The Mortgage Files

Nationally syndicated mortgage news and advice from Senior Loan Officer Scott Sheldon.

The Things You Need To Buy A Home Beyond Your Income

By Scott Sheldon / March 15, 2015

Buying a home? You will need need patience, resilience to rejection, and sound financial planning, if are serious about pulling it off. Your income is important, but the rest of your financials need to be in order as well. What you’ll need… You need not earn gobs of money to be successful in purchasing a…

Who Is Paying Your Debt May Alter Your Mortgage

By Scott Sheldon / February 15, 2015

Getting a mortgage is probably largest transaction of your life, no doubt, it will have an impact on your finances for the next 30 years. If you carry consumer liabilities, these unequivocally reduce ability to borrow money. If someone else pays your debt, determining financial responsibly for that party becomes critical.  Consumer Obligations What we…

Think You Can't Buy A House Because Its A Seller's Market?

By Scott Sheldon / December 21, 2014

Have you decided to put off purchasing a home? If you’re worried you’re paying too much for a house- think again. Here’s why: Higher Home Prices Let’s take a pause and rewind to 2012, the unemployment rate exceeded 8%, short sales and foreclosures were rampant, consumer confidence was low, the prospectus of job growth was…

What To Know When Buying A Flipped Home

By Scott Sheldon / March 2, 2014

House hunting? If your appetite for a turnkey renovated home is a flipped house, you may end up jumping through more hoops to close escrow. What Is A Flipped Home? A flipped property is a situation where the house is acquired usually by a real estate investment company (also could be an individual) and is re-offered…

Home Repairs To Improve Value?

By Scott Sheldon / June 2, 2013

Home equity has come roaring back. Many, can now refinance,  others, are in a better position to sell as the intense demand for real estate continues. Everyone wants to attain maximum value for their home. So what’s the best indicator of a home’s worth?  Simple: the amount a ready, willing, and able buyer is willing…

Quick Calculation For Determining House Payment

By Scott Sheldon / February 18, 2013

As consumer taking out a mortgage loan, computing a house payment can be a time-consuming process running calculations, let alone qualifying these days. What consumers don’t oftentimes realize, there’s a much easier way to calculate a house payment. Some terms to become familiar with: House Payment or rather PITI Principal-represents principal balance being paid down…

Do I really need to get a second pre-approval when buying a house?

By Scott Sheldon / January 22, 2013

In short sometimes. Here’s what happens, the bank that owns the property is typically trying to control the transaction both on the listing side as well as on the buying side. Example-a bank such as Bank of America owns a house, in order for them to even consider looking at your purchase offer, they will…

Why APR is Higher Than The Interest Rate

By Scott Sheldon / January 19, 2013

The annual percentage rate is always higher than the actual interest rate, because the annual percentage rate takes into consideration all of the costs associated with financing including prepaid items such as property taxes, hazard insurance and mortgage interest lumps them all together against your loan and re-amortizes  the figures over the life of the…