Mortgage Ripoffs and Money Savers: An Industry Insider Explains How to Save Thousands on Your Mortgage or Re-Finance

Ah, where do I begin?I am someone who had to learn the hard way about real estate. I looked to buy my first house in areas that had goldmine rushes in appreciation, like Princeton, NJ, Kapaa, HI and finally settled on Portland, OR--one of the most competitive markets in real estate history (last year, prices raised 150 grand in 3 months, and the bubble still has not burst.)I was in contract multiple times, but since the houses I liked were old, they were plagued with foundation issues, dry rot, water damage...I was so used to bad inspections and dropping properties, I almost fell out of my seat when a perfect, 6 bedroom, Victorian, commercial space had an excellent report.I was so focused on the front end of my deals, negotiating into contract, I had neglected studying the loan process.When the sellers to my dream house learned they had backup offers close to 100 grand more than I paid, they did everything they could to throw my deal and restrict my timetable to get a loan. They asked for a week long extension on my inspection period, pretending they would repair misc. small items and then returned saying not only did they not call in contractors, they would not grant me an extension on the close date and practically cackled in my face,"Have fun getting a loan!" I had 2 weeks.I read 4 books on mortgages, but still felt unprepared. Then, by sheer luck, I found Carolyn Warren's, Mortgage Rip-Offs and Money Savers and it saved my entire deal.This book is THE most informative, concise, entertaining book you will ever read on mortgages. It is an absolute crash-course, packed with minute details on the dirty, ugly, greedy world of mortgages.She tells you how to find a loan in one day, what to say to the lenders, how to cut out their sales pitch and get facts, and she warns you about scams --and trust me, even the most reputable companies, will try to deceive you.I ended up frustrating so many lenders because I would catch them at every turn. Warren's book gives you the power to anticipate the games these companies will play with your time, money and future investment. I had no idea how loan officers can be worse than car salespeople and they are relentless.What will they do to you? Lie, lie and lie some more. They will pretend they cannot get you Good Faith Estimates or Truth-in-Lending forms without running your credit or taking an application fee (never pay this!), they will say their "computers are down" and want to run numbers verbally (thus, it is not binding), they will quote good deals and then act like they made a mistake-more bait and switch, they will not tell you what the wholesale price of their loan is and how much they over-charged you, they throw in junk fees...but even when you think you have it nailed in writing, they can surprise you at the closing table--especially, if they know you are pressed for time and love the house--they will try to change terms or slip in new charges, and conveniently be "unavailable" to correct blatant errors, in your final moments.In addition to her book, Carolyn Warren runs a website where you can email her questions. She answers within a day and will even look over your Good Faith Estimates and Truth-in-Lending forms. She claims she will save you twice as much money in your closing costs then she charges you, or else your consultation is free.I was so terrified of losing this deal and expressed my desperation in an email, Carolyn even took the time to call me and give me additional advice.I am not sure if she does this for everyone, my situation was pretty extreme...so, I hope my stating this will not result in overwhelming requests for a phone call from her...but I feel I should include this in my review because she was incredibly kind and she armed me with the knowledge I needed to protect myself. (Thank you, Carolyn!)And here are some extra pieces of advice, from me. When you look for a mortgage broker, google "Upfront Mortgage Brokers." They have a website, with state directories of lenders and brokers. You can read about their philosophies on the website. They will not hassle you about getting Good Faith Estimates or Truth-in-Lending forms...(at least they won't pretend their "computers cannot generate these" without paying a fee--as Countrywide tried to scam me.) But do NOT let your guard down. Follow Carolyn's advice, watch the junk fees, use her service--if you want an extra pair of eyes to catch something on the forms. Even the "Upfront Mortgage Brokers" will mess with you. Be Vigilant.Finally, when you notice a Realtor or Mortgage agent is making "mistakes"--but then is suddenly out of the office or town, not taking your calls? Always get their cell numbers before your time line crunch hits and try dialing *67 before their number. This blocks your number from registering on their Caller ID. Most likely you will nab them, because they won't want to miss important phone calls from other potential suckers--oops, I mean clients--and you can demand time-sensitive documents be handled/fixed and not ignored.I wish all of you luck and happiness in finding a home. And I promise you, buying Mortgage Rip-Offs and Money Savers, by Carolyn Warren, will be one of the best bargains you will ever find. I gave this book, as a gift to several friends and they are like me--they cannot shut up about how great this book is! No joke.

I found this book to be highly informative and helpful. It does a great job of explaining how the mortgage process works as well as the roles of those in the mortgage lending business. It arms you with real useable knowledge to avoid getting ripped off or exploited. It is extremely thorough in breaking down the various tactics and tricks used by lenders and brokers to fool unwitting home buyers into paying hundreds, or more likely tens of thousands, of dollars more than they believe they're signing to finance. Something as small and barely noticeable such as a certain number entered in the right box of a Good Faith Estimate can cost you tens of thousands of extra dollars over the life of the loan. One single digit that would likely go unnoticed or ignored by 90% of the people who see it without prior warning.This book will explain the motivations and tactics of shady brokers and lenders. Not all brokers are bad. There are some very good hardworking honest brokers out there. However, many of the brokers who are bad aren't just bad but downright evil. Predatory brokers and lenders rely on naive purchasers because it's extremely easy to slip all kinds of extra fees and costs. Believe me, as in the case of that single digit statement above, junk fees and back-end boosting tactics are not always in-your-face obvious.If you are considering buying a home anytime soon, do yourself a favor and read this book first. The tiny cost of this book could be made up at least 500% if you save on even one modest junk fee. Imagine if it saves you $20,000-50,000, which it can easily do. I can't recommend it enough, especially as someone who has already been burned by a bad homebuying experience. I made nearly eveyr mistake mentioned in this book. I almost felt like it was a case study of my mistake filled first home purchase.But the book doesn't only focus on the negative. It also offers a wealth of useful Information about the many types of loans and funding available for single and multi-family dwellings. It offers information about many different grants and programs that can help different types of purchasers that meet the criteria (and it's not limited to low-income loans). It even offers some practical home buying advice such as why you probably shouldn't buy a home that may not be easy to resell.While this book certainly touches a diverse range of topics, its primary focus is finance and the shenanigans that can occur during the initial financing stage. If you are seriously considering buying a home, I strongly suggest acquiring and reading books primarily related to the other aspects of the home buying process. Financing is just one aspect that can potentially be hazardous if you're not careful. A few others are:* Shady sellers, (especially shady flippers).* Self-serving buyer's agents who are more interested in fast turn-around times and commissions than their client's best interests. Finding a good buyer's agent is a must.* Negligent home inspectors who miss major flaws but have ridiculously low caps on the liability of their carelesssness buried in their contracts.There are many more pitfalls. So in addition to this book, I strongly suggest you find and buy a good book on how to find and buy a home that thoroughly covers other considerations outside of financing. I still strongly recommend this book as well. A book on the entire process may touch on financing just as this touched on a few other topics, but I doubt it will offer the same wealth of money saving tips and advice on how to avoid traps as this book.

I'm recently married. We're trying to combine two households, find our footing and just begin a successful and stable life together, and soon a house and family. I think this book is priceless and invaluable when it comes to information about home buying and other things, such as credit scores. It includes so many helpful hints that I would imagine are so easy to and all too often overlooked. Anyone in the market for a new house, should definitely check it out.