Do you enjoy sitting on the sofa ordering items from Amazon instead of heading out into the real world?  That level of convenience is now heading its way into the world of real estate.  The nation’s number-one real estate site, Zillow.com, is making some huge changes.   Zillow started as a website where people could…

One of the most common questions I get asked is “What is Title Insurance?” and “Do I need it?”  Let’s spend a few minutes together to cover this topic most people think is boring, but ironically, is one of the largest single expenses of all the typical closing costs in a transaction.   Title Insurance…

I received a lot of responses to last week’s article on the big changes to this class of property in Hawaii County.  There were a lot of questions asked, so this week I will try and clarify this issue a little further.   What is a short-term rental? We are first going to define what…

Ordinance 18-114 was signed into law on December 5th, 2018 by Mayor Harry Kim.  This sweeping new law is something you better understand if you own, or plan to own, property on the Big Island – especially if you have a desire to use the property for vacation rentals.   Hawaii Island is the last…

If you missed the article last week about the family that chose the wrong lender and ended up a mortgage payment that was $200 per month higher than is should have been, here’s the link to read the story:   https://www.hawaiimortgage.net/?p=1602   I didn’t add the other 1-2 punch that caused this family to have…

I came into lending 22 years ago with a goal of helping people attain their dream of homeownership.  I have always been an advocate for you, the consumer.  I have testified as an expert witness, worked with both State and Federal Regulators to write the tests we in our industry must pass in order to…

Over the years I have written about this particular subject many times.  I am constantly asked by real estate agents and nervous buyers how long we will take to get them their financing.  The quick answer is that “turn times” the term we use in the mortgage industry are now quicker than they have been…

To pay points or not to pay points, that is the question! In today’s article we discuss what points are, and if you should pay them or not. The one thing I have not been able to find out, it why they are called “points” in the first place. In simple terms, paying points will…

If there’s one dominant theme I deal with more than any other is the planning or result of parents leaving their largest nest egg to their children. Today we’ll discuss the realities of this practice with my over 22 years of originating mortgages to the people of Hawaii. Have you given much thought as to…

After the meltdown in 2008, all of the goofy loan products that got us into the financial mess that tanked the real estate market, and our economy as a whole, disappeared. The pendulum swung way too far from “let’s give anyone a mortgage” to the other extreme of “only the best of the best will…