Today's Mortgage Rates

There are quite a few people who are currently owed money from HUD because they had an FHA loan at one time and according to the rules of the way their Up Front Mortgage Insurance Premium account worked, they are owed a refund.

The good news is that for these people, HUD has made it easy to find out if you are owed an MIP refund and also how to claim it.

Oh, and finding out if you are owed a MIP refund and how to claim it is free — don’t let anyone charge you money for helping you discover if you are owed a MIP refund and how to collect it.

Just visit HUDs website and find out for yourself if you are owed a refund and how to collect it.

If You Think You Might Be Due An MIP Refund:

• Check HUDs website
• Contact HUD with any questions

DO NOT:

• Call anyone other than HUD
• Pay anyone to help you claim your refund

Special note — if someone has asked you for $ in exchange for showing you how to get your refund — see what HUD says on their website about this:

“Beware of “tracers” who offer to help you collect your refund for a fee.  Although this practice is not illegal, you can get your refund directly from HUD for free.”

You also can see the Frequently Asked Questions that people ask regarding their MIP refunds here.

One of the hottest, most-talked-about mortgage programs here in Arizona is a program called the Neighborhood Stabilization Program.

The reason that this program is so popular here in Arizona is because there are many, many, many properties that are currently bank-owned and people are starting to buy these properties – either as an investment or as a primary residence.

And for people who are considering buying a bank-owned property in Arizona and living in the property, there is currently a fairly large pile of government grant money that is available to them.

Grant as in “free money”.

Now, Arizona is not the only state with the Neighborhood Stabilization Program funds available but because I live and work in Arizona, it is the state that I am most familiar with. There are many – and possibly all — states who have this program right now and here are some of the main ideas and concepts behind the program:

1. It is for people who are going to purchase a home that has been foreclosed on and is currently considered “bank-owned”.
2. To be eligible for NSP funds, you must plan on living in the home and occupying it as your primary residence.
3. How much money you can get in the form of a grant depends on how long you agree to live in the property as your primary residence.
4. The maximum amount of money that you can get is up to 22% of the purchase price of the property.
5. If you don’t live in the property for as long as you agreed to, the “grant” becomes a “loan” and is due and payable at 0% interest — meaning if you got $10,000, you will owe $10,000.
6. You cannot refinance or move, you must keep both the loan and the home or the “grant” converts into a “loan”.
7. You must attend a home buyers education course prior to receiving the grant.

Now, this list is not an exhaustive list – but it gives you a pretty good idea of what kinds of stipulations there are to the Neighborhood Stabilization Program. Also, each state has different rules, so you will want to check into the rules that apply to your specific state.

A great place to start about learning about whether or not you could qualify for a Neighborhood Stabilization Program grant is on HUD’s website for more information about the NSP program. Here is also a handy map of who to contact in your state about the Neighborhood Stabilization Program.

Are  you under a tight time line to get a mortgage done?

In many markets across the US, there are actually bidding wars going on right now for houses and when competition is fierce, it is more important than ever to make sure that you have the best offer – or at least one that stands out.

And one way to make your offer more attractive to a seller (often times, in the hot markets the seller is actually a bank) is to put in your offer that you can get your loan closed fast.

But getting your loan closed fast is not just up to your loan officer, you may be surprised at how much you can speed up the process — just by having your documentation ready and being ready to run down lender requests.

Have Your Documentation Ready

When applying for a loan, there is a pretty standard set of documents that you will want to have ready. Depending on what kind of loan you are applying for, you may need additional documents handy, but here are the basics:

• Last 2 years tax returns
• Last 2 years W2′s
• Last 2 paystubs
• Last 2 months bank statements
• Copies of any account statements such as 401k, savings accounts, etc.
• Copy of a divorce decree (if divorced)
• Copies of your Social Security card
• Copies of your Drivers License

If you are planning on getting a VA loan or a USDA loan, there will be documents that you will need in addition to those listed above, but the above list pretty much applies to all loans.

Be Ready For Lender Conditions

After you have organized and given your loan officer all of your initial documents above, at some point your loan will be submitted to underwriting. After the underwriter reviews your file, they will issue a conditional approval – or basically a document that says essentially “I will approve this file if you get me ____________”.

And the “_________________” part could be one thing or twenty things — conditional approvals come in all shapes and sizes.

And this is where you can speed up the whole process — be ready to get the “____________________” as soon as possible to your loan officer.

Speeding Up The Mortgage Process: You Are Key

Just by having all of your initial documents ready and hustling down the “________________” on your file, you might be pleasantly surprised at how much faster your loan can get closed.

So in the end… it is all up to you.

And your loan officer of course.