by Ethan Atkinson | Oct 26, 2023 | Mortgage, Real Estate
In “celebration” of high interest rates, many home builders are offering buydowns to sell their inventory. Recent research shows that as much as of 75% of homebuilders are offering buydowns to keep their inventory flowing, which can be extremely beneficial to mortgage...
by Ethan Atkinson | Oct 6, 2023 | Mortgage, Real Estate
Last week, a mainstream newspaper published an article with a wild claim that turned out to be highly misleading. According to this article, there was a “strange surge in refinancing” despite sky-high mortgage rates, and refinances had increased 13%...
by Ethan Atkinson | Jul 27, 2023 | Mortgage, Real Estate
Do you think that only inexperienced real estate agents are taken in by property scammers? The rapid rise of property scams in California suggests otherwise. Even experienced agents may need to re-evaluate how they vet clients. These scams often involve vacant land,...
by Ethan Atkinson | Sep 30, 2022 | Mortgage, Real Estate
Even if a property is not part of a Planned Unit Development (PUD), it may have to be defined as such for loan approval. This is because Fannie Mae, the government-sponsored enterprise that purchases mortgage loans, defines PUDs completely differently than local...
by Ethan Atkinson | Sep 22, 2022 | Mortgage, Real Estate
Most articles on condominiums and special assessments are about how to avoid them. It’s easy to think of condominium special assessments as an unexpected disaster that happens to people who don’t do enough research before buying. There is truth to this;...
by Ethan Atkinson | Aug 19, 2022 | Mortgage, Real Estate
Math and Emotion For the first time in four years, the Federal Reserve increased its target interest rate in March. Though this was widely expected, the drama was intense. Former Home Depot CEO Bob Nardelli said that the rate hike will have a “devastating...
