Good morning to you, Memphis! Good morning across the country to our IHEART radio listeners. We’ve got a power-packed show today so buckle your seat belts. You’re on the Real Estate Mortgage Shoppe program with me, Jo Garner, mortgage representative at Evolve Bank and Trust. Our co-hosts today are Erin McDonald and Ken Bowley of the Erin McDonald Allstate Insurance Agency.

Erin McDonald, we’re so glad to have THE man of Erin McDonald Allstate Insurance right here around the coffee table with us today. Tell us a little about yourself and what your agency can do for our listeners.
Also around the coffee table with us today is Ken Bowley of Erin McDonald Allstate Agency back again with some great advice for us. Ken, tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do for your customers.
Our topic today is “Riding the Storm Out Safely With Insurance and Weathering Quantum Mortgage Changes” If you want to talk about your mortgage, your real estate, your credit, your insurance or ANYTHING real estate related, grab your coffee and call us on the air at 901 535-WREC. That number again is 901 535-9732.

The regulatory environment and the rates are changing like Memphis weather. One minute it seems stable and the next?—a bit stormy. Thursday rates spiked upward due to the unemployment rate’s small decrease and consumer confidence plunge. Uncertainty over the resolution of our fiscal cliff and the comments from the Federal Reserve indicating they may discontinue the large amount of mortgage backed securities purchases, has caused mortgage rates to spike. But, just like Memphis weather, the mortgage rates corrected down just a little Friday afternoon. 30 year conventional rates are still around 3.375 to 3.75% and FHA rates even lower than that. The conventional 15 year rates range from upper 2’s to the low to mid 3’s depending certain factors on your loan .

For those of you who do NOT like uncertainty, word to the wise—consider refinancing your mortgages and other debt to low fixed rates while you still have the chance. My very capable assistant, Susan Belew and I would like very much to talk with you about lowering your rate, your mortgage payment, shortening the term of your loan or even giving you cash out if you need it. You can talk with Susan and me off the air at this number (901) 482 0354. That number again is 901 482 0354. You can also find us on my blog page www.mortgageloansblog.com That blog page again is www.mortgageloansblog.com

Here is one example of what some of our customers have accomplished to protect themselves from a personal fiscal cliff or just to make life much easier for themselves. They owed about $230 thousand on their mortgage and were paying $2,211/mo principal and interest per month. They had 25 years left to pay at this rate. But, they wanted to retire in a few years and at the same time put their teenage daughters through college. How were they going to do both?

We refinanced them to a 15 year loan. Getting rid of the last 10 years of the mortgage saved them the principal and interest payment of $2,211/mo x 120 month (which is 10 years). This alone saved them $265,320 dollars in payments. Then, to add icing to the cake, we lowered the rate significantly saving them about $664/mo. Over the next 15 years the savings on the payment will save them $119,676. Imagine your banker writing you a check for this cash—She She totals up on her adding machine the $265,320 and then the $119,676 and makes the check out to you for $384,996. So what if you enjoy it a little at a time for the next 15 years? Its REAL MONEY! And you can get your children through college AND retire all at the same time. You can free up enough money to invest in other places or just enjoy life more. WHAT A DEAL!

The other opportunity right now is the chance to buy a home or multiple houses while real estate values are still low. In some areas of Memphis the values are already rising and the market has converted from a buyers’ market to a sellers’ market. The difference in buying a home at these rates can save you HUNDREDS of dollars per month on some transactions. Call me on the air at 901 535 WREC or off the air at 901 482 0354.
That’s just a few ways to weather the financial storms using better mortgage terms. But we have Erin McDonald and Ken Bowley of Erin McDonald Allstate Insurance Agency in the studio with us. You guys are very experienced with helping your customers Ride Out the Storms. What is your advice on how to best “ride out the storm” using insurance?

: We are going to start this year with Educating our listeners on the finer points of Business, Home and Family protection with a little retirement sprinkled in for just the spice of it.

Were really going to come around the coffee table with the WHY it is important to spend our hard earned dollars on insurances.

What is the main message your insurance agency wants to share with your customers?
erin: “It comes down to 3 thing….”

can you explain some of the finer points that you just covered?

“Ill tell you a story……”

– If all of this goes into protecting a persons ‘stuff’ what does it take to protect a family?

” It like carrying your assets around in the trunk of your car, …..”

– with the financial cliff BEHIND us and ABOVE us how can we protect our assets today with this possible downgrade in rating or the raising of the debt ceiling?

There are multiple products offered today but a couple I like are….

More questions that could be answered by Ken and Erin:
1. Burial insurance and life insurance
2. What is happening with the pricing on long-term care policies

Questions to be answered by Jo Garner:
1. So many people are talking about the loan programs out there that do not require appraisal values. What are some of those products?

A. The Home Affordable Refinance Program for homeowners with a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac endorsed loan that was endorsed on or prior to May 31st 2009 is one of the most popular refinance products right now—especially for homeowners who are owe more on their house that the home’s current value. It’s a great product for people who are NOT underwater too because—who wants to pay for an appraisal? If you can save a few hundred dollars a month, roll the closing costs into the loan, AND maybe even eliminate a few years off the loan term, DO IT. I’d really like to help you too.

B. Another loan product that does not require an appraisal is the FHA streamline loan. If you have an FHA loan now and want to get a lower rate, you can refinance your old FHA loan to another FHA loan with a lower rate with NO appraisal. Some people have been told that they will have to bring a lot of money to closing since FHA won’t let you roll in the costs, but Susan and I found a way to get our borrowers refinanced on this program will less money out of pocket. Just call us. We can talk with you off the air at 901 482 0354.

2. You have mentioned some quantum changes to the mortgage market. What are some of the quantum changes that affect homeowners today?

A. The qualified mortgage rule issued recently by the oversight committee (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) consisted of 804 pages. This bureau is giving strong incentives to lenders to set limits on borrowers’ debt-to-income ratios not to exceed 43% of their income. Currently, with compensating factors the debt ratio can go up around 48 or 50%. The oversight agency stopped short of adding a requirement for a standard minimum downpayment. They didn’t go THERE yet. More government added loan fees are on the horizon and of course, FHA is hinting that there will probably be an increase in THEIR minimum down payment too. Word to the wise: If the deal works for you today , do it today. Let’s talk about YOUR options. Call us on the air at 901 535 WREC or all me off the air when we can look at your options more privately. That number for OFF the air is (901) 482 0354. 901 482 0354.

3. Regulators with the CFPB are proposing to make the minimum downpayment on home loans 20%. Do these regulators know anything about the financial industry they are trying to regulate? FDIC and the Federal Reserve have experience in the financial industry and they are advising against such a drastic move in an effort not to slam the brakes on the housing recovery.

4. The CFPB regulators have made the debt-to-income ratio for home loan borrowers at a max of 43%.

Real Estate Tip of the Day (Erin and Ken): Know what coverages you got and know WHY you got them…..

Jo makes two announcments: Talk Shoppe on Wednesday 9AM to 10AM meets at the Better Business Bureau and the topic will be “What’s New In Computers: Navigating Windows 8” Dave Bensman will be presenting and the event is free. For more information go to www.TalkShoppe.BIZ

Next week on right here on News Radio WREC, the Attorney Ron Cohen and Jenett Rochester of Premium Title Group will be informing us what to look out for on the home legal front. 9:00AM to 10AM right here on the Real Estate Mortgage Shoppe program.

To listen to the podcast from this broadcast today and past podcasts from our show, go to www.mortgageloansblog.com The blog address again is mortgageloansblog.com

See you next week!

Transitional songs: “I’ll Be There For You” by the Rembrants; “ Our House” by Crosby Stills and Nash & Young;
“Riding the Storm Out” by REO Speedwagon

Jo Garner, Mortgage Officer with Evolve Bank and Trust (901) 482 0354 jogarner@mindspring.com and jgarner@getevolved.com www.MoneyShoppe.NET

Erin McDonald of Erin McDonald Allstate Insurance Agency and Ken Bowley of the same agency (901) 372-3500. For real estate financing solutions and insurance solutions, plug into the Real Estate Mortgage Shoppe program. You can find mortgage rates, FHA Streamline refinance with no out-of-pocket costs, refinancing options, home purchase loan programs, answers and money-saving tips for insurance and more.