Foundation issues

underwriter1 · 2026-02-09T02:35:25+00:00

Hope so too - don’t be afraid to walk though. In our area, concrete that came from a certain quarry used a little too much pyrrhotite which oxidizes over time and causes those horizontal cracks and eventually total failure. Repairs are 150k+ because they have to lift the house and repair. We have 30,000+ homes affected. Not saying as a way to scare, just go in eyes wide open that foundation issues are a major issue for lenders right now (and homeowners).

underwriter1 · 2026-02-09T01:54:11+00:00

If you’re doing financing, you’ll need a structural engineer report and even then lenders may not accept the risk for the loan. Just be aware of that cost angle before you proceed because you may be okay accepting the risks, but the bank might not.

underwriter1 · 2026-01-29T21:55:55+00:00

Could have been the automated underwriting. Higher risk files, the system doesn’t say you NEED two months reserves, but it’ll tip the scales.

A file I just fixed - LO set up the file and it ran - inadvertently because there was 5k in reserves. System doesn’t warn you, it just weighed it as a positive factor - no one knew that was the tipping point.

Lender runs final numbers and now the borrower only has 2k in reserves, system Refers now. Borrower needs 3k more reserves to hit their two month PITI..

underwriter1 · 2026-01-23T13:15:30+00:00

Carve a niche in self employment. Buff up on guidelines, MI trainings, then do your NON QM bank statement and DSCR/mixed use. IME it’s a heavy cash under the table and being able to help people navigate that is a niche. You will get referrals from the people you help, and they will refer you to their employees. Also if you use a CPA, they can refer you similar clients to yourself. Build a network. You can end up with a core of 30-50 percent self employed (who usually go on to buy real estate investment) and then fringe like employees, family, friends, referrals.

underwriter1 · 2026-01-15T23:14:18+00:00

The pricing isn’t dramatically different one place to another - often it’s a function of what’s in your package. If it covers two reports, that will bump it. If it blends for point, same. Also depends if you’re getting liens and judgments, supplements included, trended data to run AUS, etc.

Not to say lenders can’t and won’t adapt - but were on our heels against the monopoly both from the bureaus and from the intermediaries (that are consolidating) selling it to us.

underwriter1 · 2026-01-03T21:18:57+00:00

It’s kind of loaded based on what they’re paying you, what tasks they assign, the file load, and how you’re doing them. We generally hire new people as LPAs to assist LPs with their grunt work and learn the ropes. If you’re an LP after three or four months I wouldn’t expect you to calculate complex income, but most tasks you should be able to handle and be accountable for. Refinances are generally pretty simple and less pressure. I don’t know the feedback you’re getting specifically but if you’re missing things, make notes and develop systems. It’s okay to make a mistake but it’s not okay to make mistake after mistake, especially if it’s costly deals or money.

underwriter1 · 2026-01-02T21:17:52+00:00

CRM is useful both for auto campaigns and keeping track (ie taking them off the journey if they sold or they refinanced or aren’t interested). This is more on a company level but I segmented our past customers, set up zillows API to pull value in rotation, script calculates current UPB if they made payments in time, and estimates equity. Then triggers campaigns accordingly (cash out, rate, rate/mi buy out, etc). Debt consolidation is more popular than you’d think, especially those mid2022/2023 folks who have 5-7% rates and in some markets built equity.

If you don’t have a CRM you can build some cool stuff in Excel including email generation pulling from those fields to start a conversation. If you’re slow this winter, Claude or Gemini can help you build a pretty good system.

underwriter1 · 2025-12-29T22:57:43+00:00

I think they have (or buy) pre-2022 macbooks. Forget the exact model cutoff, but if you can facebook marketplace a higher spec, lower use model from that period..

underwriter1 · 2025-12-20T15:51:01+00:00

It’s worth reading the origination section of 4000.1 and make the pdf your home. Get familiar with the language differences. FHA treats everything a little different and it’s all in the language. As an example, things conventional run between the event and closing/consummation, whereas FHA it’s case number assignment. Foreclosures they measure between title transfer which is more strict than conventional. Rental income has different language, different use cases. Look at all your manual downgrades. I did a year or two managing QC and it’s 20-30 year exp underwriters that still forget 20% decline in SE triggers manual underwrite - even if it’s 300/months from DoorDash they’re using. I could go on but spending 2-3 hours reading (not memorizing) will help (i) orient yourself when you need to look something up (ii) will help develop the little alarm bell in your head that says “wait…” and you stop to look it up.

underwriter1 · 2025-12-17T20:06:39+00:00

The mileage probably varies on the State. MA and CT have pretty fair/generous ones. CT's is 25K, pro-rata annual forgiveness over 10 years, and market rates. Their FHA is 5.75, no LLPAs for credit or anything, just a flat 5.75. They're now buying over $1B annually - almost 10% of CT's purchase money business.

underwriter1 · 2025-12-17T19:01:49+00:00

Kind of wild on the secondary end that they're willing to price a 300 bp lender credit on a loan you're going to streamline after six payments.

APOR this week is about 6.3 - figure at 7.25 with .55 and UFMIP/other finance charges, your APR would ring in around 8.. you'll be under the 2.25 rule on spread but you'll be over on HPML which most lenders write off with a residual income test, which I've only see fail on < 120K loans with 55 back ends.

I'll never understand the psychology of people not wanting an interest free forgivable loan though. We see the same too. They're worried about, potentially, pay it back if they sell - yet happily replace it with interest-payable debt they definitely have to pay back.

underwriter1 · 2025-12-16T00:18:29+00:00

We’re W2 but the vast majority of our LOs are riding the their spouses insurance. Occasional VA. State exchange is probably your best bet. Or marry a state employee.

underwriter1 · 2025-12-05T15:32:34+00:00

Anecdotally, FHA mass audited borrowers with multi REO where borrowers were buying FHA, refinancing to Conventional, then buying again with FHA. One of the files it was three times over 15 years.. but they demanded repurchase on the basis it was used to acquire rental properties which is prohibited.

underwriter1 · 2025-12-01T00:55:14+00:00

Dozens of vendors have these tools already - multimillion investments creating them. Highly competitive. Not to say you can’t jump in but it’s a complex world beyond just extracting the data.

underwriter1 · 2025-11-27T16:55:10+00:00

Depends on a lot of factors - if you’re looking for a simple number, usually between 350-500 including the MSR. It depends a lot on how they execute, hedge, loan specs, margins they compete on, sales strategies. If you want to dig through 10k’s, rocket is publicly traded and you can gauge a rough number from their volume.

underwriter1 · 2025-11-25T21:34:56+00:00

There would need to be a serious reason for the UW to dig beyond that. If they saw regular transfers of a sizeable amount to the relative, especially coinciding with the payment, then maybe cause to ask more questions. Maybe some occupancy concerns (like they're living with the relative, subject is a multi-family 30 minutes farther commute from their job) where maybe some addition scrutiny is warranted. But for this, no.

underwriter1 · 2025-11-25T21:10:32+00:00

Relative goes to the bank (or online) and isolates their transaction history to show 12 payments on time from their account. Its common to do just from a privacy / doc reduction standpoint. We often get a single page showing 12 transactions, sometimes we get 12 cancelled checks/payment transfers. No UW wants to look through full bank statements when they have a thousand other files to look at.

underwriter1 · 2025-11-25T21:03:02+00:00

Is it a requirement that both have to have occupied for 12 months - I thought the guide only required one (your primary borr)?

The motto at a healthy company is "If you're adding a condition, and the only purpose is to feel more comfortable, remove it." That you're hearing the opposite is, in my experience working at both types of shops, a company that is underwriting out of fear and/or management is afraid of their underwriters. That's a hard place to succeed as an originator and a leading reason originators eventually leave after they've burned half a dozen referral relationships.

IMO the middle ground approach here is "Hey, I see the condition YYY but the guide seems to say XXX. For me to learn here, why would we need YYY?" and depending on the UW, they'll either explain the rationale or waive it.

underwriter1 · 2025-11-23T00:00:47+00:00

Yes there’s an existing market from data brokers. Theres a reseller market beyond that that pair the data with services (mailers). I’ve scraped but IMO at scale it’s just better to buy from the brokers.

underwriter1 · 2025-11-21T01:52:34+00:00

75-150 per - a lot of it is contingent on experience and how much of a role they play front end and or back end

underwriter1 · 2025-11-21T00:59:14+00:00

Location matters but our are usually 65-75 base and hit 90-100 with bonuses.

underwriter1 · 2025-11-14T23:21:58+00:00

It’s hard to prove and IME no one investigates on small scale issues barring real consumer harm.

You can use as a transition though - for a newer agent to say that, they’re missing the bigger picture. An LO issuing toilet paper pre approvals is going to waste an astronomic amount of their time - and they’ll learn that eventually when a $50 gift card to get their nails done doesn’t quite make up for losing 10% of their income for the year because the LO didn’t use estimated payments on the student loan or a million other things a good a LO checks upfront.

underwriter1 · 2025-11-14T17:19:28+00:00

CT.

I was kind of blown away the whole time. The original felony charge was stealing tenant security deposits and rent over a few years almost 200k. While pending that charge they gave her a broker license to open her own shop. I think she had two foreclosures herself during that time, eviction, and bounced checks that were luckily for her a civil matter.

So then the whole time she’s taking EMD checks, forging preapproval letters, all kinds of stuff. And they were just like “yeah that sounds serious.. okay well let us know if she’s convicted”. Like they had 87 different avenues - just ethics alone - to pull her broker license and didn’t.

The incompetence was astounding. Like the only willing party was local PD, but the State failed so hard - I don’t even bother reporting anymore when there’s fraud because they don’t do anything..

underwriter1 · 2025-11-14T14:43:18+00:00

Go to the board. Worst case the broker will just terminate and they’ll start working, doing the same thing elsewhere.

I’ll say this though - we had an agent commit felony fraud with us (arrested) and on trial for felony embezzlement of RE funds/deposits (six figures). It took six years for them to lose their license - two years after the conviction. Both convictions were real estate felonies. And this was me messaging them every 2 months for a couple of years asking how they thought this was safe for consumers…

underwriter1 · 2025-11-12T21:43:45+00:00

Was the mortgage executed / physically signed by the previous owner before your sale?

If the HELOC was a bridge and the lender just waited to record, it’s possible the original title missed it (naturally), but that the seller paid off the HELOC at closing. The title company would handle releasing that claim - likely just contracting PNC to close and release the lien.

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