Robert Staab's Blog

Good Afternoon: In the last five years there have been many changes in real estate finance.  Do you think that the loan process (not if someone qualifies for a loan, but the process itself) has gotten so complex and cumbersome that some buyers are just not bothering to go through the process?   Y...

You have a pre- approval letter but how do you know if it is worth anything?  Below is a checklist of questions every borrower’s broker or listing broker should ask to see if the letter is valid or not. A “NO” to any of these questions means you do not have a valid pre approval. Underneath the qu...

If you can prevent any of these from happening your stress level Will be greatly reduced 1.       Borrower (s) does not provide the entire bank statement to show funds to close 2.       Borrower (s) do not provide the entire Federal tax return or forgets the K-1” 3.       Their Photo ID is out of...

Thirty year fixed rates below 4.75% with no points – house prices back to 1995 levels in some areas. The idiot who buys a house today will be a genius in 5 years…

Please click on the link below. If there is or was a reason to have your customer's pre approved this is it. Remeber both the interest rate, points and actual approval depend on the credit score.   http://redtape.msnbc.com/2011/04/experian-glitch-temporarily-sinks-credit-scores.html    

First time home buyers wanting to use the "Gift of Green"   in the Maine Housing Program can now take the course on line instead of in person. Here is the link http://ehomeamerica.org/ Bob Staab

Yesterday I was conducting a class to a group of Realtors on credit and credit reports for continuing education credits. The subject of pre approvals came up and how worthless they can be. If you ask your lender the following questions you should be able to determine if your pre approval is valid...

  Mortgage rates for 30-year U.S. loans declined for the first time in five weeks, reducing borrowing costs from a 10-month high. This link is from Business Week and discusses interest rates and the housing market last week  http://buswk.co/eXjCDC It will be interesting to see what interest rates...

I recently had a client who was oh so close to qualifying for a Rural Development Loan. She just needed one more month of paying her bills on time to get her over that magic 640 number. Both brokers, the seller held the contract up a month just to let this happen. When the month passed and we pul...

Yesterday was a great day for the real estate market, for interest rates it was an awful day as rates jumped higher in one day than in some time. However, it was a day full of good news that we have been waiting a long time for. The private payroll data report from ADP was almost twice what was e...