Why should we use you for our mortgage transactions?
Question of the week: Why should we use you for our mortgage transactions?
Answer: Many of you will be heading out of town for the Christmas/New Year’s to visit with family and friends, or you will be hosting vistors. You will be having some conversations over eggnog or platters of hors d’oeuvres (picturing Clark Griswold and Cousin Eddie with the moose glasses). During those conversations, the topic of real estate and mortgages may come up, the way the 20+ months have gone it is somewhat likely. Cousin Eddie thinking of buying a new home, adding on to the current home, or worried about his equity line going up. Or perhaps sister Susie and brother in-law Lance finally see what others saw and are formally ending their marriage, she wonders what their options are regarding their home. Maybe the conversation is with you and your siblings over Mom and Dad’s home—your first Christmas without one of them and now the reality of dividing the assets which includes where you grew up, what options do you have? If/when such conversations occur it would be appreciated if you were to say, “I know a guy who can help, call Dennis…”
For thirty years I have helped families with many scenarios where a mortgage is able to solve problems. A family purchasing their first home, or their third. Siblings purchasing some investment property. Mom and Dad refinancing an equity line they used to put their kids through college. Sister buying out her brothers’ share in the family home from mom and dad’s estate.
Why me for these scenarios? Primarily because my staff, partners and I combined have more than two centuries experience in the mortgage industry—that is a lot of mortgages used to solve a lot of scenarios. We are adept at taking a problem and creating scenarios for our clients to consider for solutions. We are adept at communicating those solutions in plain English. We are adept at showing only the scenarios that we know will work and be able to close.
So, do we only do complicated, or non-standard transactions? No, we thrive on “simple” or “normal” mortgage scenarios such as purchasing a new home or refinancing an existing mortgage. But, because of our experience we know that the “normal” transactions can quickly become complicated or possibly a bad situation for our client.
Properties that have unpermitted square footage, or not in condition that would be approved by underwriting. Condo projects with shaky budgets and financials. Job losses, maternity leave, unknown issues on credit reports, cloudy title, tax returns filed by someone else using your social security number, appraisals that come in under the needed value.
As many of you learned if you are self-employed and went through the mortgage process after the start of the pandemic, new twists and turns in underwriting policies change how mortgages are approved for those not earning a W2 income.
These are just a few of the countless surprises that can, and do, pop up during transactions. Numerous times per year we are called by agents as an issue has come up on their transaction where their client, or the buyer of their client’s home, is using a different lender and they do not know how to solve an issue; they call us because they know we can provide different possible scenarios so they can move forward.
I have always told my clients, you might be able to find another lender that will quote a lower rate; note “quote” because we only quote what we can close—this, we have discovered through the years, is not always the case with some of our competitors in the mortgage industry. Our rates are excellent, and our value is among the best in the industry. I use “value” because of what we provide in the way of service and experience to make our clients’ transactions as smooth as possible, with them knowing every step of the way what is happening, why it is happening and what will happen next. All at or below the same rate and price of almost all other lenders in our markets.
Our business is referral only. How have we been in business for so long counting on word of mouth for our business? Tremendous service, products and rates. Plus, the ability to work out solutions for practically every scenario where a mortgage is needed.
“I didn’t know getting a mortgage could be so easy.” This is perhaps the most common comment we get from our clients, regardless of the difficulty of the transaction, it is easier than they think it will be due to our clear communication and honest answers from first contact through closing.
I thought long and hard before using this space to toot the horns of Stratis Financial and Dennis Smith; it is hard to speak well of oneself without feeling like a braggart or boastful. Every now and then however we do need to boast a bit about what we do and how we do it. I hope you read this as intended, to remind people about what we do and how we do it with the desire that our name is passed along to others who are in the market for some assistance with their mortgage needs.
In closing I want to thank the thousands of individuals and families that have told clients, families, friends, co-workers and neighbors, “hey, I know a guy who can help you, call Dennis…”
Have a question? Ask me!
Johnny Paycheck was the vocals for millions of Americans again in October. His 1977 song is on their lips and minds as the Great Resignation continues with 4.2 million quitting their jobs in October, which amounted to 2.8% of workers. Most of those leaving their jobs are doing so for another job for better pay, conditions, benefits, location or a combination of these and other factors. The transitory nature of the workforce is evidence by the 11 million job openings in October and an increase in labor costs of 9.6% in the 3rd quarter, a number that is sure to be higher in the 4th quarter. The higher labor costs are detrimental to mortgage rates as they add to other factors to push inflation higher.
Segueing into inflation, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released data for the Consumer Price Index today, and the numbers are not good for consumers. Prices rose 0.8% in October, pushing the annualized rate of inflation for consumers to 6.8%, the highest it has been since July 1982. I had just finished my sophomore year in college and was half way to my degree in economics. We studied money supply as a means to control inflation, as Federal Reserve Chair Paul Volcker was in the midst of restricting the amount of money in the economy, which pushed interest rates to post-World War II highs (the prime rate went to 21.5%), to lower inflation. The CPI data is not mortgage rate friendly as it provides even more support for the Fed to raise interest rates. Ideally not as high as Volcker did in the ‘80s.
Rates for Friday December 10, 2021: Rates end the week flat from last Friday, which is a bit surprising given the data and growing expectations for higher rates sooner rather than later.
FIXED RATE MORTGAGES AT COST OF 1.25 POINTS LOCKED FOR 45 DAYS FOR PURCHASE TRANSACTIONS:
30 year conforming 2.875% Flat
30 year high-balance conforming 3.125% Flat
Please note that these are base rates and adjustments may be added for condominiums, refinances, credit scores, loan to value, no impound account and period rate is locked. Rates are based on 20% down with 740 FICO score for purchase mortgages.
Faithful WR&MU readers with very good memories likely recall a very similar question and answer as this week’s from some time in the past. While I do write the WR&MU myself every week (you can tell by the typoez and mistakey grammar), there are times when I will revisit a subject from the past. I do this for a few reasons.
First, there are new readers added to the send list every month who may benefit from the commentary. Second, some information bears repeating from time to time as a refresher, or to update information. Third, some weeks I have not received any questions, or have a hard time coming up with something new to write about. Fourth, some weeks I am pressed for time and take the easy approach of finding a post from a few years in the past and presenting it once again. Today’s post is a combination of all four!
Have a great week,
Dennis
Past Weekly Rate & Market Updates can be found on my blog page at my website www.DennisCSmith.com/my-blog
