“You can’t make this up,” New York appraiser Jonathan Miller riffed in his entertaining blog, Matrix, back in June.

Miller was recounting the frustration of a real estate salesperson who was trying to refinance her own New York apartment with her current lender. According to Miller’s telling, the out-of-town appraiser walked into the apartment, threw his hands in the air, and asked “How am I supposed to appraise this thing?”

That story sums up the feeling of many in the real estate industry toward the new Home Valuation Code of Conduct, a set of rules created to prevent those who stand to profit from a real estate transaction from putting undue pressure on the appraiser.

The rules, which went into effect May 1 for all conventional, single-family loans destined for sale to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, prohibit mortgage brokers and real estate brokers from ordering appraisals and require that lenders erect a firewall between loan production staff and the appraiser. Sounds reasonable. After all, the appraiser is there to assure that the lender’s funding decision is sound, right?

Since the rules took effect, however, they’ve set off a firestorm of protest around the country…”

To read more of this great article click here.

If you’ve been shopping for a mortgage rate over the past several weeks, you’ll understand this comparison all too well…

Is that familiar? Has shopping for the best interest rate felt like a roller coaster ride lately? You’re not alone. The fact of the matter is that there is no easy way to predict the direction of rates at this time and many consumers are experiencing this in a very real way. With all of the uncertainty in the economy, rates continue to swing both upward and downward in a manner never before seen. What’s more, when you consider that interest rates are changing on average every three hours and thirty-nine minutes it has made shopping for a mortgage a very arduous task. So the question is, what can you do?

At ABBA First Mortgage, Inc. we have been encouraging all of our customers to prepare for inevitable rate drops before they happen.

Don’t let the market happen to you… you happen to the market!

By completing the necessary steps to secure a loan approval at the bank, we put you in a position to improve your chances of locking a mortgage rate on “a good day”.

If you would like to take advantage of this program, please apply online right here on our website- be sure to complete the Full Online Application. Once we receive your application, one of our experienced loan officers will contact you to review the application and discuss the next steps.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions. Thank you for the opportunity to EARN your business and your trust- we do not take it for granted!