Are You Paying Too Much In Property Tax?

This is a great educational link from The Dorrian Home Team of Keller Williams Realty Atlantic Partners. If you think you are paying too much in property taxes tak a moment to review this link.

http://www.dhtproperties.com/

Self Employed Borrowers Beware!

If you are a business owner who does not issue a W2 to yourself, beware. Many times the loan officer does not properly cash flow the tax returns. In many cases the lender will not add in your depreciation of assets and mileage driven as well. As a business owner your CPA will write as much off as possible to avoid having to pay high taxes at the end of the year, we see this all the time, this is not a bad thing. However FHA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will only allow the banks, brokers, and lenders to cash flow based on what is actually taxed income based on the 1040 returns. Yet there is an exception and it is important self employed people know this information! Anything you or your CPA deducted as depreciation, depletion, or business mileage we can add back in to your income. Banks can give you 100% credit for depletion and depreciation on your taxes and for 2009 returns we can add back .21 cents per mile claimed on your returns as long as it was business mileage.

60% of our loans at The Bank of England are business owners who are either turned down or turned away due to tax return issues. We make it happen and would like to help you or anyone you know that is a business owner looking to refinance or buy a home. Call us at 904-992-1000 or toll free 1877-992-0022.

We got our 100th Fan Today!

Congratulations to Ashley Collie for being the 100th fan of The Bank of England and the winner of the $25 Starbucks gift card!

We are looking for our 100th fan!

We are looking for our 100th fan to join our fan page! Our 100th fan gets a $25 Starbucks gift card. Just visit us at www.facebook.com/thebankofengland click on LIKE an become a fan. We are so close 90 fans and counting.

What is the difference between a Bank versus a Mortgage Broker / Lender?

Wow, do we get this question more today than two years ago! There so many differences between the two, the only thing they have in common is they both close mortgages. Since this is about the consumer and their need to know the difference let’s start with the basics by order of importance.

1. Banks are FDIC insured and have the ability to service their own loans, mortgage brokers / lenders are neither FDIC insured nor can they service their own loans.
2. Banks can make money on the servicing or the transfer or the loans, mortgage brokers / lenders can not which is why you will see a much higher ORIGINATION FEE on the Good Faith Estimate. Since mortgage brokers / lenders can not make money on the servicing they must either charge their commission upfront as a ORIGINATION FEE or make their money else which we will talk about next.
3. Mortgage brokers / lenders make additional money called Yield Spread Premium (YSP) up until 2010 this was usually hidden very well from the client now the client must be shown this money on the Good Faith Estimate and HUD-1 statement in the form of a ORIGINATION FEE with a credit. Client beware this is not a real credit at all. Remember if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck it is a “duck.” The only reason the mortgage brokers / lenders is making this YSP is because they are charging you a higher interest rate based on a wholesale rate sheet from whatever lender they are brokering the loan to that day. Why would you be willing to pay more for a product?
4. Mortgage brokers / lenders are limited to where they can lend based on their state licenses, Bank can lend throughout the United States with much less paper work for the consumer.

As a client this can be very confusing and sometimes stressful. My final suggestion is google your Loan Officer no matter where they work, or at least speak to their manager and check them out. I think you will be surprised with what you will find.

If you have any questions please contact me or anyone on of our staff members, we are a local Bank in Jacksonville, FL we lend all over the United States. Even if you just want a free opinion we are here for you.

Become A Fan of BOE

Hope you have enjoyed our new website www.boejax.com Our goal is to provide a superior customer service for all our clients in the Florida market. The new site is still a work in progress but we are committed to making it even better. In the meantime please become a fan at out facebook fan page. Just visit www.facebook.com/thebankofengland click in “Like” in the upper right hand corner. It is that easy . For those of you who do not follow facebook please write a review on google and tell us what you think of our service thus far. Thank you all again for the testimonials please keep them coming.

What is a Truth In Lending Form and What the APR rate?

Truth in Lending is referred to in the mortgage business as a TIL. Regulation Z requires that this form be signed 3 days after application and then again 3 days prior to closing. The TIL is the most important form during the loan process, however most people want to focus on the Good Faith Estimate referred to as a GFE. While the GFE is important so is the TIL. The two go together like milk and cereal, you need both of them to have breakfast, the application process is distorted with out both of them. Many times a client is provided with a GFE that can be manipulated throughout the process with the hiding of figures, however with the TIL there is no hiding anything. The TIL discloses the APR, the amount of the loan being financed, the total pay back of the loan including interest, the grace period for each payment, whether the loan is an adjustable rate mortgage or fixed, if your loan has PMI (private mortgage insurance) what month you will stop paying PMI assuming no extra payments, and finally the amount of months you wish to finance the loan.

Out of all the above mentioned things in the Truth in Lending form the most confusing part seems to be the APR. The question always arises why is the APR higher than what the client is being told. A very simple explanation we have found is the following; the APR is a rate that includes all cost of the loan. Since every loan has some sort of cost attached to do them due to state fees, title fees, lender fees, ect it is impossible to have the APR match the presented Note Rate. However as a client you want to be pay attention to the APR, for obvious reasons the higher the APR the higher the cost of the loan, and if the APR is much higher you could possibly be in an adjustable rate loan. When shopping with whom do to your loan with make sure you are comparing APR versus just comparing the GFE.

Finally if you are reading this and you are not a client of ENG Lending, a division of The Bank of England please give us a opportunity to earn your business. You can contact us toll-free 877-992-0022 or locally 904-992-1000. We offer loans in 49 states and we are open from 8:30AM to 6:30PM.

This is an example Truth in Lending Form