Growin' Up Gregory

Over the past week, mortgage rates hit an all-time low...again.  If you didn't get in, don't fret.  They've only crept back up slightly.  For some, it makes refinancing at these ridiculous rates not as beneficial.  But for others, they still stand to save significant amounts of money by refinancing.  My recommendation - examine your budget, find an expert mortgage loan officer, and do some math. What's Your Goal? What's your goal from refinancing?  Do you just want to say you have a stupid low rate?  To be honest, that was part of the appeal for me - I felt like it would confirm that I was an expert.  Never mind the part that I pulled the trigger last August and refinanced then when I thought they had bottomed out.  We can watch trends and make guesses, but none of us inside or outside the industry knows exactly what rates will do in the future. Are you looking for monthly savings (lowering your payment) or long-term savings (reducing th...

If you've purchased, refinanced, or built a home in the past three years, odds are that you signed a slew of paperwork during your mortgage process. Hopefully, you had a lender who explained all of the details and answered any questions you had in order to make sure that you fully understood your mortgage terms and options. I can't count the number of people who have commented, "This is a lot more paperwork than the last time we did this." In late 2015, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) introduced two new forms, the Loan Estimate (LE) and Closing Disclosure (CD), which went into effect at that time.  Like most new rules, regulations, and forms, there were some things they got right, some things they got wrong, and some things that have room for improvement. From both a borrower and lender's perspective, here is some background info as well as my thoughts on the current status and changes that should be considered. Purpose An explanation of ...