An amendment to the Wall Street reform bill passed on Wednesday. The amendment prohibits mortgage lenders and loan originators from receiving greater pay for pushing loans with higher interest rates (gee, that makes sense) and requires that borrower's actually have the ability to repay their loans (you mean, they don't already do that?).
Sort of strange to walk into a closing and see a picture and bio of yourself on the borrower's kitchen table (That's me on the left. Good looking guy, I know). But that's what happened today. The borrower wanted to know about the person coming to their house so they found my website and printed everything out. I've heard plenty of signing agents say that if a borrower asked to see their I.D. or other information about them, they would refuse. Sorry, I just don't understand that. A borrower has every right to know who I am and ask for verification before letting me through their front door. If having a website that offers some information about me and my services helps a borrower feel more comfortable, then it's worth it.
For years, David Hall was the face of Rock Financial & Quicken Loans. He was everywhere. TV, radio (as co-host of the nationally syndicated radio program, "The Real Estate Insiders."), and Pistons games. His regular guy charm resonated with consumers. He was so good at representing Rock that many people mistakenly believed he was the President of Rock Financial (in fact, he was a mortgage banker and team leader when the spots originally started before rising to Senior Vice President). In 2007, Hall suddenly and dramatically left Rock Financial. He's been relatively unseen since then. Until now. David Hall has just launched Hall Financial, a new mortgage company based in Birmingham, Michigan.
OK, I'm always skeptical when I receive an email telling me about an AMAZING offer. My first reaction is "yeah, right." And my second reaction is "what's the sales pitch?" Yesterday I received an email from LSI Fidelity about an amazing offer to their vendors. As a service provider for LSI, they are offering to provide us with discounts on products that many of us use as signing agents. This includes:
Ok, I get it. After years of appraisals gone wild, appraisers are nervous. They're being heavily scrutinized. I understand the need to be conservative. But can we please just find a way to value homes in a fair manner? Fair means not intentionally using a foreclosed home as a comparable when there are other homes in the neighborhood that could have been used. It means not using homes a mile away that are worth less when there's one right around the corner. It means not valuing a house and then taking a flat 20% off the value just because. And if a homeowner can show based on other comparables that an appraisal is unfair or inaccurate, how about a process that allows the owner a legitimate way to dispute it? Is that asking too much? Ridiculously high appraisals contributed mightily to our current situation. And now ridiculously low appraisals are keeping us in the same predicament. Can we please just find a reasonable middle ground?
When you're a signing agent, it's easy to take the fall when something goes wrong. So it's important to cover your tracks as much as possible. Today I received an email from one of my title companies stating that the borrower's check was not in the return package. It was a professional email, nothing accusatory. Still, we all know that the though is that the signing agent messed up.
While much of the nation has already begun to show signs of stabilization in the housing market, Michigan has (not surprisingly) lagged behind. But we may finally be seeing some life. The Detroit News reports that November home sales in southeastern Michigan (Macomb, Oakland and Wayne county) were up 22.6% from prior year. In addition, "median prices were up in Wayne and Oakland counties, inventories were down and more non-foreclosure houses and condos were sold than foreclosed properties." Have we finally seen the worst of it?
