Washington Mortgage Planner-straight up mortgage advice and commentary

I'm happy to help one of my fellow Rainers in this blog competition. Matt: I wish you well!

Good afternoon everyone! I hope you're well. I write this with a heavy heart as our Great Dane, Buster, has a very weak heart and we may need to put him down. He is almost 8 years old but has really struggled recently and we don't want to see him suffer. Buster was the first dog I owned as an adult and has been a wonderful companion. He will be sorely missed if he passes.

What is the point of all this? If you're like me, we sometimes take relationships and friendships for granted. Contrast that with our dog who loved unconditionally, was always agreeable for the most part, and was happy just being in our company.

After I finish writing this, I'm going to reach out and touch people I know. Let's face it. We're really not on this earth that long yet we all desire to have an impact. I challenge you to reach out to someone. If you have a pet, observe how they do it. I know. It's just a dog or cat. But sometimes we can learn so much from our pets. Have a great day today. Tomorrow is a new day!

Hello all: Good morning on an absolutely beautiful day! I was reading a blog about private money today and wanted to chime in. I have to admit when I used to think about private money, all I saw was how much it cost. True, private money can cost almost twice as much or more than conventional money. At The Legacy Group we charge 12% with 2 points usually. This is actually less than what a lot of other lenders charge (sometimes as much as 15% or higher with several points).

The benefit to private money is you may be able to close a deal quickly. Case in point: One of my co-workers bought a house for $350,000 in a highly sought after neighborhood. The appraisal came in at over $500,000. Our capital arm can get the short term financing and then the buyer can refinance into a lower rate. For either an owner-occupant or a flipper, this is a great deal. Another instance allowed one of our clients to buy a business with the equity he had in his house. The bank he was working with said no and he was in danger of losing the deal. The Legacy Group provided short term money which our client proceeded to refinance into a longer term note.

At The Legacy Group we encourage people to contact us if they have a short term need or sense an opportunity. You can also invest in our company and earn a 12% annualized rate of return. Contact Brent Ely at Brent.Ely@Legacyg.com if you're interested. I hope this clears up any confusion about private money. It can be an alternative solution. Have a great day!

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Hello all: I picked up our local paper this morning, The Seattle Times and the lead story was about the failure of Washington Mutual Savings Bank. To date, this has been the biggest bank failure in our history.

It's hard to believe it's been a year since this happened. It also added to the meltdown worldwide of our financial system and the loss of trillions of dollars of our assets, most of it tied up in our retirement. The failure of Washington Mutual and subsequent purchase by Chase was preceded by the implosion of Lehman Brothers, the bailing out of AIG and the forced shotgun marriage of Bank of America and Merrill Lynch.

What do you remember? For me, the slowdown started in August 2007 with the failure of American Home Mortgage. At the time they were the 10th largest wholesale lender in the country. After this, every lender immediately started tightening the screws and it wasn't soon thereafter that Countrywide was bought by Bank of America as it was failing also.

Here we are in September 2009 feeling a little better about the direction we're headed in. I think we all know that it's still a little tenuous. And I don't think any of us wants to go back to where we were. Ultimately time will tell. In Wa. Mu.'s case, bad decisions were made and they paid a heavy price. Have a great day today!

Good morning! I was given a great new book "The Go-Giver" by a fellow Rainer after he mentioned it in his blog. Thanks for sending it to me.

What's remarkable about the "Go-Giver" is the paradoxical idea that a person should give first and keep on giving with no expectation of getting anything back. I'm the first to admit I've always liked "win-win" deals. According to the "Go-Giver", even this isn't right as there is an expectation of getting something back.

I know I'm on the right track as I build my business. In fact, I enter into any relationship these days with no expectation. If I can help my fellow man/woman I do so without any expectation of return. In the "Go-Giver", a young man meets an older mentor who proceeds to teach him how to give. This was something the young man hadn't learned yet.

If you haven't picked up the "Go-Giver" yet, I strongly encourage you to do so. I think I'm going to order several copies and dispense them to people in my sphere. This idea of giving first is not new. And it's been bandied about by several people including Ivan Misner of BNI, etc, etc. The interesting thing is how often I (and perhaps you) forget the golden rule. I'll repeat that here if you've forgotten it; "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you".

I strongly encourage you to give. Report to me how you are becoming a "Go-Giver". Thanks for reading!

Good morning! I wanted to let you locals know that I along with Rebecca Haas of Re/Max Metro Realty are going to start teaching real estate classes again on Saturday September 26. They will be held again at Renton Technical College. For times and related information, please go to the www.rtc.edu website. Also, please forward this along. Rebecca and I believe in education and hope to provide this series for years to come.

The first class will be "How to Get a Loan Today". Other subsequent real estate classes include "Short Sales and Foreclosures-Demystify the Process", " Real Estate for Women", and "Real Estate Investment Analysis". I hope you or a friend can attend. Feel free to contact me here if you need more information. Thanks for reading!

Good morning: Another stellar day in the Northwest. And I'm taking the day off! Why? A high school classmate of mine has this big hairy audacious goal of playing every golf course in the state. I told him if he was ever over on my side of the mountains, let me know and we'd go play Gold Mountain in Bremerton, rated the favorite golf course in Western Washington by the public.

The opportunity to do something you love with people you want to spend time with should not be missed. Yes, I have my cell. with me and email comes to my phone. But I'm going to also enjoy the day with my best friend in the 3rd grade. I think it's important to take advantage of these opportunities. They don't come around very often.

So enjoy your day today. I was having lunch with a guy yesterday I really admire. I referred to him as Mr. Bellevue because he has done so much to promote the city and the Eastside. He commented to me that he finally was going to be able to start taking weekends off soon. I told him that was good. I don't know about you but I've had a pretty good year and also taken a lot of time to do other things. So what do you have planned this week? Is there room to take time out and away from your business? If not, see if you can break away. You'll come back refreshed and ready to hit it again! Have a great day!

Good morning all: I wanted to take a moment to talk about jumbo loans. My company, The Legacy Group, has several jumbo lenders we work with.

First, a bit of clarification. There are two types of jumbo loans. The first is called a conforming jumbo loan and in the tri-county area here (King, Snohomish, Pierce), the limit is $567,500 through the end of the year. Interest rates for a 30 year fixed conforming jumbo loan are running in the low 5's O.A.C. This is about .25% higher than a conforming loan (loan amount to $417,000). Down payments will either be 3.5% if you do an FHA loan or 10% if you do a conventional loan. Keep in mind that any down payment less than 20% will incur mortgage insurance.

The second type of loan is called a "super jumbo". This loan is for any loan amount above $567,500 for all practical purposes. Rates and terms on super jumbo loans are entirely different. There are fewer lenders in this niche and most will require at least 20% down. Some lenders will go up to $3 million on the loan amount although you should expect to have either significant equity or a large down payment if you need to borrow this much.

Recently I've been encouraged by the gradual easing of underwriting in the super jumbo market. For a while there, things were really tight. Now, I'm seeing lenders allowing more loans. Interest rates have also gotten attractive. I've even heard of 30 year fixed rates under 6%. Your best option is to do an ARM that is fixed for a certain period of time. Rates are quite a bit lower. For example, I have a client who is going to do a 7/1 ARM at 4.75%. Obviously, their payment will be quite a bit lower than if they chose a 30 year fixed rate.

So what can you expect to provide in order to do a "jumbo loan?" You will need to provide all the normal documentation including last 2 years W-2's or tax returns, asset statements showing you have reserves in most cases, last 2 paystubs, along with at least a 720 credit score for your best pricing. The portfolio lenders who usually do these loans will ask for alot. It's important that you work with a loan officer who understands this market. Feel free to contact me if I can be of further service. I'm located in Bellevue, WA. at the best-kept secret in the mortgage world! Have a great day!