One of the things mortgage lenders have been very strict with is debt to income ratios. Banks analyze what your monthly housing expense will be vs. your gross (before tax) income and then look at your overall monthly expenses vs. your gross income. This is also known as the front and back end ratios.  Fannie and Freddie, along with most lenders will allow the stretch of these ratios to go up to 50%. However, the FHA is pretty strict with qualifying ratios sticking to a 31 for the housing expense and a 43 to the total monthly debt ratio.

I am sure I have written about ratios before, about a hundred times, so I do not want to repeat myself here. This post is specifically about FHA and how they look at high ratios. The FHA is pretty strict with their 31/43 guidelines. However, they will allow compensating factors to come into play when the ratios are close. I have listed a few key compensating factors the FHA underwriter will look for to allow a loan to be approved.  If you know you are close and want to point some of this stuff out to your mortgage loan officer, sooner is better than later.

Video's are a great way to end the work week! Check out this one!

We hope the search for your dream home doesn't go like this!!

Have a great weekend

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Are you thinking of living in Grand Rapids, Mi

A conversation with Lola Audu, Broker w/ Audu Real Estate ~ Grand Rapids, Michigan

About Grand Rapids, MI

Grand Rapids, MI combines the best in big city sophistication with plenty of green space to spread out and relax. The city, which is sometimes referred to as ‘Michigan’s West Coast’ is located along the banks for the Grand River. It is approximately 30 minutes from Lake Michigan, the fifth largest fresh water lake in the world.

Grand Rapids is part of a larger metropolis of smaller communities commonly referred to as West Michigan. For many years, Grand Rapids was recognized as the ‘furniture capital’ of the world as several of the world’s largest furniture companies including Steelcase and Herman Miller had their headquarters and factories in the area. Today Grand Rapids has a diversified economic base and is a leading center for healthcare and biotechnology in the mid-west.

The city of Grand Rapids is recognized as having the most LEEDS certified buildings per capita of any city within the United States. In 2009, the ArtPrize festival brought thousands of pieces of artwork and sculpture to the area from artists across the world. In addition to spectacular lakeside sunsets and over 2,000 acres of parks & recreational areas, the city has some of Michigan’s finest museums, restaurants and hotels. It’s a great place to visit or come home to.

Listing syndication is a big deal.  Sure, you “get it”.  You know it’s important to get your listings in front of as many potential buyers as possible, in as many places as possible.  You know that your listings are your biggest assets and you want them on as many consumer-search sites as possible.  You’re already syndicating your listings to 40+ places on the web and getting tons of leads. 

Wait a minute!  Are you?

If you’re not currently using a listing syndication service then chances are you’re not advertising in as many places as you could be.

This video is a youtube oldie but goodie! Enjoy it, and enjoy your weekend :)

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We got so much feedback on this the first time we decided to do a re-post! Please follow us on twitter @daleonthemove and look out for our book give-away later today!

Top 5 Things You Can't Hide from Your Lender

People forget to tell us the craziest things when they are getting a mortgage these days. When applying for a loan, what you tell the lender in the beginning needs to match what you are doing at the end. In other words, you cannot start finagling your finances before you close. The banks scrutinize loan applications more than ever now and will shake you up all the way to the closing. So, moving money all over, closing accounts, borrowing money, ruining your credit and quitting your job are probably not good things to do right before a closing. Here are five things you cannot hide from your lender...

Bidonthecity.com, the first online real estate trading platform for residential and commercial real estate properties, couldn’t find a more interesting market to launch in than New York City. Conceived before the housing bubble burst,  Bid on the City combines the best of the brokerage and auction worlds, simplifying the process for buyers, sellers, and agents. Bidonthecity.com’s operations are overseen by Manhattan real estate professionals with more than 25 combined years of experience and owners of New York Business Group -- Albert Feinstein, Managing Director Business Development, and Vlad Sapozhnikov, Managing Director, Sales and Rentals.

Some people have a base salary for their 40 hour work week but can double those hours, and that paycheck,  but clocking in overtime. Often the employer wants it this way, often the employee does- for whatever the reason. Many people begin to clock in overtime when they have a large expense coming up, like college or cars or vacations. Lots of people try to get as much OT as possible when they want to buy a house. We would call these folks hard working Americans! But are they rewarded for their overtime  when they apply for a mortgage? Not right way!

When qualifying for a mortgage, the lender takes your monthly housing expense (PITI) and divides by your gross monthly income. They compute your grossly monthly income by adding up all your income sources (base salary, over time, bonus, commissions, etc) and divide it by 12. However as I have written about before, they are leery about bonuses and commissions and dissect this income. But what you might not know, you hard-working Americans, is that OT is not always considered…….and you might not qualify for the mortgage anyway.  

Here are a few things you need to know about using your OT to qualify for a mortgage:

We're so glad it's Friday.  Kick off your weekend with this great video!

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