If you’re shopping for a mortgage, you’re in the right place.

Posted by: Greg Fischer Post date: October 2nd, 2009

Looking for a great rate on a new home mortgage? There is more to it than you may think.

The mortgage industry is complex and ever-changing. We understand that most people are not mortgage experts, and that it can be difficult to sort though the hype. At Radiant Mortgage, we are dedicated to understanding how to help our customers qualify for the best loan available, as well as how to improve their financial health by providing the tools and education to impact credit, maximize wealth and eliminate debt.

I hope that you find the information here useful. Please use the form to the right to ask any questions, and by all means, if something strikes you, leave a comment.

Greg Fischer

Getting your mortgage application right on the first try

Posted by: Greg Fischer Post date: June 17th, 2010

When you’re applying for a mortgage, whether your buying new real estate or refinancing your current mortgage, getting all your documents together (and complete) up front makes for a much smoother process.

A few things to watch for:

Bank Statements
When providing any financial statements, checking and savings accounts, investment statements, mutual funds or anything else, if the pages are numbered Page 1 of X, make sure that you provide all X pages. Even if Page 2 is a “junk” page with no financial information, missing pages will always come back as a condition later.

Tax Returns
You will always need the 1040 form. That’s the 2 page summary of everything else that you sign page 2 of. But you will also need all schedules and forms as well. If you have any rental income showing on the 1040, you’ll need the Schedule E as well. A dollar’s worth of self-employment income? Show the Schedule C.

As a rule, it’s always better to have too much paperwork at mortgage application time than too little. Any document that has to do with your income, assets or debts might be needed. If you only have to locate those once at the beginning of the process, the flow to closing will be much simpler.

For a full list of what documentation will be required, see Required Docs.

Communication is Key to a Stress Free Home Purchase

Posted by: Greg Fischer Post date: March 11th, 2010

If you’re buying a new home – whether you are a first time homebuyer or an experienced property investor – there are hundreds of little issues that can come up to make the process painful. The MOST important protection you have is good communication.

Make sure that you are in regular contact with both your mortgage professional, and your Realtor. Expect them both to tell you what’s going on. Once you’re under contract, most of the progress will be made by your mortgage person. They should be keeping both you and your Realtor up to date on the status of your financing. If you don’t understand something: ask. Ask until you do understand. If you aren’t getting answers, ask them why not.

There are a lot of things that happen “behind the scenes” in a mortgage transaction, and most of them will happen without you ever having to worry. But when things do go wrong, understanding what the problem is, what’s being done to fix it, and if you need to do anything is essential to getting through the trouble without panic.

I always make sure that the buyer and Realtors hear from me at least once a week, even if there is nothing new to report. When there is news, you hear about that right away – good or bad. By helping everyone understand where we are in the mortgage process, everyone’s expectations are in sync. And when problems do come up, everyone knows what to expect for a solution.

Buying a home is a huge investment of money, time, emotion and energy. Great communication is the single most important key to a successful, stress-free home purchase. Make sure that you’re getting it.

It’s more important than the rate

Posted by: Greg Fischer Post date: March 4th, 2010

When it comes to getting the mortgage for your new home purchase, the MOST important element is NOT the interest rate.

Now don’t get me wrong, a low rate matters. So do reasonable fees and great service. The same three things that all mortgage lenders claim to offer. But if you’re trying to close on the purchase of your new home, the single most critical element to know is “will it close?”

Within my own practice, I have one wholesale lender that day after day offers the lowest conventional rates around. In fact, they market themselves as “The Mortgage Price Leader.” They also offer as smooth a process as anyone these days, and they are among the fastest performing in the business. But we only close a small percentage of our loans with them.

All that lending goodness comes with a price. They are also among the most particular lenders in the industry. If any aspect of the property (like not similar enough comparable properties in the appraisal), or a buyer’s income/assets/credit fall just outside their own guidelines – the loan won’t close.

And they aren’t unique. Many lenders have their own overlays on big guidelines that limit what conditions they will lend. “FHA allows this, but our guidelines require…” has become a fairly common sentiment.

The lowest rate in America doesn’t do you any good if your loan doesn’t close, or close on time. When things go wrong, it usually happens at the last moment, causing a panic for all parties in the transaction, and usually results in you getting not only a loan at a higher rate than you thought, but might also mean losing the house completely.

The key to any successful transaction is communication: early, often, and with complete understanding. Know up front what challenges might come up. Understand that some may not be evident until late in the transaction. Work with your mortgage professional to overcome the problem. If you are communicating with your mortgage professional, and you trust in their integrity and ability to get the job done, you should be given the best rate available on a loan that will CLOSE. And that’s the most important thing.

After the Mortgage Application

Posted by: Greg Fischer Post date: March 2nd, 2010

So you’ve gather all your documents, answered every question about your income, assets, debts, job, housing history and more, and you new mortgage application has been submitted for approval. Now what?

The next several days might feel to you like nothing is happening, but there is actually a flurry of activity happening behind the scenes. Once a mortgage application is submitted to the lender and is waiting for approval, a new set of disclosures are sent to you, an appraisal is ordered for the property and the title and legal work is begun.

But the next critical stage is the loan approval. This is where the lender weighs all aspects of the application: income, assets, credit and liabilities and the property and renders a decision on the overall level of risk. If the balance of everything meets the lender’s guidelines, the loan is approved.

There are usually conditions attached to this approval: update documents, explain this situation, verify something else, etc. This list of conditions is everything that’s required to clear and close on your new mortgage.

The most frustrating part of closing a new mortgage application can be the waiting. Stay patient, stay in communication with your mortgage professional, and trust your team to get you to the closing table.

In 2010, working with a Mortgage Broker STILL makes sense

Posted by: Greg Fischer Post date: January 3rd, 2010

With new regulations and SAFE act licensing requirements (many of which are good things), being a mortgage broker in NH is more difficult than it used to be. In some ways, working for a bank would be simpler – if only because the requirements are easier to meet.

But being a broker still has advantages. I received an approval for a refinance the other day. It was a complicated file, but all the required pieces were there – credit scores, job history, equity in the property etc. The borrowers had already applied and been denied at a big national bank. They were skeptical that I would be able to get different results, but since they needed the refinance, we completed the application and submitted the file.

The big challenge was that the debt to income ratio was high. Many lenders (that I spoke to) wouldn’t be able to approve the loan. But since I’m a mortgage broker, and have dozens of options for where to take a given loan file, I was able to find one who looked at the whole picture and thought it was reasonable. If I were a bank lender, no means no in most cases.

So the added requirements to be a mortgage broker are worth it. To me, to my borrowers, and to the industry. There are solutions we can provide that are simpler, more varied and often less expensive than the retail side of the business. It pays to ask questions (all of them) before you make hundred thousand dollar decisions.