The continuous development of loss mitigation tools and practices in the mortgage industry will play an essential part in preventing future foreclosures, but additional safety nets — particularly for those mortgage customers who belong to historically disadvantaged populations — will play a critical role in thinning the racial wealth gap. One such tool rests with mortgage reserve accounts (MRAs).
This is according to a report published late last month by the Urban Institute, funded by the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco.
“Borrowers who have more liquid assets to fall back on are better able to sustain homeownership when they face temporary financial setbacks,” the report said. “Helping less affluent borrowers establish mortgage reserve accounts (MRAs) — ‘sidecar’ savings accounts that can be tapped to weather a financial shock — are one promising solution.”
There are a lot of questions that arise from the use of such tools including those surrounding implementation, achieving scale and making mortgage outcomes more equitable, the report says. With MRAs, however, variations on the concept “are under early-stage development by retail mortgage lenders and the secondary market actors Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,” the report explained.
MRAs account for only one such tool that could impact the foreclosure rate among homeowners of color, as other approaches — including those in the insurance space — could be scaled to meet the needs of potential beneficiaries.
“Whatever the approach, if the foreclosure rate for Black mortgage borrowers decreased to the average foreclosure rate among white mortgage borrowers, an estimated 300,000 more Black homeowners would keep their homes and have the opportunity to build generational wealth,” the report explained. “Additionally, making mortgages less risky for lenders, insurers, and investors, in addition to families, should lead to an expansion of the credit box and allow even more households with modest incomes and resources to access and realize the benefits of homeownership.”
While several new loss mitigation tools have been developed in recent years, particularly in response to the economic shock caused by natural disasters in 2017-18 and the COVID-19 pandemic for many mortgage borrowers, there are “limited solutions that target the triggers of default and help Black homeowners avoid missing their mortgage payments in the first place,” the report said. “Research has shown that having financial reserves can help households avoid default.”
In comparison to other alternatives, MRAs are a viable option for preserving homeownership among vulnerable homeowners due to a unique combination of product features and flexibility, the report explained.
“Mortgage reserves do not necessarily require a subsidy, nor do they increase the costs of homeownership because they can be financed with money that would otherwise go toward the borrower’s down payment,” the report said. “Additionally, mortgage reserves can add substantial flexibility to a borrower’s finances, as the borrower’s residual income can cover a nonmortgage expense at the time it is incurred, while the reserve fund covers the mortgage.”
The mortgage deals keep coming, the latest being the new “U.S. Bank Access Home Loan,” which comes with up to $12,500 in down payment assistance and a lender credit up to $5,000.
This particular loan is geared toward home buyers in markets where the minority population is more than 50%.
However, borrowers do not need to be a first-time home buyers to qualify, though income limits do apply.
At the moment, it’s being piloted in select cities nationwide, including Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Little Rock, Milwaukee, and St. Louis.
Read on to learn more about this program, which allows FICO scores as low as 640.
How the U.S. Bank Access Home Loan Works
Between steep home prices and high mortgage rates, home buying has gotten expensive and out of reach for many.
To help alleviate that, Minneapolis, MN-based U.S. Bank has committed $100 million to the new Access Home Loan program over the next five years.
As stated, the goal of the loan is to increase access to homeownership for minority families.
It also aligns with the company’s initiative focused on advancing Black homeownership.
Specifically, this means residing in a market where the minority population is more than 50%, per census tract data.
Additionally, the borrower’s income must be equal to or below the HUD Area Median Income in the area where they wish to purchase a property.
However, it’s still possible to qualify for this loan if your earnings are above the median income, assuming the subject property is located in a low-to-moderate income census tract.
Beyond that, you don’t need to be a first-time home buyer to qualify, and the credits can be combined with other down payment assistance grants and programs.
Speaking of, you can get up to a whopping $12,500 in down payment assistance via the U.S. Bank Access Home Loan, along with up to $5k in lender credits.
You can receive down payment assistance of up to either $8,000 or 3% of the purchase price up to $12,500 – whichever is greater.
That puts the maximum purchase price at around $417,000 to get the full 3%.
Those lender credits can be used to offset your closing costs and/or buy down your interest rate.
And the minimum down payment is just 3%. This means you can purchase a home with very little down, and potentially snag a discounted mortgage rate in the process.
Note that there is a $1,000 minimum contribution from the borrower’s own funds, so you can’t show up completely empty-handed.
Perhaps most importantly, the assistance funds are deferred, but must be repaid.
They are due upon sale of the property, or if the first mortgage is refinanced or paid off.
So it appears you get an interest-free loan, as opposed to an actual grant that needn’t be repaid.
U.S. Bank Access Home Loan Fast Facts
Receive up to $12,500 in down payment assistance funds
And up to $5,000 via a lender credit (for closing costs, etc.)
Must buy in a majority-minority location where total population is greater than 50% minority
Income must be at/below median unless you purchase in a low-to-moderate income census tract
Minimum FICO score of 640 (680 if more than one-unit property)
Down payment as low as 3% (must contribute at least $1,000)
Max debt-to-income ratio (DTI) of 43%
Borrowers must complete a home buyer course
Mortgage insurance is covered by U.S. Bank
Can combine with other down payment assistance grants and programs
Where the U.S. Bank Access Home Loan Is Available
At the moment, the U.S. Bank Access Home Loan is being piloted in select markets throughout the country.
Those include Las Vegas, Little Rock, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, St. Louis, along with six California cities.
The California cities are Fresno, Los Angeles, Oakland, Riverside/San Bernardino, Sacramento, and San Diego.
Within these pilot markets, the minority population must be more than 50%, as determined by census tract data.
Assuming all goes well, U.S. Bank will likely roll out the program to additional markets that fit the criteria.
Is This a Good Deal?
Whenever programs like this surface, I include a section about whether they’re a good deal or not.
Ultimately, you have to look at the complete picture to determine if the U.S. Bank Access Home Loan beats other options.
That means, once you find out you’re even eligible, comparing the mortgage rate, closing costs, payment, APR, and service to other banks, mortgage lenders, and credit unions.
Also note that the down payment assistance offered via this program has to be paid back if and when you sell or pay off the loan.
This might differ from other grants and down payment assistance programs where it’s forgiven after a certain amount of time.
Of course, U.S. Bank is also throwing in up to $5,000 in lender credits, which don’t need to be paid back.
And they’re covering mortgage insurance costs, which can be pretty pricey when you put little down on a home purchase.
It appears they only offer a 30-year fixed loan option, which is somewhat restrictive, but probably would be the chosen option for the majority of borrowers anyway.
All in all, this seems like a pretty good deal if you’re already in the market to buy a home, and it’s located in one of the eligible areas.
Four days a week, Leticia Ortega de Ceballos sleeps in her car so she can pay for a house more than 100 miles away.
Her workweek begins with the Sunday night shift at Loews Hollywood Hotel, where she cleans the hallways and lobby. When she finishes, exhausted, there’s just an hour until she starts her second job cleaning hotel rooms at the Hilton in Glendale.
Then she has six hours to shower, eat and sleep before she starts all over again. Loews, Hilton, shower, eat, sleep. The 56-year-old sees the house in California City and the family within it on weekends.
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Gladis Ávila, 39, can spend more than two hours in traffic commuting to her job at the W Hollywood Hotel from her new house in Victorville, a 90-mile drive away. Some nights she gets home just as her youngest children are getting ready for bed.
“At the end of the day, when I’m heading home,” Ávila said, “I wonder if it’s worth it.”
The women, both hotel workers, grapple with all the difficulties of the housing market in California today, the high prices that push first-time buyers increasingly far from work, the scarcity of anything they can actually afford.
Housing concerns have been at the forefront of contract negotiations for hotel workers. Thousands of workers recently went on a three-day strike, demanding higher pay and better benefits. It was the first wave of walkouts anticipated this summer after contracts expired.
But Ortega de Ceballos and Ávila are looking for more than just shelter.
Sure, they want a home to live in now. But they also want to one day give their children the financial footing they themselves never had. The key is more than just hard work and a savings account with a laughably low interest rate. The key is a house, the kind of investment that can grow over time.
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Investing in a house is their way of building the kind of generational wealth that has long been out of reach for Black and brown families in the United States. The typical white family in the 21st century has five times the wealth of the typical Latino family and eight times the wealth of the typical Black family, according to the 2019 Survey of Consumer Finance.
And while homeownership represents an important component of wealth, there is a significant divide in who is able to achieve it. In California, in 2021, the Latino homeownership rate stood at 45.6%, compared to 64.5% for white families. The Black homeownership rate stood at 35.5%, according to census data analyzed by the Public Policy Institute of California.
The typical route to owning a home is to rent first and eventually save enough for a down payment. But with rising rents and wages that aren’t commensurate, that dream has become increasingly out of reach.
“Traditionally, owning a home has been the way that most families accumulate wealth,” said Marisol Cuellar Mejia, a research fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California. “That has happened for many years, and that was in some ways a manifestation of the American dream.”
Ortega de Ceballos, who emigrated from Mexico in the 1980s, started working two jobs, in part so she could help her sister back home study at a university. The two were orphans. Ortega de Ceballos wanted her sister to follow her dream.
She started a family while living in North Hollywood, but as it grew she moved to Sun Valley to find a larger place. Then she moved even farther away, to Lancaster, where she rented a house for a decade and raised her three children. That’s when she started sleeping in her car to save time and money on gas.
Ortega de Ceballos has juggled both jobs for more than 20 years. At the Hilton, rooms can go for more than $200 a night. At Loews, they go for around $300. Ortega de Ceballos earns $22 an hour.
It wasn’t until four years ago that she was able to finally accomplish her dream of buying her own home. The only catch — this time the house was even farther north, in California City, about 105 miles from her jobs in Hollywood and Glendale. Although it has a population of around 15,000, to Ortega de Ceballos it’s a “pueblito,” a small town. The typical home price is less than $300,000, compared to nearly a million in L.A.
She shares the three-bedroom home with her husband, who is disabled, and her youngest son, who is 29 and studying nursing. The home, severely damaged when the couple bought it, has now been renovated. When Ortega de Ceballos is home, she tends to her trees in a garden out back.
Owning her own home helped Ortega de Ceballos secure a better future for herself in addition to her children. She knows whatever retirement income she receives won’t be enough to pay rent in L.A.
“When I retire, I’m not going to be worried about all of these costs. I’m not going to be worried that I’m going to have to rent and I’ll be without money to eat or anything to live,” Ortega de Ceballos said.
The trade-off to accomplish her dreams has been brutal. The grueling, almost three-hour commute back home would be impossible, so she doesn’t return from Sunday until Friday. She sleeps in her red Kia more often than she does in her own house. She’s endured heat waves and at times feels as if she’s homeless.
Sometimes she goes out to eat, but often she relies on food she can get from the hotel, where she also showers. She drinks hotel coffee morning and night to keep her going.
On Fridays, her husband drives to Lancaster and then takes the train to his wife so he can to drive her home and prevent her from falling asleep at the wheel.
“It’s cost me a lot of sweat and tears,” Ortega de Ceballos said, her voice choked with tears. “Everything requires sacrifice. I’ve had to make sacrifices to get to where I am.”
“The most important thing is that my kids feel secure that they’ll have something one day,” she added. “For their future.”
Ortega de Ceballos has thought about finding work closer to home, but it’d be much less pay. It’s a cruel irony, where the income is better in L.A. — just not enough to live there without throwing the bulk of her paychecks at the rent.
That fact has become a major focus as the hotel workers’ union Unite Here Local 11 tries to negotiate new contracts for its members. Thousands of workers at hotels across Southern California walked off the job over the busy Fourth of July weekend.
In a Unite Here Local 11 survey, 53% of workers said they had either moved in the past five years or will move in the near future because of housing costs. Hotel workers reported commuting hours from Apple Valley, Palmdale, California City and Victorville.
In contract negotiations, the union has proposed creating a hospitality workforce housing fund, in addition to better wages, healthcare benefits, pensions and safer workloads. The hope is that an additional tax on hotel bills could go toward the construction of workforce housing for hospitality workers, said Kurt Petersen, co-president of Unite Here Local 11.
“I think every working person in Los Angeles is struggling to afford to live in Los Angeles,” Petersen said. “Our position is that those who work in the region’s most important and prosperous industry — tourism — need to have the ability to live in Los Angeles.”
On the Fourth of July, around 30 people, including housekeepers and cooks, picketed outside of the W Hollywood Hotel, where rooms go for more than $300 a night. They twirled noisemakers, banged on pots and pans and used megaphones to amplify their chants. At times, onlookers threw eggs at them.
Ávila was among those picketing. She usually commutes from Victorville to Hollywood from Sunday to Thursday. She has been a housekeeper at the W for 11 years, but she hasn’t worked at the hotel for the last few months as she helps organize her colleagues in her capacity as a union steward.
When Ávila first arrived in L.A. in 2009, she squeezed into a studio apartment with her parents, sister and her young son. After she started her own family, she rented a one-bedroom in Hollywood for $1,700. She, her husband, Armando Guzmán, and their three kids shared the room, splitting up among bunk beds.
A year and a half ago, she and Guzmán found a five-bedroom house in Victorville where her children — ages 17, 9 and 7 — could each have their own room. They pay $2,000 a month toward something of their own.
The two-story house has a pool, where the family spends weekends. She has space for exercise equipment, which saves her money on a gym. Although her oldest son had been reluctant to leave L.A., she said, he was happy to have a room of his own.
To stay awake on drives that can sometimes last three hours, Ávila keeps candy and gum in her car. She rolls down the windows and calls other hotel workers throughout the commute.
Guzmán, a construction worker in L.A., will sometimes stay the night with his mother or sister on days where the sun has beaten down and left him too drained to drive home.
Ávila thinks about how much she struggled in life and how she wants to ensure a better future for her children.
“I know that one day, when I’m not here,” Ávila said, “my children can have this home and know, ‘my mother made a sacrifice for us.’”
Today we’ll take a look at Alterra Home Loans, which is a DBA of Panorama Mortgage Group, LLC based out of Las Vegas, Nevada.
What makes them unique is that they’re 100% Hispanic-owned and one of the largest Hispanic-owned mortgage companies in the United States.
That means they’ve got a multi-cultural approach to home loan lending to better serve their English- and Spanish-speaking customers.
For the record, they also have a sister company dedicated to increasing Black homeownership known as Legacy Home Loans.
Alterra Home Loans Key Facts
Formed in late 2006, based in Las Vegas, NV
Direct-to-consumer retail mortgage lender
100% Hispanic-owned, one of largest Hispanic-owned mortgage companies
Licensed in 40 states and the District of Columbia (DC)
Funded nearly $1.5 billion in home loans during 2019
Also do business as Legacy Home Loans and Inspiro Financial
First, some quick facts about Alterra Home Loans, which is a retail direct-to-consumer mortgage lender based in Las Vegas, Nevada.
As mentioned, they’re owned by Panorama Mortgage Group, LLC, and also do business as Legacy Home Loans and Inspiro Financial.
They are licensed in 40 states and the District of Columbia (DC) at last glance, with more states surely on the way soon.
At the moment, Alterra Home Loans is not available to customers in Alaska, Arkansas, Hawaii, Idaho, Massachusetts, Montana, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, or West Virginia.
A huge chunk of their near-$1.5 billion in 2019 mortgage production was in the state of California, accounting for nearly 40% of total volume.
They also originated quite a few loans in the states of Arizona, Georgia, Illinois, Nevada, and New Jersey.
Much of their volume was home purchase loans since they cater to first-time home buyers. And nearly all the loans funded in 2019 were 30-year fixed mortgages.
How to Apply for a Mortgage with Alterra Home Loans
If you visit their website, you can get the ball rolling by filling out a short form, which amounts to a lead form.
From there, a mortgage consultant will contact you directly to answer questions and help you submit a loan.
Alternatively, you can call them up over the phone and speak to someone if you have questions or want to apply.
Those interested in working with a specific loan officer can browse the branch directory on their website, check out the local loan officers who work there, then apply from their individual webpage.
Some of their loan officers let you access a digital loan application powered by Ellie Mae, while others will direct you to use their smartphone app.
Speaking of, you can simply download Alterra’s app and apply that way as well.
Pronto+ by Alterra Home Loans
One big plus (no pun intended) about Alterra Home Loans is the fact that they have a smartphone app, called Pronto+.
It allows you to apply for a mortgage directly from the app, and track your home loan from start to finish.
You can also securely upload documents using your phone, contact your loan officer or real estate agent, invite a co-borrower, and receive reminders if and when something is due.
While your loan is being processed, you can check your loan status in real-time and receive milestone alerts as it progresses toward funding.
You can also take advantage of the app’s free mortgage calculators and generate a mortgage pre-approval to show home sellers you’re a serious and qualified home buyer.
What Does Alterra Home Loans Offer?
Home purchase, refinance, and home renovation loans
Conventional home loans backed by Fannie and Freddie
FHA loans, USDA loans, and VA loans (including streamline refinances)
Jumbo loans and high-balance loans
Foreign national loans (ITIN loans)
Hi-rise condo and non-warrantable condo financing
Fannie Mae Homepath
While Alterra Home Loans offers all the usual stuff, like home purchase loans, refinance loans, and renovation loans, perhaps their most interesting offering is their foreign national loan program.
Their ITIN loan products are perfect those without a social security number that are looking to purchase a home in the United States.
While these types of loans do often require a higher down payment (15% at Alterra) and come with a higher mortgage rate, traditional credit is not required, nor is a Visa, Green Card, or work permit.
Alterra also specializes in financing non-warrantable condos and high-rise condos, along with jumbo loans that exceed the conforming loan limit.
You can get the vanilla stuff too such as a conforming home loan backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, or a government home loan backed by the FHA, USDA, or VA.
Additionally, those in need of home renovations can apply for an FHA 203k loan.
Interestingly, they may only offer fixed-rate mortgages, based on their HMDA data. Meaning it may not be possible to get an adjustable-rate mortgage, such as a 5/1 ARM or 7/1 ARM.
Alterra Home Loans Mortgage Rates
I always dock mortgage companies that don’t advertise their mortgage rates. It’s an added level of transparency to help customers better understand what they’re getting.
That being said, I also understand the limitations of advertised mortgage rates, which are often riddled with loan assumptions that don’t mean a whole lot to the person viewing them.
Still, it’s nice to see where lenders stand pricing-wise, and unfortunately Alterra Home Loans doesn’t mention anything about interest rates on their website.
Additionally, there’s no word on lender fees, so again we’ve got no clue as to how competitive they are.
Sure, they might do a great job closing your loan, but how much will it cost, and what will your interest rate be?
As always, be sure to shop with several different mortgage lenders at once to ensure you get the best deal on your home loan.
Alterra Home Loans Reviews
Alterra Home Loans has a 4.83 out of 5-star rating on SocialSurvey based on nearly 9,000 customer reviews.
Many of the customer reviews are in Spanish, so it’s clear they have bilingual loan officers, loan processors, and other staff to help regardless of what language you speak.
On Zillow, they’ve got a 4.92 out of 5-star rating based on nearly 400 reviews, with many indicating that the interest rate and fees/closing cost were lower than expected.
They are an accredited business with the Better Business Bureau since May 2018, and currently have an A+ rating.
They only have three customer reviews on the BBB website, but still have a near-4 star rating, which is pretty good for the BBB.
If you have a specific loan officer in mind, be sure to search reviews for that individual as well to see how they stack up.
While knowing the company is highly-rated is key to a good experience, the person handling your loan is equally if not more important.
Alterra Home Loans Pros and Cons
The Upside
Offer a good variety of loan programs, including loans for foreign nationals
A free smartphone app that lets you apply for a mortgage via your mobile device
Lots of positive reviews from past customers
Many different ways to apply for a loan, including brick-and-mortar branches
Specialize in helping first-time home buyers
Bilingual loan officers
The Potential Downside
Not licensed in all 50 states
May not offer adjustable-rate mortgages
Do not offer home equity loan products
Do not advertise mortgage rates or lender fees
Will probably transfer your loan to a different loan servicing company after it funds
Today we’ll take a look at Alterra Home Loans, which is a DBA of Panorama Mortgage Group, LLC based out of Las Vegas, Nevada.
What makes them unique is that they’re 100% Hispanic-owned and one of the largest Hispanic-owned mortgage companies in the United States.
That means they’ve got a multi-cultural approach to home loan lending to better serve their English- and Spanish-speaking customers.
For the record, they also have a sister company dedicated to increasing Black homeownership known as Legacy Home Loans.
Alterra Home Loans Key Facts
Formed in late 2006, based in Las Vegas, NV
Direct-to-consumer retail mortgage lender
100% Hispanic-owned, one of largest Hispanic-owned mortgage companies
Licensed in 40 states and the District of Columbia (DC)
Funded nearly $1.5 billion in home loans during 2019
Also do business as Legacy Home Loans and Inspiro Financial
First, some quick facts about Alterra Home Loans, which is a retail direct-to-consumer mortgage lender based in Las Vegas, Nevada.
As mentioned, they’re owned by Panorama Mortgage Group, LLC, and also do business as Legacy Home Loans and Inspiro Financial.
They are licensed in 40 states and the District of Columbia (DC) at last glance, with more states surely on the way soon.
At the moment, Alterra Home Loans is not available to customers in Alaska, Arkansas, Hawaii, Idaho, Massachusetts, Montana, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, or West Virginia.
A huge chunk of their near-$1.5 billion in 2019 mortgage production was in the state of California, accounting for nearly 40% of total volume.
They also originated quite a few loans in the states of Arizona, Georgia, Illinois, Nevada, and New Jersey.
Much of their volume was home purchase loans since they cater to first-time home buyers. And nearly all the loans funded in 2019 were 30-year fixed mortgages.
How to Apply for a Mortgage with Alterra Home Loans
If you visit their website, you can get the ball rolling by filling out a short form, which amounts to a lead form.
From there, a mortgage consultant will contact you directly to answer questions and help you submit a loan.
Alternatively, you can call them up over the phone and speak to someone if you have questions or want to apply.
Those interested in working with a specific loan officer can browse the branch directory on their website, check out the local loan officers who work there, then apply from their individual webpage.
Some of their loan officers let you access a digital loan application powered by Ellie Mae, while others will direct you to use their smartphone app.
Speaking of, you can simply download Alterra’s app and apply that way as well.
Pronto+ by Alterra Home Loans
One big plus (no pun intended) about Alterra Home Loans is the fact that they have a smartphone app, called Pronto+.
It allows you to apply for a mortgage directly from the app, and track your home loan from start to finish.
You can also securely upload documents using your phone, contact your loan officer or real estate agent, invite a co-borrower, and receive reminders if and when something is due.
While your loan is being processed, you can check your loan status in real-time and receive milestone alerts as it progresses toward funding.
You can also take advantage of the app’s free mortgage calculators and generate a mortgage pre-approval to show home sellers you’re a serious and qualified home buyer.
What Does Alterra Home Loans Offer?
Home purchase, refinance, and home renovation loans
Conventional home loans backed by Fannie and Freddie
FHA loans, USDA loans, and VA loans (including streamline refinances)
Jumbo loans and high-balance loans
Foreign national loans (ITIN loans)
Hi-rise condo and non-warrantable condo financing
Fannie Mae Homepath
While Alterra Home Loans offers all the usual stuff, like home purchase loans, refinance loans, and renovation loans, perhaps their most interesting offering is their foreign national loan program.
Their ITIN loan products are perfect those without a social security number that are looking to purchase a home in the United States.
While these types of loans do often require a higher down payment (15% at Alterra) and come with a higher mortgage rate, traditional credit is not required, nor is a Visa, Green Card, or work permit.
Alterra also specializes in financing non-warrantable condos and high-rise condos, along with jumbo loans that exceed the conforming loan limit.
You can get the vanilla stuff too such as a conforming home loan backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, or a government home loan backed by the FHA, USDA, or VA.
Additionally, those in need of home renovations can apply for an FHA 203k loan.
Interestingly, they may only offer fixed-rate mortgages, based on their HMDA data. Meaning it may not be possible to get an adjustable-rate mortgage, such as a 5/1 ARM or 7/1 ARM.
Alterra Home Loans Mortgage Rates
I always dock mortgage companies that don’t advertise their mortgage rates. It’s an added level of transparency to help customers better understand what they’re getting.
That being said, I also understand the limitations of advertised mortgage rates, which are often riddled with loan assumptions that don’t mean a whole lot to the person viewing them.
Still, it’s nice to see where lenders stand pricing-wise, and unfortunately Alterra Home Loans doesn’t mention anything about interest rates on their website.
Additionally, there’s no word on lender fees, so again we’ve got no clue as to how competitive they are.
Sure, they might do a great job closing your loan, but how much will it cost, and what will your interest rate be?
As always, be sure to shop with several different mortgage lenders at once to ensure you get the best deal on your home loan.
Alterra Home Loans Reviews
Alterra Home Loans has a 4.83 out of 5-star rating on SocialSurvey based on nearly 9,000 customer reviews.
Many of the customer reviews are in Spanish, so it’s clear they have bilingual loan officers, loan processors, and other staff to help regardless of what language you speak.
On Zillow, they’ve got a 4.92 out of 5-star rating based on nearly 400 reviews, with many indicating that the interest rate and fees/closing cost were lower than expected.
They are an accredited business with the Better Business Bureau since May 2018, and currently have an A+ rating.
They only have three customer reviews on the BBB website, but still have a near-4 star rating, which is pretty good for the BBB.
If you have a specific loan officer in mind, be sure to search reviews for that individual as well to see how they stack up.
While knowing the company is highly-rated is key to a good experience, the person handling your loan is equally if not more important.
Alterra Home Loans Pros and Cons
The Upside
Offer a good variety of loan programs, including loans for foreign nationals
A free smartphone app that lets you apply for a mortgage via your mobile device
Lots of positive reviews from past customers
Many different ways to apply for a loan, including brick-and-mortar branches
Specialize in helping first-time home buyers
Bilingual loan officers
The Potential Downside
Not licensed in all 50 states
May not offer adjustable-rate mortgages
Do not offer home equity loan products
Do not advertise mortgage rates or lender fees
Will probably transfer your loan to a different loan servicing company after it funds
Late last week, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that a decades-old Minnesota property tax law was unlawful when it allowed the government to seize wealth from an elderly Black homeowner. The decision in Tyler vs. Hennepin County serves as a warning about legal defects in other property tax laws that unfairly harm communities of color, including California’s own Proposition 13.
The Minnesota case began when Geraldine Tyler failed to pay the taxes on her longtime Minneapolis home. Over several years, the tax debt accumulated to $2,300, exploding to $15,000 when penalties and fines were added. The county seized her condominium and sold it, keeping the entire proceeds — $40,000 — not just the $15,000 she owed.
The Supreme Court proclaimed that this money grab was unjust and unconstitutional under the 5th Amendment’s takings clause. It rejected Hennepin County’s legal reliance on the 13th century Statute of Gloucester, a law that Justice Neil M. Gorsuch characterized during oral arguments as being “about lands owned by the feudal lord and what happens when a vassal fails to provide enough wheat to his lord.”
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The court’s determination that what happened to Tyler didn’t meet constitutional standards echoes and revives a concern raised in the 1990s about Proposition 13.
California’s tax-assessment limits demand radically different property taxes from owners of similar properties, based only on their time of purchase. Thirty years ago, Stephanie Nordlinger balked at paying nearly five times in property taxes for her Los Angeles home as longer-settled neighbors. An unmoved Supreme Court majority held that the differential treatment had a rational basis, but Justice John Paul Stevens disagreed.
In his dissent, Stevens concluded that Proposition 13 created “a privilege of a medieval character: Two families with equal needs and equal resources are treated differently solely because of their different heritage.”
The Supreme Court’s blessing in Nordlinger vs. Hahn upheld Proposition 13’s legality and established its feudal — and unfair — nature.
Proposition 13 raises race discrimination concerns. Assessment caps benefit long-standing homeowners — who are often white — at the expense of their more diverse neighbors who arrive later. The effects of such property taxes on homeownership’s demography suggest violations of the 1968 federal Fair Housing Act. Recent estimates show that Proposition 13 gives the average homeowner in a white neighborhood of Oakland, for example, a tax break of nearly $10,000 each year — more than triple the break provided to average homeowners in Latino neighborhoods, and about double those in Black and Asian neighborhoods in Oakland.
Ironically, people just like Tyler were the original faces of the battle to enact Proposition 13 in California and similar measures around the country. Activists in the 1970s and 1980s invoked stories of elderly widows losing their homes to convince voters that property taxes should be based on a home’s purchase price and allowed to rise just 2% a year from there, regardless of market value.
But such assessment limits have not lived up to their promise to protect homeowners. Michigan also limits the amount that an owner’s assessment can rise. Yet as real estate values declined in Detroit, those limits did not ensure that assessments fell to match, leaving low-income Black homeowners with inflated, unaffordable taxes. Like Tyler in Minnesota, many residents were forced out of their homes through tax foreclosures.
In California, Proposition 13’s overbroad system protects the propertied at a high cost to more diverse, first-time buyers. People may stay put to hold on to a tax advantage, limiting inventory and driving up home costs. Parents can also pass low tax assessments on to their children, exacerbating the problem.
The California Housing Finance Agency notes that “for the entire 2010s, California’s Black homeownership rate has been lower than it was in the 1960s, when it was completely legal to discriminate against Black homebuyers.”
While Proposition 13’s precise inequitable effects are complicated, more inclusive and less legally tenuous alternatives exist.
There are other tax reforms that could protect low-income and elderly homeowners without hamstringing cities’ tax bases and enriching wealthy owners.
Philadelphia allows low-income senior citizens to freeze their property taxes, and low-income families to spread rapid assessment increases over several years. In Massachusetts and some Connecticut towns, low-income homeowners can defer part of their property tax bill, which is paid off upon the home’s sale. California has its own property tax postponement program, which it should expand, instead of relying on Proposition 13.
The Supreme Court’s rejection of Minnesota’s greediness reminds us that the courts are watching as states tighten the vise of property tax systems on the poor and racially diverse. To be sure, Proposition 13 does not result in unconstitutional “takings.” But the concerns that motivated the court in Tyler vs. Hennepin County also apply here. And given the court’s willingness to reverse long-held constitutional precedent, perhaps the Nordlinger decision itself will be due for reconsideration.
California’s admirable protection of struggling, older homeowners can occur through less discriminatory and irrational means. Tax injustice shows up not only in the foreclosure of an elderly Black woman’s $40,000 Midwest condominium but also in the inability of diverse, immigrant families to purchase a $400,000 condominium in Mid-City.
Shayak Sarkar is a professor of law and an economist at UC Davis. Josh Rosenthal is legal director of the Public Rights Project, a civil rights and economic rights nonprofit.
Today we’ll take a look at “Legacy Home Loans,” a mortgage lender whose purpose is to increase homeownership rates for African American communities across America.
They recently noted that Black homeownership is at an all-time low of 46% (per U.S. Census Bureau data), so they’re trying to change that by positioning themselves in states where the Black population is 25% or higher.
The company is helmed by President & CEO Ben Slayton, a 54-year mortgage industry veteran who also happens to be the first Black REALTOR® in America.
To reach their goal, Slayton has strategically opened branch offices in select areas of the country, including Atlanta, GA, Chicago, IL, Dallas, TX, Las Vegas, NV, Oakland, CA, and Columbia, SC.
Legacy Home Loans Fast Facts
Direct-to-consumer retail mortgage lender
Offer home purchase loans, refinances, and multifamily financing
Licensed in 40 states and the District of Columbia
Founded in 2018, headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada
Nation’s largest Black-owned mortgage company
A dba of Panorama Mortgage Group LLC
Parent company funded roughly $1.5 billion in home loans last year
Most active in California, Nevada, and the South
Legacy Home Loans is a direct-to-consumer retail mortgage lender that operates as a dba of Panorama Mortgage Group LLC.
They refer to themselves as the nation’s largest Black-owned mortgage company, and want to play a key role in the National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB)’s initiative to have two million new African-American homeowners by 2022.
As noted, their plan is to open new offices in predominantly Black cities nationwide, including Baltimore, Birmingham, Charlotte, Jacksonville, and St. Louis.
Other locations include Tucker, GA, Houston, TX, Sacramento, CA, and most recently Florence and Greenville, South Carolina.
They appear to be most active in California, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Nevada, and South Carolina, but are licensed in 40 states and the District of Columbia.
It seems they aren’t yet operating in Alaska, Arkansas, Hawaii, Idaho, Massachusetts, Montana, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, or West Virginia.
Legacy Home Loans is big on home purchase lending (which is their goal), as their parent company does about 90% of total volume in purchase transactions, with the remainder refinance loans.
Interestingly, Panorama Mortgage also operates the 100% Hispanic-owned Alterra Home Loans, so it’s clear they’re working to increase homeownership rates for all minority groups.
How to Apply with Legacy Home Loans
You can call them up, visit a local branch, or apply online
Their easy-to-use digital loan application is powered by Ellie Mae
It allows you to link bank accounts and income/employment information
eSign important disclosures and check loan status from a secure online portal
Legacy Home Loans is big on technology, seeing that their goal is to become one of the top five independent mortgage lenders in the country that also happens to be 100% minority-owned.
To that end, they work with Ellie Mae to provide their borrowers with a seamless, and perhaps more importantly, paperless home loan process.
You can get started in a variety of ways – either visit their website and fill out a lead form from their homepage, at which point a loan officer will get in touch.
Or check out their branch directory, click on an office nearest you, then select a loan officer to work with. If you go this route, you can apply online all by yourself without getting in touch with anyone first.
Alternatively, you can simply call them up on the phone, or visit a local branch if one is located near you.
It might be in your best interest (literally) to call and get a mortgage rate quote first, then if you like what you hear, proceed with the online application.
Speaking of, it’s powered by Ellie Mae, and allows you to link financial accounts, scan/upload documents, eSign disclosures, and manage your loan via a secure online borrower portal.
You can also check loan status via their free smartphone app called Pronto, which lets you manage your financial information, invite co-borrowers, and chat with your lender/real estate agent in one place.
Loan Programs Offered by Legacy Home Loans
Home purchase loans
Refinance loans: rate and term, cash out, and streamline
Renovation loans: FHA 203k and Fannie Mae HomeStyle Conforming loans
Jumbo loans
FHA loans
USDA loans
VA loans
ITIN loans
Non-conventional loans: foreign nationals and non-warrantable condos
Multifamily loans (5+ unit properties)
Legacy Home Loans offers a wide array of home loan programs, including purchase, refinance, and renovation loans such as the FHA 203k.
So whether you’re a first-time home buyer or an existing one, they should have a product for you.
All different types of loans are available, including conforming loans backed by Fannie/Freddie, and government-backed ones like FHA loans, USDA loans, and VA loans.
Additionally, you can take out an ITIN loan if you lack a social security number, and they also work with foreign nationals.
Lastly, they’ve got a multifamily loan department for investors interested in financing 5+ unit properties.
Legacy Home Loans Mortgage Rates
You won’t find mortgage rates posted on the Legacy Home Loans website.
Instead, you’ll either need to fill out their online lead form by clicking “Apply Now!” and wait for a call back, or simply make a phone call to a loan officer to discuss pricing.
It’s unclear where they stand pricing-wise relative to other lenders out there, so take the time to gather multiple quotes to ensure you’re getting a good deal.
The same goes for lender fees – since they’re not listed online, you’ll need to know what they charge to compare their quoted mortgage APR with other banks, lenders, and brokers.
Legacy Home Loans Reviews
They don’t have a ton of online reviews since they’re a newer company, but I was still able to track down several hundred.
On SocialSurvey, they’ve got a 4.79-star rating out of 5 from over 600 customer reviews, which is an excellent score.
You can also search local branches and loan officers by name to find Google and Yelp reviews if you’re trying to determine which individual to work with.
While not an accredited business, they currently have an ‘A-’ rating with the Better Business Bureau rating based on customer complaint history.
All in all, they could be a good choice for a first-time home buyer looking to support the company’s mission of increasing African American homeownership.
Just take the time to ensure they are competitive and easy to work with compared to other mortgage companies.
Legacy Home Loans Pros and Cons
The Good
Can apply for a mortgage from any device without assistance
Digital mortgage application and loan portal powered by Ellie Mae
Lots of loan programs to choose from including multifamlly
Excellent customer reviews from past customers
A- BBB rating
Physical branches in many areas that they serve
Free smartphone app
Their goal is to increase African American homeownership
Today we’ll take a look at “Legacy Home Loans,” a mortgage lender whose purpose is to increase homeownership rates for African American communities across America.
They recently noted that Black homeownership is at an all-time low of 46% (per U.S. Census Bureau data), so they’re trying to change that by positioning themselves in states where the Black population is 25% or higher.
The company is helmed by President & CEO Ben Slayton, a 54-year mortgage industry veteran who also happens to be the first Black REALTOR® in America.
To reach their goal, Slayton has strategically opened branch offices in select areas of the country, including Atlanta, GA, Chicago, IL, Dallas, TX, Las Vegas, NV, Oakland, CA, and Columbia, SC.
Legacy Home Loans Fast Facts
Direct-to-consumer retail mortgage lender
Offer home purchase loans, refinances, and multifamily financing
Licensed in 40 states and the District of Columbia
Founded in 2018, headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada
Nation’s largest Black-owned mortgage company
A dba of Panorama Mortgage Group LLC
Parent company funded roughly $1.5 billion in home loans last year
Most active in California, Nevada, and the South
Legacy Home Loans is a direct-to-consumer retail mortgage lender that operates as a dba of Panorama Mortgage Group LLC.
They refer to themselves as the nation’s largest Black-owned mortgage company, and want to play a key role in the National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB)’s initiative to have two million new African-American homeowners by 2022.
As noted, their plan is to open new offices in predominantly Black cities nationwide, including Baltimore, Birmingham, Charlotte, Jacksonville, and St. Louis.
Other locations include Tucker, GA, Houston, TX, Sacramento, CA, and most recently Florence and Greenville, South Carolina.
They appear to be most active in California, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Nevada, and South Carolina, but are licensed in 40 states and the District of Columbia.
It seems they aren’t yet operating in Alaska, Arkansas, Hawaii, Idaho, Massachusetts, Montana, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, or West Virginia.
Legacy Home Loans is big on home purchase lending (which is their goal), as their parent company does about 90% of total volume in purchase transactions, with the remainder refinance loans.
Interestingly, Panorama Mortgage also operates the 100% Hispanic-owned Alterra Home Loans, so it’s clear they’re working to increase homeownership rates for all minority groups.
How to Apply with Legacy Home Loans
You can call them up, visit a local branch, or apply online
Their easy-to-use digital loan application is powered by Ellie Mae
It allows you to link bank accounts and income/employment information
eSign important disclosures and check loan status from a secure online portal
Legacy Home Loans is big on technology, seeing that their goal is to become one of the top five independent mortgage lenders in the country that also happens to be 100% minority-owned.
To that end, they work with Ellie Mae to provide their borrowers with a seamless, and perhaps more importantly, paperless home loan process.
You can get started in a variety of ways – either visit their website and fill out a lead form from their homepage, at which point a loan officer will get in touch.
Or check out their branch directory, click on an office nearest you, then select a loan officer to work with. If you go this route, you can apply online all by yourself without getting in touch with anyone first.
Alternatively, you can simply call them up on the phone, or visit a local branch if one is located near you.
It might be in your best interest (literally) to call and get a mortgage rate quote first, then if you like what you hear, proceed with the online application.
Speaking of, it’s powered by Ellie Mae, and allows you to link financial accounts, scan/upload documents, eSign disclosures, and manage your loan via a secure online borrower portal.
You can also check loan status via their free smartphone app called Pronto, which lets you manage your financial information, invite co-borrowers, and chat with your lender/real estate agent in one place.
Loan Programs Offered by Legacy Home Loans
Home purchase loans
Refinance loans: rate and term, cash out, and streamline
Renovation loans: FHA 203k and Fannie Mae HomeStyle Conforming loans
Jumbo loans
FHA loans
USDA loans
VA loans
ITIN loans
Non-conventional loans: foreign nationals and non-warrantable condos
Multifamily loans (5+ unit properties)
Legacy Home Loans offers a wide array of home loan programs, including purchase, refinance, and renovation loans such as the FHA 203k.
So whether you’re a first-time home buyer or an existing one, they should have a product for you.
All different types of loans are available, including conforming loans backed by Fannie/Freddie, and government-backed ones like FHA loans, USDA loans, and VA loans.
Additionally, you can take out an ITIN loan if you lack a social security number, and they also work with foreign nationals.
Lastly, they’ve got a multifamily loan department for investors interested in financing 5+ unit properties.
Legacy Home Loans Mortgage Rates
You won’t find mortgage rates posted on the Legacy Home Loans website.
Instead, you’ll either need to fill out their online lead form by clicking “Apply Now!” and wait for a call back, or simply make a phone call to a loan officer to discuss pricing.
It’s unclear where they stand pricing-wise relative to other lenders out there, so take the time to gather multiple quotes to ensure you’re getting a good deal.
The same goes for lender fees – since they’re not listed online, you’ll need to know what they charge to compare their quoted mortgage APR with other banks, lenders, and brokers.
Legacy Home Loans Reviews
They don’t have a ton of online reviews since they’re a newer company, but I was still able to track down several hundred.
On SocialSurvey, they’ve got a 4.79-star rating out of 5 from over 600 customer reviews, which is an excellent score.
You can also search local branches and loan officers by name to find Google and Yelp reviews if you’re trying to determine which individual to work with.
While not an accredited business, they currently have an ‘A-’ rating with the Better Business Bureau rating based on customer complaint history.
All in all, they could be a good choice for a first-time home buyer looking to support the company’s mission of increasing African American homeownership.
Just take the time to ensure they are competitive and easy to work with compared to other mortgage companies.
Legacy Home Loans Pros and Cons
The Good
Can apply for a mortgage from any device without assistance
Digital mortgage application and loan portal powered by Ellie Mae
Lots of loan programs to choose from including multifamlly
Excellent customer reviews from past customers
A- BBB rating
Physical branches in many areas that they serve
Free smartphone app
Their goal is to increase African American homeownership
Homebuyer affordability decreased slightly in May, as new mortgages took up a larger share of a the average person’s income while rates trended higher. High inflation and rising mortgage rates won’t lessen the burden on new home buyers in the coming months.
The national median payment applied for by applicants rose to $1,897 last month from April’s $1,889, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). The national median mortgage payment for conventional loans was $1,960, down slightly from April’s $1,967, but significantly higher than a year ago, when it was $1,394 in May 2021. Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loan payments rose to $1,430 in May from the previous month’s $1,374.
“The ongoing affordability hit of higher home prices and fast-rising mortgage rates led to a slowdown in purchase applications in May,” said Edward Seiler, MBA’s associate vice president for housing economics and executive director at the Research Institute for Housing America, according to a statement.
“While the median principal and interest payment only increased $8 from April, a typical borrower is paying $514 more through the first five months of 2022 – a jump of 37.1%,” he said.
The average purchase mortgage rate rose to 5.27% in early May, according to Freddie Mac PMMS, a 13-year high until it surpassed the 6% level in June.
Citing inflationary pressures and mortgage rates above 5%, Seiler said the MBA expects sales of new and existing homes to fall below 2021 levels. The agency expects some 5.76 million existing homes to sell in 2022, well below the previous year’s sale of 6.13 million existing homes. New home sales are forecast to remain slightly more stable, with the sale of 769,000 new houses projected, down from 771,000 new houses sold last year.
The purchase applications payment index (PAPI), which measures how new monthly mortgage payments vary relative to income, rose 0.4% to 163.4 in May from 162.8 in April. An increase in MBA’s PAPI, indicative of worsening borrower affordability conditions, means the mortgage payment to income ratio is higher due to increasing application loan amounts, rising mortgage rates, or a decrease in earnings.
Black and white households’ homebuyer affordability dropped at the steepest rate at 0.7 points. The index for Black households rose to 166.6 and climbed to 164.3 for white households in May from April.
Borrowers in Idaho are facing the greatest affordability challenges with a PAPI index coming in at 253, followed by Nevada (249.7), Arizona (233.5) and Utah (210.9).
Meanwhile, borrower affordability conditions were best in Washington D.C. (99.7), with Alaska (102.6), Connecticut (111.2) and West Virginia (113) trailing behind.