East Bay Realty Pro Blog

I have always counseled my buyers to be careful not to take on additional debt, or to even apply for more credit, right before they purchase a home or during the escrow period. This is because banks use ratios of borrowers’ debt to income to grant or refuse loans.
In an effort to tighten up lending [...]

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In the overheated real estate market of 2004 to 2005, many buyers paid outrageously high prices for properties that were not special in quality or location. This included numerous ones that were decidedly underwhelming. Now, a plethora of purchasers are either victims of foreclosure, have sold for large losses or are paying mortgages on houses [...]

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One casualty of the mortgage meltdown was the disappearance, especially in California and other “declining markets,” of private mortgage insurance (PMI) companies. These were the ones that handled the majority of home loans where the borrower put down less than 20%.
With PMI companies no longer backstopping these low-down mortgages, borrowers flocked to FHA loans, the [...]

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