United States/NY/Melville In a turbulent time in the mortgage industry, Somerset Mortgage Lenders stays ahead of its competition by lending a helping hand to senior borrowers. Along with saving seniors a lot of money with a reverse mortgage, many Somerset employees have gone the extra mile to make sure they remain friends with their borrowers by offering to lend a hand with home improvements. One example of this is when a recent customer was going to pay $450 to paint a fence on her property and her Senior Lending Specialist, Sean Miller, offered to do it for free on his day off. "It feels good to help people in their time of need, not only by creating financial freedom that will save them thousands but also to help by lending a hand in other ways", Sean stated. The borrower Inez Richardson remarked "Sean has given me my financial independence and a brighter look on the future. He has given so much for so little in return". "You have never stood so tall until you kneel to help a senior citizen" Sean said. Sean Miller is not the only an example of a Somerset Senior Specialist lending a helping hand. Because their product deals with people in times of need, our loan officers often encounter unfortunate situations. Another example of this is Vince Navarro, a team leader and Reverse Mortgage Specialist, recently helping a senior with no working bathroom living with basically an out-house accommodation, gain her bathroom facilities and her dignity back. "What’s great," Vince said, "is that we can remedy a situation not only for now but for the long term. Fixing the bathroom was my pleasure". ### SOMERSET MORTGAGE LENDERS Specializing in: purchases, debt consolidation, divorce buyouts, loans for home improvement, mortgages, refinancing existing loans, reverse mortgages, FHA loans & more Get a free rate quote now at http://www.somersetmortgagelenders.com or call 1-800-675-9783 to speak to a LIVE Loan Officer.
Gregg Marcus from Somerset Mortgage Lenders wants to arm consumers with tools to make getting a loan an easier and more enjoyable experience. With this in mind, they have set up this very useful refinance savings calculator, available at no cost by going to http://www.somersetmortgagelenders.com/Mortgage-Calculator/MortgageRefinanceCalculator.aspx The refinance calculator above shows you if it makes sense for you to refinance your home loan in the first place! When making the decision regarding refinancing and using this refinance calculator, you need to consider a couple of things. 1. How long do you plan to live in the home? 2. How much will it cost you to refinance your mortgage loan? Once you know these two things, you can determine if your accumulated monthly savings from refinancing will be enough to recoup the costs of refinancing your mortgage loan. Keep in mind however, that this calculator will assume that you have made all of your mortgage payments on time, as scheduled. If you have made a couple of larger than normal payments to pay-down the loan principal, or if you have made some late payments, your actual loan balance on your current mortgage loan could be different. Also remember that this calculator only addresses the principal and interest (P&I) part of your loan, not any real estate taxes or insurance that might be part of your monthly mortgage payment. Hope this helps! ### SOMERSET MORTGAGE LENDERS Specializing in: purchases, debt consolidation, divorce buyouts, loans for home improvement, mortgages, refinancing existing loans, reverse mortgages, FHA loans & more Get a free rate quote now at http://www.somersetmortgagelenders.com or call 1-800-675-9783 to speak to a LIVE Loan Officer.
"Twitter, Facebook and our blog have changed the way we do business," said Robert
Haufler, director of marketing for Somerset Investors Corp.,
(www.somersetmortgagelenders.com) a mortgage-banking firm in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. "People can get mortgage rates on a daily basis. We talk about new programs or updates on existing programs. Cutting-edge people come to us, and they´re the ones with good ideas." The audience is a combination of homeowners and realtors.
In recent months Twitter and video blogs and posts have produced better results than Facebook, Robert said. As a result, Somerset has shifted its emphasis accordingly.
"Using social media has moved us up in the search engines and gives us a better page rank," he added. "Every tweet or posting gives us more exposure. We were spending $20,000 a month on pay-per-click advertising. We recently cut this in half because of the exposure we are getting on youtube, MySpace, Twitter and Facebook.
"When we do press releases, we tweet about them. About six publications have done stories on our use of social media. That, in turn, increases our page rankings. When we tweet about the stories, we get even more exposure.
"For example," Robert said, "go to Google and type in ´divorce buyout.´ The first organic (nonpaid) listing is ours." (Editor´s note: Robert made this comment several weeks ago; Somerset still came up at the top of the page when we repeated the search a few days ago.)
Somerset has two employees devoted exclusively to social media at an annual cost of about $100,000. One has a public relations background and previously worked with Internet media in the medical field. The other was a nightclub promoter.
"We moved to social media because we realized the world was changing," Robert added. "Everybody is busy. People don´t watch much television and they fast forward through the commercials. We weren´t getting the responses we used to. But when people type ´divorce buyout´ or ´mortgage rates´ into a computer, you know they want to hear your message."
As a result of these efforts, page hits have increased 148 percent since July.
Robert´s wife, an assistant to a member of the $1 million life insurance roundtable, has started moving away from ads in smaller, local newspapers to Twitter and Facebook.
In addition to the "Big Three" social media -- Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, Somerset uses AOL´s BBO, Google´s orkut, Digg, Deli.ci.ious and Yahoo! Buzz. Somerset submits information to more than 1,200 Web sites, working with 50 to 100 of them each day.
Robert finds LinkedIn to be the most useful for researching business contacts.
I was speaking to a friend over the weekend – she and her husband have been thinking of refinancing their existing home mortgage and they have been shopping around the web doing a research.
Their situation is not uncommon - many homeowners today do their home financing research on the internet. My friends asked that I not use their names, so let’s call them Harriet and Henry Homeowner to protect their privacy.
Harriet and Henry have owned their home for five years. When they purchased the home it was their first, and the realtor introduced them to the broker who provided the financing. They were confused by many of the forms sent to them during the application process, and were constantly told, “Don’t worry. Let us take care of the details. You have to get ready to move and that part of the purchase process is our job – relax!” NO ONE ASKED ABOUT THEIR PLANS OR FINANCIAL EXPECTATIONS, AND NO ONCE CARED ABOUT ANYTHING EXCEPT THEIR COMMISSION.
It turned out that all the relaxing resulted in shock therapy at the closing table. The closing costs, finally spelled out in agonizing detail the day before the closing, were almost 20% higher than Henry and Harriet expected them to be. To make matters worse, the margin on their hybrid adjustable rate mortgage loan was higher than they expected. Faced with no place to live as of the following Monday, and overwhelmed by the excitement of owning their first home, the Homeowner family went peacefully through the process as many first time homebuyers do.
With the fixed period of their hybrid adjustable about to expire in four months, Harriet and Henry decided that now is the time to refinance. They also plan to take about $75,000 of their equity out of their home to dormer the second floor of their home to make more room for their growing family. Having been rushed and hustled through the process the first time, this time they have vowed to think of and demand answers to ALL of their questions before they commit to a lender or a program. They are doing things the right way this time, but they are having some interesting experiences I wanted to share.
Harriet and Henry entered their information on a web site promising to have four lenders contact them with hours with offers specifically tailored to their needs. One form – one click – and suddenly the whole financial world was going to compete for their loan.
The first call came the next day. The loan officer was not interested in listening to what the Homeowners had to say about their plan for this new loan. All he wanted them to do was “Trust me – I AM a professional and MY expertise is all that you need to know. I will TELL you the best program and structure for your new loan!” After five minutes of this high pressure nonsense, my friends politely said good bye and chalked it up to the learning process. They wisely decided that anyone who was not interested in their needs and goals was not going to get their business!
The second call came that evening. This lender’s representative only wanted to push his company’s hottest product – a six month arm loan that was interest only for the first five years that came with a three year prepayment penalty as a bonus of dubious value. While he offered to send out paperwork immediately to them, he became hard of hearing when asked about other mortgage programs and products. They hung up on him with a curt request to please lose their phone number and never call back. Five minutes later a supervisor from this same national lender was on the phone, trying a more sophisticated and high level form of high pressure sale. The supervisor answered none of their questions as he tried to force them to say yes.
The third lender’s loan officer left a wrong number to call back – not confidence inspiring, and an easy decision for Harriet and Henry to cross off their list.
The fourth lender to call seemed to be more inclined to be helpful. The representative was polite, listened to their needs and faxed over a Good Faith Estimate of closing costs and information about the loan program she was recommending they take. The problem was that she demanded a lock in fee, an application fee, and an appraisal fee the SAME day – otherwise the offer could change. Harriet and Henry asked for a few hours to think things over. The rep promised to call them at 8pm that evening. That was three days ago and they are not holding their breath. Their refusal to fork over a bucketful full of fees seemed to wipe them out of this loan officer’s memory. Harriet and Henry have been regretful about the fees they paid on the original mortgage loan when they purchased their home five years ago; this loan officer’s desperate attempts to talk them into laying out money before they had time to think about the offer was not a mistake they intended to make again.
Frustrated, they went back to their current mortgage lender – after being told it would take about six weeks and still involved a full application process after being an on time customer for five years, they eliminated this option as well.
The web site which Harriet and Henry found promised four offers. Let me offer you four simple rules all consumers shopping for a mortgage loan should follow. Whether you’re a first time homebuyer, or if you are someone refinancing for the fifth time in ten years and consider yourself a veteran of the mortgage wars, these simple common sense rules will save you money and disappointments.
1)TAKE NOTHING FOR GRANTED. HAVE A LIST OF YOUR GOALS AND QUESTIONS IN FRONT OF YOU BEFORE YOU EVEN START TO SHOP! RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN FROM ANY LENDER TOO BUSY OR UNABLE TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS WITHOUT OBLIGATION.
2)DEMAND WRITTEN COST ESTIMATES AND EXPECT A GOOD LENDER TO CHEERFULLY PROVIDE THEM WITHOUT COMPLAINT THE SAME DAY. NEVER RELY ON ANY VERBAL PROMISES!
3)PAY NO FEES WITHOUT DETAILS! A REPUTABLE LENDER WILL NOT LOOK TO COLLECT FEES BEFORE YOU ARE COMFORTABLE WITH THEIR OFFER AND UNDERSTAND THE COSTS INVOLVED.
4)DO NOT RUSH INTO THE APPLICATION PROCESS. TODAY’S MORTGAGE REALITY ALLOWS CLOSINGS IN LESS THAN TEN DAYS – THERE IS NO REASON ON EARTH TO PROCEED UNTIL YOU ARE CONVINCED THAT YOU HAVE THE BEST SOLUTION POSSIBLE FOR YOUR NEEDS AND FINANCIAL ABILITIES AND ANY FORESEEABLE MAJOR LIFE EVENTS ON THE HORIZON.
A Story by Gregg Marcus.
###
5 Secrets to Mortgage Success There are 5 rules of thumb that all prospective buyers should take into account when shopping around for a new home. These tips can help you obtain a mortgage with less hassle and at a lower cost. 1. First, determine how much home you can afford. Based on your income and any long term debt, know the maximum payments you can be certain of making comfortably. Home loans are serious business, and buying too much home can build a mountain of debt. Make sure you can make your payments comfortably; it shouldn’t be a burden. Locate a mortgage calculator online that allows you to enter your income and it will tell you how much mortgage you can afford. 2. Then, Make a budget. Do you know where your money goes? How much is spent on unnecessary things? How much are your utility bills? If you are buying a larger home, the utilities will most likely go up. Will you be able to make payments on time and pay the larger bills? Does the home you are considering require repairs or upgrades? This tip recommends you figure these things into a budget to avoid overspending. 3. You need to gather your documentation. You will be required to show quite a bit of documentation before you mortgage is approved such as IRS returns for past years, W-2’s, proof of current salary, assets, debts, records regarding child support or alimony and the like. 4. It is imperative that you become educated about mortgage types and rates. The tip is very important. If you know the meaning of the mortgage “lingo”, the types of loans available and what the current rates are, you will be in a much better position to negotiate your home loan. Start studying your options well before you plan to buy! 5. Remember that there are options, maybe considering a shorter loan term is a better financial decision for you. The goal is to pay off the home mortgage in the least time possible while allowing enough money to live comfortably. You can save tens of thousands of dollars in interest payments! If you follow these rules, it will help you on the road to making your mortgage experience easier and less costly. You should learn all you can before applying for a loan! Article Source: David Chapman For more information on Somerset Mortgage Lenders check out their website: http://www.somersetmortgagelenders.com About Somerset Mortgage Lenders: With their main offices in the heart of Long Island, located at 290 Broadhollow Rd Suite 310 E in Melville, NY 11746, Somerset Mortgage Lenders have been in the mortgage business for 30 years. In Somerset, you have a mortgage banking firm that prides itself on attaining the highest ethical and moral standards and is dedicated to providing quality mortgage products at value pricing to our customer. Somerset has a long-standing history of servicing its local community as a reliable mortgage company. Our goal is to establish a successful partnership with our customers, staff, investors, and markets that respect the interest and goals of each party. Somerset Investors Corp. has been built on the belief that to be successful in mortgage banking it must first begin by molding itself as a customer service firm that provides quality service to the public. ### SOMERSET MORTGAGE LENDERS Specializing in: purchases, debt consolidation, divorce buyouts, loans for home improvement, mortgages, refinancing existing loans, reverse mortgages, FHA loans & more Get a free rate quote now at http://www.somersetmortgagelenders.com or call 1-800-675-9783 to speak to a LIVE Loan Officer.
For Immediate Release: Somerset Mortgage Lenders Featured in Long Island Business News Article - Banks large and not so small turn a-Twitter Melville/New York/USA (August 31, 2009) Robert Haufler, Director of Marketing for Somerset Mortgage Lenders, was interviewed recently by Long Island Business News writer Laura Glasser for her article "Banks large and not so small turn a-Twitter" which was published on Friday August 28th, 2009. Here is the link and text from the article, courtesy of LIBN and Laura Glasser: http://libn.com/blog/2009/08/28/banks-large-and-not-so-small-turn-a-twitter/:Banks large and not so small turn a-Twitter: by Laura Glasser Published: August 28, 2009 Tags: banks, social media, Twitter The finance world is jumping on one of the biggest trends the Internet has ever seen: Twitter. Used for a range of functions from marketing to customer education, big banks such as Wells Fargo and Bank of America are actively using the micro-blogging sensation to "tweet” their finance news and respond to customers’ questions, or even explicit rants, about their institutions. "I think it’s a great idea,” said Carmen Effron, president of Connecticut-based bank consulting firm CF Effron and Co. "Say you have an interest rate that you just dropped .25 percent; you want to get that out there and this is the best way.” She added that using social networking sites such as Twitter, which allows users to post a message up to 140 characters long, is a good way for banks to attract the younger, tech-savvy crowd and secure them for future business. Wells Fargo, Wachovia and Bank of America have employees dedicated to managing their Twitter feeds and responding quickly to customers who post anything negative about the banks. In the finance world, early adopters of Twitter have the advantage of little competition in the area, said Rob Haufler, director of marketing at Somerset Mortgage Bankers in Melville. Of all financial companies on Twitter nationwide, Somerset has the largest number of followers, with 9,370, according to information technology news site ComputerWeekly.com. "My opinion is we’re in the bottom of the first inning; we have a whole game left of this,” Haufler said. "I see social networking being huge.” Aside from customer service, Haufler uses Twitter to educate consumers on anything going on in the mortgage world and to announce special promotions. For example, on its Twitter page now, Somerset is offering a coupon for a free in-home mortgage consultation. Haufler said Twitter is important to Somerset’s overall business in the post-mortgage-meltdown world because it’s another source for tapping potential borrowers. "A loan officer making seven loans per month used to need a certain amount of leads to get those seven loans,” he said. "Now that loan officer needs triple the amount of leads to get the same amount of loans; Twitter’s helping with that.” Haufler said Somerset’s online traffic is up about 8 percent since he started using Twitter. "It’s the best return on investment of any marketing we’re doing,” he added. Long Island-based commercial banks, however, have yet to jump into the social networking fray. That doesn’t surprise Art Loomis, president of Albany-based Northeast Capital since banks in the local region also haven’t adopted mobile banking, which was the last big technology upgrade for big banks. "Community banks tend to be followers of technology, not leaders,” he said. "A community bank’s real niche is that customer touch, so all the Internet stuff helps the younger folks, but most of your really valuable banking customers are older.” The customers secured through social media wouldn’t become profitable to a bank for about 10 to 15 years, and since many institutions are now short on cash because of the recession, time and resources would be better spent targeting the over 50 crowd that makes community banks the most money, Loomis said. Effron added that social networking sites such as Twitter are not helpful to small business-centered banks, as many of the Island’s institutions are. "You have to look at who this appeals to and it’s the younger, emerging customer,” she said. "This is not a commercial banking approach.” ### Somerset Mortgage Lenders, with their main offices right in the heart of Long Island, have been in the mortgage business for 30 years; currently located at 290 Broadhollow Rd Suite 310 E in Melville, NY 11746. They pride themselves on attaining the highest ethical and moral standards and is dedicated to providing quality mortgage products at value pricing to our customer. Somerset has a long-standing history of servicing its local community as a reliable mortgage company. Our goal is to establish a successful partnership with our customers, staff, investors, and markets that respect the interest and goals of each party. Somerset Investors Corp. has been built on the belief that to be successful in mortgage banking it must first begin by molding itself as a customer service firm that provides quality service to the public. SOMERSET MORTGAGE LENDERS Specializing in: purchases, debt consolidation, divorce buyouts, loans for home improvement, mortgages, refinancing existing loans, reverse mortgages, FHA loans & more Get a free rate quote now at http://www.somersetmortgagelenders.com or call 1-800-675-9783 to speak to a LIVE Loan Officer.
Gregg Marcus: How Home Equity Works by Somerset Mortgage Lenders: "The Brains, The Courage and The Heart to Make Your Dreams Come True" http://www.somersetmortgagelenders.comGregg Marcus and Somerset Mortgage Lenders strive to keep the public educated with tips meant to make getting your loan as easy and painless as possible. To this end, they have put together this brief article on how home equity works. What is Home Equity? Your home equity is the appraised value remaining in your home after you subtract the remaining balance you owe on your existing home mortgage(s). It can be thought of as the part of the home you actually own instead of the bank: the part you’ve paid for so far. It isn’t difficult to build equity in your home, and chances are if you’ve owned your home for a while and have been making your regular mortgage payments, you probably have built a considerable amount of home equity already. Though the housing market rises and falls in cycles, the overall tendency is consistently upward. In other words, property values tend to rise over the long term. How Can Home Equity Be Used? Once you have equity in your home, you can start to use it to fund nearly anything you want or need. Having equity in your home puts you in a powerful position, as you can use that equity to qualify for credit and borrow money. Buy a new car, take that dream vacation, fund a college education, and make renovations and improvements to your home. Whether to pay for an emergency or finance a dream, there are two primary ways to tap into the wellspring that is your home equity: a home equity loan and a home equity line of credit. What Are Home Equity Interest Rates Like? A good question to ask before borrowing money from any source is: how much is it going to cost in the long run? Because your home is being used as collateral on the home equity loan or home equity line of credit, the risk for the lender is considerably lower, and therefore interest rates on home equity loans and home equity lines of credit are usually lower than the average interest rate on a credit card. Home equity loans and home equity lines of credit are, however, usually higher than the interest rate on the average fixed rate mortgage. And in general, home equity loans usually have lower interest rates than home equity lines of credit. What Are Some of the Other Benefits of Home Equity? As if borrowing money weren’t advantage enough, home equity offers a bevy of other benefits as well. SOMERSET MORTGAGE LENDERS Specializing in: purchases, debt consolidation, divorce buyouts, loans for home improvement, mortgages, refinancing existing loans, reverse mortgages, FHA loans & more Get a free rate quote now at http://www.somersetmortgagelenders.com or call 1-800-675-9783 to speak to a LIVE Loan Officer.
Maintained by: Derek Nichlos
Reverse mortgages were created in order to help ease the financial burden on aging seniors. A reverse mortgage is a type of financial instrument that permits home owners over the age of 62 to gain access to the money they have accumulated as home equity. How a reverse mortgage works is that the lender makes payments to the borrower, rather than the other way around. The amount paid out is based on a percent of the equity remaining in the home (that’s the full property value minus the amount still owed). Seniors can use money from a reverse mortgage to fund: 1 Retirement 2 Medical costs 3 A new car 4 Home repairs 5 Renovations 6 Estate planning 7 A grandchild’s education 8 Travel and leisure In order to get a reverse mortgage your current mortgage does not need to be completely paid off. The amount you can receive in a reverse mortgage is based on the equity in your home. As a mandatory part of the reverse mortgage process, however, your existing mortgages will be paid off. Some people simply use a reverse mortgage to get out of having to pay monthly mortgage payments, the money they receive just being a bonus. When you receive a reverse mortgage, your home remains in your name, and you also retain total control of the property. It is also still your responsibility to maintain the house and property and pay all taxes and insurance as usual. No reverse mortgage lender can take your home away from you so long as you keep that home as your primary residence. ### SOMERSET MORTGAGE LENDERS Specializing in: purchases, debt consolidation, divorce buyouts, loans for home improvement, mortgages, refinancing existing loans, reverse mortgages, FHA loans & more Get a free rate quote now at http://www.somersetmortgagelenders.com or call 1-800-675-9783 to speak to a LIVE Loan Officer.
For Immediate Release: Tweet All About It - Somerset Mortgage Lenders Hits 10,000 Followers on Twitter Melville/New York/USA (September 16, 2009) Tweet All About It! Gregg Marcus' Somerset Mortgage Lenders has reached the 10,000 followers plateau on Twitter, the popular microblogging service; a spokesman for the direct mortgage lender said today. Recently, an article in Computer Weekly named the Melville, Long Island (NY) Mortgage Company as the #1 bank on Twitter - their survey polled the top 10 banks actively participating in twitter and chose the winner in relation to number of followers - and since then their web traffic has increased exponentially, both on Twitter itself and on their home page located at somersetmortgagelenders.com. "It is truly astounding how quickly these new ways of marketing can be implemented and show legitimate results" remarked Gregg Marcus, Executive Director, Somerset Mortgage Lenders. "If I wasn't a believer in viral marketing before, I am certainly a believer now" he continued. Over the past few months, Somerset has also been quoted in articles written for Newsday and Long Island Business News; in relation to their forward thinking hiring procedures and to their work in the social media marketing realm. Do you tweet? Follow Somerset Mortgage Lenders on Twitter: http://twitter.com/SomersetMtgFor more information on Somerset Mortgage Lenders check out their website: http://www.somersetmortgagelenders.comAbout Somerset Mortgage Lenders: With their main offices in the heart of Long Island, located at 290 Broadhollow Rd Suite 310 E in Melville, NY 11746, Somerset Mortgage Lenders have been in the mortgage business for 30 years. In Somerset, you have a mortgage banking firm that prides itself on attaining the highest ethical and moral standards and is dedicated to providing quality mortgage products at value pricing to our customer. Somerset has a long-standing history of servicing its local community as a reliable mortgage company. Our goal is to establish a successful partnership with our customers, staff, investors, and markets that respect the interest and goals of each party. Somerset Investors Corp. has been built on the belief that to be successful in mortgage banking it must first begin by molding itself as a customer service firm that provides quality service to the public. ### SOMERSET MORTGAGE LENDERS Specializing in: purchases, debt consolidation, divorce buyouts, loans for home improvement, mortgages, refinancing existing loans, reverse mortgages, FHA loans & more Get a free rate quote now at http://www.somersetmortgagelenders.com or call 1-800-675-9783 to speak to a LIVE Loan Officer.
For Immediate Release: Somerset Mortgage Lenders Featured in Digital Media Buzz Article - Successful Twitter Campaigns Build Brands, Bolster Profits Melville/New York/USA It was announced today that Somerset Mortgage Lenders is featured in the Digital Media Buzz Article "Successful Twitter Campaigns Build Brands, Bolster Profits", online now at their website digitalmediabuzz.com ( http://www.digitalmediabuzz.com/2009/10/successful-twitter-campaigns/) "We are once again humbled to be included in the conversation as a leader in the field as it pertains to using Twitter to effectively market your business" said Gregg Marcus, Executive Director, Somerset Mortgage Lenders. Recently, an article in Computer Weekly named the Melville, Long Island (NY) Mortgage Company as the #1 bank on Twitter - their survey polled the top 10 banks actively participating in twitter and chose the winner in relation to number of followers - and since then their web traffic has increased exponentially, both on Twitter itself and on their home page located at somersetmortgagelenders.com. Over the past few months, Somerset has also been quoted in articles written for Newsday and Long Island Business News; in relation to their forward thinking hiring procedures and to their work in the social media marketing realm. TEXT OF THE ARTICLE: Successful Twitter Campaigns Build Brands, Bolster Profits By John GreavesSocial networking sites are returning commerce to the days when business and personal relationships were intertwined through constant non-commercial contact. Twitter is an especially effective medium that successful companies are using to position customers and companies in the same digital media community. “We use Twitter because it helps us to humanize our brand,” says Carisa Miklusak, senior consultant for Personified, a Careerbuilder firm.
New York-based Liberty Jet Management Corporation has seen business explode in the two weeks since it began promoting charters on Twitter. “We made $7,500 in two weeks on charter flights,” says co-owner Christian Deputy. “Making $7,500 in two weeks may not be a lot of money to some, but to me making that in two weeks says we’re on to something and it’s due to Twitter.” With no ad agency or in-house marketing department, Deputy says he gets more than 30 followers daily and his clientele now includes actress Kirstie Alley and pro-golfer John Daly. Deputy posts real-time price updates and flight availability.
Other businesses value Twitter for the quick response time it allows. “We’ve been in business for 30 years,” says Robert Haufler, director of marketing for New York-based Somerset Mortgage Lenders. “We tweet stuff to real estate agents, we post up-to-the-minute interest rates, we can bring up to 10,000 hits per day to our home page based upon our SEO.”
Kogi BBQ a Korean Taco Truck business in Los Angeles, Calif., has been profiled by Bon Appetit magazine as “being true innovators as grassroots guerrilla restaurateurs.” The mobile restaurant uses Twitter to update menus with available foods and locations. Tweets back and forth between Kogi BBQ and followers include invitations to specific neighborhoods, comments on individual dishes and apologies when the food truck is falling behind.
Once companies are comfortable using Twitter as a customer service platform, the next step is often active marketing of their brand. Jones Soda’s asked individuals making road trips to send photos with the hashtag #roadtripjones to Twitter, Flickr, Facebook or YouTube. In exchange they were entered to win a chance to have their road trip photos on labels of Jones Cane Sugar bottles. The grand prize was a $500 shopping spree with Griffin Technology makers of the iTrip line of iPhone accessories, the other partner in the campaign. “Throughout the course of the campaign we conservatively estimated Jones received over 5 million impressions via Twitter alone,” says Alex Hillinger of the social networking site, Good Chemistry, who helped launch the campaign.
Well-crafted campaigns can fully engage even fringe followers into positive action. A prime example is the highly successful ad campaign by Situation Interactive Marketing for the Broadway play “Next To Normal.” Instead of constant tweets advertising the play, they had a Twitter version of the play produced. It was so successful that actor Adam Chanler-Berat, who wasn’t aware of the Twitter campaign, said in an August 2009 article, “Someone at the stage door asked me if I was Twittering while I was on stage; I guess they got a Twitter message from my character while I was actually performing.”
Opinion leaders can often give a huge boost to a campaign. According to Mike Spear, eCommerce manager of Jones Soda, “It’s very important to use opinion leaders; it really helped us get more eyeballs on what we were doing.” He should know. Hillinger says when pro skater Tony Hawk volunteered to send “signed copies of his boards to the Jones RV that was road tripping across the country, it was a primary driver.” Hawk then sent a twitpic to his 1.4 million followers that, according to Hillinger, has been viewed almost 9,000 times. Also big was the traffic related to the tweet from grand prize winner, Bryan Jones. Haufler says opinion leaders can springboard a brand into areas that might normally be closed. “If I get a person interested, many of their followers will follow me. I send a tweet, he’s going to retweet it and people will then come to our site,” he says.
Many companies including established brands are wary of social network ads backfiring. Filmmaker Robert Greenwald successfully hacked Starbuck’s Twitter ad campaign by mobilizing his followers to tweet unflattering twitpics to their promo site. Starbucks soon shut that portion of the campaign down but damage was done. The best way to counter that sort of thing is to be familiar with the medium. Most companies who are doing well on Twitter say they either hired someone who was comfortable with Twitter marketing like Next To Normal did with Situation Interactive, or partnered with them as was the case with Jones Soda and Good Chemistry. Still Liberty Jet’s Deputy and Somerset’s Haufler agree that Twitter is so user friendly that any company can venture into it as long as it is careful to concentrate on meaningful content. “We’re not posting 10 times a day, make money quick spam messages,” Haufler says. “People know we’re real.” As a result of his company’s social network approach, Haufler says Somerset Mortgage Lenders was ranked #1 banking site by Computer Weekly.
Good campaigns use Twitter to create a feeling of community and brand loyalty in the mind of consumers. “Do something more than tweeting updates about essentially news stories, do something that engages people and brings them into your world,” says Tom Lorenzo, interactive director for Situation Interactive.
No matter what the next step forward in consumer relations is, it will likely involve social networks. “You need to do things that take a risk and embrace new things to get a really great, interesting idea,” says Lorenzo, whose campaign for Next to Normal won best in show for online creativity at the Online Media, Marketing and Advertising (OMMA) awards. Interesting ideas translate into more retweeting, more followers and many more potential customers.John Greaves works for Marietta Power as well as several online publications.Do you tweet? Follow Somerset Mortgage Lenders on Twitter: http://twitter.com/SomersetMtg
For more information on Somerset Mortgage Lenders check out their website: http://www.somersetmortgagelenders.com
About Somerset Mortgage Lenders:
With their main offices in the heart of Long Island, located at 290
Broadhollow Rd Suite 310 E in Melville, NY 11746, Somerset Mortgage
Lenders have been in the mortgage business for 30 years. In Somerset,
you have a mortgage banking firm that prides itself on attaining the
highest ethical and moral standards and is dedicated to providing
quality mortgage products at value pricing to our customer. Somerset
has a long-standing history of servicing its local community as a
reliable mortgage company. Our goal is to establish a successful
partnership with our customers, staff, investors, and markets that
respect the interest and goals of each party. Somerset Investors Corp.
has been built on the belief that to be successful in mortgage banking
it must first begin by molding itself as a customer service firm that
provides quality service to the public. ### SOMERSET MORTGAGE LENDERS Specializing in: purchases, debt consolidation, divorce buyouts, loans for home improvement, mortgages, refinancing existing loans, reverse mortgages, FHA loans & more Get a free rate quote now at http://www.somersetmortgagelenders.com or call 1-800-675-9783 to speak to a LIVE Loan Officer.
Gregg Marcus
CREDIT MYTHS AND MAGIC – SECRETS SHARED
Credit is a wonderful and uniquely American concept – live today and pay for today tomorrow.
Credit is like a drug addiction – once you try it you can never get enough of it. Credit is like quicksand – avoid it or you may sink underneath it and never be seen again. Credit is like magic –it enables me to manage my finances and allows me to invest profitably with other people’s money.
These four statements about credit reflect four drastically different attitudes and philosophies about budgets and spending habits. Which of the above best describes you and your credit habits and patterns? Have you even stopped enjoying the benefits or crying from the pain of the monthly burden of minimum payments long enough to think about it? If you haven’t, it is time for you to do it – before it is too late!
A credit report is nothing more than a mirror, is similar to a snapshot, and works like a key. The credit report shows your credit history – how much you owe today to whom, what your minimum monthly payments are, how you have paid your creditors, whether or not you have filed for bankruptcy, what type of bankruptcy and when, and any recorded judgments or tax liens you may have. The credit report contains an address history, a list of any and all creditors to whom you applied for credit that have run your report, and also has information about any disputes you have registered with the credit bureaus, as is your legal right to do.
The mirror analogy is the most important if you are trying to analyze what you do with credit – it will show you your spending habits and payment patterns as reported by your creditors to the three credit bureaus – Trans Union, Equifax, and Experian. If you are turned down for credit as a result of your report, the laws require the creditor to send you a notice informing you which bureau or bureaus contained the information that factored into your denial. The same legal notice contains the address you can use to obtain a FREE copy of your report.
If your monthly bills are more than you can afford, causing you to take out more credit to be able to live while paying your existing credit, you need to check yourself into rehab – you cannot get help too soon! A qualified loan officer from a reputable direct lender may be your life preserver – you can refinance, knock out the bills that are choking you, and take back control of your finances. Homebridge loan officers are trained to help, as we have the experience and the loan programs that are necessary, and more than 15 years of success stories to prove it. Grab the rope and pull yourself out of the mess before you hang yourself with it!
Some consumers actually make the credit game work to their advantage. These people understand that the value of credit and a good credit history lies in the opportunity to invest monies when the time is right. Because they use their credit when they are using their disposable income to invest and make money, they are always conscious of the payments and the interest costs associated with their actions, and seldom get into trouble. These consumers see the magic in the credit available to them, and do not lose sight of the dangers.
View your credit as the key to financial well being and fiscal health – it can unlock the cell door of your payment prison. The equity in your home may represent the solution you desperately need to get things back on track. Just remember the golden rule of mortgage refinancing – your home is your family’s castle, and there is no crime worse than encumbering it with a payment you cannot afford!
Article maintained by: Derek Nichlos
With the economy the way it is right now, it's hard to feel like you can stay on top of things. You worry if you can pay your credit card bills. You fret about the possibility of losing your job. Maybe you have to cut back hours at work or choose between benefits. If you do lose your job and are fortunate enough to get another, that one may not give you health insurance or vacation pay. Your stress is over the top. At a certain point, the worry turns into real concern as you realize that you may lose your home or your retirement money. Before considering bankruptcy , you want to investigate the money the federal government has set aside for relieving people who have severe debt. There are programs in place for you, and there's money set aside. A lot of this money, however, is never claimed because people like you don't know it's there or think that it's not there for them. If you're over the age of 18, all you have to do at first is make an online search of government grants for debt relief. When you get that list, click on to a few of the sites. Look carefully at the grants that are available. Hopefully, at least one or two of them will fit the description of someone like yourself, for you do have to meet some qualifications in order to apply. Choose the ones that best suit your needs as well as your qualifications, and download the forms that you'll have to use. Fill them out, send them in, and wait for the review boards of the sponsoring agencies to get back to you with an answer and perhaps eventually a check. There are experts in the field who can help you to search for and apply to those grants that will be best matched to your situation. It's a reliable business that wants to help you get started on your road to financial liquidity. Once you get grant money, you can pay down your debts and begin building up your credit history again. It will be such a relief to you when you find that you've gotten your debt down to manageable size or eradicated it entirely. You can then continue your journey to financial success without these huge burdens weighing you down. SOMERSET MORTGAGE LENDERS Specializing in: purchases, debt consolidation, divorce buyouts, loans for home improvement, mortgages, refinancing existing loans, reverse mortgages, FHA loans & more Get a free rate quote now at http://www.somersetmortgagelenders.com or call 1-800-675-9783 to speak to a LIVE Loan Officer.
Chapter 7 bankruptcy is one of the mortgage debt help options that not many debtors want to opt for. However, there are many debtors that are left with no other option but to file bankruptcy. Earlier it was easy to file chapter 7 bankruptcy. With the introduction of the new federal bankruptcy laws, filing bankruptcy has become very rigid. The new federal bankruptcy laws have been introduced to curb the number of consumers filing bankruptcy. It has also affected the manner in which you file Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Chapter 7 bankruptcy is also referred to as straight and liquidation bankruptcy. According to the new federal bankruptcy laws that were introduced on October 17th 2005, if you are planning to file bankruptcy, you have to undergo a Means test. 1. Means test The Means test decides whether you are eligible for Chapter 7 and the test has been introduced to help consumers qualify that are in genuine need to file Chapter 7 bankruptcy. In Means test your income is compared to the median income of a similar household in the state in which you reside. If it is found that your income is higher than the state median income, you don’t qualify for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Under such circumstances, your bankruptcy attorney may suggest you to file Chapter 13 bankruptcy in which you are required to pay back your debts as per a new repayment plan. When you file Chapter 7 bankruptcy, your non exempt assets are liquidated or sold to pay off your creditors. A court appointed trustee takes care of the entire proceeding. There are 2 types of exemptions. They are state as well as federal exemptions. You can enjoy only one type of exemption either state or federal. 2. Credit counseling As per the new federal bankruptcy laws, you will also be required to attend credit counseling sessions. This is applicable to both Chapter 7 as well as Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Credit counseling has to be availed by credit counselor approved by the government. Although bankruptcy is a debt relief option many consumers despise, it is often considered as an option that gives you a fresh financial start. And there are many lenders that regard filing bankruptcy as a responsible financial behavior since they understand that the economy is still reeling under recession. Article Source: Justine Anderson For more information on Somerset Mortgage Lenders check out their website: http://www.somersetmortgagelenders.com About Somerset Mortgage Lenders: With their main offices in the heart of Long Island, located at 290 Broadhollow Rd Suite 310 E in Melville, NY 11746, Somerset Mortgage Lenders have been in the mortgage business for 30 years. In Somerset, you have a mortgage banking firm that prides itself on attaining the highest ethical and moral standards and is dedicated to providing quality mortgage products at value pricing to our customer. Somerset has a long-standing history of servicing its local community as a reliable mortgage company. Our goal is to establish a successful partnership with our customers, staff, investors, and markets that respect the interest and goals of each party. Somerset Investors Corp. has been built on the belief that to be successful in mortgage banking it must first begin by molding itself as a customer service firm that provides quality service to the public. ### SOMERSET MORTGAGE LENDERS Specializing in: purchases, debt consolidation, divorce buyouts, loans for home improvement, mortgages, refinancing existing loans, reverse mortgages, FHA loans & more Get a free rate quote now at http://www.somersetmortgagelenders.com or call 1-800-675-9783 to speak to a LIVE Loan Officer.
Are you in need or some extra money for bills or for just living a better life? A second mortgage will help you in your quest. In the case of a second mortgage, the first mortgage is repaid and is replaced by the second one. The amount of equity in the first mortgage is a deciding factor for the second mortgage. Once you start searching for mortgages you will have many offers and all of them claiming to be the best. But in order to help you decide which one is the best for you, there are few points to be kept in mind. And since going for such a loan will add some financial burden on you, it's a big decision not to be taken lightly. A second mortgage refinance loan is made up of two types, namely a home equity loan and a home equity line of credit. In a home equity loan you are given all the money and you are responsible of paying interest on the total amount that you have borrowed. In the case of home equity lines of credit taken as a second mortgage, you are given freedom to borrow the exact amount needed. You need to pay interest on the amount that you have used. The repayment of such a loan is also flexible. You can pay back monthly interest only or some portion of the outstanding principal along with the monthly interest. If you compare the process of a straight refinance with getting a second mortgage, then second mortgage will be found to be an easier process. It has lesser complication and very less paperwork is needed for its approval. The time taken for its approval is also less than refinancing. But the rate of interest in mortgage refinance is lower than second mortgage. When compared with other traditional loans, second mortgage refinance requires a very low fee. If you really search around, you may even be able to find no-fee second mortgage refinance options. However, the tide may turn against you if you have a poor credit record. Additionally, f you have defaulted on your first mortgage you will have difficulty in finding a lender to finance your second mortgage. When you are in need of funds or want to clear debts, second mortgage refinancing proves to serve the purpose well. There is sometimes also significant tax savings on a second mortgage. At times, a second mortgage will help you even save more money than your first mortgage did! Article Source: Irsan Komarga For more information on Somerset Mortgage Lenders, check out their website: http://www.somersetmortgagelenders.comAbout Somerset Mortgage Lenders: With their main offices in the heart of Long Island, located at 290 Broadhollow Rd Suite 310 E in Melville, NY 11746, Somerset Mortgage Lenders have been in the mortgage business for 30 years. In Somerset, you have a mortgage banking firm that prides itself on attaining the highest ethical and moral standards and is dedicated to providing quality mortgage products at value pricing to our customer. Somerset has a long-standing history of servicing its local community as a reliable mortgage company. Our goal is to establish a successful partnership with our customers, staff, investors, and markets that respect the interest and goals of each party. Somerset Investors Corp. has been built on the belief that to be successful in mortgage banking it must first begin by molding itself as a customer service firm that provides quality service to the public. ### SOMERSET MORTGAGE LENDERS Specializing in: purchases, debt consolidation, divorce buyouts, loans for home improvement, mortgages, refinancing existing loans, reverse mortgages, FHA loans & more Get a free rate quote now at http://www.somersetmortgagelenders.com or call 1-800-675-9783 to speak to a LIVE Loan Officer.
The American dream of homeownership is stronger than ever today. And in our income tax structure, the difference in retained income, or take home pay, is drastic when we compare the family that rents to the family that owns their home. Owning a home is perhaps the single most effective income tax shelter left available for the middle class. While 401k and other retirement savings plans do allow pre-tax contributions and the opportunity to earn interest on these funds that our employers do not take taxes out of, you cannot live in a retirement account, nor do they come with backyards for the kids. Many renters are paying so much in rent to the landlord each month that the tax benefits of owning their own home make the costs identical.
Owning a home means that your monthly housing expense is similar to a savings plan, while renters only support the savings plans of their landlords. Homes appreciate in value over time; just as your retirement accounts earn interest on monies BEFORE the taxes come out, so does real estate, and so will your home. Houses come in many shapes and varieties, as do people who rent them or those smarter people who own them. Owning the space you live in is the key to capturing this benefit. Whether you choose to buy a single family residence, or a multi family home that allows you to rent out part of the house, or a condo or a coop, getting out of the renter group and into the owner group makes financial sense.
You may think that this all sounds great, but you are wondering how the magical increase in your take home pay comes about. Well, when you took your job your employer had you complete an IRS form which set the number of dependents upon which taxes would be withdrawn from your paycheck. Your account can assist you in calculating just how many extra dependents you can claim to receive the income tax savings benefit each week instead of waiting until the end of the year for a refund. By this simple act of completing a form with the assistance of your accountant, you can see the tax savings benefit of your new home purchase immediately, from the very first paycheck you receive after the closing.
There is another pleasant surprise you get when you buy a home – the closing costs that you pay when purchasing your home also have tax savings benefits. You have to have an answer for the friend or relative who tells you all about the joys of getting that big refund check when you file your taxes. Just remind them that the IRS does not pay interest on your money when you overpay your taxes every week and get a refund in the beginning of the next year when you file your taxes. After all, it is YOUR money to begin with, so why should the government get to hold and use your money for free all year?
Today you can buy a home without any down payment, and you can finance your home in hundreds of ways. Find a reputable lender to open your eyes to the possibilities, check with your tax advisor about the advantages and potential savings, and take that first step in living the American Dream !
Maintained by Derek Nichlos
For Immediate Release: Profile: A Conversation with Somerset Mortgage Lenders’ Executive Director Gregg Marcus Melville/New York/USA Gregg Marcus‘professional accomplishments are numerous, having run one of the top direct lending mortgage lenders for the better part of this decade being at the forefront of his success. However, if you scratch beneath the surface, you will find that so, too, are his many charitable activities. Gregg is not only a proven executive, but at his core he is a philanthropist and a humanitarian who cares about his community and about causes that are important to us all. Mr. Marcus has earned accolades for his savvy as an entrepreneur, and now he’s earning the same kind of honors for his financial and personal donations to charitable causes. He has dedicated a significant part of his time, talents and financial resources throughout his career to organizations in New York and beyond. "Success in business is one thing; helping to change the conditions of others is quite another" he said; and after listening to him speak, I can say that Gregg Marcus is very successful at both. He knows that one is not complete without the other. There are many organizations and non-profit groups where Gregg Marcus could donate his time, but he prefers to donate his time and resources to organizations that he believes in. It’s what led him to become a founding member of the Jericho Jayhawks Boosters Association. And it’s why he donates his time to organizations such as the Young Presidents Organization, the Hineni Heritage Center, the Long Island Children’s Museum and the Sunrise Day Camp for Children. Health is also important, and it’s why he’s an active member of the National Kidney Foundation. Additionally, he received the Interfaith Committee of Remembrance Humanitarian Award for his charitable efforts to organizations in the New York area and beyond. "Business accomplishments are great, but what are you doing to help the community?" Gregg Marcus asked in our conversation. It was a refreshing insight to hear from someone in the notoriously rigid financial sector. This is a man who tirelessly supports organizations he believes in; not just with a check every now and then, but with a time commitment. "Not to sound cliche" Mr. Marcus said, "But we can complain about challenges in our society, or we can just go and try to do something about them". After spending enough time with him, it seems that this is a man who believes in more than just talking - he believes in action. It’s why he spends countless hours and dedicates significant financial resources to organizations with causes he believes in. Gregg Marcus knows how important personal commitment is. He believes that successful people should give back by supporting organizations with their time, leadership and financial resources. We all have opinions about news items, but very few people have enough knowledge to be quoted by the New York Post. In December of 2007, the Post quoted Gregg Marcus as he gave kudos to the Senate for passing an FHA modernization measure. Gregg Marcus is one of those people who actually knows what affects the average person, and is not simply concerned with what affects corporations. He operates as though we were all in this together, because we are. #### SOMERSET MORTGAGE LENDERS Specializing in: purchases, debt consolidation, divorce buyouts, loans for home improvement, mortgages, refinancing existing loans, reverse mortgages, FHA loans & more Get a free rate quote now at http://www.somersetmortgagelenders.com or call 1-800-675-9783 to speak to a LIVE Loan Officer. Somerset Investors Corp. is a mortgage banking firm that prides itself on attaining the highest ethical and moral standards and is dedicated to providing quality mortgage products at value pricing to our customer. Somerset has a long-standing history of servicing its local community as a reliable mortgage company. Our goal is to establish a successful partnership with our customers, staff, investors, and markets that respect the interest and goals of each party. Somerset Investors Corp. has been built on the belief that to be successful in mortgage banking it must first begin by molding itself as a customer service firm that provides quality service to the public.
The following are the primary factors taken into consideration when determining whether to approve or deny a potential homebuyer’s application for a mortgage! Property Value: An appraisal conducted by a licensed professional and based upon the both the current condition of the home and the relative selling price of comparable homes in the area tells the lender the value of the property you want to purchase. The lender uses this information to determine whether the home is actually worth the price you’ve offered to pay for it. Credit: This includes your credit history and your current overall debt situation. Lenders like to see that those applying to borrow money from them already have a consistent record of paying bills and other debts on time. Late payments and defaults on previous loans (ie. credit cards, car loans, student loans, alimony, child support, etc.) present a potential borrower as less-than-creditworthy and make lenders reluctant to give them new loans. If your credit history shows difficulties as recently as the past two years you can still write an explanation of the circumstances that caused the difficulties and lenders will take it into account when making their decision. Income and Employment Factors: This includes both your current income and your employment history. Typically, lenders like to see your current monthly expenses totaling no more than a third of your gross monthly income. Gross income, or all of the money that you’ve earned before taxes are taken out, may include alimony and child support received, and an average of your monthly commissions and overtime pay should you desire to have those factors considered. Lenders also like to see applicants having a consistent work history in the same or similar occupation with a trend of steadily growing income over the several years leading up to the submission of the loan application. They will almost certainly verify your employment (except in the cases of certain type’s loans - i.e. (No-Income-Verification, Stated Income, and No-Doc loans). If you are self-employed, have held your current job for under two years, get paid on a commission basis, there’s a good chance you’ll be asked to provide further information about your prior work history. Mortgage Terms: A definitive factor in determining whether or not to approve your application for a mortgage is the amount of your proposed monthly payment factored as a percentage of your current income.
Costs of FHA Mortgage Insurance by Somerset Mortgage Lenders: "The Brains, The Courage and The Heart to Make Your Dreams Come True" http://www.somersetmortgagelenders.com Somerset Mortgage Lenders and Gregg Marcus strive to keep the public educated with tips meant to make getting your loan as easy and painless as possible. To this end, they have put together this brief article on the costs of FHA mortgage insurance. FHA loans carry a higher mortgage interest premium than conventional loan programs, which only demand MIPs as little as .5% (for those homebuyers putting 10% down), with a renewal rate as little as .3% in subsequent years. It is a widely-known fact that FHA mortgages help a wide variety of Americans who otherwise would not be able to afford a home to buy one. FHA insured loans are not for everyone, however. Though the down payment and therefore up-front costs are lower on FHA mortgages, the monthly payments might possibly be higher. There is no clear-cut rule to whether a specific FHA loan would cost you more or less than a conventional loan. Just as with conventional mortgages, different FHA mortgages have different interest rates and different loan terms based on numerous factors, not least of which is your credit? With a conventional loan, your credit is considered jointly with your income. As FHA loans are designed more for low-to-moderate income households, an applicant’s credit is weighted even heavier. The result of this could potentially be higher interest rates and (with the additional cost of monthly mortgage insurance premiums) higher monthly payments than you could get by coming up with a larger down payment and getting a conventional loan. Of course, that is not always an option for would-be homebuyers. Fortunately, many of the closing costs associated with FHA mortgages can be financed into the loans. The FHA also helps homebuyers by imposing limits on how much money mortgage companies can charge in certain fees, such as loan origination fees which, according to the restrictions placed upon FHA lenders, cannot be higher than 1% of the total loan amount. The most striking fact about the cost of FHA mortgage insurance however is its cost to taxpayers, that being nil. FHA mortgage is totally self-funded, with the money paid by borrowers in mortgage insurance premiums going directly into an account which pays for the FHA’s expenses. The bottom line of this is that not only do FHA-insured mortgages and FHA mortgage insurance benefit borrowers and lenders alike. SOMERSET MORTGAGE LENDERS Specializing in: purchases, debt consolidation, divorce buyouts, loans for home improvement, mortgages, refinancing existing loans, reverse mortgages, FHA loans & more Get a free rate quote now at http://www.somersetmortgagelenders.com or call 1-800-675-9783 to speak to a LIVE Loan Officer.
What is a Divorce Buyout? by Somerset Mortgage Lenders: "The Brains, The Courage and The Heart to Make Your Dreams Come True" http://www.somersetmortgagelenders.com Somerset Mortgage Lenders and Gregg Marcus strive to keep the public educated with tips meant to make getting your loan as easy and painless as possible. To this end, they have put together this brief article on Divorce Buyouts. A divorce home buyout (or a divorce buyout, for short) is simply when one party in a break-up buys out the other party’s share in the property that they own and have been residing in together. Divorce buyouts are generally completed according to the following 3 basic steps: 1.) The parties determine and write into the separation agreement which of them will live in the home and which of them will have their interest in the property bought out. 2.) The party buying out their ex-spouse (or soon-to-be-ex), then applies for a refinancing loan to take the place of the original loan, including borrowing enough extra money to compensate the party who is to be selling/losing interest in the property. 3.) Two documents - a quitclaim deed and a consideration letter - are signed at the closing and filed in the recorder’s office of the county where the property is located. It seems simple, yes? And in many cases, it is. Provided everybody’s on the same page, a divorce buyout could be one of the smoothest processes in the divorce proceedings. However far too often the divorce buyout is complicated by all that occurs prior to and during the process, The last thing you ever want to do in a divorce is complete the divorce proceedings without ever looking into whether or not you can really afford the court’s determinations and/or the settlement agreed to regarding the terms and conditions of the divorce home buyout arrangement. If your spouse, for example, defaults on their payments while the divorce is still pending, not only could it severely negatively impact your ability to buy them out, but it can be detrimental to your credit rating as well. It’s important to note, as well, that any divorce buyout agreement is incomplete without a date by which the buyout must be accomplished. This can cause a whole host of problems if an ex-spouse is reluctant to fulfill his or her end of the agreement, potentially dragging out the divorce buyout process indefinitely. In the worst of cases, you could even have to take them back to court to get it properly resolved, something no one want to have to do. SOMERSET MORTGAGE LENDERS Specializing in: purchases, debt consolidation, divorce buyouts, loans for home improvement, mortgages, refinancing existing loans, reverse mortgages, FHA loans & more Get a free rate quote now at http://www.somersetmortgagelenders.com or call 1-800-675-9783 to speak to a LIVE Loan Officer.
Using Downpayment Gifts for Your FHA Loan by Somerset Mortgage Lenders: "The Brains, The Courage and The Heart to Make Your Dreams Come True" http://www.somersetmortgagelenders.com Somerset Mortgage Lenders and Gregg Marcus strive to keep the public educated with tips meant to make getting your loan as easy and painless as possible. To this end, they have put together this brief article on using downpayment gifts for your FHA loan. Unlike with most other conventional loans, the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) allows borrowers to pay some or all of their down payment with gift funds. No verification of the source of the down payment money is required. All that needs to be done is for the money to first be deposited into the borrower’s bank account or an escrow account before and until the loan is approved, and for proof of that deposit to be provided. Greater than half of first-time homebuyers receive gift money from relatives in order to help them pay for their down payment. Besides relatives, other accepted sources of down payment gifts are friends, labor unions, faith-based organizations, and charity organizations. Another valid (and novel) source of down payment assistance is through the Bridal Registry program whereby newlywed couples can get gift money deposited into an account for them to use towards a down payment on an FHA loan. In 2004, President George Bush announced intentions to convince Congress to eliminate the down payment requirement for FHA loans entirely, but so far nothing has come of that. Recent attempts in the U.S. Congress to pass legislation that would make it extremely difficult for charitable organizations that provide down payment gift funds to claim tax exempt status, thereby disqualifying them from being able to provide a down payment gift fund for FHA loans at all has fortuitously failed. Despite the attempted U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) rule to eliminate all down payment assistance programs, the U.S. District Court intervened to protect low-to-moderate income potential homebuyers. The result of this injunction is that organizations like the Home Down Payment Gift Foundation and the Genesis Foundation can still claim tax exempt status and still provide down payment gifts to would-be FHA mortgages, at least until there is some sort of final resolution on the matter. It is likely that compassionate wisdom and common sense will prevail in this situation as it is plainly obvious that allowing homebuyers to cover the cost of their down payment with down payment gift funds is far preferable to burdening low-to-moderate income households with higher debt. By paying their down payment with gift funds, homebuyers begin their home ownership experience from Day One with equity in their new home, that home equity being equal to the amount of their down payment (or at least the amount covered by down payment gifts). This also puts these households that much closer to the day they own their homes outright. SOMERSET MORTGAGE LENDERS Specializing in: purchases, debt consolidation, divorce buyouts, loans for home improvement, mortgages, refinancing existing loans, reverse mortgages, FHA loans & more Get a free rate quote now at http://www.somersetmortgagelenders.com or call 1-800-675-9783 to speak to a LIVE Loan Officer.
The Closing Process by Somerset Mortgage Lenders: "The Brains, The Courage and The Heart to Make Your Dreams Come True" http://www.somersetmortgagelenders.com Somerset Mortgage Lenders and Gregg Marcus strive to keep the public educated with tips meant to make getting your loan as easy and painless as possible. To this end, they have put together this brief article on The Closing Process. You've found the home you want. You’ve made an offer which the seller has accepted. You've applied for a mortgage, and been approved. Move in day is almost here. There's only one more step - the closing. The word closing in terms of real estate is the process by which the transfer of property from seller to buyer is finalized. Once your mortgage is approved, a date is set for the closing to take place: called a closing date. Depending on the state in which the transaction is taking place, the closing process is conducted by one of the following representatives of buyer and seller, respectively. 1 An attorney 2 A real estate broker 3 A lender/loan officer 4 A representative of a title insurance company 5 A representative of an escrow company In order for a closing to take place, several key items must first be prepared and delivered to the lender in advance 1 Title search and title report 2 Title insurance binder 3 Hazard insurance binder 4 Property survey 5 Inspection certificates - for termites, sewer or septic, and well (where relevant) 6 HUD 1 settlement statement - a list of all credits and charges itemized for you and the seller, according to the terms of the contract At the time of closing, the borrower signs many documents, most significantly a mortgage/deed of trust and a promissory note. These are loan documents granting the lender a lien against the property you’re purchasing as a way of securing your repayment of the loan. The promissory note is the borrower’s legal promise to pay back the loan. The mortgage/deed of trust is the legal instrument recorded in the local office of public records. SOMERSET MORTGAGE LENDERS Specializing in: purchases, debt consolidation, divorce buyouts, loans for home improvement, mortgages, refinancing existing loans, reverse mortgages, FHA loans & more
New Home Financing
by Somerset Mortgage Lenders: "The Brains, The Courage and The Heart to Make Your Dreams Come True"
http://www.somersetmortgagelenders.com
Somerset Mortgage Lenders and Gregg Marcus strive to keep the public educated with tips meant to make getting your loan as easy and painless as possible. To this end, they have put together this brief article on New Home Financing.
Fixed Rate Loans
Several categories of conventional loans exist, the most common and familiar being the fixed rate mortgage. In the cases of fixed rate mortgages, the borrower will lock in an interest rate, and pay down both the principal and interest on the loan at that interest rate every month until the mortgage is paid off. The most typical term of a fixed rate loan is 30 years, though fixed rate mortgages can also be obtained for much shorter terms, the primary difference being in the size of the monthly mortgage payment.
Conforming Loans
Other conventional loans are known as conforming loans. In these cases, an arrangement is made between borrower and lender that comply with the stipulations of two federally run mortgage trading companies (or Government Sponsored Entities - GSEs) Fannie Mae (FNME) and or Freddie Mac (FHLMC).
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac does not directly approve or deny loans. They buy and sell home mortgages, working with lenders to make home ownership easier for people to attain. Lenders like to sign up borrowers with conforming loan, because they can then sell these loans to Fannie May or Freddie Mac in order to more quickly receive the funds coming to them, and use those funds to make other investments. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, in turn, then repackage these loans to sell to investors as securities.
The current guidelines for a conventional Fannie Mae loan set a maximum purchase price for a single-family home at slightly above $415,000 (though residents of Alaska, Hawaii, or Guam may be able to qualify for an even larger loan).
The interest rate as well as the short- and long-term pricing on a conforming loan is determined primarily by the type of loan applied for. Also taken into consideration will be the amount of funds you already have to contribute to closing costs, your credit rating, credit score, and credit history, your employment history, and the type and location of the home in question.
Jumbo Loans
Other forms of conventional loans are nonconforming loan instruments that do not meet Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac loan qualifications, such as jumbo loans, or loans so large they fall outside the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loan limits (or purchase limits). Jumbo loans are provided by private investors and as such ordinarily come with much higher interest rates than conforming loans.
FHA Loans
Government entities from a local to a federal level and private entities alike have worked to Develop loan programs that make home ownership a reality for many people considered Under-qualified for traditional mortgages, these include; loans for first-time homebuyers, people with a low-to-moderate income that are insured by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) via the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). HUD and the FHA do not make loans directly, rather they insure loans; meaning that the lender still gets paid back - even if you default on the home loan.
New Home Purchase Loans are available from Somerset Investors Corp. in the following states: CA DE IN MT NM RI TX CO FL MA NC NY SC VA CT GA MD NH OR TN VT DC HI ME NJ PA
SOMERSET MORTGAGE LENDERS
Specializing in: purchases, debt consolidation, divorce buyouts, loans for home improvement, mortgages, refinancing existing loans, reverse mortgages, FHA loans & more
Why Choose an FHA Mortgage by Somerset Mortgage Lenders: "The Brains, The Courage and The Heart to Make Your Dreams Come True" http://www.somersetmortgagelenders.comSomerset Mortgage Lenders and Gregg Marcus strive to keep the public educated with tips meant to make getting your loan as easy and painless as possible. To this end, they have put together this brief article on reasons why borrowers would choose an FHA Mortgage. The Federal Housing Authority (FHA) insures loans against default, protecting both lenders and borrowers. It neither makes loans directly nor sets the interest rates on loans it insures. FHA insured loans can be used to purchase new or refinance existing 1-4 family homes, condominiums, or mobile or manufactured homes on a permanent foundation. Many excellent reasons exist to select an FHA mortgage, particularly if you fit one of more of the following qualifications: 1.) You are a first-time homebuyer 2.) You are unable to offer much of a down payment 3.) You would like to have the lowest possible monthly mortgage payments 4.) You have concerns regarding monthly mortgage payments increasing at some point 5.) You have concerns regarding the consequences of falling behind on your monthly mortgage payments 6.) You have concerns about even being able to qualify for the loan in the first place 7.) Your credit is less-than-ideal If any of those factors apply to you, then an FHA mortgage might be just thing for you to apply for. This is because FHA mortgages are insured, offering several protections and benefits otherwise unavailable to you through most other loan packages. The benefits of an FHA mortgage include, lower rates, since it’s the Federal Government insuring FHA loans for the lenders, FHA mortgages typically offer interest rates considerably lower than the norm. For this reason alone, it is always worth comparing all other loans available at any given point in time against FHA-insured loans. Get a free rate quote now at http://www.somersetmortgagelenders.com or call 1-800-675-9783 to speak with a LIVE Loan Officer now. SOMERSET MORTGAGE LENDERS Specializing in: purchases, debt consolidation, divorce buyouts, loans for home improvement, mortgages, refinancing existing loans, reverse mortgages, FHA loans & more get a free rate quote now at http://www.somersetmortgagelenders.com or call 1-800-675-9783 to speak to a LIVE Loan Officer.
Consolidating Debt by Somerset Mortgage Lenders: "The Brains, The Courage and The Heart to Make Your Dreams Come True" http://www.somersetmortgagelenders.com Somerset Mortgage Lenders and Gregg Marcus strive to keep the public educated with tips meant to make getting your loan as easy and painless as possible. To this end, they have put together this brief article on consolidating your debt. Debt consolidation was designed to help individuals who are “drowning in debt” to regain control of their financial lives. Consolidating debt gives individuals the chance combine their various monthly payments into a single monthly payment that is usually lower than the sum of the individual monthly payments on the same debt. Payments on consolidated debt are also quite often at a lower interest rate than the rates offered by the individual lenders. 1 Warning Signs If one or more of the following applies to you, debt consolidation may be in order a You pay for normal living expenses with credit b You transfer balances around from one credit card to another c You can only afford the minimum monthly payments on your credit cards, and no more d You have maxed out one or more credit cards e You find yourself spending more than half your income to pay your monthly credit card payments f You’re looking to open yet another line of credit in order to better manage your current debt, expenses, and lifestyle The following is a breakdown of some of the best and most common ways to consolidate debt 2 Debt Consolidation Loans The traditional way to consolidate debt is to take out a debt consolidation loan. This is a personal loan that is unsecured, and therefore considered riskier other types of loans. Lenders therefore will usually charge higher interest rates for these loans, the advantage to getting such a loan being the single (and hopefully smaller) monthly payment. People with lots of debt may find they have difficulty getting a lender to give them a debt consolidation loan, however, and may need to look further to find a viable debt consolidation solution. 3 Debt Settlement Debt settlement agencies help you resolve debt by becoming the intermediary between you and your creditors, You stop paying your various creditors and instead make a single payment to the debt settlement agency. Get a free rate quote now at http://www.somersetmortgagelenders.com or call 1-800-675-9783 to speak with a LIVE Loan Officer now. SOMERSET MORTGAGE LENDERS Specializing in: purchases, debt consolidation, divorce buyouts, loans for home improvement, mortgages, refinancing existing loans, reverse mortgages, FHA loans & more get a free rate quote now at http://www.somersetmortgagelenders.com or call 1-800-675-9783 to speak to a LIVE Loan Officer.
Downpayment Assistance
by Somerset Mortgage Lenders: "The Brains, The Courage and The Heart to Make Your Dreams Come True"
http://www.somersetmortgagelenders.com
Somerset Mortgage Lenders and Gregg Marcus strive to keep the public educated with tips meant to make getting your loan as easy and painless as possible. To this end, they have put together this brief how to guide on downpayment assistance.
Potential home buyers often discover that while they’ll have no trouble making their monthly mortgage payments, they nonetheless can’t buy a home because they lack the funds to make the necessary down payment and closing costs. Fortunately, a number of solutions to this problem exist, one of the most common being: down payment assistance programs.
While sellers are forbidden from giving gifts of down payment funds to their potential homebuyers directly, these down payment assistance programs guarantee that funds to financially-challenged potential homebuyers are delivered at closing to cover all or a portion of the down payment and closing costs.
Only certain sellers will participate in these programs, and it can often take a great deal of work, mandatory classes, and extra paperwork to accomplish. The upside is that not only can people afford homes who otherwise couldn’t, but they might even get a lower interest rate on their loan.
First the seller would enroll the home in a relevant program, contributing funds equal to the amount of down payment assistance the buyer is to receive at the time closing, plus a fee of around 0.75% of the purchase price of the home. Then, upon closing, the down payment is then wired from the program to the agent handling the closing, keeping the seller removed from the process of transferring those funds.
Sellers can also help reduce the cost burden on buyers by offering to pay all or portions of the closing costs involved in the sale of the home. They do this by simply giving back to a part of their proceeds to the buyer at the time of closing. There are limits, however, on how much assistance a seller may provide, depending on the kind of loan the buyer is obtaining.
And though down payment assistance may seem undesirable to sellers considering whether or not to accept someone’s offer to buy their home, it could actually be to the seller’s advantage every bit as much as the buyer‘s. This is because a buyer able to afford the closing costs on a home can more easily get away with making a lower offer (and having it accepted), whereas a buyer requiring down payment assistance is more likely to make an offer closer to the seller’s asking price in order to compensate for their need for down payment assistance.
Realtors and lenders both are qualified to aid would-be homebuyers in finding and selecting the right down payment assistance program. Realtors and lenders alike are generally more than glad to explain how an offer to purchase property should be phrased in order to.
Get a free rate quote now at http://www.somersetmortgagelenders.com or call 1-800-675-9783 to speak with a LIVE Loan Officer now.
SOMERSET MORTGAGE LENDERS
Specializing in: purchases, debt consolidation, divorce buyouts, loans for home improvement, mortgages, refinancing existing loans, reverse mortgages, FHA loans & more get a free rate quote now at http://www.somersetmortgagelenders.com or call 1-800-675-9783 to speak to a LIVE Loan Officer.
Another Humbling Testimonial Proves That Somerset Mortgage Lenders Truly Helps Make Owning a Home a Reality For Borrowers
by Somerset Mortgage Lenders: "The Brains, The Courage and The Heart to Make Your Dreams Come True"
http://www.somersetmortgagelenders.com
Somerset Mortgage Lenders and Gregg Marcus work hard every day to make the experience of getting your loan as easy and enjoyable as possible. So it's even more rewarding when a satisfied consumer comes forth with a heartfelt letter of recognition, a thank you for a job done right.
Here is a yet another letter on this subject, recently submitted to our offices at 290 Broadhollow Rd in Melville, NY 11747
"To Gregg Marcus,
Hello Gregg,
I just wanted to take this time to write a letter expressing how happy I am to have worked with the Somerset Investors Team. Especially, Nancy Grana, and Catherine Belle. For the past year, my wife and I have struggled with making our mortgage payments. I was very concerned that we might lose our house. And since my mother lives with us and she depends on her disability check, it would have been extra hard for her to find somewhere else to live. And I did not want to fail my family at all.
Although I was a little skeptical with working with any loan investor, I took a chance with Somerset. I didn’t believe that anything would go through due to our credit history. But I really had no choice and after Nancy starting working with me, she demonstrated how committed she was to try to make this work. And she did just that. I was a little upset when I turned over to someone new, but Catherine Belle filled in just fine. She worked with me to finish the job. Both were very concerned about their customer.
I think that the Somerset staff has proved that even in this struggling economy, there is still hope for those of us that are hard working people to make it through. But without the encouragement, not many will be able to follow through. I want to thank Nancy Grana and Catherine Belle for their diligence to see this through. My mind and heart are more at ease than before. I can’t thank them enough for what they have done. I will be sure to refer Somerset to anyone that I speak with. God Bless
Best regards,
Marcus"
We would like to thank Marcus as well for allowing us to serve as their loan partner - helping all their dreams get closer to becoming reality!
Get a free rate quote now at http://www.somersetmortgagelenders.com or call 1-800-675-9783 to speak with a LIVE Loan Officer now.
SOMERSET MORTGAGE LENDERS
Specializing in: purchases, debt consolidation, divorce buyouts, home improvement, mortgages, refinancing, reverse mortgages, FHA loans & more get a free rate quote now at http://www.somersetmortgagelenders.com or call 1-800-675-9783 to speak to a LIVE Loan Officer.
Find The Right Home Loan Program
by Somerset Mortgage Lenders: "The Brains, The Courage and The Heart to Make Your Dreams Come True"
http://www.somersetmortgagelenders.com
Somerset Mortgage Lenders and Gregg Marcus strive to keep the public educated with tips meant to make getting your loan as easy and painless as possible. To this end, they have put together this brief how to guide on finding the right home loan program.
Whether it’s to purchase a new home or refinance your current home, there are an assortment of loan programs you have to chose from, based on a combination of your objectives and your eligibility.
Conventional Loans: Conforming Loans and Jumbo Loans
The conventional loan is the most common kind of loan, available to most people who have at least 3% of the requested loan amount available to pay as a down payment. The two most common types of conventional loan are conforming loans and jumbo loans.
Conforming loans are a type of conventional loan that are secured by Freddie Mac (FHLMC), Fannie Mae (FNMA) and other GSEs, or Government Sponsored Entities. These GSEs do not directly lend the money to borrowers but rather work with various lenders country-wide to provide loans that meet the average homebuyer’s needs. These entities also buy mortgage loans from lenders in order to re-package them as securities available for sale to investors on the secondary market.
For loan amounts that are higher than the loan limits set each year by the GSEs, private investors offer jumbo loans. The trade-off of going to a private investor to borrow a larger amount of money is that the interest rate on such loans is also usually higher.
Special Circumstances: Loans for First-Time Homebuyers, Low-Income Households, and People with Poor Credit
Government entities from a local to a federal level and private entities alike have worked to develop loan programs that make home ownership a reality for many people considered under-qualified for traditional mortgages. These include loans for first-time homebuyers and people with a low-to-moderate income that are insured by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) via the Federal Housing Administration (FHA).
HUD and the FHA do not make loans directly, rather they insure loans, meaning that the lender still gets paid back even if you default on the home loan. Often, FHA insured loans are available with down payments lower than 3% of the total loan amount. There is a limit to how high of a loan the FHA will insure, but the limit is at least high enough to allow people in qualifying circumstances to buy reasonably.
Get a free rate quote now at http://www.somersetmortgagelenders.com or call 1-800-675-9783 to speak with a LIVE Loan Officer now.
SOMERSET MORTGAGE LENDERS
specializing in: purchases, debt consolidation, divorce buyouts, home improvement, mortgages, refinancing, reverse mortgages, FHA loans & more get a free rate quote now at http://www.somersetmortgagelenders.com or call 1-800-675-9783 to speak to a LIVE Loan Officer.
A Testimonial and A Thank You
by Somerset Mortgage Lenders: "The Brains, The Courage and The Heart to Make Your Dreams Come True"
http://www.somersetmortgagelenders.com
Somerset Mortgage Lenders and Gregg Marcus work hard every day to make the experience of getting your loan as easy and enjoyable as possible. So it's even more rewarding when a satisfied consumer comes forth with a heartfelt letter of recognition, a thank you for a job done right.
Here is one such letter, recently submitted to our offices at 290 Broadhollow Rd in Melville, NY 11747
"From:
Mark & Anna
Dayton, Texas
June 15, 2009
To:
Somerset Mortgage Lenders
Dear Somerset:
Although this may be an overlooked task, we feel that we must bring to your attention the exceptional service that we received from you and the entire Somerset Mortgage Lenders organization.
We are, of course, very delighted to have had the pleasure of working with you during the loan acquisition. Your professional and courteous attitude, expert knowledge, and patience in handling our specific issues were very important to our complete customer satisfaction.
In the past, I felt that loan service providers were not sensitive to our needs and provided the quickest and most convenient solution to my problems from their perspective. But not in this case. You and the entire Somerset Mortgage Lenders organization handled our issues as if they were their own, and we are completely satisfied. We again thank you for the exceptional and professional service and look forward to patronizing your organization.
Please forward this letter to the entire organization as we appreciate their hard work, professionalism and understanding in completing this transaction.
Sincerely,
Mark & Anna"
We would like to thank Mark & Anna as well for allowing us to serve as their loan partner - helping their dreams get closer to becoming reality!
Get a free rate quote now at http://www.somersetmortgagelenders.com or call 1-800-675-9783 to speak with a LIVE Loan Officer now.
SOMERSET MORTGAGE LENDERS
Specializing in: purchases, debt consolidation, divorce buyouts, home improvement, mortgages, refinancing, reverse mortgages, FHA loans & more get a free rate quote now at http://www.somersetmortgagelenders.com or call 1-800-675-9783 to speak to a LIVE Loan Officer.
Understanding Your Credit
by Somerset Mortgage Lenders: "The Brains, The Courage and The Heart to Make Your Dreams Come True"
http://www.somersetmortgagelenders.com
Somerset Mortgage Lenders and Gregg Marcus strive to keep the public educated with tips meant to make getting your loan as easy and painless as possible. To this end, they have put together this brief how to guide to understanding your credit.
Credit is the borrowing of money with the intention of repaying the lender at some later point in time. Examples of credit include: credit cards, home mortgages, student loans, and car loans.
There are 3 primary agencies that compile information on an individual’s credit history and produces a report which lenders use to help determine whether or not to approve a request for credit. These 3 main credit reporting agencies are: Experian, Equifax, and Trans-Union.
A credit report includes an individual’s name, address, social security number, current employer and employment history, and previous credit history. A person’s credit history includes various types of accounts (ie. bank accounts, credit card accounts, student loans), the respective balances remaining, the payment status (ie. whether or not payments were made on time), and any collection information. A person’s credit report contains information on that person’s credit history going back 7-10 years.
A credit report will also identify how often, when, and by whom an inquiry was made into the individual’s credit. This is valuable information to lenders as it shows them how frequently a person is applying for additional credit. And a credit report will identify any legal actions taken against an individual for the purposes of reclaiming money owed.
In instances where a person’s credit history is lacking, lenders may take other proof of credit into account, such as rental payment receipts and utility bills. It is difficult to obtain credit without proof of some sort of existing credit history, however short or small.
When a consumer applies for a loan or other form of credit, the lender will contact one of these credit bureaus to review the applicant’s credit report. Although most of the information collected by each of the agencies is the same, slight differences may exist in an individual’s credit report from each agency. In addition, errors will often exist on credit reports.
Different lenders will pull different agency’s credit reports on their applicants, making it essential for every consumer to make sure all 3 of their credit reports are accurate. Fortunately, every American is entitled to receive one free copy of their own credit report per year from each credit reporting agency. But even if you’ve already received your free credit report from each agency for a given year, you can still purchase an additional copy at any point in time you like for a small fee.
Get a free rate quote now at http://www.somersetmortgagelenders.com or call 1-800-675-9783 to speak with a LIVE Loan Officer now.
SOMERSET MORTGAGE LENDERS
specializing in: purchases, debt consolidation, divorce buyouts, home improvement, mortgages, refinancing, reverse mortgages, FHA loans & more get a free rate quote now at http://www.somersetmortgagelenders.com or call 1-800-675-9783 to speak to a LIVE Loan Officer.
SOMERSET MORTGAGE LENDERS
specializing in: purchases, debt consolidation, divorce buyouts, home improvement, mortgages, refinancing, reverse mortgages, FHA loans & more
get a free quote now at http://www.somersetmortgagelenders.com or call 1-800-675-9783
Mortgage Financing Costs & Fees
by Somerset Mortgage Lenders: "The Brains, The Courage and The Heart to Make Your Dreams Come True"
Somerset Mortgage Lenders and Gregg Marcus strive to keep the public educated with tips meant to make getting your loan as easy and painless as possible. To this end, they have put together this brief explanation of mortgage financing costs & fees.
The following is an overview of the fees and other costs associated with getting a home mortgage
Down payment: Your down payment is the money you pay out of pocket towards the total purchase price of your home. When borrowing money to buy a home, you can expect to pay a percentage of the purchase price with your own money, rather than the lender‘s. Different mortgages and loan packages require you make different down payments (i.e. 5% or 20%).
Monthly payment: The money you pay each month in mortgage payment can be applied to your loan in a number of ways. The payment is usually divided amongst loan principal (the remaining balance on the actual amount borrowed) and interest. However, a wise choice (and sometimes a loan requirement) would be to pay an additional amount each month to go into an escrow account to pay for taxes and insurance.
Mortgage insurance: In the case of mortgages for less than 20% of the purchase price of the home, a borrower is usually required to pay some sort of mortgage insurance. Insured home loans enable people to buy homes with smaller down payments than would otherwise be required. The cost of mortgage insurance varies greatly, generally depending on both the down payment amount and the type of loan chosen.
The Veterans Administration (VA) and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) are two federal government institutions that insure different types of home loans. Borrowers can also turn to sundry private organizations to acquire mortgage insurance.
Closing costs: At the time of closing - when you officially, legally take title of the home - certain costs are due, many of which you will be responsible for paying. In general, you can plan to pay an extra 5% on top of your purchase price towards closing costs. Whenever you apply for a loan, the lender is required by law to provide you with an estimate of the closing costs associated with that loan. Items on that estimate may include, *Origination fees - the loans processing costs of processing your loan (such as: appraisal and property) *Title insurance - often an optional but highly recommended expense that insures you against problems with the title (i.e. property liens) undisclosed to you prior to the time of purchase.
SOMERSET MORTGAGE LENDERS
specializing in: purchases, debt consolidation, divorce buyouts, home improvement, mortgages, refinancing, reverse mortgages, FHA loans & more
The Underwriting Process
by Somerset Mortgage Lenders: "The Brains, The Courage and The Heart to Make Your Dreams Come True"
Somerset Mortgage Lenders and Gregg Marcus strive to keep the public educated with tips and tricks meant to make getting your loan as easy as possible. To this end, they have put together this brief explanation of the underwriting process
In terms of real estate, the underwriter is the representative of a lender who reviews a home buyer’s loan application and associated documentation. It is in the underwriting process that the determination is made whether to approve or deny a request for a loan.
In the underwriting process, the underwriter analyzes and evaluates;
Your ability to pay back the loan - by looking at your current income and obligations.
Your willingness to pay back the loan - by looking your credit.
The collateral you’re offering for the loan - by looking at the appraised value of the property in question in relationship to the size of the loan requested, or what is known as the Loan-to-Value ratio.
The underwriter examines your loan application to answer relevant questions such as;
Your source of income and its consistency and reliability.
The adequacy of your income to cover the costs of your new mortgage.
The overall amount of long-term debt you have already.
A key factor in determining whether or not to approve your loan application is your credit history. It is well worth every loan applicant’s while to review their own credit first, prior to applying for a loan. By checking your own credit before the underwriter ever sees it, you have the opportunity to identify and fix any errors and make reparations on old unpaid debts if at all possible, thereby improving your credit rating and the likelihood of being approved for the loan.
When a borrower doesn’t have an extensive enough credit history for an underwriter to make an informed decision about the borrower’s creditworthiness, underwriters will often accept other payment records for consideration, such as utility bills and rental payment receipts.
Whether an applicant has a provable and adequately lengthy credit history or not, an underwriter may require the applicant also produce a complete paper trail of recent banking account activity (ie. checking and savings). This may include deposit and withdrawal receipts, monthly statements, cancelled checks, etc.
SOMERSET MORTGAGE LENDERS
specializing in: debt consolidation, divorce buyouts, home improvement, mortgages, purchase, refinance, reverse mortgages, FHA loans & more
get a free quote now at http://www.somersetmortgagelenders.com or call 1-800-675-9783
SOMERSET MORTGAGE LENDERS
specializing in: debt consolidation, divorce buyouts, home improvement, mortgages, purchase, refinance, reverse mortgages, FHA loans & more
get a free quote now at http://www.somersetmortgagelenders.com or call 1-800-675-9783
These days that's been the more prevailing question over whether subprime lending will return and, as it would happen, the answer to both questions are related. Many prognosticators assert that the worst of it is still ahead of us. Others believe the tide is turning.
But all agree that if we do have a recession, it will be in part due to the subprime mortgage crisis, and that we would not emerge from either a recession or the subprime mortgage crisis until and unless we emerged from both.
That is why so many people in finance and government are working to try and pull us out of this subprime mortgage crisis so that we can better avoid a recession.
Recession or no recession, a couple of things seem certain, though. Housing prices aren't likely to rise until prospective homeowners can start qualifying for less risky and expensive mortgages. And the tide of foreclosures isn't likely to ebb until people can afford to meet their current loan agreements. Both of these situations require an increase and improvement in employment and a tight leash on inflation.
Who knows if subprime lending will return? Not us. But together we can take an educated guess.
The common sense answer to the question of whether or not subprime lending will return is "Of course it will". Housing (including home lending) is cyclical, and all things cyclical ebb and tide, fade out and return.
As with securities and other forms of investment, the waxing and waning popularity of various loan instruments is most heavily dependent upon demand. The money is there to lend. The only question is how to lend it.
A lender with no borrowers is no lender at all. To stay in business, a lender has to offer instruments that have lending criteria which borrowers can actually meet. Otherwise, with no qualified borrowers, it can't do what it's in business to do - make loans.
All this is to say that as long as there is a demand for subprime loans, subprime lending will eventually be made available.
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