Property/Casualty Insurance vs. Mortgage Insurance

HOMEOWNERS insurance is required by mortgage lenders. It protects the homeowner from lawsuits like a "slip and fall" or damages from someone getting hurt on your property. It also insures your home for damages (like a tree falling into your home) or a fire. You can add on to your policy to have earthquake insurance and increased coverages limits including theft. You can also receive a discount from some companies if you insure home and auto and other lines. MORTGAGE INSURANCE is only to insure the BANK if you default on the loan. Mortgage Insurance is typically found when your first mortgage loan is larger than 80% of the value of your home. Call me (415-485-1776) to get out or avoid mortgage insurance. Call CLAUDIA CARDOZA at AAA (415-472-6700 x357) for your home and auto insurance needs. For commercial property and business insurance, call ANDY POPOFF at Farmers Insurance (415-472-1080). Keep your finances in the pink and review your policies, coverage as well as your mortgage annually. Pat Townsley, Consultant. www.PTRE.net. (415-485-1776).

Seller's credit to Buyer for NRCCs

NRCC: Non Reocurring Closing Costs. These are the mechanical fees in any loan process. They're the real "hard costs" of doing a loan outside of the lender's compensation (fees/points/rebates). NRCCs include title and escrow fees, transfer taxes, reconveyances, wire fees, doc prep fees, notaray and a laundry list of little onesy-twosey "junk fees." For home buyers (if structured in the negotiation in the contract via an addendum), the SELLER can credit the BUYER for the closing costs. It can be a sticky thing. The goal is for the BUYER to keep as much CASH at close and basically "finance" the closing costs into the purchase price via the MORTGAGE. Figure most closing costs on an average Northern California/Bay Area purchase run around $8,000, wouldn't it be nice to not have to come out of pocket for these additional fees? The answer is Perhaps. Let's talk about strategizing your next purchase and keeping cash in your pocket at close. Pat Townsley, Real Estate Financial Strategist. 415-485-1776. www.PTRE.net

Real Estate Referral Fees

Mortgage broker and Realtors cannot legally take a commission or referral fee between each other. Same with escrow companies, etc. However, Realtors can refer business to each other and collect a referral fee or commission on the referral upon closing. We have standard Referral Agreements that are pretty common. I offer a 30% referral fee to Realtors who send me clients looking to buy homes in my territories (Marin, Sonoma, Napa, Solano Counties). Of course, I really focus on Central Marin properties and am well traveled in Sonoma and Solano. The reason Realtors would to this referral is to keep a small portion of a potential commission while ensuring that their client gets the best local representation by a Realtor who really knows the area. Looking to buy or sell in Marin? Call me. Looking to buy or sell somewhere else, Call me... I'll refer you to an excellent Realtor where you're looking to buy. Need to finance that purchase anywhere in California.... I'm the guy. Pat Townsley, Realtor and Mortgage Broker. www.PTRE.net. 415-485-1776

Teamwork in a transaction

I'm both a Realtor and a Mortgage Broker. Not many people can and will do both. I'm happy to do both, or either the Real Estate side or the finance side. When I do both, you get one point of contact and quite a bit more ease of transaction. I'm a micromanager, so regardless of how I'm involved in the transaction, I go above and beyond the call of duty to insure everything goes on schedule. I have a heck of a support team behind me from lender Account Executives, Escrow Officer relations and a vast referral network of professionals from construction to legal. I'm here to help and make things easy. Let's talk, let's do some business! Pat Townsley, Broker. www.PTRE.net. Making Real Estate really happen.

1% home loan and no closing costs

Warning; Danger, Will Robinson. Watch out for this often misleading type of advertising. The real goal of it is to sound so good that you call.... then you (hopefully) get the disclosure of how these loans work. Two primary keys to 1% loans and No closing costs: 1% is only a teaser type rate which is a Negative payment...so if you make that 1% payment, you're actually increasing the size of your principal balance in today's market. They're called Negative Amortization loans. The other point is No Closing Costs. There are always closing costs... you're paying them one way or another: either up front at closing, by having a higher interest rate and/or margin or by agreeing to a prepayment penalty on your loan. Need answers? I'm the guy: Pat Townsley, Loan consultant: www.PTRE.net toll free: 800-646-5527

When the _ _ IT hits the Fan

Sometimes, when things go wrong (especially at the closing of a purchase transaction), the pressure is really "On." The one keystone in the purchase transaction is the Mortgage Broker or Lender. He gets blamed for anything that goes wrong. Everyone is counting on this guy to hold it together; Selling Realtor, Buyer's Realtor, Escrow officer, the Buyer, the Sellers, the insurance agent, home warranty people, movers, painters... families and communities are on the line. Even the best mortgage brokers have unforeseen train wrecks, where the wheels come off on funding day. That's where cool heads, fast action, relationships and experience prevail. What doesn't kill a mortgage broker makes him stronger. Call me for personalized service, non-stop service, great loans and on-time closings.
Pat Townsley, Mortgage Broker to the Stars and putting out fires before they begin. Serving all of California. www.PTRE.net or call toll free at 800-646-5527. Close on time, every time.

Accessing Information

Folks, we're headlong into the Information Age. That's what we are as a society. Just one more step in evolution from Stone Age, Bronze Age, Industrial Age... and now...Data. Information is power. Embrace it, sort through it.... be the ball Danny. A powerful tool and soon to be a monster in the industry is the home valuation site called Zillow (Zillow.com). These guys are crunching tons of pieces of information in order to give you some form of value of property. They don't want to be Realtors. That's not the objective of Zillow and thier home "Zestimates." They're giving you free information in order to Advertise. They sell Ad Space. That's the game. They're the SuperBowl of home evaluations and neighborhood data. Watch for these cats to gain the home-field advantage as the Google of Valuations. Need another opinion on your home's value. Gimme a call. Pat Townsley, Realtor/Broker. www.PTRE.net toll free: 800-646-5527

Making a Million Dollar Offer

Here we are in July 2006... lots of activity in the Real Estate market. I'm currently working on representing a client looking to buy in the Loch Lomond area (Pt. San Pedro and Peacock Gap) of San Rafael. Homes are fairly higher end out here... not much "fixer" opportunity, and homes are in the $1.1 million to $3 million range. So, there are many "comps" to set high prices. When evaluating a home for a purchase client, I go back 2 years in historical area sales within 10 miles, all sales on the subject street, and a one year "Active, Pending, Withdrawn and Sold" history to get a pulse on all activity... then we look for any challenges the subject property faces and try to come in with the most competitive and logical offer with a fast close, tight financing and try to avoid the ping-pong of counteroffers. Looking to Buy California? Pat Townsley, Realtor. 800-646-5527. www.PTRE.net

Credit Challenges

I'm sitting in my office with Calvin. His credit is a bit beat up from past delinquent payments and collections. To improve his credit rating, he can "Challenge" the ugly mark via a dispute with the credit agency which is reporting the delinquent. Not all three of the major reporting agencies report the same stuff, so you might see a Delinquent payment only from TransUnion and not the others. Try to resolve any other disputes directly with the source rather than collection agencies. Your credit blunders of years gone-by will haunt you forever... so take action to make sure your credit is clean. Seek professional advice. Many of the online credit scoring companies don't actually give you good information...and it's a waste of your money. Get the right help. Pat Townsley, Credit Medic & Broker. www.PTRE.net, toll free: 800-646-5527

Credit Scores; My take

There are several "new" credit scoring methods now on the Internet. Some scores are over 900. What does that mean? Unknown. It's like Celcius, Absolute or Kevlin to the U.S. standard of Fahrenheit. In the Mortgage industry, we use the FICO (FICO is a trademark acroynm for Fair Isaac Company) score as the industry standard for all agencies. A Mortgage report merges information from the top three credit reporting agencies, giving you Three similar and close, but usually different scores based on your use of credit and the past history. We take the Middle of the three scores (the number, not the average) and use this to qualify your rate. The more you "run" or "pull" your credit report, the more Dings or Inquiries you'll have on your report. When considering a Real Estate financing opportunity (purchase or refinance), only let your #1 choice lender pull your credit, and avoid buying a vehicle, pulling your credit report, opening charge cards, increasing limits and/or ping-ponging debt. Let your lender (me) pull your report and we'll go over it together. I'm a master at credit repair, score improvement and debt structuring. Credit: It's Really important. Call an expert. Pat Townsley, Mortgage Broker. www.PTRE.net, 800-646-5527

Terra Linda and the love of an Eichler.

I grew up in an Eichler. Simple, classic, single-level modular to courtyard 1950's brain child of the man who's name is now legendary. Nice place to live....and I've seen them burn to the ground in about 3 minutes, I've seen them rebuilt and coveted to $1 million dollar super homes. In some circles, Eichlers are almost a cult...transforming them back into the 50's and 60's vintage style. A sweet Eichler; It's a bit better than having a really bitchin' Vega. Of course, when my mom bought our home in 1965 for $34,000.... who knew it would be in the $800,000 to $900,000 range some 40 years later. It would have been inconceivable. If you're thinking of buying or selling an Eichler, I'd love to discuss and broker that deal for you. I've been in just about every Eichler style in Terra Linda. I know 'em; I've replaced the radiant heat, windows, sewers, siding, you name it. What happens in an Eichler, stays in an Eichler. I'm here for your questions. Pat Townsley, Eichler native and Realtor. www.PTRE.net, local San Rafael: 415-485-1776

Information Security & your credit report

Folks, you've got to watch youselves on sending information over the Internet...by fax, whatever. One social security number could screw up your entire life. A loan prospect just emailed me for the first time ever. He's a referral from a past client from three years ago....totally out of the woodwork. (Thanks for the referral Don!). Anyway, this new prospect emails me his bank statements, Social, paychecks and W2s on the very first email. Kinda chilling. All this information, basically Blindly send to me without any previous contact. I've got his name, address, social, DOB, where he works, the hours he works, all his personal banking and savings info. Imagine if this email landed up somewhere else by accident. So, make sure you've got a relationship/rapport before you send you life over the Net. Pat Townsley, Broker and associate Crime fighter. www.PTRE.net

Refinancing on the Cash Flow ARM

I've been happily busy with meeting clients at their homes this past week to discuss the various refinancing options available at this time. A lot of the time, I recommend NOT refinancing as their current low, ARM or Fixed rate is better than the alternative of Refinancing. In several cases, Refinancing is a great alternative to improve their overall financial picture. The ADJUSTABLE RATE MORTGAGE (aka A.R.M.) can be a nice solution for a client where their debts are out of control and their income is luffing. Call or email me with any questions for your particular situation. Remember, your financial health isn't healthy if you're pumping cash in one side and bleeding it out thru another. Balance is sometimes hard to achieve, and we often put blinders on to where we're losing blood. So, let me help; The doctor is IN. www.PTRE.net, toll free 800-646-5527. Pat Townsley, Financial trauma doctor.