Mortgage & Commercial Lending News.

The vast majority of Americans tend to consider banks to be the “go-to place” to obtain financing. If a businessman needs a multipurpose line of credit for their day-to-day operations, or a working capital loan, or a loan to acquire a specialized piece of equipment, or maybe a young entrepreneur is looking to start a new business, they will most likely talk to a bank about obtaining a business purpose loan. The same goes for a young adult or a head of household looking for an auto loan, or a loan for purchasing a new appliance to replace a broken one, or just looking for the benefit of having a credit card: they will usually talk to the bank in which they have their savings or checking account.

In our previous entry, we presented some trends and forces affecting commercial real estate, specifically those related to office properties, retail properties, and industrial properties. This article discusses the trends and market forces affecting Multifamily properties. 

As private mortgage lenders, at AMI Lenders, we focus on helping our clients capture opportunities in the real estate market, whether it be through a mortgage for a house or through a commercial mortgage, assisting our clients invest in commercial real estate. Since we have been writing primarily about single-unit properties, we will devote this entry in our blog to discussing what we perceive as the forces and trends in commercial real estate as we enter the second semester of 2022.

Our outlook on real estate and life is usually quite positive at AMI Lenders. That's why our blog is choc-full-of upbeat advice on what to do and think about when you're evaluating purchasing a house or investing in real estate—always looking optimistically towards the future. But we noticed lately that we barely touch upon themes about your mortgage or hard-money loan once you have received the money. We expect our clients to meet all their obligations on time, but that is not always the case. As such, we thought it would be a good idea to touch on some thorny issues that can happen when things don't go our client's way. Hopefully, they will never materialize for you, our faithful reader.

Let us suppose that you are interested in getting a mortgage loan from us, so you call us to ask about our mortgage rates and loan terms. To make sure that we give you the correct answer, we need to know whether your potential application will be ranked "good," "fair," or "poor." One of the elements in your evaluation is pulling your credit report.

Many of our customers worry that pulling their credit reports will hurt their credit scores. So here we explain what happens to your credit score and suggest to you some tips you might want to follow when shopping for a mortgage loan. You might also want to read what the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a US government agency, has to say about this subject on their website: https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ask-cfpb/what-exactly-happens-when-a-mortgage-lender-checks-my-credit-en-2005/ .

We had the nicest phone call a few weeks ago, and it made our day. A client who had just paid off his mortgage, after many years of having a loan with us, called to express his appreciation for the trust we placed on him (and the loan we gave him back then) and the excellent service we provided after having struggled, unsuccessfully, for years to get a mortgage for his Church. 

It just goes to prove once more what a friend once told us: that AMI Lenders is in the “hope business.” We give hope to borrowers that feel they have no hope. Another way to say it is: “here at AMI Lenders, we offer non-traditional alternative loan products.” Many of our clients cannot qualify for a bank loan or a loan from a traditional mortgage company. We not only help people, but we also go out of our way to be helpful. You would be surprised to know how much advice we provide to our applicants. 

During the Great Recession of 2008, millions of Americans lost their homes. The housing market collapsed, leaving the national economy in shambles.

Finger-pointing was common in the years to follow, but most financial experts can agree to one major cause: subprime mortgages.

Subprime loans are dangerous because they hide behind the pretense of helping low-income Americans.

Since the program began in 1996, the IRS has issued nearly 24 million ITIN numbers. These numbers are issued for tax purposes to immigrants who are not yet eligible to obtain a social security number or citizens of foreign nations who want to purchase property in the U.S.

They also allow undocumented immigrants to open bank accounts, take out credit cards, and even buy a home. However, finding a lender willing to fund ITIN mortgage loans can be a little tricky.

In 2010, and in response to the financial crisis that we now know as the Great Recession, President Obama signed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act into law. The law places strict regulations on lenders and banks in an effort to protect consumers and prevent another all-out economic recession. It was this act that outlined a set of rules around higher priced vs. high cost mortgage rates.