Mortgage information and advice from a St. Louis Mortgage Banker – Final post of the series

Dennis Norman

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

Today we pick up where we left off yesterday with my E-View TM with respected mortgage banker, H. John Frank, President of Paramount Mortgage Co. here in St. Louis.

If you missed part one, two, or three, there are links to both at the end of this post. And now, the final part of the E-View TM:

Q-This is a good time probably to address the Internet. There appear to be hundreds of lenders on the Internet for the consumer to choose from in addition to their local lenders.
Do you think there is cause for concern for a borrower in dealing with an Internet based company that does not have a physical location in their market? Or should they treat that type of company the same as a local company when checking them out to consider as their lender?

H. John Frank, Jr., President, Paramount Mortgage Co.

H. John Frank, Jr., President, Paramount Mortgage Co.

A-When you deal with a local lender or someone you have previously dealt with, you can always go into their office and discuss the problems or hopefully a local representative will be at the closing to go over the numbers with you and correct any mistakes or changes that have occurred. Continue reading “Mortgage information and advice from a St. Louis Mortgage Banker – Final post of the series

Mortgage information and advice from a St. Louis Mortgage Banker – Part 3 of a series

Dennis Norman

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

Today we pick up where we left off yesterday with my E-View TM with respected mortgage banker, H. John Frank, President of Paramount Mortgage Co. here in St. Louis.

If you missed part one or two, there are links to both at the end of this post. And now, part three of the E-View TM:

Q-I have seen a lot of reports about “jumbo” loans and rates being artificially high on those loans. What is a “jumbo” loan and have the rates been affected in a negative way as a result of the mortgage mess?

H. John Frank, Jr., President, Paramount Mortgage Co.

H. John Frank, Jr., President, Paramount Mortgage Co.

A- Jumbo loans are ones that exceed the FNMA (Fannie Mae) loan limit. In most states, this limit is $417,000. There are fewer and fewer investors who make these loans because they are not as marketable (investors can always sell their ‘conforming’ loans to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac if they need to raise funds). Without this constant outlet, the liquidity of these loans is diminished, thus demanding a higher yield for the product.

Continue reading “Mortgage information and advice from a St. Louis Mortgage Banker – Part 3 of a series

Mortgage information and advice from a St. Louis Mortgage Banker – Part 2 of a series

H. John Frank, Jr., President, Paramount Mortgage Co.

H. John Frank, Jr., President, Paramount Mortgage Co.

By: Dennis Norman

Yesterday I did the first post of my E-View TM with respected mortgage banker, H. John Frank, President of Paramount Mortgage Co. located here in St. Louis.

Today we continue with part two of the E-View TM:

Q-How many states require mortgage brokers/bankers to be licensed? Does licensing protect the consumer in your opinion? If so, how? If not, why not?

A-I don’t know how many states require licenses, but later this year (I believe around the 1st of August) most, if not all, states will adopt a National Licensing Law which will require all companies and Loan Officers to be registered and licensed. Continuing education will be required as well as surety bonds, criminal background checks, fingerprints, etc. will be mandatory. I’m not sure if this protects the consumers, but it surely will cut out’ many of the brokers. The government will begin tracking Loan Officer’s, as well as appraisers, to make sure ‘bad’ loan officers can’t just jump from state to state making bad loans to innocent, uneducated homeowners. Continue reading “Mortgage information and advice from a St. Louis Mortgage Banker – Part 2 of a series

Mortgage information and advice from a St. Louis Mortgage Banker – Part 1 of a series

Dennis Norman

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

It seems home mortgages are in the news daily lately: record-low interest rates, record-high foreclosure rates, the sub-prime mortgage mess, lack of jumbo loans and so on. It’s confusing at best and causing much concern for many people wishing to buy a home or refinance their existing home mortgage.

H. John Frank, Jr., President Paramount Mortgage Co.

H. John Frank, Jr., President Paramount Mortgage Co.

To find out just what is going on in the home mortgage world today I turned to someone I have known for over 20 years that is a highly respected St. Louis mortgage banker, H. John Frank. John agreed to do an E-View TM to discuss what is going on with mortgages today and to share information to help educate consumers that may be seeking a mortgage.

John was a great source of information and I have a lot to share so I plan to share his E-View TM in a series of posts over the next few days.

Here’s the beginning of my E-View TM with H. John Frank, the President of Paramount Mortgage Co. based in St. Louis, MO: Continue reading “Mortgage information and advice from a St. Louis Mortgage Banker – Part 1 of a series