AMI Has it Right

AMI, the Association of Mortgage Investors, definitely has it right by trying to get bank bailouts to stop. There is nothing worse than bailing out a big bank when it has responsibilities and plenty of explanations that it could be making for its actions. However, what I think really doesn’t matter to anyone who is making the decisions right now. Looking back, what did those big bank bailouts really do? They certainly didn’t turn our economy around as the banks were begging for big money, did they? Did they do right by the consumers that were suffering?


This past week while all the big boys were arguing about foreclosure settlements and more, AMI was there to just say, listen; what we want to see happen is those who messed up need to be punished, but those who didn’t do anything shouldn’t have to suffer. Not all investors did wrong, so why should everyone get punished? It’s like the few kids in the class who were caught talking in class, and so now the whole class has to write sentences over and over; “I WILL NOT TALK IN CLASS”.

As sad as it, I get it; I know that we are in trouble, and while people are looking to buy before rates go up and more changes occur, there just aren’t enough hours in the day. I am here to help those who are looking for a better loan; an FHA loan. This means not only will the loan be insured for the bank, but this means that FHA is there to help you keep your home should a problem arise. Maybe if there were more FHA loans or loans that were done in the best interest of the borrower, these banks wouldn’t have to worry about their bailouts in the first place.

-Mayer Dallal

New Mortgage Qualifiers Limit Borrowers

While I was hoping for some sort of reform in the way that loans were being done, I wasn’t expecting what we are getting now. The regulators were trying to find a way to tame down the losses going forward on residential mortgages, and of course now we are wondering where their thoughts are headed. I want to see borrowers make more of an investment in the home upfront, but I am not so sure they came up with a good answer.


Qualified Residential Mortgages

The new terms for a qualified residential mortgage are 20% down for a home purchase, but the surprise is in the rest of the terms too that aren’t much better. Borrowers will need to put down 25% of if they are going to refinance the mortgage and 30% if they wish to do cash out refinance. The only loans that won’t be affected by these changes are FHA loans and any other federally funded loans. As you know, I am an FHA specialist so I am pro the FHA loan programs. The FHA programs are structured differently to begin with, and while they offer low down payments to first time homebuyers, they also are designed to keep the borrowers in the home; not on the streets. I am all for reform, but there is such a thing as being so strict that we close off the opportunity to bounce back.

-Mayer Dallal