"Interest Rates Are Still Great," the Mortgage Broker said...

"Interest Rates Are Still Great," the Mortgage Broker said...

"Rates are still great," is what the mortgage broker said when I paused after he said, "Buyers don't shop for rates," then "Buyers don't care about rates when they get good service."

In my experience a buyer expects their real estate agent to direct them to a reputable mortgage broker who will provide great service and fair rates. When a trusted real estate agent recommends a mortgage broker most buyers trust their real estate agent so maybe they don't shop the rate with their bank or other banks. Everyone is really busy today and a home buyer is especially busy when they are buying a home so maybe home buyers don't shop the rate, but that does not mean that a buyer doesn't care what the interest rate is. Buyers do care how much they pay for goods and services.

Years ago I worked for a real estate company that had an in-house mortgage broker. Every time I turned in a contract the office manager would ask me if I was using our in-house lender. Everyone else in the office was using the in-house lender so what was my problem? The buyers that I sent to get pre qualified got an interest rate that was 1% to 2% higher than the interest rate with a local bricks and mortar bank. And it took a week to get a pre qualification letter for a buyer.

It's takes time and experience to put together a team of professionals who are going to take care of a home buyer or seller. One of my duties as a buyer's agent, and an aspect of providing excellent service to my buyer, is knowing who to send a buyer to so they get a fair interest rate.

I must be able to confidently recommend an excellent mortgage broker who is going to hit all of my service targets including interest rate. A buyer would be disappointed with me if I recommended a mortgage broker and the rates were higher than normal. I need for a buyer to get the same rate or a better rate from my mortgage broker than they would have gotten from their bank.



Mortgage Broker Service Targets


1. Interest rates, points and fees that are the same as, or lower than, the best interest rates on the island.

2. Provide a variety of loan programs to service jumbo loan buyers, FHA buyers, VA buyers, first time home buyers, investors, second home buyers, buyers who need to clean up their credit before they can buy, business opportunity buyers and commercial real estate buyers.

3. Work with a variety of underwriters. Know your underwriters and what they want and need to close. Know which loan and buyer to send to which underwriter so that our deal doesn't fall apart.

4. Qualify the buyer for the correct amount. Don't tell me we can buy a $500,000 home and then after the buyer has spent money on a home inspection, survey, elevation certificate and an appraisal tell me that we can only get $450,000. We have wasted the buyer's time and money, the seller's time, the home owner or tenant's time, the listing agent's time, the title company's time, and your time if our loan can not be funded. And if this is a short sale and the buyer has been waiting months, and the listing agent has invested 1,000 hours getting an approval from the seller's bank, expect listing and buyer's agent to be really unhappy. The same goes for most bank owned foreclosure properties which can take an extra 20 or 30 hours to get to contract because of multiple bid situations, bank addendums and the lag time in getting a response from the bank negotiator.

4. Answer the phone, call me back, text me or email me when I ask a question about a buyer or a loan program. It's frustrating when I leave a voice message, send a text message or send an email to a mortgage broker asking a question and the broker leaves a voice message asking me to call them back. If I ask a question then give me the answer in a voice message, text or email as soon as you can. Don't make me wait 24 to 48 hours to get the answer because you wanted to tell me in person over the phone the answer. The "call me back" voice mail message is almost as bad as the mortgage broker who calls me back a week after I left them a voice message, or sent them a text or an email, and acts like it's business as usual, tells me that they were on vacation or really busy. If you are on vacation give me a heads up with your voice mail greeting or an auto email responder. If you are going to take 24, 48 or 168 hours to call me back then give me a heads up in your voice mail greeting or get an assistant so you can keep up with your business.

5. Close on time. Order the appraisal today. Get the paper work you need from a buyer as soon as you can. I'll do my part and give our buyer a list of documents that they need and explain to the buyer how important it is to gather the documents we need after we get a pre qualification letter so that we can get a pre approval before we find the house we want to buy.

6. Care about my buyer and me. Do you care that we are happy and have what we need to buy a home? Do you care if we close on time? We can tell that you care if you keep your word and do what you say you will do. We can tell that you care by your voice, your responsiveness and your follow through. Get the job done. Show my buyer and me that you care through your actions.

If this were an SAT test a mortgage broker would be to a real estate agent what gas is to a car.

I must be able to count on you or I can't recommend you to my buyer.

Photo credit Scott Hudson AWAY.

FEMA ~ Flood Insurance ~ Monroe County Florida

FEMA ~ Flood Insurance ~ Monroe County Florida




The Florida Keys are made up of 120 islands that are all subject to flooding and are in a coastal floodplain. Homes that were built prior to January 1, 1975 need to be out of the flood plain. The flood elevation can be found on an elevation certificate.

On September 9, 2005 the US District Court issued an order affecting flood insurance in Monroe county Florida. FEMA will not issue a flood insurance policy for a structure built after September 9, 2005 if the parcel is on the FEMA list. You will need to look up the real estate number for the parcel on the tax assessors web site to see if a parcel is on the list. Then go to the FEMA list and look for the real estate number.

If a property you are considering purchasing is on the FEMA list you can contact Monroe county for additional information at 305 289 2500. Or, you can contact your favorite insurance broker to get more information about the FEMA list.

There is a process for removing some parcels from the FEMA list. If the property cannot be removed from the FEMA list you will need cash to purchase the property if you can not obtain flood insurance.

If your property is on the FEMA list and you cannot get a loan to begin building because you can not get insurance talk to the county. Monroe county will allow a homeowner to write a letter to the county asking that the lot be "tolled" (put on hold) so that the building permit does not expire.

As long as the lots are "tolled" the building permit will remain active (as long as the tier designation is not invalidated). It is extremely valuable to have a permit that can be exercised at any time in Monroe county. It allows an owner to start building at any time without going through the waiting list of properties over a 1 to 2 year period to get the right to build.

If you are considering purchasing a property with an enclosure under the home that has an apartment it is important to check with the county to make sure that the apartment is properly permitted. If the home was built prior to January 1, 1975 it is considered pre-firm.

An apartment below a pre-firm stilt home may be legal. Improvements to the property may be limited to 49% of the assessed value of the structure. This limit to improvements could affect additions or improvements that you may want to make to the property. Check with the county to make sure that your plans for the home are possible. Enclosures are supposed to hold only items that would be found in a garage. An enclosure should be used for storage and parking. Anything that could be damaged by salt water are not permitted to be stored in an enclosure.

If an enclosure is being used as living space Section 1316 of the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 will mean that you are denied flood insurance. You have 1 year to bring the property into compliance and have the property inspected by Monroe county. The inspection is $180. If you don't bring the property into compliance your property will be put on a list of properties that are not eligible for flood insurance which can affect your mortgage. You can call Diane Bair if you have questions about a property that you are considering purchasing at 305 289 2518.

You can hire a county approved inspector or you can call Monroe county to schedule the Community Inspection. The original report must be filed with the county within 10 days of the sale of the property. If the property is not inspected or the report is not submitted to the county a homeowner may not be able to get a building permit for other than a life safety issue until the homeowner gets the Community Inspection Report. Your insurance agent may ask for a copy of this report.

Monroe County would not be permitted to have flood insurance in the entire county if the county allowed homeowners to have enclosures that were used for living space. To control illegal apartments and illegal use of enclosures Monroe county created an inspection process in March 2002. All stilt homes with an enclosure that is below the base flood elevation (how much water may rise during a flood) must have an inspection by Monroe county 180 days prior to the sale of any property that was built after January 1, 1975.

Photo credit Patrick Hoesly.