Brett Sampson's (bsampson) Blog

Of all the blog posts I’ve made over the years this one particular post gets searched for and read more than any other… …So, I wanted to touch on it again here to remind you that it is possible to get a mortgage if you owe the IRS back taxes. Here is what it takes… 1) If you owe the IRS back taxe...

Here’s an easy way to put down only 3%, pay no up front Mortgage Insurance, and get a very competitive rate… …It’s Fannie Mae’s 97% purchase product! Here are some of the important features of this product… 1) Owner-occupied primary residence only. 2) Minimum 720 FICO score. 3) 3% down payment mu...

Did you know that it is possible to get mortgage insurance on a conventional loan with a debt to income ratio higher than 45%?   …it’s true!   For a long time you couldn’t find an MI company willing to write mortgage insurance on a conventional loan with a DTI higher than 45%.   Now there are som...

In honor of President’s Day here’s a little known presidential fact… Did you know Lincoln had a premonition he would be killed? It’s true! …Not long before he was assassinated, Lincoln spoke of a dream where he heard someone weeping in the White House. When he found the room it was coming from, h...

This is a topic I’ve touched on before, but I wanted to address it again here because I just saw it crop up again.   It can be a loan killer…   I wanted to make you aware of certain deductions on your tax return that can hurt you when it comes time to get a loan.   The deductions you take on Sche...

FHA is making it harder to qualify for financing if you have lower credit scores. Starting April 1st, 2013 with Mortgagee Letter 2013-05 FHA has revised its guidelines for manually underwritten loans. Here are three things you need to know about this update from FHA… 1) Manual underwriting is req...

Would you like to refinance your home, but you owe more than your home is worth? If your home loan is held by Fannie Mae then there is hope for you to refinance your home. You may have heard about the HARP program. HARP allows you to refinance your mortgage at loan to value ratios above the norma...

FHA has confirmed it’s changing it’s MIP. …again. Starting April 1st of 2013 there are two big changes that will go into effect. 1) The annual FHA is going up. (Can be as high as 1.55%)  …This is up from the max rate of 1.25% now. 2) If you are putting down less than 10% on an FHA mortgage you w...