Frisco Mortgage News, FHA and Taylor Bean and Whitaker

The Federal Housing Administration or FHA suspended Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp. Tuesday from making loans insured by the federal agency. This is another blow to one of the largest FHA lenders left, and how long they will be suspended, I don't know yet.
JAMES R. HAGERTY and LINGLING WEI wrote,
"The FHA said the Ocala, Fla.-based lender failed to submit a required annual financial report and to disclose to the FHA "certain irregular transactions that raised concerns of fraud." Taylor Bean has 30 days to appeal the suspension.
More
Colonial and Taylor Bean Offices Raided
Taylor Bean was the 12th largest U.S. mortgage lender in the first six months of this year, according to Inside Mortgage Finance, a trade publication. Among originators of FHA loans, Taylor Bean was the third largest in May, with a market share of 4%, according to the publication. Only Bank of America Corp. and Wells Fargo & Co. were larger.
Taylor Bean's woes are a major blow for hundreds of brokers and smaller mortgage banks that sell the loans they originate to the privately owned company. Those small mortgage companies will have to scramble to find new partners if they are to remain in the booming FHA lending business.
FHA loans have surged in popularity over the past two years as other sources of mortgage funding have dried up.

Lee B. Farkas, chairman of Taylor Bean, said in response to questions that he was unaware of the FHA action.

Ginnie Mae, a government agency that guarantees payments to holders of securities backed by FHA loans, said Taylor Bean is also barred from issuing securities backed by Ginnie. Ginnie said it will take control of nearly $25 billion of mortgage securities issued by Taylor Bean.
The moves came a day after federal agents raided the Florida offices of Colonial BancGroup Inc. and Taylor Bean. Taylor had been leading a group of investors that proposed to shore up Colonial by taking a stake in the Alabama-based bank but that transaction fell through last week amid heavy losses at Colonial."

Wow, right!?!?! It was said over a year now that the true broker would slowly be pushed out of this industry, and this is another blow to support that fact.

Find the Lowest Interest and the Best Business Alliance

The home buyers in Frisco, McKinney, Plano, and the cities surrounding Dallas Texas are benefiting from interest rates that are still at historical lows and patience to find the right home with the right price. Buying Real Estate right now is a great opportunity. Foreclosures are still available in large volume and if you plan it right, you can be patient and leave your "feelers" out for the next great home to come on the market for a great value. Maybe you sell your home and move into a nice apartment or rental so that you are not under the gun to hurry and find another home by the time your buyers need to move into yours. With a little patience, you may jump into a home with 15% savings from the day you close. When the market moves up in the next 3-8 years, you stand to all of the sudden be sitting neck high in equity.
To have the best luck in your home buying process, align yourself with a mortgage guy who is not desperate for business, so that you are not strategically rushed into a deal that is not the best one for you. Additionally, contact a couple Realtors and let them know you are NOT interested in rushing into a home and that you'd like to be put on a automatic email list for homes that come on the market as foreclosures, and have them make the search specific...city, subdivision, choose a square mile radius, bedrooms, square footage, age, and one level or two level home. Yes, Realtor systems can do all that for you and many successful Realtors are willing to be patient with you.
The biggest mistake many folks have in crafting such a plan is by using a family member or friend for their mortgage or Real Estate alliances, just because they think they should or will get a good deal by using them. WRONG!!! A good deal is accomplished in the negotiation experience, and the research and structuring ability of your Real Estate agent or Loan Officer, and the small dollar amount you MIGHT save on a Realtor or Loan Officer friend or family member can offer you for their services is nothing compared to the dollar value experts bring to the table as a whole.
Interview your Loan Guy and Realtor, don't ask them where they are going to cut their costs. You'll find out right away what caliber your prospective alliance measure.

The House You Are Selling or Buying is UNIQUE, errrrrrrrrrrrrt!

In the recent 4-6 months, I have been in numerous transactions where my clients/buyers were buying a home and appraisal circumstances arose. I use the word circumstances because I don't want to use a negative term when ultimately it's not negative and shouldn't be unexpected. When you are a lender or realtor working w/in a real estate market that is regarded as one of if not the worst foreclosure markets the nation has seen, you have to conform your expectations to what the norm is. Obviously EVERY home sold in the DFW and Collin County is not in a declining, soft, or foreclosure community and I'm not talking to all of you professionals who's target market isn't in a foreclosure situation. On the other hand, it might be pretty safe to say that there are more in those markets than in the non-declining, soft, or foreclosure riddled market. "The majority defines the norm." Think that through and it may change the face of your approach in consulting in these days. "The majority defines the norm". Mortgage and Real Estate Pro's, know the facts of your market and create proper expectations for your clients and educate yourself where the other so-called professionals aren't. This is where we bring value to ourselves and earn our referrals more than ever. If you are a practicing realtor or lender, and in describing your represented home or client's home you have to use description terms and phrases like, biggest, bigger than the others in the area, newest, most upgraded, least upgraded, smallest, and all the other terms that take a description farthest from anything that is TYPICAL, you are not likely to benefit from an appraisal in this market. On the other hand, if you are educated on this and have been through and accepted the fact that there is a better chance that the less than hopeful price shows up on the appraisal, you'll be prepared to educate your seller of their risk in not accepting the lesser value and the unfortunate possibility they run directly into the same problem if they choose to pull out of the contract in hopes to get another buyer who's lender accepts a higher elevated appraisal. Am I saying that the suggested house isn't worth what they think it is? NO!...and I mean NO. If there are people willing to pay $200,000 for a house, but due to appraisal pressures, the appraisers value comes back at $185,000, you can probably get $200,000 for it, IF IT'S A CASH BUYER, or you are willing to wait for some type of pressure relief on appraisals. I am merely saying that the guidelines, restrictions, and pressure that has been put on appraisers in this market have forced them to a more template driven form of appraising and using common sense and "brain power" is not an option. If you are in this type of transaction, your advice to your client might have two options and sound like this when the appraisal comes back less than the contracted agreed amount; "client, nobody knows when the market will turn or restrictions become less restrictive and if you don't lower your sale price to the appraised value (that many times is reviewed by a non-biased appraiser)so that the buyers lender will lend on this property, you are most likely going to run into this in the next 30 day escrow you join into, or think about holding out for the turn in the market in hopes of getting the value you think your house is worth, and the value we all know realistically it is worth." Since the majority/norm of buyers is coming to the table with financing, most sellers are going to eventually succumb to lowering their value or giving up on selling for the time being.
Please realize that there are many communities that are not seeing this at all, and I am not talking to you if that is the case in your market. If you haven't run into this, your community may be turning and churning just great. My reflection on an appraisal that I recieve today is that it is not reliable for my purposes until an underwriter has seen it, and if that underwriter has demanded an appraisal review, then after the appraisal review comes back. This means that just because a seller had an appraisal done before they put their house on the market, or 2 days before the buyer submitted their offer, that doesn't mean respected and accredited underwriters certified to underwrite for Fannie, Freddie, VA, or FHA loans will agree. There are new laws and guidelines in respect to the relationship between lender and appraiser so that the appraiser does not feel pressure in "stretching value", but appraisers will tell you that those guidelines haven't made their effect yet, and appraisers are still trying to meet referral expectations on value, therefore coming up with values that won't make it through underwriting.
One of my favorite motivational phrases is, "some have a strength, call it a talent or capacity, for change." Times have changed. Have you?