Whether you are purchasing a new home or refinancing your existing home, you need an advocate to help you with the financing. You need someone on your side, putting your best interests first. I am not only willing to spend the time to look at the transaction from all angles, and run the numbers and calculations in different scenarios to determine the loan program and financing scenario that is in your best interest, but I am passionate about making your financial picture better in the short and long term. I am truly on your side as your financial advocate!

Together we look at several factors to determine the best loan scenario for you:

For a Purchase

¨     What is your available down payment and what is your comfortable monthly housing payment?

¨     How long do you intend to own and/or occupy the property?

¨     Does it make sense to pay some upfront origination or discount fees in order to reduce the interest rate?

¨     Should you ask for seller concessions for closing costs in your purchase contract?

 For a Refinance

¨     How long have you had your current loan?

¨     What is the primary goal; ie. lower the monthly payment, pay down the loan balance, take cash out?

¨     Comparing the current amortization to the proposed amortization, does it make sense to refinance? Will the benefits outweigh the costs?  

The Credit Score Explained

The credit score is a number that ranks a consumer's credit risk based on a statistical evaluation of information in the consumer's credit file, information that has been proven to predict loan performance. In layman's terms, a credit score is simply a number that represents the risk that you will default on a loan, using your prior payment history as a benchmark.

The FICO score is the score used by mortgage lenders to evaluate credit worthiness for a new home purchase or refinance transaction.

FICO weights

The FICO score is based on five different weighted factors:

¨     Payment history: the record of your on-time and late payments

¨     Available credit: your credit limit minus the amount you owe for each account

¨     Length of history: the time elapsed since each account was opened

¨     Number of inquiries: records of inquiries logged when you apply for credit

¨     Type of credit: mortgages, installment loans, revolving accounts, etc.

Each of these factors has a different weight, summarized in the following chart:

Factors that don't affect your FICO score

Efficient credit optimization requires an awareness of factors that don't impact scores to avoid wasted effort. The FICO model does not incorporate any of the following factors:

¨     Age

¨     Education

¨     Income

¨     Race

¨     Marital status

¨     Length of residence

¨     Gender

¨     Disability

¨     Length of employment

¨     National origin

¨     Public assistance

Simple ways to improve your FICO score

With all the different kinds of information that credit scoring models incorporate, numerous tactics for improving scores are available. However, any action to improve a score must be taken judiciously: some actions aimed at improving your score may actually make it worse. Many individuals reap significant benefits by properly employing these simple FICO score improvement techniques:

¨     Make payments on time, especially to installment and revolving accounts, as these report to the bureaus monthly.

¨     Do not apply for any new credit cards or loans.

¨     Pay credit card balances down to 30% of your credit limit or less.

¨     Make sure your credit card company reports a limit.

¨     Keep 3-5 open and active accounts in good standing on your credit report.

¨     Review your credit report every year.