Texas Home Loan Blog: March 2007

Easy tutorial for adding plugins to Crank up the Google Juice.

http://www.tubetorial.com/7-essential-wordpress-hacks/

In a matter of minutes, you can reformat how your pages are viewed... by tweaking your permalinks.

Increase/encourage comments.... and block that annoying spam.

Now, for a blogging newbie like me.... If I can do it..... so can you!!!!

From their webpage:

There's no doubt that WordPress rocks as a blogging and content-management system. Once installed, you can do amazing things with it right out of the virtual box.

But even a good thing can be better. There's certain essential tweaks that should be made for maximum effectiveness. And even cooler, there's an entire community of WordPress plug-in developers and theme creators who are willing to contribute their talents for free.

This video series highlights 7 of the most important tweaks and plugins that any WordPress user should know about.

I would love to see some comments on what you guys think about these tweaks.

Tom Burris
Sr. Loan Officer
DallasLoanGuy.com

http://www.dallasloanguy.com/

 http://lenderimplode.com/is tracking the 'who's still standing' amongst sub-prime lenders

The Alt-A market is feeling some of the same pressures.... Loan guidelines are changing daily..... so much so that it is hard to keep up with what can and cannot be done.

The good news is.... the 'Full-Doc' loans are ok... the people who can verify income and a little money in the bank have much less foreclosure rates.

But, the 'Stated-Income', 'Stated-Assets', 'No-Doc', ect loans are the ones that can no longer get 100% financing. It is even harder if the loan is for a non-owner occupied property. So, if you cannot verify income and assets, you should be able to get a hold of enough cash for 5% -10% down payment.

The market is changing.... people may have to downsize on their dream homes and put a little money down. But the market will come back some once the foreclosure rate comes back.

Tom Burris
Sr. Loan Officer
www.DallasLoanGuy.com

just got this personal note

I made that mistake....

I know that realtors like the new compact high powered digital cameras out there. Well, I own a really, really bad one. So, take it from me, you might want to pass on this model of camera.

I took the camera outside in 20 degree weather.... in a camera bag.... and the lcd cracked. In a camera bag!!! No abuse whatsoever.... normal use by a reasonable person and it broke.

NOPE..... they will NOT warranty this. Even though their manual says nothing about it(they talk a lot about not leaving it in your car trunk).

I have just bought my last canon camera.

 http://www.google.com/search?q=camera%20cracked%20lcd%20canon <== and it looks like I am not the only one.... they are getting a ton of these in for service and have the gall to charge for it.

Did I say that my camera was in a padded case?

They have a bad design here..... and are unwilling to fix it.

I am not done complaining..... evangelizing about this poor service.

We have seen the writing on the wall. Now, the hammer has dropped. Many subprime lenders tightening up their loan guidelines and 100% financing for subprime borrowers is getting harder to find.

How should Real Estate agents respond?

1. Align yourself with loan officers who have access to FHA/My Community loans. And remember, not all loan officers have been doing FHA. Some have only recently added this loan to their repertoire.

2. Ask your lender if they have access to the 'Community Reinvestment' loans offered by the large banks.

3. Become the trusted advisor. If you have a client with credit challenges, help them get educated about credit. A good starting point would be having them preview my free e-book titled "About Credit'. http://www.dallasloanguy.com/docs/about_credit.pdf . Although this is just a start, it will give your clients a good foundation of knowledge to build upon.

4. Beware of the credit repair companies.... who are more interested in collecting fees for credit repair than they are in DOING credit repair.

5. Be mindful of where your referrals are coming from. You may want to reconsider how much of your marketing dollars go to the referral sources that send you subprime business.

6. Talk to your lender. Don't be caught off guard by tightening loan guidelines. Get the clients prequalified as early as possible.

The world is not coming to an end.... but there are going to be some clients who could qualify last year that will not be able to get a loan this year. Don't let this be an excuse for a lack of business..... arm yourself with the tools to weather the changes.

 And remember... The DallasLoanGuy was doing FHA back when FHA wasn't cool.

Tom Burris
DallasLoanGuy.com
Dallas, TX

"Your Dallas Mortgage Consultant"

http://www.dallasloanguy.com/


Texas Home Loans Dallas Mortgage Loans

I write about Texas Home Loans , live in the Dallas, TX area and lend across the entire Great State of Texas!! Subscribe to My Blog and stay informed about current lending changes!!

While I personally focus on Texas Home Loans and First Time Home Buyers.... I do lend in other areas. We are in about 46 States and adding programs to bring full service to an area near you.