My Victory Garden

View this post on Instagram

#flowerreport

A post shared by Caroline Gerardo (@carolinegerardo) on Mar 29, 2020 at 12:47pm PDT

My tip of the day
I love to garden and like many I forget to put the gloves on before I pull that first weed.
Once you start pulling, there's no end to the work.
Since Coronavirus I'm washing my hand more frequently. This is a nice solution to
having dry hands.
After you squeeze your orange juice or lemons. Save the peel and pith.
Wash hands with soap then dog your fingernails into and through the white pith to
the oily skin. The oils in the citrus deep clean your nails, it smells wonderful and
you will find your nails cleaner and the hands smell like the blossoms in summer.
Also a great way to get rid of the smell of garlic on your fingers after chopping

California Real Estate With Covid-19

Appraisal Delays Due to COVID-19

Shelter Desk At Home?

Appraisal RAC or AMC ordering companies should be setting in

place policies to work from home. Houston We Have a Problem.           

My corporate office has all the operations and loan officers working from home which is not a problem BUT many pieces of a home loan are done in person.

Due to the increasing confirmed cases of COVID-19

Mandated self-quarantine may cause delays:

Appraisers and homeowners who have or have not been in contact with COVID-19 are under self-quarantine.  California, and other states to soon follow, issued a mandatory self-quarantine for members of the community who are age 65 and older.  Please be aware that this will impact many appraisers who will no longer be able to complete inspections, either because of their age or the age of one or more residents living at the property to be inspected. The average age of an appraiser is 65. 

Orders in certain counties are on hold:

In response to the spread of COVID-19 cases in the state of California, a legal order of Shelter in Place has been issued, prohibiting non-essential business for the following counties - Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, San Benito, Monterey, and the City of Berkeley, which has its own public health division.  Unfortunately, all appraisal orders in these counties that have not yet been inspected will temporarily be placed ON HOLD.

Set realistic expectations in regard to turn times, fees, and logistics. We will do the same for you. Together, we can maintain a great customer experience by ensuring everyone is informed, adaptable, and communicating along the way! Do not make short closing contracts that involve a mortgage with appraisal. 

Good news- refinances are often not needing an appraisal.

Other news:

County recorder offices are shut down in almost all Northern California counties

Many are not allowing erecording such as Santa Clara.

Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, and Orange Counties were open for erecoding only this morning. 

Kings County (small office of few) is open from 11- 1 for walk ins and over the counter

This is going to make for some creative solutions.

What are you fixes?

I have a few

Lemonaid Mortgage

Financial markets are dark sky.  Coronavirus scare dominates the news.

Dow off 1700, Ten Year at 0.50%. Oil price war, etc. oh my I need another gallon of isoprophyl alcohol to wash everything... Life gives lemons...

I'm mixing my Refinance Lemonaid Recipe:
or Lemonade depending on your spelling
 3 fresh lemons from my garden,
 15 sprigs of lavender flowers,
 3 teaspoons sugar,
 1 teaspoon real honey, 
1/2 gallon of water and ice. 
Pour into your prettiest glass. 
Start your loan application. 
Absorb the Vitamin C- when you close I'll give you organic citrus only fed water and sunlight.

No-one knows what’s going to happen but the majority of us will be fine, in fact we will be great.

It's only paperwork to get a mortgage loan. Get the pdf copy of your w-2 2019 and 2018 in a little file folder, then download pdf copies of last two bank statements and put in the folder; do you have online Human Resources? download those last 30 days pay stubs or scan them. Get the mortgage bill and just the bill page of fire insurance, then driver's licenses and you have 95% of it.

If self employed - let's talk with your CPA and have him her send everything. Even on a bank statement loan without taxes you will get a lower payment. No shaking hands, all done from home.

Saving a hundred, two hundred or three hundred dollars a month is worth while!  And we get to reconnect and talk for three weeks. I'll do a check up on your insurance, life insurance, 529 Plan, fix your credit and talk about my favorite handyman.

Times are volatile. Rates are going to swing wild as banks get busy and push rate locks out 45 and 60 days which costs more. Try an do a no points loan so there isn't so much juice in the squeeze.

I’d personally lock at 3.5%, rather than trying for 3.375% and ending up at 3.75%.

Here’s a great article from Housing Wire that explains how lenders are dealing with the volume challenge:

https://www.housingwire.com/articles/mortgage-rates-are-lower-than-ever-but-are-lenders-keeping-them-from-going-even-lower/?utm_campaign=Newsletter%20-%20LendingLife&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=84404930&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9T4XMhi0Grkc7NMJY8GjZr2kFaNPx0HK007m5OyGvdUenKz_mwz4dLA8yxON-hR-yYSrISmhMZcEeNBRanWH6frnS0fQ&_hsmi=84404930

 Come on down my orange and lemon trees have lots of fruit 

Let's make LEMONADE

Pinnacle Home Loans – With you in mind… 

(949) 784-9699

C G Barbeau Caroline Gerardo Barbeau 

NMLS 324982

Peach tree blooming this week

****************************************************************

©2020. All Rights Reserved. NMLS 1775393 Equal Housing Lender | Licensed by the Department of Business Oversight under the California Residential Mortgage Lending Act.  Consumer Access – NMLS 1775393.  | 

---

Pinnacle Home Loans | 

cbarbeau@pinnacle-loan.com

Refinance

In the event that you haven’t heard – The Fed cut the discount rate (I believe) by 50 bps this AM – in what they termed an emergency. The last emergency fed rate cut was in 2008.

 Federal Reserve is slashing - this will be brief!

The 10 year Treasury is down to 1.02%.

If you locked your rate somewhere else.

Call me let's do better 

(949) 784- 9699

Don't pay their float down fee.

We can get your payment down fast

(949) 784- 9699

C G Barbeau

NMLS 324982

Pinnacle Home Loans NMLS 1775393 Licensed by the Department of Business Oversight under the California Financing Law, License #60DBO89397 Department of Real Estate, License #02083817

     Yeah baby…Today’s rates are smashing  !!!

                                              3/5/2020 today’s amazing rates

Below are a few examples of Today’s Awesome Pricing:

• 30 Year FHA CONFORMING – 2.875% APR 2.991
• 30 Year FHA HIGH BALANCE – 3.00% APR 3.112
• 30 Year CONVENTIONAL CONFORMING – 3.25% APR 3.322
• 30 Year CONVENTIONAL HIGH BALANCE - 3.25% APR 3.322
• 30 Year VA CONFORMING -  2.875% APR 2.901
• 30 Year VA HIGH BALANCE – 3.125% APR 3.201

Rates a bit up today not because the market is up lenders try to slow down the faucet as there are only so many workers to do the zillion checks. BUT I AM READY 24/7 call me

Please note:  Our pricing for FICO scores between 600-640 is fantastic right now. Many FHA lenders don’t want FHA loans under a 640 score. We will work hard to get them closed quickly.

          

(949) 784- 9699

Coronavirus Truth

Eric Orr painting on lead virus kills

 My daughter is in Southeast Asia and like many of us I'm reading everything about COVID-19

Lookup 冠狀病毒 or guānzhuàng bìngdú and you will find videos and images suppressed by news organizations. If that doesn't take you on a rabbit hole to washing your hands, then you are dulled out. The Chinese spelling and traditional Mandarin on Twitter for example is frightening.

Locals in Orange County California seem to be going about their daily tasks with less attendance than normal. A few have taken to hoarding toilet paper. I myself cancelled trip to San Antonio for #AWP20 and speaking at a Mortgage Banker's National meeting. I don't see the need to get on an airplane and worry.

Worry is bad for your health.

Being ready is how we live.

So from my research of reading thousands of posts the World Health Organization and lessor so

the Centers for Disease Control are the best sources for information on the spread of the disease.

What we know:

Cannot trust numbers from China

Washing your hands, I mean scrubbing like a surgeon

see video here if you are unclear about how much soap scrubs every surface:

Johns Hopkins Teaches you how to wash your hands

It is inconclusive how much sanitary wipes, and hand sanitizer are effective as they

target bacteria not virus. Assume it's better than nothing when there is no soap and water.

The virus lives on surfaces for a long time- desk, doorknob, light switch, and your phone need to

be cleaned. Humans sneezing or coughing can spread air borne droplets. 

Those with health compromises or the elderly are at risk. Those under fifty five years old with

good lungs may get it and not know; but they carry it around,and share viral particles. Assume smokers (yes even vape) and those who live in polluted air are at higher risk of serious illness- not just because they have weakened their lungs BUT they touch their face more often.

That gets us to sit on your hands if you must. don't touch your face. Get a pair of clear glasses, bug ones to remind you not to itch your eyes.

Empty shelves at Wallmart

Now the local concerns:

I went to the Laguna Niguel Wallmart to pick up some items for my Mom who is 88. She buys distilled water for health reasons. There was NO bottled water. I asked a store clerk and he told me

they were cleaned out as if there was a hurricane warning. Also no canned soup, no Clorox wipes.

I went to Costco in San Juan Capistrano and the same thing. Empty shelves.

Now why do normal healthy people have to horde bottled water? 

I live on a ranch where our water is well, or tanked in and I use it for drinking.

Boiling water in a kettle will kill virus and bacterium. There is nothing indicating

our water was poisoned.

I understand that toilet paper is also considered a commodity worth more than gold, as it's

sold out with all the N 95 masks. Toilet paper? Why do you need 400 rolls in your bathroom?

The masks are about 25% effective as they don't fit one's face perfectly and tend to make you adjust with an unwashed hand thus putting viral particles on the outside of the mask near your eyes and nose. For a while don't shake hands, do an elbow bump or just say how grateful you are to meet with arms crossed. 

I called around for distilled water for Mom and eventually found a secret stash. 

Does this seem crazy to you?

So if you need soup, I have an organic vegetable garden and will drop you some fresh starters, outside your doorstep, with washed hands.

Hey and mortgage rates loved the bad news. Time to get your payment down, lower than it was

possible for eleven years. IF you're staying home, spend the time on something good.

Call me (949) 784-9699

C G

NMLS 324982

No soup for you!