Wealth Builder University Blog

Financial Literacy from Jerusalem

Greeting from Jerusalem.

I am looking out of my hotel room window with a view of sunrise coming over the Tower of David in the Old city of Jerusalem.

It's awe inspiring thinking of the great people of history that have seen the exact same sight.

All of this while reading an email from a friend who is in the business of helping people improve their financial position, Dave Ireland of InvestInYourDebt.com . His goal is to "eliminate all debt on the planet".

There is so much danger facing people who want to make the right decisions but just do not have 'Trusted Advisors' that know what they are doing and have the client's best interest as their prime objective.

Dave's client asked him if he should use the extra money he has to pay off his mortgage or put it someplace where he has-

" an investment which will get me a min. of 5% per month".

NOTE: A good idea without good implementation is not really a good idea.

Regards from across the ocean.

Alex Weiss, co-founder
www.WealthBuilderUniversity.com

PS Click on the continuation for the question and Dave's answer.

Saga of the US Mortgage Industry

This posting is for those of you might have concern reading the recent headlines about the turmoil in the mortgage industry.

As a Certified Mortgage Planning Specialist,  I am a proud member of the CMPS Institute.

I received the attached article , "Saga of the US Mortgage Industry", today from the CMPS chairman and CEO, Gibran Nicholas.

Read the article and you will agree, the sky is not falling.  As a matter of fact, it is still up there and "very secure".

Alex Weiss, co-founder
www.wealthbuilderuniversity.com

Mortgage Brokers and Borrowers: An Evolving Relationship

From the May 24th edition of the Wall Street Journal I clipped the following questions from James Hagerty's article titled: Mortgage Broker: Friend or Foe. It is an article about how amid today's mounting mortgage defaults, State and U.S. Lawmakers are weighing measures to make the mortgage profession more accountable to borrowers (to read the article in full just click on the clip below).

While the political outcomes will be tomorrow's news, TODAY borrowers can begin asking of their Loan Broker or "Trusted Advisor" the questions outlined in Hagerty's article posted below:

clipped from online.wsj.com

Today's Bare Essentials of Mortgage Planning

I have experienced the evolution of mortgage products and services over the last 30 years through a the interest rate highs and lows at different times in the market place. As I see it, facilitating a mortgage for a borrower today is much different than even 3 years ago.

Little thought has gone into doing much of anything different in the mortgage business than just trying to keep up with consumers wanting to refnance, muscle the purchase of a new home, or just consolidate credit debt to take advantage of more credit card debt to finance lifestyle.

Now as an aging 'baby-boomer' population is looking to retirement many boomers find that Game Plan 'A' is not working out. Whether it's a credit issue, too much debt, mortgage foreclosure, or no money for retirement...these new realities are here. So what is Game Plan 'B' for this final quarter? 
It's this reality facing so many Americans that begs a solution. Unfortunately, many are unaware of their options or possible solutions.

In light of today's realities doing mortgages going forward has to be different. As I look at how the mortgage process might be reinvented, I would assert that, at least, the following items be considered as the 'bare essentials':

• 1.  Credit Score Management: What are the specific things you can do to increase your credit score?
• 2. Debt Freedom: What is your monthly strategy for getting 100% debt free in a shorter time?
• 3. Mortgage Planning: How much mortgage do you really need and for how long? How can a mortgage actually 'work for you' v. you wanting to get rid of it as soon as possible? Do you know what new banking tools are now available to automate and accelerate your debt retirement?
• 4. Prepaid Retirement: Does your  Mortgage Plan address money for  Retirement?  Are you  going to live longer than  your cash?

If you are in the middle of a mortgage process now or thinking about it, ask these questions of your loan officer. If he doesn't know or you don't feel that you can trust his answers, find someone you can trust. Don't move forward with a mortgage without these 'bare essentials' getting addressed! Insist on a Mortgage Plan that includes them.

Greg Johnson, Co-founder
Wealth Builder University

STOP! Get a Second Opinion on Your Current Mortgage

An article on Recasting.....

It would be nice to start the day with good news

I subscribe to many feeds from professionals in the Mortgage business.

I got one this morning from Todd Ballenger at www.kendalltodd.com discussing the latest report from The office of Federal Housing Oversight FY 2006 Performance Plan and information from a number of other sources. One of the sources was the latest data from the National Association of Realtors quoting their Housing Affordability Index

Usually the information in these reports are technical (these are no different) but there is a section that Todd says, "The housing affordability index from the NAR showed a big drop, less than 50% of American's now have income necessary to afford a house at the $221.900 average entry point level."

Can someone please help me out here.  Is the apparent problem the "low level of income" or the "average entry point level"?

Wouldn't the numbers look different if we just lowered the expectation of what the "entry point level" is?

Why is the bad news the level of income we have instead of the price we want to pay for our first house?

I look forward to better news for all of us tomorrow morning.

Alex

Check out the College of Mortgage Planning