Kevin Warren's Blog

  We find it kind of interesting that the stock market continues to hit records at a time in which oil prices are moderating. Conventional wisdom tells us that the stock market rallies when the economy is getting stronger. A stronger economy causes higher demand for energy. That would cause oil a...

  It is all about turkey and giving thanks this week. As much as we have struggled to rebound from the financial crisis and recession during the past five years, we have plenty to be thankful for. For one thing, our rebound did happen — albeit very slowly. Just a few years ago, economic prognosti...

  In November of 2011 President Obama signed HR 2112, the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act of 2012 into law renewing the expired higher loan limits for Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) loans for an additional two years, throug...

  Like the past few years, economic growth has not been strong in 2013. Yet, for some reason this year the country seems to have more optimism regarding prospects for the future. The obvious question is–why the optimism? To us it all boils down to two words — household formation.   The creation o...

Owning a home is a dream that is shared by millions and millions of Americans. Earlier in the decade the national home ownership rate reached a record high as almost 70% of all families owned their own home. This number has fallen during the  recession and subsequent rebound, however the dream o...

Fannie Mae has announced that their guidelines are changing pursuant to requirements for “Qualified Mortgages” as outlined in the Dodd-Frank Act. What does that mean for the average homebuyer? While there are many changes included within these new requirements some of the most important adjustmen...

Changes In Loan Ownership Nicki Long’s questions were simple and straightforward: “Who owns my loan?” the single woman asked. “Why is it such a big secret when you try to find out?” Mortgage banking is no longer the simple business it was 20 years ago – even eight years ago. Your monthly mortgage...

There are multiple credit scores out there, but the most common is your FICO score, which ranges from 300 to 850. A score of 780 or above is considered excellent and will land you the top deals available, while a 720 to 780 is strong but may not qualify you for the best rates, says John Ulzheime...

Now that the shutdown has lasted at least a work week–we have to ask the most important question. How much damage was done to the economy because of the actions or inactions of Congress? And it was not just the government shutdown. What we are talking about here is is also the threat of the shutd...

Financing a home can be a very confusing proposition. There are literally hundreds of mortgage programs and rate combinations available: fixed rates, ARMs, buydowns and more.  Even more confusing, many consumers may not know that they can purchase or refinance using more than one loan against the...