by Irene Moustakas | Dec 20, 2022 | Featured, Loan Programs and Products
If you need to tap into your home equity and you have secured an interest rate in the 2% and 3% range of yesteryear, then it would be quite difficult to relinquish that amazing rate by doing a cash-out refinance on your 1st mortgage. Your alternative option to access...
by Irene Moustakas | Dec 8, 2022 | Uncategorized
There are two definitions in the mortgage industry for a buydown. One is most common and simply means the borrower pays points to buy the rate down for the life of the loan (a one-time upfront cost for a longer-term benefit). You can refer to my blog post here where I...
by Irene Moustakas | Nov 8, 2022 | Uncategorized
A Fixed Rate Mortgage is the most common type of loan: The rate and payment is fixed for the life of the loan, depending on the fixed term you choose, with no opportunity for adjustment. An ARM is fixed for a set period of years (typically 5, 7 or 10) and then...
by Irene Moustakas | Oct 4, 2022 | Uncategorized
Today is my 21st anniversary in the mortgage business! I’ve been through quite the ups and downs, from rates being 8.0% when I started, going through the credit crunch era/housing bubble burst of 2008, the wildly low 2%/3% rates of 2020 and 2021, and now the...
by Irene Moustakas | Aug 30, 2022 | Uncategorized
Have you lost out on a home because the seller chose an all-cash offer over yours? It can be quite frustrating, but one of my lenders is now offering a solution, called the “cash compete” loan. This will allow you to offer all cash on a property you would like to...
by Irene Moustakas | May 9, 2022 | Uncategorized
Well, unfortunately, they are currently a reality. For many people just entering the housing market and considering buying, it’s a little easier since this is where interest rates are now and that expectation has been set. For those that were preapproved a few months...
by Irene Moustakas | May 3, 2022 | Uncategorized
Every year, the esteemed Scotsman Guide honors the nation’s top-producing residential mortgage originators. This year, I am graciously excited to receive the 2022 Scotsman Guide Top Originators Award! I qualified as a top mortgage broker, by most loans closed, and by...
by Irene Moustakas | Mar 28, 2022 | Uncategorized
California voters voted “yes” to Proposition 19 in November 2020, but there is an active petition to repeal it; if you are interested in adding your signature and are a Santa Clara County voter, please reach out to me by April 8th. I believe that most voters read the...
by Irene Moustakas | Mar 7, 2022 | Uncategorized
Just in the past week, I have had two clients approach me to check on interest rates and if refinancing makes sense since they now have an influx of cash from a rental property sale. For both of them, their goal was to pay down their primary home’s mortgage with the...
by Irene Moustakas | Jan 19, 2022 | Uncategorized
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has announced that pricing of interest rates for vacation homes and high balance loans will be increasing. The implementation date of these increases will be April 1, 2022, which means lenders are starting to roll the...