Okay, so LoanMagic is not news to some, but to others (like me) who are new to the wonderful tools of LoanMagic - there could be some real benefits. LoanMagic was launched in 2003, but has hit my desktop today - and like a ton of bricks! There is just so much that I have wanted to do for so long, and even though I am going to enjoy my free trial, I don't think I'd want to let go of it for quite some time.

There are a few things that really grabbed me, one of which was the ability to track the activity of loans, allowing you to notify your clients of any changes in the market that may affect their loan. Aside from that, it's user friendly - even with the multitude of tools available with the program. I don't make a penny by sharing this information with you, I just truly feel like I'm spreading peanut butter on bread with a knife instead of a spoon now! It used to take me hours to compile some of the reports that I can pull up in just minutes, and I am amazed - so I had to share! Finally the word "instant" really means something to me. You can download a free trial or see a demo from their website. One of the loan officers that raved to me about it last week says it really helps her close more loans per month just due to the types of reports she pulls, impressing her clients with how easy it was to understand what she was telling them. That's what I want to hear - and I sure look forward to testing that theory myself!

I came across some free courses offered by Fannie Mae, which are a great series for anyone who wants to get more familiar certain aspects of lending, appraising, originating, and underwriting. They have an abundance of other online courses as well, take a look around their website for more courses. This link will take you to their scheduling page, with dates and times along with many of their currently available courses. Some you can take right away, just by downloading them, others are scheduled sessions.

The varied courses are great to take, and I highly recommend the fraud prevention courses - anytime we can get updated training about fraud and fraud prevention, professionals in this industry should soak it up like a sponge - the more we prevent fraud in this business, the more fraud we can prevent ourselves - causing less need for the government to step in and create more confining laws regarding our industry.

Even if you are an originator it is good to take the appraisal and/or the underwriting courses. If you gain nothing else from the courses, you may gain an understanding of what the process is for others working on your loans with you. This can be especially helpful for understanding why certain conditions need to be met with certain circumstances, and the turn around time for processing and return of information.

Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate Eliot Spitzer promised to direct the State of New York Mortgage Authority to provide "reverse mortgages" for New York seniors.  The mortgage authority serves primarily moderate- and low-income home buyers.  Spitzer wants seniors to be able to tap into their home equity to pay for home repairs and health costs.

According to wire reports, Spitzer said while announcing his proposal before the New York StateWide Senior Action Council, "Most seniors want to live in their homes and communities as long as they possibly can.  Yet too many seniors have little choice but to opt for institutional care they do not want, and do not need ... our government has for too long avoided being creative and innovative in developing programs for our seniors."

Reverse mortgages can be an excellent alternative that allows seniors to stay in their homes.  But, do seek legal advice before signing any reverse mortgage contract and be certain you understand the implications both for yourself and your heirs.

You've probably not heard the term upside-down home loan yet, but I predict that you will be hearing about it soon.  The growth of nontraditional interest-only mortgages and payment-option ARMs will ultimately drive consumers down the road to the upside-down home loan.

Nontraditional interest-only mortgages more than doubled in popularity in just two years. San Francisco data firm Loan Performance says interest-only loans accounted for 26.4% of U.S. mortgages last year, up from 10.3% in 2003.

Another very risky mortgage type - the payment-option adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) - allows borrowers to pay less than the accrued interest with the unpaid interest added to the loan principal.  With these mortgages a homeowner could end up owing more than the house is worth very quickly.  Loan Performance reports the popularity of these types of loans jumped from 0.4% in 2003 to 10.4% last year.

Based on Loan Performance statistics, these exotic loans were used by 36.8% of the consumers who either bought a home or refinanced one last year.  Yikes!  I didn't realize the numbers had jumped that much in just two years.

Since these loans are relatively new to the market and consumers have at least five years before being socked with huge payment hikes, the real danger won't be seen by consumers for a few years.  I predict that by 2010 many of the consumers who used these nontraditional mortgages will be facing foreclosure with the amount due on the mortgage higher than their homes are worth.  You've heard of the upside-down car loan.  We'll soon be hearing about the upside-down home loan.

Comptroller of the Currency John C. Dugan wants mortgage lenders to warn consumers about the risks they take when using mortgages with payments that start off artificially low and jump dramatically 5 to 10 years down the road. 

In a speech before an economic conference hosted by the Greenberg Institute (a fair-lending advocacy group), Dugan said regulators don't plan to stop the marketing of these exotic mortgages, but want to strengthen disclosure rules and approval requirements to be sure borrowers understand and will be able to meet their lending obligations. 

Dugan warned that with some nontraditional mortgages payments can double after five years.  If the borrower can't make the higher payments, he or she could risk losing his or her home.  Lenders also face risks - they could suffer huge losses if they must foreclose on many of these loans.