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Article Archives for Vancouver, Washington VA Home Loan Team - Since 1992 (Page 2)
Dodd-Frank Bill and the Mortgage Industry 3 Months in
July 1st, 2011
It has now been over three months since the Dodd Frank Bill was enacted, affecting the mortgage industry as a whole. The take on it from industry professionals is that it has made business much, much more difficult due to requirements to meet the regulations. Many more man-hours are required just to comply with them. Now that we have seen the full effect of the bill,it is clear it has affected two groups and two groups only-individual loan officers who facilitate the transactions, and the consumers themselves. From what we have noticed, interest rates about a quarter different in the negative, with a higher rate for the burrower. The loan officer is making about 15-20% less. The companies and banks that the bill targeted have not felt the effect—the expenses just been passed to the consumer.
Kerry N. Greenwald
NMLS # 70269
Sr. VA Loan Specialist
Creekside Mortgage Inc.
360.571.LOAN (5626)
www.VALoanWA.com
www.OregonVALoan.com
Stranger Tides Pirate Contest
May 19th, 2011
Here at Creekside we are having a competition to see what team can get the most new people to “like” our Facebook page. The winners get a free lunch, half day off paid and movie passes to see the new Pirates of The Caribbean movie that comes out this weekend.
Please help us to be the top winning team so we can enjoy the bounty and not have to watch another team commission what is rightfully ours! If you are already a fan…thank you!!
Do it for Captain Jack!! Thank You in advance!!
Elisa Cotton / NMLS#86692
Assistant to Michael Frakes
NMLS#71539
Creekside Mortgage
360-571-5626 x 115
360-326-1672 Fax
Like us on Facebook!!
Budget cuts in Vancouver Washington 2011
April 19th, 2011
How will the budget cuts affect Vancouver, Washington? The state of Washington is going through dramatic budget cuts. Unlike the federal government, it has to have a balanced budget. What comes in is what can go out without any exceptions. So, in the course of 2011 for fiscal budget 2012, there are going to be significant cuts in the overall budget. A lot of economists predict this could have an effect overall in housing prices and markets if the State of Washington has to cut employees like teachers or other key state employees. This will have an effect on the markets. It is hard to predict or say how these will affect Vancouver WA, and Washington as a whole. A lot of our economic factors are attributed to the State of Oregon by the fact that we are so close to Oregon, but our purse strings are held by Olympia, WA,so the effects of this can only be a guesstimation of how Vancouver WA overall will be effected for the rest of the fiscal year 2011 and going into 2012.
Kerry N. Greenwald
NMLS # 70269
Sr. VA Loan Specialist
Creekside Mortgage Inc.
360.571.LOAN (5626)
www.VALoanWA.com
www.OregonVALoan.com
Stride for Education runs for its Eigth Year
April 13th, 2011
Student Stride for Education is a 5K run/walk held at Washougal High School to raise money for teacher grants and student scholarships. Now in its eighth year “The Stride reflects our community’s commitment to education in and out of the classroom,” said WSF President Kyle Eakins. “It’s not just another run; it’s a show of solidarity and confidence in our children’s education and the teachers that provide it.”
There are multiple courses depending on age level and runners of all ages are welcome. Washougal High School is expecting 600 to 700 students, teachers and / or community members to attend. Registration forms are available at all Washougal schools, and Discovery Dental in Washougal, Washington.
What better way to get involved in your community. Come out and show your support for the Washougal school systems by walking or making a contribution. With all of the local budget cuts it is wonderful to know that our local Clark County communities are willing to do what it takes to help out the school. It shows our community spirit and how much sense of family there is in these small towns.
NMLS#71539
Creekside Mortgage
360-571-5626
Like us on Facebook
SEH Growing in Clark County WA
April 8th, 2011
SEH America, based right here in Vancouver, WA, is going through an expansion due to the fact that the home plant in Japan being 40 miles away from where the nuclear reactor has been having issues. The plant was also devastated and set-back drastically in the earthquake and the tsunami that hit Japan. SEH America is going to strongly increase their productivity here locally, which will create opportunity for more jobs, which should strengthen the housing market in Vancouver in the near future, in 2011, just with the construction jobs. Once it is completed, the actual jobs done at that plant should support evening or maintaining the values of property in the near future in Clark County WA.
Kerry N. Greenwald
NMLS # 70269
Sr. VA Loan Specialist
Creekside Mortgage Inc.
360.571.LOAN (5626)
www.VALoanWA.com
www.OregonVALoan.com
Clark County Veterans Assistance Center
April 1st, 2011
A new non profit organization for veterans opened today in downtown Vancouver, WA. The vision for the Clark County Veterans Assistance Center is to allow veterans a place to drop in for advice, counseling, job searching, finding housing, or to point them in the right direction on their available benefits. The center will be run by volunteers, primarily other veterans, who can help vets find what they need, even if it is simply someone to chat with them over coffee and doughnuts.
Trying to find something to do to help out, I, purchased a refrigerator for the center so the volunteers had a place for their lunch. In the larger scheme of what the center is trying to achieve a fridge is the least I could do. The volunteers at the center are amazing and the help they look forward to providing will have a huge impact on the veterans in our community. If there is more that I can do, I will, as I think this center is going to change lives.
Michael Frakes
NMLS#71539
Creekside Mortgage
360-571-5626
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Wasington & Idaho VA Home Loans Gives $1,000 Towards SOWF
March 25th, 2011
Creekside Mortgage is donating $1,000 to Special Operations Warrior Foundation. We have been working with them over the last year, and give $100 for every VA purchase in the state of Washington & Idaho. This money provides full scholarships for children of fallen Veterans. Thank you to everyone for helping make this happen.
Kerry N. Greenwald
NMLS # 70269
Sr. VA Loan Specialist
Creekside Mortgage Inc.
360.571.LOAN (5626)
www.VALoanWA.com
Dominance of Short Sales in Vancouver WA
March 22nd, 2011
The dominance of short sales in Vancouver is becoming overwhelming. In conversations I have had with Robin Conrad ,our local VA realtor in Vancouver, he says that more than 60-70% of all transactions are short sales, which means that many buyers are waiting anywhere from 3 to 6 months to get bank clearance for their transaction to go through. A lot of people in Vancouver ask why it takes so long for a bank to decide if they can accept the offered price. The only information we have been able to find on why it takes so long for banks to consider offers is that they don’t want to take the loss on the house to show on their books that as a company, the bank is taking tremendous losses. Most larger banks want to cycle losses in slowly, so their books don’t show overwhelming losses per quarter. If they trickle the short sales into their equation, it shows mediocre losses per quarter, rather than one huge flood of losses. This is why the short sale process takes so long. The reality of short sales is that less than 10% of them ever actually close, meaning that you as the consumer can’t or won’t wait six months, and typically walk away from the transaction, or the bank holds out and waits for someone to come along and give a higher offer than what you are willing to pay for the house. A lot of times if there is a second lienholder involved in the transaction, one bank will agree to sign off on it, and the second will verbally sign off on it, but it gets to the closing table and the bank changes their mind and wants more money. The buyer in that predicament has to either come up with more funds to close on it, or walk away from the deal. This happens an overwhelming number of times. It is always crucial to ask your agent if there are two banks involved that have to sign off, and never under any circumstances, ever accept a verbal agreement from a second bank. Make sure you always get their acceptance in writing. Numerous times when we have had the verbal acceptance, we get to closing, especially in Vancouver, and the bank comes back and says they want $5,000 or $10,000 more to accept this, and the first always says no, and an entire transaction has crashed, so always be aware of that.
Kerry N. Greenwald
NMLS # 70269
Sr. VA Loan Specialist
Creekside Mortgage Inc.
360.571.LOAN (5626)
www.VALoanWA.com
www.OregonVALoan.com
April 1st 2011 Industry Changes
March 13th, 2011
The Changes in the mortgage industry on April 1, 2011 are going to be overwhelming. It is going to be the good, the bad, and the ugly. But overall, I do see the positive aspects in the changes that will happen on that day. The biggest thing is that everyone is going to have to do it. Where rules and laws in the past have subjected only limited amounts of the industry, at least what can be seen so far of these changes should affect everyone in the industry.
There are aspects of the April 1 Frank Dodd Act that I feel will be good in the long run. A lot of people argue with the Safe Harbor Act portion, which states that it is our duty and our job to put the individual in the loan or the best option for them. There are a lot of people who say that hindsight is 20/20 when you look after the fact, for example, If certain individuals who took out a 7-year ARM and then decided to stay in the house longer than seven years, which they had not originally intended when they first moved, their situation appears worse than if they had sold as originally planned…or if they did a 30-year FHA loan when possibly they should have done a different type of loan to fit their needs.
In my industry, what I see in the bill is positive. Everyday I come across people who are Veterans, that in some cases have service-connected disability benefits, and they are pushed in or roped into a loan that does not fit their needs. From my perspective, that should never happen again. If you do have your VA eligibility, and in some cases have disability through the VA, there is no reason and hopefully no time in the future that anyone will ever do a non-VA loan for you. So some parts of the bill I can see as benefits.
Most of the changes, however, will be in accounting and pay structures. The intent of this bill was to have the consumer have less in cost, but I don’t think that will be successful. For example, right now, a year plus into the effects of the changes in RESPA that were instituted back in January 1, 2010, you can see that the individual borrower is actually paying more in cost than what they were prior to that event due to bank logistics and the individual companies involved that have to offset their expense to facilitate the law. I feel the same thing is going to happen on April 1. While the intent of the law is to lower the cost to the consumer and enable them to make more free choices, actually, in the end, it’s going to make it more expensive for them because businesses pass that expense on to the consumer. That is the one negative that will come out of this bill. Overcharging is still going to exist. It is not going to go away. It is going to be a shell game on how banks or how brokerages or how mortgage bankers will pay the individual loan officers. That’s just my opinion on what the law is going to effect, and I look forward to that date to find out exactly what is going to happen.
Kerry N. Greenwald
NMLS # 70269
Sr. VA Loan Specialist
360.571.LOAN (5626)
I-5 New Bridge
March 12th, 2011
In Vancouver right now there is a debate going on about the building of an I-5 bridge, and not only building it, but having access for light rail to come across it. The third aspect is having it be a toll bridge. In my opinion, here in Vancouver, yes, it is nice to have a new bridge, but I think it would be overwhelming negative to Vancouver to have something with a cost attached to it. I know an overwhelming number of clients that I’ve dealt with that work in Oregon and elect to move to Vancouver for tax purposes. Why would you do that if you had to pay even as low as $2 or $5 per trip across the bridge? You’re talking $4 or $10 per day, which is something that adds up over time, and when you start figuring your utility bills, gas, etc., that little toll portion would not benefit Vancouver at all, even if Vancouver got a portion of the money. Most of these benefits would be to Portland, and Vancouver would come out on the short end of the stick. It would take away the advantage of living here, and it would draw our housing market down.
Kerry N. Greenwald
NMLS # 70269
Sr. VA Loan Specialist
Creekside Mortgage Inc.
360.571.LOAN (5626)
www.VALoanWA.com
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