First Ohio Home Finance

Delaware County is best in Ohio

Jeremiah Arn — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 21:20:36 +0000

Central Ohioans have known for more than a decade that Delaware County has a lot going for it. Such advantages as reasonable real estate and mortgage costs, low crime, and easy commute to one of the nicest cities in the Midwest have made Delaware County one of the fastest growing places in America.

First, Forbes.com ran this story naming Delaware County the 5th best place to raise a family and touting the Columbus Zoo and Polaris Fashion Place.

Then, CNN Money Magazine released their list of top places to live, with Delaware County ranking 13th best place to live in America.

Lately, though, we’ve really been earning attention with solid ratings from national media. Topping the list was job growth at 42% - that’s almost unbelievable! Players in that sandbox certainly are JP Morgan Chase, PPG Industries, Ohio Wesleyan University, and McGraw Hill Companies, to name a few. There’s no doubt that a booming economy helps to keep real estate and mortgages services affordable.

The Ohio Department of Development have a detailed county profile here. No other city in Ohio made the lists, so it feels pretty good to be in the hot spot of good living. Columbus had been #8 on the best big city list in 2006.
Here are the Best Places to Live from Money Magazine:
1. Plymouth, MN
2. Fort Collins, CO
3. Naperville, IL
4. Irvine, CA
5. Franklin Township, NJ
6. Norman, OK
7. Round Rock, TX
8. Columbia/Ellicott City, MD
9. Overland Park, KS
10. Fishers, IN

Hat tip to Maureen McCabe of Real Living HER for bringing this to my attention. We look forward to working with her clients on the mortgage side.

Would you use the bus more often?

Jeremiah Arn — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 19:46:59 +0000

Growing up in a rural area, I’ve often been confused by our local COTA system. I’ve experimented with it, and with public transit in other cities. But what I found was it was too confusing to figure out how to get from one place to another. In Columbus, I tend travel from east to west, and most buses seem to go north and south. The Internet documentation is confusing and paper maps are not readily available.

Now there’s a change for the better in making COTA more usable. As of July 4, Columbus’ leaders are opting into Google’s transit maps. By inputting a starting point, destination, and travel time, you’ll be able to see where and when to catch the bus, and which routes make sense.

Ideally, I would like to see fewer subsidies from taxpayers who don’t use the service. But for now, I think this is going to have a big impact on the use and usability of public transit in Columbus. If ridership increases and they maintain fiscal responsibility, COTA could be independently profitable. They have seen ginormous increases in ridership this year as gas prices have soared. Read that story here: COTA business increases, along with costs

Who knows, you might even see me on the bus again one day!

There’s nothing like helping people!

Jeremiah Arn — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 21:08:30 +0000

Matt Berardi makes more loans than any other employee at First Ohio Home Finance, so sometimes we wonder how he gets it done. There’s always a secret somewhere when you have a salesperson out in front.

We received a piece of mail last week about Matt Berardi’s mortgage lending that really made an impression on nearly everyone at our branch of First Ohio Home Finance - and told part of the secret to the way he does business.

Like every loan we make, there was a little luck and a lot of caring communication and hard work involved in this story.

Dear Matt,
We can’t thank you enough for all the work that you did on our behalf for our recent refinance. Your expertise and patience cut our loan duration in half and we still can’t believe that low rate is really, really true! A huge weight has been lifted from our shoulders - thanks to you.
Warmly,
Carol L.

I couldn’t help but blog about this mortgage lending success. Thanks, Carol!

We love what we do here at First Ohio and work hard to find opportunities to help other Ohioans!

No more mortgage stress

Jeremiah Arn — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 21:39:06 +0000

I had the privilege this morning hearing Steven Anderson talk about Thriving Under Pressure. You’d think I went because the mortgage industry is under tremendous pressure as brokers and lenders sort out who’s on first. There’s a natural tension in mortgage lending that’s accentuated when times get tough. Who drives the industry: the small businessmen and women that find and retain clients, the massive banks that control the regulations and capital, or the US taxpayer that gets to bailout every industry when times get tough? (If you are laughing at that last option, you pass the test.)

Actually, that’s not the main reason I went.

I accepted Tom Broadbent’s invitation because I am challenged by balancing work hours, home life, and volunteering with several organizations. Just like you, I would guess.

Learning to deal with stress benefits every American because, as Steven Anderson said, “We humans are smart enough to kill ourselves.” Specifically, in today’s economy, we need tools to deal with more and more stress from the financial side of our lives. Not only do we run into the aggravation of minding passwords for dozens of bill paying sites, but most Ohio families don’t have enough money to go around each month. There are urgent decisions like enrolling your children in another sport or paying down debt that we all carry.

Here are two important lessons I took away from the seminar that I thought could help you in managing your personal finance.

Learn the difference between Acute Stress and Chronic Stress. Making important decisions and dealing with short term problems is acute stress and is actually healthy. Planning and pushing through these experiences stretch you mentally, and can engender that team spirit that many families lack. Chronic stress, on the other hand, is the nagging burdens we carry around. These are nearly always caused by poor choices - either long-term debt like credit cards that we enter thoughtlessly or rashly, or the avoidance of major decisions in our household economy. Make good and decisive choices and your life will be better and longer.
Learn the difference between Stress and Anxiety. Stressors are external circumstances that pressure us - like a cucumber seed we can squirt one way when pressured and become anxious, or move right and choose our physical response. Anxiety is the internalizing of stress. Anxiety often gives rise to introversion, depression, and attempting to control others - obviously none of which are beneficial. Using stress to one’s advantage includes a plan to deal with it rather than allowing anxiety and its negative consequences.

The reason I write about this in a personal finance and mortgage blog is WAY too many people these days are allowing poor choices to dictate decisions with long-term consequences - like paying their mortgage on time.

More and more Ohio homeowners with a mortgage are walking away from their homes. Surprisingly, this is not an issue that only affects the low-to-moderate income neighborhoods. Hundreds and hundreds of above-average wage earners have invested in above-average homes with very little skin in the game, while even more Ohio families have bought homes that are at or just beyond the limit of their budget. In either case, floating these purchases becomes impossible with the smallest stressor.

Bottom line is making the hard decisions with an eye to the risks of the future is critical to long term homeownership and overall financial success for Ohioans. If you are having trouble making your mortgage payment, call me and let’s talk about the options. Call your lender. Call someone who isn’t afraid of telling you the truth - I will, even if it means a hard decision for you or a non-profit moment for First Ohio Home Finance. We’re in this together, and we’ll only get out of it together - using all the resources we have.

Thanks to Integrated Leadership’s Steven Anderson and Precision Printing’s Tom Broadbent for today’s inspiration!

Fannie Mae ends declining markets in favor of appraisal reviews

Jeremiah Arn — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 20:53:41 +0000

We heard recently from one of the lenders we deal with that Fannie Mae is killing its broad declining market policy. Before you celebrate, though, read on to see what plans they have for real estate!As recently as January 2008, Fannie Mae decided that labeling entire zip codes or counties – even states like California and Florida – as declining markets was a good idea to protect their interest in residential real estate. The blanket designation could not be appealed or overturned by specific underwriters.

As the GSEs like Fannie, Freddie and FHA’s Ginnie steer away from blanket designations, they are going to a 20-point appraisal review system. This will allow underwriters more authority to review each file and grade the property appraisals.

If the appraisal has comparable sales outside of the time or location guidelines, excessive adjustments to value or other problems, the value would be cut or the appraisal rejected.

We are having to fight harder and work more closely with our approved appraisers to keep deals afloat. I am still trying to get my hands on the specific guidelines. When I do, I’ll let you know.

A further complication is the Fannie and Freddie guideline that, as of January 2009, employees involved in loan production will not be allowed to order appraisals or choose an appraiser. Appraisals will be ordered by non-production employees or the end lender AND only from a handful of national appraisal management companies or AMCs (think Old Republic, Land America, etc).

So what does all that mean?

Consumer’s cost for residential financing will be driven higher and higher as AMCs that get government blessing will have a monopoly and charge higher and higher prices. This, in turn, will engender new regulations called price controls. National appraisal companies already charge 40% more than the typical $350 conventional appraisal.

Regulation also has a way of forcing small business out of the market (the ones to best know local markets) as it aggregates power and control higher and higher. That goes for everyone involved in loan origination – appraisers, local brokers and correspondent lenders, title companies, etc.

Since this new regulation does not yet apply to FHA, it also means that more financing will be FHA-insured loans. That can be a good thing for both borrowers and FHA-approved lenders. The downside is that FHA guidelines are fairly cut and dry – unimaginative, if you will. That means the pool of borrowers – such as the self-employed who write-off expenses, fixed income seniors with high DTI ratios, bruised credit borrowers, etc - will become smaller and smaller.

Bottom line: good for major banks, bad for consumers and small business.