State of the Podcast Update

Hello Listeners,

Ordinarily we present our reports via the Podcast format but you may have noticed that we have sort of slacked off a little bit with our audio updates. We are planning to continue the Podcast, but after reviewing the format we have had here for the last few years, we thought it might be time to do some fine tuning.

This podcast was originally launched 3 years ago in August, 2006. Our first episode was about how important it is to maintain good credit. Back then you could get financing with a 500 credit score, and a 620 score enabled a person to get into almost any type of program. Now, 3 years later, the bar has been lifted by 120 points; due to the Mortgage Crisis you need at least a 620 credit score to get a loan... AND you really need a 720 to access most products; there are even pricing penalties for certain scenarios for cash out loans where the person has a score higher than 740.

The mortgage industry has definitely changed since '06; originally this podcast was designed to talk about different types of mortgage programs that were available back then.. but now they are almost all gone as virtually every loan is full doc through either Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac or FHA. I am lucky enough to still have a bank doing stated loans and another one doing No Doc loans, but virtually all of those programs have disappeared nationwide.

I guess there really is no way to talk about these different programs unless we decide to launch a nostalgia podcast. We have shifted over to more news worthy events, even though the idea is to not make the podcast timely.. but rather timeless. Over the last several months we proposed an idea that we hoped could cut down on foreclosures... creating a fund for every loan where home equity equal to 8 months of mortgage payments is put aside - and that money can only be touched by the bank if a payment is missed. That way the 4 month foreclosure alarm bell would be put off to a year, giving banks and families plenty of time to work out an agreement if something happened to keep a person from paying his mortgage payments.

And how did we get into this mess? As we will discuss in a future podcast, the lawmakers who changed the Bankruptcy laws may have been a little bit shortsighted about the long term ramifications of that action. Chapter 7 filers have traditionally wiped the slate clean, while Chapter 13 filings require the filer to pay a monthly payment to their debtors through a trustee. The legislation passed a few years ago made it harder to get that "clean slate" of a Chapter 7 and pushed more people towards a 13. The harsh reality is that people who "budgeted" for a 7 didn't quite realize that they would have to actually pay back the debt and ended up using mortgage payment money to pay back the trustee. I have seen cases where people bought investment properties and then followed that closing with a bankruptcy filing.. all part of some grand plan that obviously had a closed loophole.

We will be back soon with more podcasts - we always welcome comments here. And to contact me, just click the "Call Me" button.... You can also Click Here to email me about any mortgage questions you might have.