Choose Wisely: A Comparison of Mortgage Brokers and Banks

Author: Kevin Onizuk

Mortgage Brokers Do The Work So You Don’t Have To

My career in the mortgage industry has provided me with many opportunities to work with both mortgage brokers and banks. I believe mortgage brokers are great tools for consumers in search of the best financing options available. A mortgage broker differs from a bank representative in some important ways. The broker can shop and find the best deal for a homebuyer or refinancing deal. The bank only sells its own products. The mortgage broker takes one application and one credit report and utilizes all of the resources to find the best rate and mortgage program available. In my role as the mortgage broker I am an expert working hard specifically for the consumer.

Mortgage Brokers Can Show You All The Possibilities As a mortgage broker I may work with up to one hundred lenders all over the country. The consumer never knows about many of these companies because mortgage brokers have exclusive access to them. When a bank turns down a mortgage application for any reason, the bank is finished with that potential customer. A mortgage broker is not through -- he or she moves forward to find the next best lender. If a customer does the mortgage research alone mortgage companies want to pull a credit report before giving any details about products and programs you qualify for. All of these credit inquiries may lower your credit score and when it is time to qualify for the mortgage this is critical. My goal with every customer I work with is to find the best rate. This money all comes from essentially the same places: investors on Wall Street. Customers with good credit will be quoted a similar rate from a bank.

Tap Into Broker Knowledge And Thrive Under Special Circumstances

Consumers dealing with more credit challenges may find they have more choices with a mortgage broker. A lack of a down payment, a short time in business or the inability to prove all of your income may be a problem and a skilled mortgage broker will be able to find a solution. I can find specialty programs many lenders don’t have or don’t know about. Mortgage brokers shop around the country and they have the knowledge and expertise to get someone with unique circumstances approved.

How Does the Mortgage Broker Get Paid?

In the mortgage industry brokers are an integral part of the equation to get the best value for your money. I am the middleman between the customer and the lender. Mortgage lenders compensate mortgage brokers for completing a large portion of the work. When a mortgage broker markets and originates the loan lenders only have to deal with basic negotiations that involve an educated party (the broker), the approval process, and execution of the loan. The cost for banks and mortgage companies do not differ.

Compare a Mortgage Broker to a Buyer’s Agent

A mortgage broker is like a buyer’s agent for your mortgage.

A buyer’s agent represents the home shopper’s best interest. The agent is an educated real estate professional dedicated to representing only the purchaser. With this representation the homebuyer can save money and have better deals negotiated. As a mortgage broker, I negotiate the term of a loan with only my customer’s individual needs and desires in mind. As a consumer it can be difficult to find advisors and representatives completely committed to your best interests. A mortgage broker is the key to uncovering all the possibilities and securing the best mortgage rates you can find. Be sure to choose wisely and you can reach your highest home investment potential.

About the author: Kevin Onizuk has been in the mortgage business since 1994 and co-founded Breakwater Mortgage in 2003. His background covers many aspects of lending. Breakwater Mortgage has one office in Virginia Beach and two offices in Williamsburg, Virginia. Kevin Onizuk and the Breakwater Mortgage team are dedicated to providing the highest level of service available in the mortgage industry.

California Bad Credit Mortgage

Author: Carrie Reeder

California is a beautiful place to live There is no doubt about that. But, to live in California you must pay the price, which is sky high real estate prices. Renting, as opposed to buying in California, can save a little bit of money. However, renting has the disadvantage of not building any equity. As home prices in California continue to rise, you may want to be a homeowner and take advantage of the home appreciation factor. If you're going to be paying a lot of money to live in California anyway, you might as well be making some money on top of it too, right?

Now, if you have bad credit and are trying to get a home loan for California home prices, this may seem like an impossible situation. Home prices are high and if you already have poor credit, the fact that you need to be approved for such a high loan amount can be an added difficulty when trying to get a home loan.

However, there is hope. There are so many programs available today to help people with recent bankruptcys, collections and even foreclosures, obtain mortgage financing. There are nationwide mortgage service companies that can either approve you directly or get you in touch with a lender who can approve you.

Here are some suggestions of things you can do to aggressively help yourself get qualified for a mortgage loan in California, with a bad credit history:

1. Pull your credit and review it - Pulling your own credit will not negatively affect your credit score like having someone else pull it will. For a list of the links to the three major credit bureaus, click on the link at the bottom of this article. Look over your credit history and make sure that everything is reporting accurately. Sometimes, something as small as an account being reported as currently being due as opposed to being included in a past bankruptcy can be the difference of 10-15 or more added points to your credit score.

Make sure every account that is closed is reported as being closed. Make sure that every account that was reported in a bankruptcy is reported that way, and not being reported as money still owed. If you have small collection accounts, try to pay them off and then fax confirmation that the account was paid off to the major credit bureaus so that they can adjust your credit report right away. Editing this information on your credit report is easier than ever today because all three major credit bureaus now make it possible to dispute and inaccuracies online. You could pull all three reports, dispute all inaccuracies and be done in less than an hour now. Just a few years ago, it used to take hours or days to fill out all the necessary paperwork.

2. Find a seller who is motivated to pay closing costs or carryback a percentage of the loan - If you find a seller who is really motivated to work with you, that may help you get approved with a lender. If the seller can pay your closing costs, this can free up that money so that you may have a small down payment. If the seller is willing to carryback a percentage of the loan then the loan-to-value may be low enough that the lender may consider that as good as a down payment. If the seller is motivated to work with you, they may be willing to work through a down payment assistance program to help you make a down payment. It is illegal for a seller to give you the down payment for their house, but through down payment assistance programs like Neighborhood Gold and the Nehemiah program, it is totally legal.

3. Borrow or ask for a gift from relatives toward a down payment - After you have financed the house, you can usually take out a 2nd or 3rd mortgage up to the full value of your house, and then you would be able to repay the relatives. Keep in mind that if you intend the money to be as a loan only from the relatives, you would need to disclose that to the lender before you close. Lenders usually have regulations about where the down payment is coming from and if you are not honest, it could be considered defrauding a lender.

To view our list of recommended bad credit mortgage lenders who can service California, click on this link:

California Bad Credit Mortgage Lenders .

About the author: Carrie Reeder is the owner of ABC Loan Guide . ABC Loan Guide is an informational site with articles and lists of recommended lenders for bad credit mortgage loans.

Self Employed Mortgage Loan - Getting a Mortgage When You're Self Employed

Author: Carrie Reeder

Being self employed has many benefits. When you are self-employed, you can write off all of your deductions on your taxes. You have the potential to make more income than someone who is employed by someone else. You have the freedom to be your own boss. One of the few times when being self employed has some drawbacks is when you go to get financing for a home or a major purchase. But, here are some things to know that can help you make the mortgage loan process run smoothly when you are self employed.

When verifying income - In general, lenders want to see at least 2 years of self employment history, sometimes they want to see 3 years. They will want to see this history verified in tax returns, usually. Sometimes the lenders will figure your income as being the average income you claimed on your income taxes as profit, not your gross business income. Sometimes the lender will figure your income as the lowest of the two years and sometimes as the highest of the two years. Talk to your mortgage broker or lender and find out which way they verify. Sometimes lenders will figure a portion of your write-offs or deductions back into your income. There are ideas of other ways that a lender may be able to verify your income and if you are self employed it will help you to be able to show a more of your income.

A. Use bank statements as proof of income – Find a lender who will accept 1-2 years of bank statements as proof of income. It is becoming more common nowadays for lenders to verify your income this way. This way usually works better in proving income than going off of your tax returns, because you can usually prove a lot more cash flow than tax returns will show. On your tax returns you usually subtract each and every business expense before you claim any profit. When using bank statements, you are still proving income, this does not put as much emphasis on your credit score or down payment as the stated income or no doc loan will.

B. Do a stated income or no doc loan – These types of loans are done all of the time, where you need no proof of income, you only state on a form what your income is, and you do not need to verify it. This can help if you are self employed and want to state your income as it is and not worry about having the lender average out your income from the last two years instead. Make sure you are accurate in stating your income, because the lender may be able to obtain past taxes from the IRS to confirm it. When you do a stated income loan, this will put more emphasis on your down payment or credit score. So, you will usually need one of these factors to be strong if you want to go this route. Most of the time when you do a stated income or no doc loan, you will be charged a slightly higher interest rate because of the extra risk the lenders carries.

C. Put together a profit & loss statement stating accurately stating your profits and expenses from the last two years. This can be a time consuming project, but it can sometimes be used as income verification for a lender. It is more usable if you have had it signed or verified by your accountant.

There are many ways that lenders can work with you if you are self employed. There are many programs available to help you and if you have a down payment or decent credit, you are almost guaranteed to be able to get approved somewhere. To see our list of recommended lenders that would be able to help you, visit here: Recommende d Mortgage Loan Companies Online or here Re commended Bad Credit Mortgage Loan Companies Online

About the author: Written by Carrie Reeder, Owner of ABC Loan Guide . Carrie's website is an informational mortgage loan website. Her website has articles and a list of recommended mortgage lenders for many different types of mortgage loans.