All right, it’s friday. Thank God for Fridays. It’s Bruce Woodburn CrossCountry Mortgage. WDBO Radio 96.5 FM and WFLA Radio AM540. You know, you can listen to me on HD radio as well and you get a really clear channel by the way. I’d love for you to check out my iHeart Radio podcast, my Spotify podcast or my Youtube channel. If you want to see any of my radio shows live, if you didn’t get to catch them on the air, you can always check them out live on my Youtube channel as well. So here’s the three big things you need to know for today. As usual. I love to keep my clients, my real estate agents, builder partners and anybody that may be looking at buying or refinancing a home completely informed as to what’s going on in the industry. So here’s your big things right now.

1. Okay, first of all appraisals, that’s right, appraisals there an issue right now. There’s two reasons there an issue. They’re taking a long time to get in because appraisers are overwhelmed. It’s not their fault, they got too many orders and not enough appraisers. Also, they’re coming in low. Why are they coming in low? Well, because appraisers can’t keep up with the increase in prices at the speed that they’re going up in value. As a real estate agent, if you’re listening to this, I’m going to give you some advice, meet the appraiser at the house. Have your comparables, but more importantly, understand what an appraiser is looking for in comparables. All too often. I see real estate agents are like, yeah, there’s a house down the street and it sold for $200 a square foot and he’s only giving us $125, you’re not understanding what appraisers are using. So I’m going to hold a zoom class with one of my favorite appraisers and I’m going to invite all my real estate agents to attend an appraisal class to understand what they are looking for and why the values are what they are. Okay. So if you want to know more about appraisals, then I think it’s important as a real estate agent that you understand what an appraiser has to use and what guidelines they have to fall within. What tolerances do they have? What kind of adjustments on the grid? So there’s, there’s the first big thing you need to know.
2. Second big thing you need to know. I am back to doing my fast track loan approval. What’s a fast track loan approval? So, traditionally lenders pre qualifying a client doesn’t mean anything. It’s a credit pull and a conversation. It’s not worth the paper it’s written on. Then they get the client to supply them with all of their documents and that’s a preapproval. I’ve seen tax returns, bank statements, credit report, W 2s, divorce decrees, whatever I need, I can now pre approve the loan. But what happens is the pre approval really stops on the loan officer’s desk. Well, loan officers like to approve loans because they get paid when a loan closes, but that’s not the person who is ultimately going to underwrite the loan. So in my fast track program, I will take that client’s transaction completely with a full application and have an underwriter pre underwrite the file. Now it’s fully approved and that buyer is now as close to being a cash buyer is they could possibly be. And I will guarantee that I will close that transaction on the closing date or in 21 days, no questions asked. If I don’t close it that fast and I don’t meet the closing date, I’ll pay the seller a per diem for every day I have missed the closing. Don’t worry I won’t be paying anybody because I’m closing on time. So fast track, when we’re in a multiple offer situation, what do you think is going to make a seller feel most comfortable? A pre approval, or a full guaranteed approval where the lender’s got skin in the game if they don’t close, you choose. If you’re a real estate agent and you don’t have your clients to be fast tracked and you’re wondering why they’re missing out on offers one after another, after another. Stop the pain. Let’s get them fast tracked.
3. The third big thing you need to know is what went on and rates this week? So we’ve seen rates going up and up and up. You know, they’re still great, but they’re still going up and up and up. They’re not near what they were earlier in the year or late last year. You know, we’re not seeing the 2.5 anymore, so they’ve gone up. But this week was pretty good. We saw an improvement in the bond market and rates kind of kind of toned down just a little bit. So it’s a really good time to reinvestigate refinancing or lock in your rate. Now’s a good time to do it if you haven’t done it already, I’m always there to help you with it. Bruce Woodburn CrossCountry Mortgage. Committed to my real estate agents and committed to my clients to always get the best possible rate. Matter of fact, I just locked in five loans today and I called every one of those clients and gave them a better rate than I had when I spoke to them, either a month ago or even some of them, six months ago. That’s what you’re looking for. You want a great partner in this business. I’m applying for the job.

Have a great weekend, Bruce Woodburn CrossCountry Mortgage. Visit my website at, WeBringYouHome.com or call me at 407-250-9144. The Loan Arranger signing out. Have a great weekend.