Blog
Interview With Premier Choice Mortgage
January 6, 2009
Question: There is a lot of commotion and uncertainty in the housing industry. What are three things people should focus on?
1. For the buyer…with the market down, supply is way up. With supply being way up, and demand down, there are some really good deals to be found. Now is a phenomenal time to buy a house.
2. For borrowers…despite what you hear in the news, there is still plenty of money out there to lend. Lenders are still lending. It is harder to get for those who do not have money down, cannot prove income, have bad credit, or any combination of these. But the lending market right now is almost where it should have been before it all hit the fan. It is a little too stiff right now and needs to loosen some. But it is not closed to those wanting to buy a house. Do not assume you just cannot get a loan. Until you sit down with an Advisor who will walk you through your options then you cannot be sure. At least take this next step.
3. For the seller…if this is a great time to buy, as mentioned above, then this is not so great a time to sell. However, you have to sell when you have to sell. The key in this market is to be realistic regarding what you can get for your house. Reality can be a tough pill to swallow, but not as bad as if you set the price of the house an unrealistic value. If you are in trouble, or fearful you are on the verge of missing payments because your house has not sold, then call us because we can walk you through your options.
Question: The Fed is talking about lowering rates to 4.5% - what’s your take on this? Does it impact people who already have fixed rates?
The thing to remember about this is it is just as you said in the question, “talk”. The Feds are desperately trying to stimulate spending because we are dangerously walking a fine line towards a deflationary market. So they are thinking of and talking about doing anything they can to stimulate spending, which will combat deflation. So, yes, the Feds are indeed “talking” about “forcing down interest rates”.
However, this may or may not occur and we are recommending people do not stand idle waiting to see if or when this happens. Rates could just as easily go up and then you will miss out on already low rates. And keep in mind that the difference in a payment between, for example, 5% and 4.5% is not very much when talking about the average mortgage balance. Right now we have no indication the Feds will actually take this action, it is just “talk”.
Question: Easy credit allowed people to get into homes they couldn’t really afford. How can people calculate what they really can afford?
A key component to any loan qualification, especially now, is your Debt To Income ratio (DTI). This is a measure of the percentage of your income that goes to service debt. The max qualifying DTI is now at 45%. There are compensating factors that will allow you above this, but for now just stick with this 45% number. To calculate your DTI take your total recurring monthly debts and divide that by your income. Keep in mind that when qualifying for a house lenders do not include things like water, gas and electric (living expenses) in the calculation of this ratio. You, however, may want to do that.
The bottom line to all of this, however, is you need to determine what you are comfortable with for a payment, and then stick to that budget. Guidelines for lenders say one thing (we can usually get you approved for more than you want to pay), but you have to determine what you are comfortable with and can afford each month.
Question: When should people consider refinancing?
Despite what you probably have heard about when to refinance (most are told to refi when rates are 1% lower than their current rate) there really is no defined rule of thumb by which you should follow. More importantly, you need to answer the following questions:
1. How long do I plan on keeping this mortgage?
2. What will it cost me to refi vs. what will it save me in a payment? Take the costs, divide that by the payment savings and divide that by 12. This will show you how many years it will take you to break even from doing this refi. This is really the key indicator of if it is worth doing. If the answer to #1 is greater than #2 then it would makes no sense to refi because it would end up costing you money.
3. There is, however, a value to refinancing that only you can answer. Saving X amount per month may really help you right now. If that is the case then it may make sense for you from an emotional stand point. So this is what you should go through to answer this question. If someone says you should refi just because a rate is at X then that is way too shallow, and you could do something that make no sense at all. We talk people out of refinancing way more than we actually end up doing a refi for them.
Question: Are you doing any restructuring of loans? If so, what advice can you give for people navigating the process?
We are not doing any loan restructures. This is something mostly being done by the actual lender. If you are interested in this then I would contact them directly first.
Premier Choice Mortgage is currently offering to pay $400 towards the closing cost of any loan. You can view their ClickBricks profile or follow them on their blog Two Bald Mortgage Guys.
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Yellow Pages has been around since 1886
November 13, 2008
That’s one-hundred and twenty-two years. Obviously lots of things have changed since then. Horse and buggies have been replaced by fancy cars. Telegraphs have given way to fancy cell phones.
But, one thing hasn’t changed. The need for consumers to find and access businesses for convenience, value and informed purchase decisions.
Another thing that’s changed, according to our research, is that Yellow Pages has become associated with high pressure selling, questionable billing tactics, disappointing results, lack of features, outdated content and overall hassle.
We have tried very hard to eliminate the hassle and give business owners, not only better features, like dynamic real-time listings which they can update at anytime, but an enjoyable experience where they have ease of use and peace of mind knowing ClickBricks offers better value at a better price.
So if you’ve advertised with Yellow Pages before, which most companies have, and you haven’t been particular satisfied with your experience, we ask that you’d give us a try.
Lot’s of things have changed since 1886 and we’re confident that changing to us will be a decision you won’t regret.
ClickBricks on Fast Company Buzz
September 10, 2008
Fast Company ran an article yesterday in their Buzz section highlighting our “franchising the internet” concept. In the article Francisco Dao says “the ClickBricks franchising concept just might be the hottest trend on - and off - the Internet.” Needless to say we are pretty excited about that. You can read the entire article here.
SEO Friendly Page Titles
August 22, 2008
Today I made page titles for companies on ClickBricks more SEO friendly. Next up are cleaner URL’s and several other “small” improvements. Not sure who said “God is in the details” - anyone know? Don’t know how true that is, and I doubt anyone will find God in ClickBricks, but you should be able to find a better website after I’m done with several days of tweaking a bunch of little things.
You can see a preview of my nifty handy work (not to mention my mad Photoshop skills) below or see the real thing by clicking here.
Network Solutions Features ClickBricks
August 3, 2008
I was stoked when Connie Bensen, Community Manager at Network Solutions, contacted me a week ago to ask if I’d be interested in doing an interview about ClickBricks. Connie and I were able to connect last week and I had a great chat with her. She notified me that she posted the article/interview on Network Solutions blog, Solutions are Power, on Friday. Thanks Connie and here’s to small businesses thriving! You can read the article here.
Brand New Server
July 25, 2008
As I mentioned over at my personal blog, I recently updated from GoDaddy’s slow shared hosting to Media Temple’s faster Grid Service. I’m working out a few kinks from the migration, like Google Map API integration and a few others, and will let everyone know when everything is ironed out.
Have a great weekend!
Tag, You’re It
July 11, 2008
So tags have been around for a while and they’ve proven very effective at helping narrow search results. It only makes sense that they should be added to ClickBricks. You can check them out here. Cheers!
District Designs - Tampa, FL
June 30, 2008
District Designs is a superb boutique located in downtown Tampa! If you are looking for a great selection of modern accessories and furniture with a friendly and knowledgeable staff District Designs is the place for you. (Oh yeah, you can ignore my incoherent “link pointing” at the end of the video. I don’t know what I was thinking.)
ClickBricks - “Orange is the New Yellow”
June 26, 2008
Nearly three years ago I set out to create a better business directory. One that didn’t cater to big businesses but one that gave a voice to the millions of smaller business around this great country of ours.
The road has been bumpy and sometimes downright discouraging. But the one thing I’ve learned during those three years is to stay focused on my vision and deliberately commit to executing it as best I know how.
With this summer 2008 relaunch I am pleased to announce the addition of an Advisory Board consisting of men smarter and more experienced than I. They have helped me think through several entrepreneurial and business situations and thus far their advice has been invaluable. I look forward to gleaning more from them over the years.
In addition to the new design and Advisory Board, we have added some new features which I think will make ClickBricks more useful to businesses. These features include:
- Hours of Operation
- Custom Questions & Answers
- Coupon Subcriptions (which allows consumers to subscribe to a company’s Sales feed. Every time a new Sale is posted, the consumer receives an instant email notification)
- Google Map API Integration
We will be discussing more features over the next few months, but SITE USAGE is the primary goal as of right now. More features won’t matter if people don’t start using the site. So with that said, all of our efforts for the remainder of 2008 are to communicate and educate people about ClickBricks as an alternative to the big business directories.
Thanks for taking the time to read this and I hope you will consider using ClickBricks as an alternative to those other business directories.
Finally, by staying in tune with our parent company’s values, ClickBricks is a pay-for-use site. Yes, we know it is currently popular for sites to be free, but we feel that over the long term, a free model promotes
1) a culture that caters to the highest bidder (advertising dollars)
2) an environment that degrades the quality of content
3) unsustainable business practices
Our aim is to keep the quality of content on ClickBricks high. As a result, ClickBricks costs $9/month (with a 30 day free trial period). We are committed to making your business the sole focus of ClickBricks and believe a pay-for-use model is a better way forward.