Homebuyers Beware: Whos Ripping You Off Now?--What You Must Know About the New Rules of Mortgages and Credit

by Carolyn Warren

Overview

Everything you thought you knew about financing a house has changed. Your future depends on knowing today’s mortgage and credit realities: Relying on older information could cost you a fortune or keep you from buying a house altogether. In Homebuyers Beware: Who’s Ripping You Off Now? – What You Must Know About the New Rules of Mortgage and Credit, Carolyn Warren reveals the new realities of home financing and shows exactly how to take advantage of them, whether you’re buying your first home, refinancing, struggling with imperfect credit, or planning to invest in real estate.

 

Homebuyers Beware reveals new secrets homebuyers simply can’t afford to miss and exposes new scams that target today’s eager consumers--including new loans that look great on paper but are every bit as dangerous as yesterday’s subprimes. Unlike other mortgage guides, this book fully reflects today’s radically new mortgage requirements, in addition to the latest federal housing legislation and how to improve your credit rating. Warren covers topics from real estate negotiation, to powerful tips on getting lower interest rates, to avoiding bogus junk fees, and everything in between:

 

·    High-tech “smoke and mirrors” that can trick you into overpaying

·    Quick, easy, powerful ways to fix your credit

·    Uncovering the costly secrets of the Yield Spread Premium

·    The latest laws and credit rules and what they mean to you

·    New plans for recovering from bad credit, foreclosures, or short sales

 

“Carolyn Warren is my go-to expert for mortgage industry information. She not only helps you avoid rip-offs, she helps you know what questions to ask and how to ask them. Full of tips, scripts, and sample letters, Homebuyers Beware is an extremely valuable book that I recommend to all my readers!”
--Alison Rogers, “Ask the Agent” columnist, CBS Moneywatch.com

 

“In this fun-to-read volume, mortgage industry insider Carolyn Warren tells you what real estate cheats and mortgage scammers do NOT want you to know: the tricks, the deceptions, and the outright frauds that would otherwise add thousands, maybe tens of thousands of dollars to your mortgage. Get it. Read it. And take it to the mortgage broker with you. You’ll be glad you did!”

--Clayton Makepeace, The Total Package, Makepeacetotalpackage.com

 

“In Homebuyers Beware, Carolyn Warren directs her keen eye at the mortgage and credit markets in the wake of the housing bubble. With an insider’s knowledge, plenty of interesting anecdotes, and helpful reference information, Warren is a cheerful teacher leading readers down the path to homeownership and pointing out pitfalls along the way.”

--Ben Meyer, InternetBrands.com

 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780137049059
Publisher:	Pearson Education
Publication date:	08/31/2009
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Carolyn Warren has been a mortgage industry insider for more than twelve years. She worked in both retail and wholesale lending for some of the largest national lenders including Full Spectrum Lending/Countrywide Home Loans, Ameriquest, Green Tree Financial/Conseco, and First Franklin wholesale lending.

 

Carolyn Warren is the author of the best-selling Mortgage Rip-Offs and Money Savers, a book that became The Washington Post’s August 2008 Book Club pick-of-the-month and earned reviews in publications ranging from The Boston Globe to the Orange County Register, The Seattle Times to the Arizona Republic and San Diego Union-Tribune. She has appeared on many radio talk shows, including Bob Brinker’s national Money Talk and The Gil Rose Show in San Francisco.

 

Currently, she is working as a broker/banker and is the owner of two Web sites, www.AskCarolynWarren.com and www.Mortgage-Helper.com. She lives in Seattle with her husband and Himalayan cat.

Table of Contents

Introduction: New Rip-Offs     1

Chapter 1: Getting the World's Cheapest Loan     11

Chapter 2: What's New with Credit     19

Chapter 3: Quick, Easy Ways to Raise Your Credit Score     29

Chapter 4: Aggressive, Innovative Ways to Fix Credit     39

Chapter 5: Five-Step Plan for People Working Toward Buying a Home     51

Chapter 6:  How to Recover from a Foreclosure or Short Sale     57

Chapter 7: Beware of Privacy Pirates!     57

Chapter 8: Don't Buy a House Until You Read This     63

Chapter 9: When is the Best Time to Buy a Home?     69

Chapter 10: The Loan Process in Ten Easy Steps     81

Chapter 11: Choose the Right Loan for YOU     87

Chapter 12: Broker, Banker, or Direct Lender?     97

Chapter 13: How to Shop for a Loan Without Getting Tricked     103

Chapter 14: The Truth About Fees     113

Chapter 15: Five Things You Need to Know About YSP     135

Chapter 16: How the YSP Controversy Affects You     145

Chapter 17: The Good Faith Estimate: Tricks and Traps     151

Chapter 18: When to Lock in Your Rate, When to Float     165

Chapter 19: What Does It Take to Get Approved?     173

Chapter 20: Why You Need Agent Representation     181

Chapter 21: Ten Things You Must Know Before You Refinance     199

Chapter 22: Is Refinancing a Good Financial Move?     207

Chapter 23: I'm Glad You Asked: Refinancing Q and A     213

Chapter 24: Unique Loans, Unique Situations     217

Chapter 25: Beware of Radio Ads     225

Chapter 26: Stop Clicking on Mortgage Ads     229

Chapter 27: Deception Exposed     233

Chapter 28: Watch Out for the Ten-Million-Dollar Mortgage Man (and His Cohorts)     241

Chapter 29: Home Value Rip-Offs     247

Chapter 30: Final Thoughts     251

Index     255