Every Monday Morning at 8:15am, join me on my Facebook page as I sit down with a local lender, and do a live interview and talk about a Mortgage Tip that may help YOU with your next Real Estate Purchase.
This morning I sat down with Mark Waterman from Great Western Bank. Listen as Mark explains what quirks you can expect during your transaction because of Covid-19 and how to avoid them. You can reach him at 605.627.0602 or Mark.Waterman@GreatWesternBank.com His office is located at 1302 6th St., Brookings SD 57006 or on the web at www.GreatWesternBank.com
- Good morning everybody, Shane here from the Brookings Home Team powered by Century 21. It is Monday morning, and we got a Monday Morning Mortgage Tip, a guy I haven't seen for a few weeks, so we're just talking offline about our haircuts. So I got one and you need one, and I'll take some of yours, but that's neither here nor there .
- You bet.
- Mark Waterman here from , looking sharp. Mark Waterman here from Great Western to jump on here to talk a little bit about, we're gonna continue with refinancing, and some of the things that are changing in that world of, of lending. And Mark, I'll just let you take over here. But before you do, I'm sorry, as you guys jump on, please give us a heart, give us a thumbs up, and let us know if you have any questions at any time. We'll be happy to answer those maybe on the next episode. So, Mark, what do you got for us today?
- Yeah, I appreciate it. Certainly wild times right now, and some of the other lenders have done a good job at trying to keep information updated and everything. A few bullet points that I've seen, I guess, I just wanted to touch on was that as crazy as things have been, the rates are stabilizing the last week or two. Kind of cross the board, rates have been stable, so that's good. You know, as far as just for some normalcy and predictably. So that's good, and obviously the rates are still good overall. The appraisal times, whether you're refinancing or if you're purchasing, just be a little cognizant, they are still I would say three to four weeks out on appraisals, and getting those turned back to the banks. Certainly, you know, not that it can't be done, as far as like a 30-day closing, but I would say that if you can go more like 45 days, I think everybody would appreciate that just for timeline purposes. Had a couple weird scenarios come up recently. People's driver's license have been expiring, and, you know, we've never been through this process. You have to have a current valid driver's license in order to close. Well, they've made some exceptions, and as long as it's expired recently. Basically, since the end of January until now, they're making some exceptions that you can still close with an expired license. So that's kinda different. Some institutions are implementing tighter restrictions on cash-out refinances. Some institutions are increasing the minimum credit score that's required to refinance. Some institutions are not allowing you to lock in a rate until your loan is officially approved, not just at the beginning when you're kinda conditionally approved just based on the information that you give us. They actually are underwriting the file, going through the whole process, and then locking in your rate once you're at that point. So, I guess the only advice I could really give somebody is certainly just work with your lender, make sure, make sure you're staying in touch with the lender, and you're being open and honest about your situation, and whether or not you're furloughed, your income has changed in some regards. Self-employed borrowers, I know that they're, some institutions are reducing just automatically. If you had a good '18, '19, they might actually reduce your income by like 25%, just from what has been going on. Certainly some businesses I'm guessing are still flourishing depending on what you do, but I think a lot of the general self-employed, the smaller guys, are probably seeing a reduced income. So that's why they're doing that. I just, I guess the advice that I could give is just make sure you're staying in touch with your lender, and you guys are really having those open and honest conversations about what's going on with your finances.
- Good, good. Yeah, I think the biggest, well, probably not the biggest, but the one that I just found out about is the appraisal process there. With all the refies that have been taking place, and of course we're still selling homes too.
- Yeah.
- Those appraisers are getting a little behind. So they're asking, like you say, three to four weeks for appraisals to get done. So keep that in mind if you're writing an offer, and you do have a home inspection. You know, how long is that gonna take you to get that done? So build that into that timeframe.
- Yeah, yeah definitely. Yeah.
- Perfect. All right, Mark, anything else?
- No, I mean there's a hundred different things that we could talk about, but I, I've taken up enough time. But like I said, just maintain that open relationship with lender, realtor, so everybody kinda knows what's going on.
- You bet. Okay, sounds good. Like I said, or like we've done before, guys, Mark's information will be on the top, on the bottom, or on the sides, wherever your device allows you to see that. If you do have questions for him, feel free to reach out to him. Awesome to get ahold of, he does get back to you. He's not one of 'em that does not get back to you, but, at least not for me anyway .
- No, you bet.
- I know you've been busy, and you might take a little bit longer, but be sure to reach out if you do have questions. So, thanks again for watching everybody. We will be back next Monday for our next Monday Morning Mortgage Tip. 'Til then, stay safe. Thanks Mark, see you later.
- Yeah, you bet. Thanks Shane.
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