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by: Brian.Brady on 2007-07-28 @ 5.33:31 pm
Adjustable rate mortgages, ARMs for short, are the most misunderstood, misused, and maligned financial instrument. The have been abused by consumers, Realtors and loan originators alike these past 3-4 years and are now the subject of national scourge. Much like our Second Constitutional Amendment critics, the ARM critics are usually misinformed and preying upon the fear of catastrophe. These inexperienced mortgage sales people or "loan hacks" as I like to call them, are banking upon your fear of catastrophe. Loan hacks sold you ARMs in 2003 and negative amortization ARMs in 2005. After they ride the fixed rate mortgage trend, they'll move on to reverse mortgages. They lack original thought and critical analysis. They'll sell you any loan that is on the front page of USA Today. ARMs don't cause foreclosures, loan hacks cause foreclosures. READ: I am an American ARMs dealer. Fixed rate mortgages, for the lion's share of the population, are an inappropriate recommendation. Mortgage advertisers, unschooled in financial planning , are aggressively advertising fixed rate mortgages as a cure to the rising ARM rates. They're encouraging you to sell low and buy high. SAY WHAT? DID THEY FORGET THAT RATES GO DOWN, TOO? You should lock in a fixed rate mortgage at the low end of an interest rate cycle, not the high end of it. It is easier to sell fear than to properly counsel you so these loan hacks will try to baffle you with slick sounding "Myths".
Three Myths Fixed Rate Loan Hacks Love to "Quote": 
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by: Brian.Brady on 2007-07-05 @ 9.04:53 am
Private mortgage loans are not asset-based lending. There must be a demonstrative ability to repay the loan. If the borrower opts to “state” the income, the trust deed broker has an obligation to the investor (and the borrower) to perform due diligence that would suggest that the borrower has that ability. We sometimes eschew traditional underwriting guidelines to demonstrate that ability to repay. Often, we accept a statement of future earnings from the borrower (useful for entrepreneurs). We will review the assets in a retirement plan as reserves to draw upon should that statement of future earnings not materialize.
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Hard money is not stupid money. Pragmatic underwriting guidelines are followed so as to insure the principle that the private mortgage really is a temporary loan, designed to solve rather than to perpetuate the underlying problem. I attempted to define this niche in |
by: Brian.Brady on 2007-07-03 @ 9.07:16 pm
Actually, the answer is yes. Some mortgage "salespeople" actually practice their profession differently than the rest of the industry; I'm one of them. If you think about it, we're the first encounter most people ever have with a financial planning professional. My aim has always been to start people off correctly.
Let me tell you how I arrived at this destination:
I graduated the Villanova School of Business with a degree in Business Administration . After graduation, I started the Merrill Lynch Financial Adviser Training program and spent six years working as a securities broker in Philadelphia. I handled over $20 million in assets under management. That was back when $20 million was a lot of money. Alas, I moved to Arizona as a young man, took a look around, and realized that real estate was where the future of Arizona's wealth was going to be.
I had no desire to show homes to people nor did I have an interest in commercial real estate. I did, however, have a strong interest in helping people from a financial advisory perspective. The mortgage business seemed like a likely place to best use my talents.
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by: Lenore.Wilkas on 2007-06-08 @ 3.08:32 am
Okay, I know I am prejudiced about this but I become furious when I search for properties online and there are no pictures uploaded by the listing agent. If it bugs me does it bug you? Do you even want to go see a property in person if you can't inspect in online first?
I think most people fall into the first category but occasionally I do find someone in the second category. On the other hand, if I am working with a Senior buyer, the third category is
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where they often land because many of them do not use computers in their daily lives so when I take them to show prospective homes that is the first time they will have seen it.|
by: Lenore.Wilkas on 2007-06-05 @ 6.51:24 pm
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I received a call today from Amber Farina, Coordinator of Community Services for the |
by: Lenore.Wilkas on 2007-06-04 @ 6.21:23 pm
 The San Mateo/Foster City School District has some important information for you to know about and it's likely you may not know it unless you have already been affected by it. When your Realtor writes up an offer to buy a house in our area there is a single page document that says the local school near this house may not be available for your child to attend. Reason: impacted class rooms. Since the San Mateo/Foster City School District started class size reductions to no more than 20 children in a K-3 class was started several years ago, a couple of schools have consistently been impacted at the kindergarten level. The one everyone knows about is Baywood School in San Mateo because there is a sleepover that takes place every February when local parents begin lining up in front of the school by Noon the day prior to Kindergarten registration takeing place. It's become somewhat of a party atmosphere as chairs, tents, TVs, wine and beer pop up as the evening grows dark. The parents of those already enrolled even come by with food and it is now a regular press event.What everyone does not know about is that all four of Foster City's schools are now also impacted. That mean the three elementary schools (Foster City Elementary, Audubon and Brewer Island) as well as Bowditch Middle School do not have space for any new children to enroll for Fall 2007. This is critical information to know since the Foster City Schools are always testing high along with Baywood School. Thus the four highest ranking elementary schools in the San Mateo/Foster City School District are impacted. What can you do if you already live in one of those school areas? Register your child. The SM/FC School District tells me today, that if your child is denyed admission to your local school because it is impacted they will guarantee admission the following year. But this may not be something they can continue to guarantee as more than half of the schools in the entire district are now nearing capacity. If you are concerned about this, it is important that you let the School District and the School Board know about this. Write them. Call them. Attend Board Meeting. It may be the only way you can guarantee that your local school is the school your child will attend in the future.
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by: Lenore.Wilkas on 2007-05-12 @ 12.55:05 am
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It is rare to see an old magnificent Hillsborough home in it's original condition. This week, while on our Broker's tour on Tuesday, we were treated to seeing one. This home must have been a real beauty when it was first built in 1928. It sure was well ahead of it's time with four bedrooms and three and one half baths, including a master bathroom and a 3-car garage. She still has her original bathrooms, original kitchen and beautiful tile floors.
It's listed as a Hollywood Mediterranean, but it really is a Mediterranean Colonial style home. The massive living room with rod iron work around the windows over-looking the gardens must have held many a party. The Rod Iron on the stairs, and throughout the house is a lost art. 
The character of the house is really special. It sits on a little over half acre of land in a prime Hillsbourgh area. The house is 3620 sq. feet. Beautiful mature gardens add the charm of this house.