San Diego Housing Bubble News and Analysis

Wasn't HLS (??) a mortgage broker on here? Anyone know where he's been?

Have you tried talking to a loan officer at a bank?

...or asking the peanut gallery right here?!? Though we are not mortgage brokers (though some may be), perhaps you could get some ideas to better refine what you are looking for.

If you do open escrow, good luck!! :) Hope you got a great deal!

My 2 bits:

Carina Antonino I have found to be quite good.

carina [dot] antonino [at] yahoo [dot] com

I came across here a few years ago. Recently, when my primary loan officer took an indefinite sabbatical, I called her. I have not yet had a bad experience. Further, most clients comment that they actually like her as well.

She also makes a point of beating any competitor's GFE.

esmith,

What are the questions he won't answer? If he is not answering all you question maybe it is because he is not ready to have you squeeze his best pricing out of him. Maybe he is just a dope. Who knows?

In any case,why work with only one?

Maybe some referrals will give you the best pricing without competion but that doesn't always seem like the norm. Anyway, if you choose to get loan originators to compete, timing the crux of the negotiation with the opening of escrow seems to be most effective, as you have the leverage at that point.
I know most piggs probably understand what constitutes pricing in mortgages but if you don't, try to get a clear picture before starting.

My last client knocked off 1/2 pt. and locked a great rate on a dip using this method. Not everyone wants to go to the trouble of course. It was $2500 in his case.He went with the person who took the original application and didn't need to submit a second one to get the break. I don't know if he got the best deal in the world but he has $2500 he wouldn't and affected his destiny favorably regarding rate.He got great service during escrow too.

Disclaimer: Feel free to improve on this piggs I am not a mortage broker.

Ask to see their rate sheet on whatever product you decide to go with. Ask this up front, it will weed out the one's you dont want. And there are plenty of them. I've done it several times. It works well.

Looking into funding 2 weeks before you want to open escrow is not the best way to have approached a purchase as it is a critical part of the process if you dont have all cash.

I'm trying to understand what's involved in getting a new higher-limit conforming loan. Can I apply for one now, and what kind of interest rate I'd get? (online sites such as aimloan.com are purporting to show higher-limit conforming interest rates in the 7's) Should I hold off opening escrow till early December, or perhaps early January? My understanding is, I'll have to close escrow within 30 days or I'll have to pay sizable per diem penalties to the bank. Therefore I need to work out these issues before I go all-in.

If someone has any insight into all this, you're welcome.

The broker I talked to does not like answering general questions. The best I could get out of him was, literally: "At this juncture, for a $540,000 purchase and 10%-20% down, you will need something called a non-conforming loan, also called a jumbo loan."

What is the best way to have approached the purchase? Should I look into funding 2 weeks after I open escrow?

How about a month or two prior to purchase ?
It's an important subject and difficult to find good people in the business. There's even some very good books on the subject.

duplicate

I've been preapproved with aimloan.com since February. The only reason I'm willing to give some broker a chance now is because of current turmoil in the market for 417k-546k mortgages.

If you tell me what area you are looking to purchase in, I will tell you the current limit as well as what it will change to on January 1. You can also find the information here:

http://www.ofheo.gov/media/cll/HighCostL...

Not sure how much prep work you've done. But if you've got the time, this is a quick read and well worth it. IMO. Recently written as well.

http://www.amazon.com/Mortgage-Ripoffs-M...

Robert Bruss gave it top marks as well.

HLS has not posted for awhile but I know of several people that used him and found him to be very helpful.

homeloansheldon [at] aol [dot] com

Don't mean to hijack the thread, but has anyone had experience with Cristine Waits or Carlos Aguilar?

Be sure to get full approval from at least 2 sources ahead of your contigency expiration day.

During my escrow processing, I got approval from 5 banks or mortgage brokers with itemized breakdowns on the closing cost to compare. I carried 2 of them all the way to the last minutes (3 days before close of escrow) to make sure i have a mortgage to complete the transaction. In current situation, envn you have a high credit rating, 20% down, and a good salary, you may be rejected at the last minutes or get a higher rate than they proposed.

Got in touch with HLS, he's very helpful. Thanks everyone.

Good luck E. Sheldon is really honest and a good guy. His outlook on RE is in line with most Piggs.

The bottom is here.
No one has tried to talk you out of it so far. Thanks for reinforcing the current pricing.
As far as proving it with data, it will be anecdotal for a while now. Data will show when it was. IMHO

I don't believe in a single simultaneous bottom in all of San Diego.

I am offering 11% above what the house was sold in 1999 and I'll probably have to spend 5% renovating. Even assuming that the 1999 buyer overpaid, I'm fairly comfortable with the deal I'm getting.

may we ask what part of town you are buying in?

Unincorporated Escondido.

Actually I think it is fairly safe to say that Esmith has done more statistical analysis then pretty much anyone on this site with regards to crunching numbers and data analysis. He has a website that people can go to access his Case-Shiller charts.

E - Does the property have a well? One consideration we have been recently undertaking is the future of water. Thus we are now lightly considering areas that we previously did not based on other factors such as land and water. If you are on septic don't forget to build a certificate for the septic system. You probably already know all this but just throwing that out to you.

Once more, I am not making a recommendation to buy, or a disclaimer that we are at the bottom. Of course I have said it a million times but I guess it merits repeating that not every soul on the planet is looking for a bottom. Some people can actually afford to own a home in light of the upcoming financial hardship we will all be burdened with. Everyone has different priorities.

The property does not have a well. It is 1 acre and, historically, Escondido has been wetter than most of San Diego, so a rainwater harvesting system could be built eventually.

I am not too concerned about the future of water. We live next to an ocean. It's not much more expensive to desalinize ocean water than to pump it from Northern California. We just need to build some desalinization plants. I'll put solar panels on the roof to offset the energy cost.

Pretty much agreed with you although you do know about the latest litigation regarding proposed desal plants. Unbelieveable. Anyways as you said, there are plenty of ways to offset such as grey water etc solar for your energy. Very promising technology regarding solar.