Va
only allows Borrower paid closing cost up to 1% with restrictions on other allowable fees. I hope this
helps clarify how the Veterans Administration protects military from over paying for a mortgage
5/05/2020
4/24/2020
Mortgage Forbearance
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| Meltdown by Caroline Gerardo © |
Mortgage
Forbearance At What Sum?
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| Covid19 onions? © Caroline Gerardo |
FHFA
announced this week April 21, 2020 that mortgage servicers who collect payments
and advance payment to investors should (but are not forced) offer four
months forbearance to loans backs by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. The repayment
period is still in a vague resolution. My suggestion is at all costs try and
make the home loan payment. You won't be able to refinance or open a new mortgage until after you can show twelve months paid as agreed.
If
your loan is owned by Fannie Mae, you can contact your loan servicer or the
enterprise’s Disaster
Response Network for individual attention. Freddie Mac asks borrowers to
contact their loan servicer directly for help. Calling your servicer may be
a four hour wait time, best practice is to email them or contact them through
online payment processing and follow up with a letter in writing mailed by the
United States Post service. You need to include your loan number, perhaps even
a copy of the bill, your best phone number, and some proof you are the real
person who signed the promissory note. Each lender has their own policy and
procedure to handle your request, none the same.
Ginnie
Mae loans and FHA loans (those most likely to be at risk of foreclosure as they
generally had lower FICO scores and less down payment, thus less equity in the
home) also are eligible for four month forbearance plans. Please understand
this money is not going to be erased or forgiven. Economists predict fifty
percent of Ginnie Mae loans are going to end up in default. My suggestions are:
sell now while value is still high, get a second job, get a family member roommate
with a job, and work on plan B.
Most banks are not saying they will defer payments to the end of
the loan. In order to get a modification with a government-related or MIP
guaranteed mortgage agency moved “to the end” of the loan requires a new promissory
note and second lien against the property in the amount of the missed payments,
or an extension of the maturity date of the loan. The programs available are
unique to each of these agencies and require a review of individual
circumstances to determine which program will best resolve the homeowner’s
hardship. This end of the loan add on requires the investor to review and
approve the modification.
Some banks still own their own loans, which allows them the
ability to solely determine how they address missed payments. However, they
also service loans for the federal agencies described above and are limited to
offering those agencies’ programs on those loans.
NONBANK
servicers may not have to follow the Cares Act rule as a loan generated under
the NON QM, investor and asset depletion verification has different clauses in
the promissory note these are not backed by our United States government. If
you have a mortgage which was opened in the past three years, the trustee and
owner investor may have been a hedge fund or REIT.
In
choosing to ask for forbearance BE TRUTHFUL. Expect that the servicer is going
to check and verify your story in the following thirty and one hundred eighty
days. This is not free money and kicking the problem towards the future may be
more painful.
Ally Bank has suspended
foreclosure and eviction proceedings through July 30 and offers forbearance
plans of up to 120 days with no late fees — though interest will continue to
accrue. Apply for help online to avoid long wait times, set up online.
Bank of America
has a COVID-19 resource page that
directs customers to the right support line to request help. If payments are
current ask to delay your monthly payments and add the amount you delay to the
end of your loan. No negative information is reported to credit bureaus. Bank
of America has also paused foreclosure sales, evictions and repossessions until
mid May. Call 1-800-669-6607 for more information.
Chase call 1-800-848-9380,
or by log into their online account page and send a secure message. No
guarantees offered but military officers can use hotline at 1-877-469-0110
to see what additional benefits might be available.
Citi serviced
by Cenlar FSB. The bank does not specify what relief is being
offered.
1-855-839-6253
to see if you’re eligible for assistance.
Fifth Third
Bank is offering 180-day forbearance plans, interest will still
accrue during forbearance, there won’t be any late fees. The bank has also
suspended foreclosure activity for 60 days from March 15 contact 1-866-601-6391
or send a secure message through the bank’s online portal.
Flagstar Bank is
offering automatic six-month forbearance plans for mortgage customers impacted
by COVID-19. (Though take note that the bank doesn’t say whether interest will
accrue during that time.) The bank is also waiving late fees for certain
customers and has suspended foreclosures and evictions through May 31. request a forbearance with Flagstar
online.
HSBC call the bank
at 1-855-806-4657 to discuss your situation and eligibility requirements if
they will offer anything
LoanDepot No specific relief
is available call 1-877-420-4526
PNC claims it’s
considering waiving or refunding some mortgage fees right now for customers who
are having trouble making payments. They recommend other programs
that may be available for mortgage customers facing financial hardship right
now, including postponing payments website set up to
help you if you’re facing financial difficulty. It includes phone numbers to
call and a hardship assistance application to fill out.
Quicken Loans offers forbearance up to three months for customers experiencing job loss, illness or
lost work opportunities while caring for a family member as a result of the
corona virus pandemic. At the end of the forbearance period, you’ll be able to
pay with a lump sum, repayment plan or loan modification if eligible that
finances the deferred amount — or you can request to extend the forbearance.
TD Bank is offering to
defer payments and waive late fees for customers
call
1-800-742-2651 to see if you’re eligible.
Truist is offering
forbearance plans of 90 days or more for mortgage customers of both its
predecessor banks, BB&T and SunTrust
Legacy SunTrust
customers should call 1-800-443-1032 and legacy BB&T customers should call
1-800-827-3722.
Specialized Loan Service login online and write a letter
with your expenses and situation
U.S. Bank is offering
forbearance plans of up to 180 days if you’re facing financial hardship due to
the pandemic. call 1-800-365-7900.
Wells Fargo is offering to
suspend mortgage payments for three months for customers hit by financial
difficulties related to COVID-19. Once the suspension period is over, Wells
Fargo will work with you to see if you need a longer suspension or loan
modification, or if you can move the payments to the end of the loan. Sign
into your online banking account and send a note through the secure message
center and a bank representative will get back to you within five days.
4/21/2020
Protect Your Garage Against Break Ins
PREVENT GARAGE BREAK INS
Our economy is going into a different cycle. It’s time to
secure your home. Let’s begin with your garage. Why you ask? Because you leave
the door open, its easy to steal the remotes from the visor of your car or use
many of the burglary tools on You tube to get in and steal your tools, golf clubs,
bikes, and beer in the garage refrigerator. They will carry it all off, and
maybe hang out inside for a day or two. Maybe your children will discover them in the act. Don't be a target to the lego bad guy just released above who will look far worse
How to prevent garage theft
Think about how a theft might enter the structure and secure
the automatic door opener from:
1. code grabbers
2. using a wire to pull the emergency release
3. hiding in or around the structure
Begin with the perimeter.
Add motion detector lights which can be purchased from your
local hardware store. I prefer True Value as they will talk with you about the
pieces you need, and the skill set you have or lack to accomplish adding a
motion light to the exterior and perhaps interior of the garage. First you want
this to be high enough to not be easy to unscrew the bulb, but also accessible for
you to maintain from a ladder. Second don’t leave the ladder out for them to
borrow. Many of these tips and tricks can be DIY and done in a day cheap and easy.
Trim back trees and bushes that allow hiding places for a
human. I know you love that shrub by the door, but consider the height and
depth of the bush- can a person hide behind it easily? Perhaps relocating the
plant to another area and changing to something thorny that is airy?
Add a camera which can communicate with your cell phone.
Add a garage shield that reinforces the doors.
Change the door to have a single sided dead bolt.
What can you change to lock from inside if the garage is
attached to the home or you are away on vacation?
There are many types of locks and bars to secure and
reinforce the big overhead door as well as side doors. These can be inexpensive
bolt locks, zip ties added to the overhead emergency release, unplug the power cord
when away on vacation, and add a small interior light on a timer.
I suggest you
make friends with trusted neighbors and share keys, or have a secure nearby
hidden
in a location to recover keys (not the doormat, not a flower pot, not the mailbox).
What habits leave you open to break in?
Having shiny things visible when the garage door is open or visible
from a garage window. Hide your toolboxes under a tarp. Cover your golf clubs
with an old blanket. It’s nice to have a pretty clean chrome garage interior
but don’t allow bad guys to see what is available to steal.
Don’t leave the garage overhead open.
Don’t have garage remotes visible in and unlocked vehicle.
Can you add a peep hole between the house and garage to view
before you exit?
Can you carry something that makes noise in your hand when
you walk from the garage to your home?
Each house situation is unique and may take time to consider
where you need to reinforce security to
Make the bad guys go pick on someone else.
4/20/2020
Best Seeds and Free Exchanges
I know you are at home wishing you could stroll the aisles of your favorite
garden supply store. My local favorite is Plant Depot and they are open
until three o'clock, but call and make sure of the hours.
In late winter my mailbox fills with seed catalogs and I spend hours reading
them just as honored as the poetry books I ordered this year when so many
book tours and release parties have been cancelled. I only go to my post office
to pick up mail every other week, to avoid my elaborate mask, glasses, hat,
alcohol spray, avoidance of touching anything, and protocol.
alcohol spray, avoidance of touching anything, and protocol.
I want to share one of my life's pleasures with you. It's picking out seeds
to plant for the early spring. I'm Zone 9a - yes that's like some Zodiac
sign that people say on their Match.com profile, not.
I have posted photos of picture packets which I quite love, but serious organic gardeners or farmers would frown at the watercolor illustrations
and a small amount of joy inside the paper folder.
and a small amount of joy inside the paper folder.
For as long as I recall I've been a trader on free
seed co-ops and seed trade companies. You may search local for some affiliated with Garden Groups
on Facebook or your local Arboretum or Botanical Garden.
Many have annual trades, swaps or sales, and will mail out seeds to those who request them.
on Facebook or your local Arboretum or Botanical Garden.
Many have annual trades, swaps or sales, and will mail out seeds to those who request them.
You may also receive
some free seeds when you request a free catalog.
My favorite seed trade sites are:
Set up and account and post what you have to trade or are hoping to find. They are in Iowa. in addition to flowers, vegetables they also have herbs
Houzz Seed Exchange offers local seed exchanges, try searching for a seed library to find one near you.
Seed
Savers' Network (Australia): Similar to the American based
Seed Saver Exchange, above.
GardenWeb
Facebook group: Great American Seed Swap/Exchange/Trade
North American Lily Society
North American Rock Garden Society
You can order catalogs to be mailed to you for free from most growers. Many have lovely illustrations online and ordering is simple. Because of 2020 corona virus expect many to be short staffed, pretty much the owner is printing, bagging and mailing to you direct.
Here are some of my all time favorite companies:
Annies
request a free seed catalog
Facebook group: Great American Seed Swap/Exchange/Trade
North American Lily Society
North American Rock Garden Society
You can order catalogs to be mailed to you for free from most growers. Many have lovely illustrations online and ordering is simple. Because of 2020 corona virus expect many to be short staffed, pretty much the owner is printing, bagging and mailing to you direct.
Here are some of my all time favorite companies:
Annies
request a free seed catalog
Baker Creek The Finest with the BEST illustrations. I love this company. Super quality, tremendous descriptions and details about how to plant and what to expect.
www.rareseeds.com
Burpee
www.burpee.com
Fedco
A purist! They don’t make your grandmother’s picture packets but a poet writes the descriptions. They offer many cold hearty seeds.
https://www.fedcoseeds.com/trees/requests.htm
Johnny’s Seeds
www.johnnyseeds.com
Jung Seed
www.jungseed.com
Richters
Be prepared to spend hours here reading. Absolute cure for corona virus shut in depression, vicariously enjoy spring.
Experts on medicinal plants, advice for all types of gardeners, the finest of suppliers.
https://www.richters.com/show.cgi?page=requst2.html
Botanical interests
free seed catalog
Free Seed Catalog - Heirloom, Organic - Seed Savers Exchange
https://www.harrisseeds.com/collections/catalogs
John Fendley was nearly ruined by the Paradise Fire as many employees lived in Paradise, California.
I encourage you to order from this company which is a fabulous testament to America!
https://sustainableseedco.com/
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| gorgeous photos of flowers |
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| and an early peony from my garden |
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