Houston Mortgage Blog

Thank you to all who attended our 2014 economic and mortgage forum at the Federal Reserve in Houston, TX this afternoon. It was our pleasure to have hosted this event and to have shared this most interesting of events with you.

Going through the underwriting process can be draining and frustrating but at least it will be over in less than a month, right? Well that used to be the case; not so much over the past 2months.  Underwriting times across the nation have been extended at a minimum 2weeks to in some cases 2-3 months beyond the typical underwriting time of 30days. So if you are financing a purchase that needs to close on time read on and avoid some of the common problems identified below.

That’s right. No exaggeration here. Starting this past Monday April 9th all FHA loan files will reflect a slew of new changes NONE of which are here to favor the home buyer. Through these changes FHA has tighten the purse strings on financing and some pundits, including yours truly, believe it’s because FHA just cannot handle the current risk of continuing to absorb close to 8x the volume they used to handle prior to the sub-prime crisis. As some in the industry now call it, “FHA IS the new subprime” or at least it used to be. Starting in early 2009 FHA started making major changes to their underwriting requirements and steadily increased its mortgage insurance costs but nothing as financially drastically as these changes.

Welcome back sub-prime? Well not necessarily. But Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has revamped a 2yr old refinance program created under HARP (Home Affordability Refinance Program) and has re-launched it as HARP2 or DU Refi Plus. HARP2/DU REFI PLUS’ new features will increase the availability of refinancing to millions of Americans currently left on the sideline due to falling home values. Estimates put this number as high as 2 million new eligible loans.

In the past 4 blogs of this tax blunder series we have discussed the self-employed (part1); business or rental property owners (part 2); retirees (part 3) and W2 employees (part4) tax filing blunders when trying to establish a mortgage. Most of these tax blunders share in common over declaring or misidentifying expenses. But what about under declaring income? Can that really happen, do people really do that? Well yes, and this Houston mortgage broker has seen it happen more than once. Remember, if you don't pay (your taxes) you can't play.

In the past three installments we have explored the common tax filing blunders that can plague self-employed borrowers (part 1); business or rental property owners (part 2); and retirees (part 3) when trying to establish a mortgage. But what if you are neither of the aforementioned? If not self-employed, not a business owner and not retired, your taxes are what they are, right? Not so fast there partner. This Houston mortgage broker has seen many a clever W2 employees commit one or one-too many tax somersaults to save handsomely on their tax return just to be disillusioned at time of application for that mortgage.
  
Expensing a car loan could hurt you twice (and wheels come flying off)

Tax filings mistakes can wreck your chances at establishing that mortgage you need for your dream or retirement home. In the previous two blogs I wrote about the pitfalls surrounding self-employed tax filing blunders however there are common tax blunders that this Houston mortgage broker finds often among retirees. Retirees listen up, just because you have a lot of savings does not mean you will get that mortgage. Read on and make sure you do not fall victim to one of the biggest pitfalls I see riterees commit.

Tax filing blunders cause otherwise credit worthy borrowers to effectively disqualify themselves. In part 1 of this series we discussed how unreimbursed expenses and not declaring profit on self-employment can limit your borrowing capacity. Here we will go over blunders that if you commit them you could outright eliminate any possibility of qualifying for that next mortgage.

Let’s face it you’ve heard it before and probably have from time to time have taken the advice from your uncle Freddy or your really smart tax-preparer who explains how they can help you avoid $1k, $2k or much greater sums of money in taxes just by using some available tax deductions. They may even be legal. But there-in lays the problem.  Just because the deductions are legal doesn’t mean they won’t come back to bite you when it comes time to qualify for financing of your dream home or refinancing that high interest loan. In this article I will highlight two blunders and provide others in a series of 5 articles