All Forum Posts by: Derek Brickley

Hey Julia!

Yes it's pretty straightforward.  With HELOCs most of them will still be a full documentation loan so you will need all the same documents as for a traditional mortgage.  Once those are submitted, you likely have the option to do a full appraisal or a computer valuation for determining the homes value.  They'll issue you an approval based on all of that.

Things to watch for: how long is your 'draw'? The first years you will be able to take the money and repay it using the line as you'd like making interest/only payments.  After that it generally becomes a traditional second mortgage.  How long will that be over?  

Because equity lines are tied to the Prime rate and are adjustable, there isn't a huge benefit to waiting typically. If/when rates come down you'll see that change accordingly for your HELOC. You also only pay interest on the amount you borrow.

If you have questions on the process or numbers feel free to reach out!

Hey Ricardo!

Yeah when it comes to the investing side of things it's not uncommon for that to happen when they're learning the process at the same time as you or don't do them as much haha feel free to reach out though if you have questions.

Actually have some DSCR with no minimum loan amount, shouldn't be too troublesome you came to the right place posting in the forums haha

The Fed just signaled a shift—and the market is paying attention. Here’s what you need to know this week:

📉 Powell Hints at a Rate Cut

At Jackson Hole, Jerome Powell said the Fed may need to “adjust our policy stance.” Translation: a rate cut is officially on the table for their September 17 meeting.

👉 Why it matters: The Fed sees risks shifting—between inflation and jobs—which means mortgage rates could finally get some relief depending on upcoming data.

🏠 Existing Home Sales Jump

July sales rebounded 2% after a drop in June. Inventory is still tight, but at its highest level in 5 years. Median prices dipped to $422K.

👉 Buyers finally have some negotiating power—the best window in years according to NAR.

🔨 Builder Confidence Still Sluggish

Confidence dipped to 32 (anything under 50 = contraction). That’s 16 straight months of weak sentiment.

👉 Builders are still cautious, waiting on better affordability and lower rates.

🚧 Surprise Boost in Housing Starts

Starts jumped 5.2% in July—best since February. But permits (future builds) dropped 2.8% to a 5-year low.

👉 Short-term activity up, long-term pipeline tightening.

📉 Jobless Claims Stay Elevated

Initial claims rose to 235K. Continuing claims hit 1.97M—a 4-year high.

👉 It’s taking longer for people to find jobs. Fed is watching closely.

📅 Coming Up This Week

• New Home Sales (Mon) • Home Price Appreciation (Tues) • Pending Sales + Jobless Claims (Thurs) • PCE Inflation Report (Fri)

Catch you next week.

Hey man, yes we do work with Velocity though is your loan already sent to them? You generally wouldn't be able to dual submit the same file with the same lender but happy to check for you.

Good question, and this leads to the concept of a net tangible benefit.  

Is this a conventional loan, VA, FHA, or other? Certain types of loans have the benefit of streamline refinances not requiring an appraisal to make the refinance easier for you.

If you have a $100k loan, then it's likely never going to make sense unless rate dropped to like 4.99% or lower.  If it's a $2M loan, then a 6.75% rate could make a huge difference.  

Also how much equity do you have in the home compared to when you purchased it? If you bought the home putting 5% down but now have 20%+ in equity, in the process of refinancing it's easy to drop any mortgage insurance.  If your equity has increased but you're not to that 20% threshold yet, you can in the process of your refinance still eliminate the monthly mortgage insurance by rolling certain closing costs into the loan (this is very situational not recommended for everyone)

Most of the time you can time it so you don't make 1 sometimes 2 mortgage payments when you refinance and if you have the equity can get up to $2k back at closing without it being considered a 'cash out' refinance.  Then anything in your current escrow account will be refunded to you in the mail by check within 30 days.  

Hey Tyler!

Yep 10% down is the minimum we've seen across the board.  Now one thing you're going to notice is that conventional loans (Fannie/Freddie) hike up the rates on second homes.  They used to have rates the same/similar to primary residences, but a few years ago that changed.  So the way a lot of people have been working around that is by using more portfolio type products where the rates aren't dictated in the same way.  If it's helpful to explain more on that or if you have specific questions feel free to reach out!

Hey Andy! 

Well it's somewhat common to have a prepayment penalty, but depending on your deal and goals with it may not actually be helpful.  Typically if you're at $200k loan amount or lower, then maybe a 5 year prepayment makes sense since it would take a lot for it to make sense to refinance.  If you're in the $200k-$400k range, then we would start to weigh having a 3 year prepayment penalty.  If it's much above that, we typically recommend a 1 year prepayment penalty.  

Happy to go through that tradeoff though for you if that's helpful, feel free to reach out.

Hey Larry!

Yep there's a few different ways you can work through that. The non-owner occupied HELOC's have some tighter requirements of course, but if it's helpful to go through some of those details feel free to reach out.

 Hey Gabe!

That's pretty common.  There's a number of options that we use a lot for that sort of situation but hard to say which of those might work best.  Happy to go through some of those if that's helpful though.