ENVOY MORTGAGE Blog

Save Your Credit Score.............

September 16th, 2009 3:16 PM

We have some important information to share with you regarding your Credit Score:

Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), the Consumer Credit Reporting Companies are permitted to include your name on lists used by creditors or insurers to make firm offers of credit or insurance that are NOT INITIATED BY YOU (“Firm Offers”). The FCRA also provides you the right to “Opt-Out”, which prevents Consumer Credit Reporting Companies from providing your credit file information for Firm Offers. To Opt-Out from receiving Firm Offers for Five Years (electronically through the website) or Opt-Out from receiving Firm Offers permanently (mail permanent Opt-Out Election form available through the website), please go to: www.optoutprescreen.com. By doing so, it may increase your Credit Scores.

For further information or questions, please contact Gary Bussard at

(314) 993-6690.

Posted by Gary Bussard on September 16th, 2009 3:16 PMPost a Comment (0)

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Advice for First-Time Homebuyers

September 30th, 2009 2:28 PM

Advice for First-Time Homebuyers

Thinking about buying your first home? There's a lot of good reasons to do so right now - bargain prices, low mortgage interest rates and that $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit. But for the first-time homebuyer, it can be intimidating.

To begin with, it's an awfully big investment - potentially, the biggest you'll ever make - and making the wrong choices can make it even more expensive. But it can also be one of the best and most satisfying decisions you'll ever make. So how to make sure you're making the right choices? Fortunately, there are some general guidelines you can follow that help ensure you're making a good decision.

Shop around

One of the first things you should do when contemplating buying a home is get to know your local real estate market. Check out listings, both online and in the paper. Go to a bunch of open houses to see what's available in different price ranges around what you think you might be able to pay. At this point, you're not really looking for a home, you're getting a feel for what your money will buy.

Find a good real estate agent

Ask around, talk to friends who've bought a house, get a buyers agent to represent you. In most states, the realtor's fees are paid by the seller, so there's no reason for you not to get one - plus they're supposed to look out for your interests. If you are searching for one, call us at 314-993-6023!

How much home do you want?

Think carefully about this. A big yard is nice if you have kids or a dog, but will require more work to maintain. A fixer-upper may sound attractive, but how handy are you with tools? Those do-it-yourself shows and guidebooks make it look easy, but the unavoidable rule of any kind of home repairs are the unexpected little problems that inevitably crop up and which the books said nothing about. Don't expect a big lifestyle change just because you're buying a house - choose something that fits the way you live now, with a few enhancements.

Figure out your budget

How much house can you afford? The general guideline is that you can spend 28 percent of your monthly pre-tax household income on a mortgage payment, including taxes and insurance. But do you want to spend that much? Would you be happier with less house and more to spend on things like vacations or saving for retirement? You don't want to tie up so much in your house that it's crowding out the other things you want in life.

Anticipate future expenses

What else are you likely to buy in the next few years? Is your car getting old? Are you planning to start a family? Are you or your spouse thinking about going back to school? And don't forget home maintenance and repairs - a new roof, septic field or furnace can set you back thousands of dollars, in addition to the regular maintenance and occasional repairs all homes need. And the older the home, the more you need to allow for.

Don't buy the first house you like

Yes, you might miss a great bargain now and then, but it's not likely. There are a lot of homes on the market right now. Some real estate agents will tell you that when you find a house you like, you should buy it. Of course they do. They want to sell you a house. The fact is, even if you miss out on this house, you'll more than likely find others that you like just as much, if not more, particularly in a buyers' market like we have today.

Learn your credit score

You can purchase this from one of the three major credit reporting agencies - Equifax, Experion and Transunion. You'll need to pay for the score itself - only your credit history is available once a year without charge. Once you have your score, you can see what average mortgage rates are for people in your state with your credit rating, which will help you in shopping for a mortgage. You can check with www.Myfico.com to see what the average rate is for someone with your credit score and see how rates in your state compare to others. Give Envoy Mortgage a call at 314-993-6690 and ask for Gary Bussard -

Shop around again

You don't want to just shop around for a house, you want to shop around for a mortgage as well. You'll want to get prequalified, so you'll know how much you can borrow and at what interest rate, as well as being able to make a concrete offer as soon as you find the house you like. But also, you want to find a lender that offers the best terms you can get on a mortgage. Compare loan offers from several lenders, be sure to consider closing costs and be leery of signing any agreement until you're ready to commit.

Consider a mortgage broker

A Mortgage Broker like Gary Bussard at Envoy Mortgage, can sort through a wide range of lenders to help you find he best offer. You'll typically pay a slightly higher interest rate than if you found the lender yourself - that's how the broker gets paid - but a broker's greater expertise and resources might still be able to get you a better rate than you could find on your own, particularly if you have blemished credit.

Don't think of your home as an investment

Yes, it's an investment in that you'll have a lot of money tied up in it, but don't look at it as something that's going to make a profit. First and foremost, it's a residence. Besides, there are other places you can put your money that historically outperform real estate. Better to do that than sink extra money into a bigger house in hopes you can sell it for a fat profit a few years down the line.

Posted by Gary Bussard on September 30th, 2009 2:28 PMPost a Comment (0)

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Big '09 Growth for a Startup Texas Lender

September 30th, 2009 2:21 PM

Big '09 Growth For a Startup Texas Lender

Eighteen months ago when industry veteran Rick Thompson bought into a small mortgage banking firm in the Houston area - with an eye toward molding it into a national lender - people thought he was crazy. "I was told this wasn't such a good idea," he said. "The industry had blown up, especially the middle-tier firms."

A further challenge for Mr. Thompson - who's been in the business for three decades - is the fact that Envoy Mortgage is a nondepository and depends on warehouse lines of credit. "Three months ago our warehouse providers were Colonial, Guaranty and National City."

In case you've been living in a cave, here's an update on those three firms: Colonial Bank (once the nation's largest warehouse provider) has gone bust, as has Guaranty. As for National City, it's now the property of PNC Financial Services, a bank well known for loathing the residential mortgage business.

PNC, said Mr. Thompson, is continuing to extend credit to Envoy and BB&T "has picked up our Colonial line." Even though three months ago Envoy had just there warehouse lenders, today it has six. And business is booming at the 50-branch retail-only lender. By the time 2009 ends, Envoy will fund $2 billion in loans, a handsome 189% gain from last year.

All of its originations are either Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac or FHA-guaranteed product. Most of its loans are sold servicing-released, but Envoy one day hopes to service its own originations. The company is a Fannie Mae seller/servicer and is waiting on final approvals from Freddie and GNMA.

Mr. Thompson, who made his name in the industry by managing Troy & Nichols of Monroe, La., and then later on Aegis Mortgage, Houston, wants to take the company to the next level. (Mr. Thompson left Aegis in 2006, a year before it filed for bankruptcy protection. He's declined to talk in detail about Aegis' majority owner, Cerberus Capital, but he's made it clear in past interviews that he and the hedge fund's upper management didn't exactly see eye-to-eye. Aegis was a Fannie/Freddie/alt-A lender with occasional forays into subprime.)

His ultimate goal is to make Envoy into what he calls a "middle tier" lender, one that ranks between 10th and 50th nationwide. In short, he believes much of the old existing middle tier has gone bust and that in time a new middle tier will rise from the ashes. "We believe the middle tier will be reconstituted," he said.

But to get there, Envoy, said Mr. Thompson, will need additional capital - and a banking charter. "We're looking to buy a bank or affiliate with one," he said. "I've been looking at a lot of banks these days but we're not quite there yet."

Whether he and his partners will actually get a bank remains to be seen, but rest assured he isn't the only nonbank executive toying with the idea of getting his hands on a depository. Rumors abound that all sorts of former nonbank executives are lining up to buy depositories for the simple reason they want a reliable source of funds (deposits) which they can use to fund and service residential originations.

One West Coast-based nonbank servicer I know told me recently that he's been looking at dozens of banks in California but so far hasn't found a small to midsized depository that he can get comfortable with. "A lot of them have commercial (real estate) loans that are ready to explode," he said.

As for Mr. Thompson, he's hopeful. He believes that thanks to the industry's warehouse crisis being small these days puts nonbanks of all sizes at a major competitive disadvantage. "Smaller firms are definitely having a tougher time getting warehouse lines. There's a fear about buyback requests," he said. "And then there's the cost of compliance - it keeps going up."

For all your financing needs, please call Envoy Mortgage

(314) 993-6690.

Posted by Gary Bussard on September 30th, 2009 2:21 PMPost a Comment (0)

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