You’ve made the decision to buy a home. Congratulations! From now until you close, your actions matter to us, as your lender. Here’s a helpful list of Do’s and Don’ts to keep you “moving”:  DON’T – Make any sudden career changes. If you are contemplating changing jobs, talk to your loan officer. Generally, it isn’t advised until you close, but may be allowed for the right upward position. This is not the time to start a new business since you will then need tax returns filed for us to consider it. Income stability and predictability are crucial for loan approval. Love your job…at least for now.  DO – Start filing and stop…

Baseball has spring training, football has training camps, and golfers do… whatever golfers do (putt putt maybe?). In most sports, there’s a preseason. Why don’t we just get on with the games that matter? These practice games and matches are vitally important even though they don’t count toward player statistics or the tally of wins and losses. Why?  Because practice makes progress.  Perfect practice makes the best progress of all. So, you might say that: proper prior planning prevents poor performance. Whatever cute saying you choose the lesson is the same; it may not count, but it always matters. In theatre, before opening night in front of a live audience,…

Do you have a listing that won’t sell because the kitchen and bathroom are outdated?  Does the home need new windows or flooring?  Associated Bank may be able to help with Fannie Mae’s HomeStyle Renovation loan.  HomeStyle Renovation makes it easy to finance your home improvements as part of the first mortgage.  Down payment as low as 5%.  Competitive fixed rate and only one closing required.  Borrow up to 75% of the as-completed appraised value of the property for renovations.  This loan program is eligible for primary residences, second homes and investment properties.  Single family detached homes, condos, townhouses, PUDs, manufactured homes and 2-4 unit properties as well.     Borrower…

It is great to turn the page on 2020 and look to 2021 for a return to a more normal way of life. The pandemic has had a huge impact on our daily lives and caused tremendous stress on many financial markets. Through all this, the housing market in Dane and surrounding counties remained strong. Rates at historic lows helped buyers’ purchasing power. Our area has a great mix of homes. The newly increased confirming loan limit of $548,250 will also help buyers purchasing higher value homes to take advantage of the low rates in the mortgage market. Additionally, these rates are now expected to remain low through 2021. Fannie Mae is currently predicting…

A MARKET UPDATE FROM THE DESK OF TOM HOTTER… 2020 has certainly been a wild ride in our industry. Real estate and mortgage lending have experienced a year of unprecedented opportunities and challenges not seen in our lifetimes. So, what does the future hold in 2021? Here are a few things to stay mindful of while still in the midst of a global health pandemic, a volatile job market & economy and an ongoing hotly contested presidential election. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Mortgage Bankers Association all project mortgage rates to remain low, with rates forecasted to stay at historically low levels. Home prices and sales are likely to rise, particularly…

So far, 2020 has been a year of unpredictability, a trend that is very likely to continue as we head toward the end of the year. While it’s expected that short-term interest rates will remain low for quite some time, mortgage rates could be more volatile, due, in part, to the following factors. Presidential Election The presidential election will likely cause some temporary uneasiness. This election, more than any other in recent memory, has the potential to move rates, and it’s hard to know just how markets will react. Will there be a clear winner on November 3rd? 4th? 5th? Just how long will it take to determine who the next occupant of the Oval…

Whether you need more space, less maintenance, more country, less rent – you are ready to buy a home during a pandemic. Like most everything else in 2020, the mortgage experience has changed and practicing patience has never been a more important part of the home financing process.   Buying a home even in “normal” times can be a time consuming task, but preparing for an unusually long journey will help minimize stress for both you and your home-buying partners. In a world of instant digital answers – what’s the hold up?   Your lender is juggling a continued robust purchase market along with an all-time high refinance demand. Some…

With 30- year rates continuing to hover below 3%, the refinance and purchase market is exceptionally strong. I hope this note finds you all safe and healthy!  My name is Joe Boyle, and I am a Mortgage Loan Originator with Cornerstone Home Lending, LLC. What a year 2020 has been thus far.  Sitting down to write a column regarding the mortgage business is tough today for one reason!  Where do I start!?  Covid-19, mortgage backed securities, interest rates, supply/demand, a looming Presidential Election, volume/capacity, liquidity crunches, margin compression, governmental regulation, forbearance, furlough…. these are all items we in the mortgage business and real estate industry are dealing with.  First off,…

As we enter our 5th month of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Safer at Home lifestyle, to say these months have been interesting for all of us would be a huge understatement.  Not one day has gone by in these past months that I haven’t thought how blessed I am to be in the residential lending business.  While many industries and businesses have gone through severe struggles, the real estate and mortgage industries have persisted, and in many cases thrived.  Learning how to do business in a new way and to take advantage of the technology we have access to has been great, we have learned new ways to communicate and effectively…

We have all been through a lot of change and adjustment this last 120 days, no one could have anticipated all the new challenges that presented themselves in this ‘new normal’, we have had to just figure it out. Specifically looking at the lending industry, it has been practically turned upside down, teams working from home, updating technology for some to be able to work from home efficiently, tightening of underwriting guidelines due to concerns about job loss, furloughs and forbearance requests, learning quickly how do allow borrowers to e-sign closing documents effectively and easily along with a list of numerous other adjustments too long to share in this newsletter.…