Many borrowers apply for home loans while not understanding how lenders determine their “buying power”. The formula is quite simple. After analyzing a borrower’s credit history and down payment amount, a lender will look at the borrower’s ability to repay.
A lender will first look at a borrower’s monthly credit expenses. These will include the […]

Mortgage Crisis Plan: A Real Fix or Just More Hype?
Last week, the President unveiled his new mortgage crisis plan to help millions of homeowners cope with the prospect of rising adjustable rates. Sounds like a great plan? Before you go rushing to the phones to have your rate fixed, listen to the facts first. Chances […]

How Much Down Payment is Needed in Today’s Market?
The answer to this question seems to change every few years.
In the “old” days, lenders required 20% or more. But as home prices continued to climb, that 20% nut became too much for home buyers to accumulate. Over the past few years, it became very easy to […]

According to information gathered by the Wall Street Journal and published on their website, the median price of homes in the East Bay of California has defied the national and state trend. Given all that has happened in the U.S. housing industry, the median price of homes in many of California’s East Bay communities remains […]