All About Mortgages: Insider Tips to Finance Your Home (Paperback)

by Julie Garton-Good (Author) "The mortgage market of a decade ago in no way resembles today's world..." (more)
Key Phrases: national credit repositories, automatic underwriting, convertibility option, Fannie Mae, Social Security, Certificate of Eligibility (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
In this, the greatest boom in mortgage lending history, with the national rate of home ownership running 67 percent, loan refinancing reflects up to 62 percent of the $2.7 trillion in originations. Historically low mortgage rates, combined with technology-driven loan decision making and new credit scoring processes, are dramatically changing the mortgage loan landscape.

To navigate this complex, fast-changing market, it helps to know the questions to ask, and to have a trusted source provide credible answers. The all-new third edition of All About Mortgages offers the most complete step-by-step overview of the industry and process, so any consumer, whether buying a home or refinancing, can avoid pitfalls while having all the needed information available at his or her fingertips.

All new and updated sections...
• Enhance consumers’ online searches with a new URL guide by topic.
• Explain credit scoring-plus how to repair credit and improve the score.
• Show how to figure out if refinancing makes sense and what to watch out for.
• Address what to do when lenders say "no."
• Highlight tactics to avoid paying private mortgage insurance (PMI).
• Update new requirements for FHA and VA mortgage programs.
• Tell what to do when payments fall behind and how to avoid foreclosure.
• lllustrate how to avoid predatory lending and make sense of home equity lines of credit (HELOCs).

By outlining all available options, consumers have access to a comprehensive, unbiased overview of the mortgage industry, its products, and processes. Readers can save thousands on new and refinanced mortgage loans using this information-packed guide.

About the Author
The only woman listed two times by the National Association of REALTORS® in its "Twenty-five Most Influential People"-in 1997 and again in 2000-Julie Garton-Good, DREI, C-CREC, is a bestselling author, syndicated newspaper columnist, and international speaker. Called "America’s Home Affordability Expert," she addresses more than 25,000 people annually on real estate finance and home affordability. She is the sole three-time recipient (1984, 1995, and 2002) of the prestigious international "Real Estate Educator of the Year." She is author of the Consumer-Certified Real Estate Consultant® (C-CREC®) designation course and founder of the National Association of Real Estate Consultants (NAREC).

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Kaplan Business; 3 edition (April 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0793185971
• ISBN-13: 978-0793185979
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #915,329 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good for home buyer, fair for fledgling mtg loan officer, April 10, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: All About Mortgages: Insider Tips for Financing and Refinancing Your Home (Paperback)

I suppose this reference work is very informative to the home buyer ... if perhaps a bit too much to digest for the average casual reader. For an intern loan officer in an agressively propserous mortgage brokerage, the book provided some key information, but not the depth I had hoped for. Is it worth getting if your a mortgage professional? Yes, most definately. So much of the do's and don'ts of this industry are shrouded in statements like "well, we always did it that way" rather than simple straight forward explanations. This book was a breath of fresh air when I was floundering in my first year as a loan officer. Now, as a Senior Loan Officer at my company I still find myself referring to it from time to time for some of those elusive little details that always seem to arise in the loan process. Go ahead and get a copy. Either you'll learn something new or your boss will think you're applying yourself at home as well as on the job!

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Reference Book!, July 4, 2000

By	Patricia Boyd, author How To Buy & Sell Y... (Flower Mound, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: All About Mortgages: Insider Tips for Financing and Refinancing Your Home (Paperback)

This book is a great book for consumers as well as real estate professionals. You will definitely want to keep it close by to reference information about FHA, VA and conventional loans. It is easy to forget some of the details about differnt loans but Ms. Garton-Good has made it easy to look up information such as who can pay closing costs on VA loans and does the veteran have to pay the funding fee. Having a list of closing costs FHA borrowers are allowed to pay or not pay is also very helpful. This book answers a lot of questions you probably wanted to know but may have been afraid to ask!

I would recommend anyone thinking about buying or selling real estate and all real estate professionals make this book a part of their reference library right away.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great mortgage book, December 12, 2003

By	Phu Tran (Garden Grove, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: All About Mortgages: Insider Tips for Financing and Refinancing Your Home (Paperback)

I'm a programmer analyst for a mortgage company. However, the one year experience I had working for a mortgage company with all the ongoing trainings and mortgage software application designs are nothing compared to this book. This is a great book with all info you need to know about mortgages. Would recommend to anyone.

All I can say is this is a great book, that is equivalent to 3 years of mortgage experience.