dozen flips my husband and I have done, we’ve had varied results (yes, some were losses) because we didn’t have the systems in place to find the bargains.

Hope to see investors from Seattle turn out in big numbers. Make some great connections. Maybe you will decide that this could be your next career.

How are condo/home sales being financed?

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I don’t know about you, but I’ve been chomping at the bit to know how people who are buying, are financing these purchases.  It’s a monumental task to wade through the detail on this. I probably should have waited a week to get all of the September closings into the mix from the last few days.  But I just couldn’t wait another day!  The suspense was killing me. 

I used all sales from one city on the Eastside, closings from 8/1 through end of September, purchase prices of $400,000 or less.  For confidentiality reasons, since I am revealing mortgage data, I will not name which city I used.  Too easy to trace some of these to the actual purchaser.  I think it will be important to track over the next 6 months, how these percentages change, particularly with regard to FHA and financing for purchases with less than 20% down.

Here are the results of approximately 60 closings. Another 25 or so did not have the data recorded yet as to the mortgage amount and type.  I’ll pick those up in the next analysis.

1) 41.5% were 20% down or more.  Most exactly 20% down. 

2) 25% were 100% financed. Interesting note: 75% of the ones with 100% financing were done as ONE loan.  No second mortgage. So PMI may be back in a big way.  (private mortgage insurance instead of a high rate 2nd mortgage, for the amount financed representing over 80% of the purchase price.)  unless these programs waived PMI.  In any event, one loan and not two, as has been customary for quite some time now.  Big shift.

3) 15% were 10% down.  75% of those were also done as one 90% loan and not two, as in 80% and 10%.  Again…big shift.

4) 10% were 5% down.  Half done as one loan, and the other half done as two loans.

5) 5% were cash purchases.

6) 3.5% were FHA.  The amount financed on these were both 98.4% of sale price, and not 97%.  Important to note, as we tend to say that FHA is 3% down, but it really doesn’t work quite that way in reality.  One was sale price $274,000 with a financed amount $269,766.  The other was sale price $213,000 and financed amount $209,709.  More like 1.6% “down”.  I vaguely remember this from “the old days” but time for everyone to get up to speed on FHA and review some actual closing statements regarding how FHA really works at the end of the day.  While only 2 of 60 were financed using FHA, we should be seeing many more of these.  So we all need to get a lender in to explain FHA financing to the agents, in minute detail, with real closing statements as samples, NOT GFEs!

The under $300,000 market looks good with a 3 month supply in escrow…but something tells me a lot of these won’t close, due to financing, unless a lot of agents get up to speed on how to finance these really, really FAST!  Inventory also looks OK, with less than twice that amount on market, but if we can’t close out those in escrow, there’s not much hope for the existing inventory either, especially if 2/3rds of those in escrow come back on market…which they easily could.  I say at least 1/3 of these will not close.  I’m thinking it will actually be half to 2/3rds that will not close.  Mainly because in escrow represents three times the average per mo. that closed in the last two months!  So my guess is that many of these are in closing date extensions, trying to figure out how to finance.

The key to the next six months will be everyone getting totally up to speed on FHA and FAST!  If the low end can’t move in the first quarter, because agents don’t understand FHA or alternative financing, 2008 is in big trouble.  Old saying: “As goes the low end (in the 1st quarter), so goes the year.”

I’m pushing all of our agents in that direction, to help the industry and consumers.  Focus on the low end and totally “get” how to finance it, for people with little money down.  The better we handle this, the better the market will be.  Every broker should be having seiminars on FHA and minimum down financing, and not waiting to see how the market does without our influence.  The best agents need to go down to the low end price-wise, and focus on helping this market move, and not leaving the cheap seats to those least qualified to juggle the financing piece of this low end market.

Fewer sales failing on financing in the under $400,000 market will be THE key to Seattle’s holding on to its preferred market position nationally.  Don’t let Seattle down.  Roll up your sleeves and get down there where it really matters.  The first time buyer market.  DO NOT leave that market to inexperienced newer agents, without a lot of support.

It’s a darned shame escrow can’t intervene and help with this too.  Not a good time for them to be “neutral parties”.  They are the ones with first hand knowledge of which lenders are closing, and which aren’t.  I’ll give you a few clues:

Bank of America closed about 20% of the zero down, one loan, 100% financing.

Wells Fargo closed about 15% of the zero down, two loan 100% financing.

Countrywide, First Horizon, American Mtg Network, Choice Lending, Gn Mtg LLC, Mortgageit Inc., Planet Financial, Mtg. Network Svcs., Liberty Financial, Rainland – all of these closed one or more those 100% financed in the last 60 days.  FHA – Wells Fargo.

I’m not recommending these lenders, and don’t even know many of them.  Just reporting who seems to be getting the job done.  I’ll try to pick up the last week of September, those not yet updated in the County records data, in a week or so.

Utilities: Avoid post-closing disputes

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One of the functions of escrow is to pay lienable utilites. Lienable. There is a large segment of the real estate community that interprets that to mean all utilitites. It does not mean all utilities. In addition, escrow firms do not have access to seller’s account information. Sellers and/or their listing agents need to provide this information to escrow.

While Form 22K is clear in stating “lienable” utilities, there is much confusion by the real estate agents as to what constitutes a lienable utility. Escrow Instructions by any escrow firm or escrow department within a title company are very clear. All unpaid utilities not paid at closing by the escrow company are to be paid by the respective parties.

Which utilities are lienable (subject to property location)?

  • Water
  • Sewer
  • Seattle Public Utilities
  • Seattle City Light (power)

PUD and Puget Sound Energy (PSE) do not provide final utility bills to escrow and they are not lienable. PUD and PSE will send the final bill to the seller. Homeowners are responsible for paying all utilies, including phone, cable, garbage and so on.

To help your clients obtain a smooth and trouble-free closing, please have the Form 22K filled out properly with correct account information. Agents can avoid post closing phone calls from clients who are upset about utility bills that another party is responsible for by clarifying how the bills are handled during the escrow process. If you are uncertain or have questions, please contact your escrow office as they are eager to help you and the escrow staff avoid post-closing problems.