Mortgage expert offers listeners a fresh perspective

Looking for a guest for your radio, TV or Podcast show?  I’d like to suggest Dave Muti, JD, RMA, as a guest mortgage expert for your show. Muti, author of Mortgages: What You Need to Know, Strategies to Take Control of Your Financial Future understands Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 and can explain not only how to avoid foreclosures, but how Americans should go about getting the right mortgage for themselves and avoid the Top 10 Mistakes that most make.

Muti says people spend more time picking out their Plasma TV’s than investigating a mortgage. A 20-year veteran of the mortgage and real estate industry, below are several of his tips on what to do immediately – months before you start looking for a home to buy:

• Opt yourself and your S.S. number out of the “trigger” lists

• Review your credit at www.annualcreditreport.com

• Meet with a mortgage planner to design a mortgage plan WITHIN your means

• Tell your realtor he/she is fired if they show you homes above the price you’ve determined with your mortgage planner

• Slow Down and take the time to understand how your mortgage affects your short and long term financial goals

• Why now may not be the best time to buy investment properties

Muti, a Senior Mortgage Planner with Millenium Home Mortgage, LLC based in New Jersey, has created a continuing education program for divorce attorneys on the subject of finance, and has been published more than 35 times in various newspapers and magazines including the Pittsburg-Post Gazette and the New Jersey Law Journal.  His first of many books, entitled Mortgages: What You Need to Know, Strategies to Take Control of Your Financial Future © 2008 by Pocket Guide Press, was released in May 2008. 

He has experience working with television, newspaper, radio and magazine formats and is versed in taking viewer’s calls. He is a dynamic guest and has conducted interviews for CNN, My-9 TV, AM 560 WIND, The Wall Street Journal, Yahoo Finance, Smart Money online, BankRate.com and was twice featured on the personal finance radio show, “Krasneys on Everything Money” WMTR 1250AM where he answered listeners’ calls.

Dave speaks about complex issues in layman’s terms and has a high “likeability” factor.  He delivers useful information to act upon every time he speaks.  Please call or email Dave directly if you would like to book Dave and/or get more information.  His web sites are www.MortgagesWhatYouNeedToKnow.com and www.DaveMuti.com.  He is very flexible in terms of being booked.

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Highlights from book:

This book will show you how to SAVE THOUSANDS on your Mortgage.  What’s Inside?

• Learn how to stop your social security number and other personal information from being sold without your knowledge (page 18)
  
• Learn ”what” affects your credit score and how to increase it (page 13)
  
• Avoid The Top 10 Mistakes that Everyone makes with their Mortgage (appendix)Why a 30-Year Fixed Rate Mortgage may not be right for you (page 49)
  
• Why did my friend get a lower interest rate and how is my interest rate determined? (page 67)

• When does it make sense to pay points (page 77)

• Learn how to ensure you get a better interest rate if you plan ahead (page 16)

• Learn why you should not pay attention to ”APR” (page 83)

• What is the “best type” of mortgage for your personal situation? (page 50)

• Should you use your home equity to consolidate your credit card debts (page 81)

• How much should I put down on a purchase (page 35)

• Learn how to find a quality mortgage professional right in your local market (page 98)

• How to protect yourself against Identity Theft (pages 18 and 96)

• The NINE questions you MUST ask your mortgage professional to ensure you are in control (page 101 and free form online)

• Why you should avoid online mortgage portals (page 18)

Learn these and other VALUABLE SECRETS enabling you to understand the mortgage process and how you too can get a BETTER INTEREST RATE.

Suggested Questions (in no order of preference) and rough answers to gauge time:

Of course any of the chapter titles can be used as a question and the long answers below can be broken into several Q and A’s so it sounds more like a dialogue.  The answers are provided to gauge their length for the producer, interviewer and format as well as open up other questions.

Who is the intended audience?
(roughly 55 seconds)

Everyone!  Seriously, Mortgages: What You Need to Know is a roadmap for anyone that has a mortgage or wants to get a mortgage and have better control of their financial future.  The main theme of the book is to educate the reader about the best way to get a mortgage and what questions to ask the mortgage person you are dealing with.  In fact many mortgage companies, accountants and financial planners are using Mortgages: What You Need to Know to better educate their professional staff so they can offer more value to their clients.  We do not advocate following what the mass media and big banks preach or the latest trend.  Every individual has their own unique situation and your mortgage plan must be tied to both your short and long term financial goals.  This book will teach you how to prepare to get a better mortgage; how to choose the right mortgage for you; the importance of an annual mortgage review to ensure you are optimizing your cash flow; and how to protect yourself against identity theft. 

What is the book about?
(roughly 37 seconds)
Slowing down and understanding the strategies that go into getting a mortgage as well as the process.  A mortgage is the most important financial decision (and usually the biggest) that most Americans will ever make.  Most make this decision in a couple of minutes over the phone or worse over the internet.  The type of mortgage you choose will have a direct impact on when you can retire and with how much.  Whether you are contemplating buying your first house, a seasoned real estate investor or a financial professional, this book will provide you with knowledge that you can start to use right away.

Can this book help people and their savings rate?
(roughly 36 seconds)
Believe it or not, most Americans spend more time contemplating the purchase of a Plasma TV then they do their mortgage.  What they are really saying is that they don’t want to learn anything new.  Or, they are financially embarrassed about where they are today so the less they talk about it the better they will feel.  This is why 90% of Americans today will not be able to retire.  This is why the average 45-year-old only has $27,000 set aside in retirement accounts.  This is why we as a country have a negative savings rate.  The strategies discussed in this book can help you improve your situation and these numbers.

You discuss “trigger lists” in the book and that people’s personal information such as their social security number gets sold; can you explain this?  Follow up question, how can one stop this from happening to them?
(roughly 56 seconds)
If you submit your social security number to an online mortgage portal or the person at your local bank your information will be sold the next day.  It is not directly sold by the mortgage broker you applied with but part of the process to obtain your new mortgage involves the running of your social security number to check your credit history to see if you qualify.  The same holds true for credit card applications even store cards to give you a discount.

The next morning the three National Credit Reporting Agencies compile a target list of consumers who have had their credit pulled in the last 24 hours. That target list is then purchased by loan officers and firms that sell leads to credit card and mortgage firms. This practice stinks of invasion of privacy, unfair market practices, and would seem to be a violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Unfortunately, this practice, known as “Prescreening,” is absolutely legal so you have to take action to stop this from happening to protect your privacy.

Can you stop this from happening?
(roughly 37 seconds)
Yes and it is called “opting out”.  If you do not want solicitations, junk mail and phone calls from pushy loan officers or mortgage brokers “saying they have your approval” even though you do not know them you need to opt-out of being reported on these pre-screened trigger lists. You can do this electronically online for 5 years or permanently by submitting a written request. To accomplish this, as well as eliminate most of the junk mail that comes from these trigger lists that are full of your personal information sold by the agencies, simply call 1-800-5-OPTOUT (1-888-567- 8688) or logon to www.OptOutPreScreen.com

You wrote a Top 10 Mistakes that most people make with their mortgage; can you run through that for us?
(roughly 25 seconds – short answer just listing)
(roughly 2 minutes and 45 seconds – long answer proving a sentence or two for  each)2.       Waited until the Last Minute to apply

1.       Big House – beyond their means, they stretched

3.       Took out a 30-Year Fixed

4.       They are paying down principal

5.       Failure to review each year

6.       Rate is the most important factor

7.       I’m doing oaky attitude so why consider alternatives

8.       Too Busy to sit down and review

9.       Made a large Down payment

10.    Figured, its Just a mortgage

When buying a home does it make sense to start with the realtor or mortgage person?
(roughly 1 minute and 5 seconds)
This is a great question that often gets overlooked. We suggest that all home buyers start by sitting with a qualified mortgage planner to determine their credit worthiness, financial goals and then their mortgage buying power. Starting this process months before you actually begin to look at houses will save time, money and of course stress.

Like everything else in life, most people wait until the last minute to apply for a home mortgage, and therefore did not allow for enough time to research and ensure that they got the best mortgage program for their family. When purchasing a home, you should start the process with your mortgage planner―not the realtor. After you have analyzed your goals, dreams and finances you then enlist a realtor with a mortgage plan in hand to help you find your home.

Your realtor will also appreciate this; she will know that you are qualified to be looking at the price point you requested. By doing it the other way around (as most people do), you were rushed into a home-buying decision and acted out of impulse or emotion, and not from sound thinking. Take control of your financial future. Slow down and start with your mortgage planner.

We buy on Emotion – not logic.  Realtors and Loan Originators – are n the business of selling; their interested are not necessarily in line with yours and they know this.
(roughly 43 seconds)
While I do not want to broad stroke both industries, lets face it, both the Realtor and Loan Officer make more money when they sell you a big house or talk you into a larger mortgage.  Why do you think that when you tell a Realtor your price point they show homes above what you asked for?  The houses have bigger bathrooms, walk-in-closets, an extra bedroom, the great room or a nicer view.  They are hoping that you and your spouse will fall in love with it and begin that little conversation.  Oh common honey, it is just a little bit above what we discussed but I just love the view, neighborhood fill in the blank.  I can get a second job, put in for overtime, work a little harder and we can afford it.  And now you are buying on Emotion and not logic and this is how many people get into trouble.