VanDyk Mortgage Minute

August 1, 2018

Gain An Edge On Cash Buyers

In competitive housing markets, it’s not uncommon for buyers to come in with an all cash offer. However, if you can’t pay cash, you’re not out of luck. A solid buyer financing a home with a mortgage can compete with cash buyers and win. Make your offer stand out against cold hard cash by using these tips.

How To Gain An Edge On Cash Buyers

1. Make a Competitive Offer

Come in with your best offer upfront. Just because a buyer has cash doesn’t mean their offer will be the strongest – they may be looking for a good deal.

2. Be Prepared With A Pre-Approval

You’re already coming to the seller with your strongest offer. Go a step further by providing a pre-approval letter from your lender. A pre-approval includes a credit pull, and income and asset documentation, proving to the seller that you’re a well-qualified and serious buyer.

3. Inspect Quickly

After your offer is accepted, schedule the inspection quickly. Completing the inspection within days of having your offer accepted shows the seller that you mean business.

4. Show Some Personality

Set yourself apart and write a letter to the seller, explaining what you love about the house and why you want to buy it. Putting a face to a name makes you more than a dollar sign.

August 1, 2018

VanDyk Mortgage Introduces “No Score” Government Loans

At VanDyk Mortgage, we understand that every client may not have enough credit to create a credit score. To help borrowers in this situation, we are pleased to offer FHA, VA and USDA (Rural Development) financing for single family purchases to those who lack traditional credit references, but have credit verified through alternative sources.

For these applicants, a non-traditional credit report (NTMCR) may be developed. A NTMCR may not be used to offset derogatory references. These loans are manually underwritten, so overall evaluation of the credit file will be performed reviewing for layering of risk along with the additional documentation required for a manual underwrite.

Borrowers living rent free are not eligible. Housing/rental history can show no late payments in the last 12 months. A minimum of three trade lines, including rent, covering the most recent 12 months is required. The alternative trade line may be open, closed and/or paid in full. It must have at least 12 months of repayment history which is within the last 24 months.

Acceptable Credit References Include:

Telephone service
Utility company references

– if not included in the rental housing payment other acceptable references include:

Gas
Electricity
Water
Television service
Internet Service

If the borrower does not have accounts with the above creditors to meet the three references then the below can be used:

Insurance payments (excluding premiums paid through payroll deduction) that are paid monthly. If paid other than monthly, documentation to meet a full 12 payment consecutive history is required.
Payments to child care providers (if made to a business providing such a service)

Payments to local stores (department, furniture, appliance & specialty stores)

Payments for the uninsured portions of medical bills
Automobile leases

Please note that VanDyk Mortgage does not manually underwrite Conventional Loans and all Conventional Loans require that every borrower have at least one score.

August 1, 2018

Mortgage Executive Magazine Names VanDyk As #11 Best Place To Work

VanDyk Mortgage is excited and proud to announce we are ranked among Mortgage Executive Magazine’s 50 Best Companies to work for in 2017! At #11, this ranking places VanDyk Mortgage in the top 6 percent of Best Places to Work out of all lenders in the industry.

Mortgage Executive Magazine conducted an online survey of over 10,000 loan originators from over 200 mortgage companies and banks. The top companies were ranked based on total votes from loan originators and an average rating score.

As a company, we feel the most valuable asset we have are the associates who work here. A huge thank you goes out to our loan officers, team members, and corporate employees whose dedication and hard work helped us reach this achievement!

August 1, 2018

Operations Staff Makes 60 Children’s Wishes Come True

VanDyk Mortgage’s Operations staff was excited to participate in a toy drive for the Children’s Home Society of Florida! For three weeks, employees collected gifts based on children’s wish lists. Overall, they made the holiday wishes of 60 children come true.

CHS offers support services for children all over the state of Florida, and they were honored to team up with them for the second year. For more information about CHS and the good work they are doing please visit: https://www.chsfl.org/

August 1, 2018

VanDyk Operations Center Holds Back To School Drive

VanDyk Mortgage Operations Center in Clearwater held a Back to School Drive to collect many needed supplies for two of Pinellas County’s schools with the highest poverty levels. Over 150 of the students are actually homeless, totally relying on donations. The team really stepped it up for these kids. We collected over 200 folders and composition books, 300 pencils, 100 boxes of crayons, 40 backpacks, 25 pencil boxes, and so much more. Thank you to everyone who donated and also to our neighbors, PODS who brought over a cart full of supplies to help out our drive. The supplies were delivered prior to the start of school so they would be ready to hand out to the kids when school started Thursday, August 10^th.

August 1, 2018

VanDyk Gives Back: Cards For Hospitalized Kids

Cards for Hospitalized Kids (CFHK) is an internationally recognized charitable organization that spreads hope, joy & magic to hospitalized kids across America through uplifting, handmade cards. Over 100,000 kids in hospitals in all 50 states have received cards from them. One night, some members from Strategic Alliance Operations took time out of their busy schedules after work to make handmade cards for this AWESOME organization. A special thank you to Barbara Strickland, Olga Morekhodova, Lindsey Magness, Michal Stout, Kim Laughlin, and Laura Carucci, who spent the evening, cutting, pasting, and bedazzling construction paper with messages of encouragement and hope. Over the next few days, more people pitched in by creating cards during their breaks. Overall, we created 100 cards for the organization to distribute. It’s rewarding to know that donating a few hours of our time will help brighten the days of a few of the over 3 million children hospitalized each year in the US.

About Cards For Hospitalized Kids

In 2016, CFHK celebrated their 5 year anniversary, and they are hoping this is just the beginning. Anyone can get involved, even if you don’t think you’re a creative person. It’s all about lifting the spirits of these children. Visit http://www.cardsforhospitalizedkids.com/ to learn how you can host a card making event.