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History Blog

Soft Pull Credit Reports -  Boring but Important

10/28/2015

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Ever hear of a "soft pull" credit report?

A "soft pull" credit report is required by lenders/investors prior to a loan closing in order to determine whether or not a borrower has applied and/or taken on additional credit obligations. Most investors require that this "soft pull" report be done no more than 5 days prior to closing.

Why is this important?

Additional credit obligations may impact a borrower's ability to qualify for their loan. Known as the "Quiet Period", the lenders want to see no additional debt incurred during this time. Wait until after your closing date to go open that department store credit card or take on a car loan.
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Let's Go To Architecture School - Lesson #2

10/19/2015

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Who knows what clear-span construction is?
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From the Chicago Architecture Foundation's Website:

"a structural system that does not use any columns between the exterior walls"

Think Mad Men.  Think about the cubicle farm you probably have worked in.   It doesn't seem like such a big deal today but back in the day, a building needed a lot of interior columns and walls to hold itself up.  The Mondanock Building on Dearborn and Jackson is a great example of this.  In a building like that you don't get big big open rooms.   With engineering advances - mostly developed here in Chicago I might add - the building was able to start holding itself up with an exterior cage-like structure.  This left the interiors able to have much bigger open spaces uninterrupted with columns and walls.   The picture above by the way is the Inland Steel Building on Monroe in Chicago, designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.   My uncle, Tevis Freeman, was an architect on this amazing project.   
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The Mad Men tv set.

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Let's Go To Architecture School - Lesson #1

10/14/2015

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Who knows what bundled tube construction is?
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From the Chicago Architecture Foundation's website:

"a structural system for a tall building that uses giant square tubes, made up of individual columns, that provide stability again wind loads"

So you can tell from the photo that this was utilized in the construction of the Sears Tower.  The brilliant engineer, Faziur Rahman Kahn, of
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill developed this system to provide the building the necessary stability while meeting the client's space needs.  More info here.

Chicago truly is the town of skyscraper history - the first one, the tallest, x-braced,  - it all happened here first.

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Important Things To Avoid Prior to Buying A Home

10/12/2015

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Ok, this sort of post is dry I know but it is still important - sort of like your Great Aunt Rita's pot roast.

Don't buy expensive items

Many new homeowners rush out to buy things for their new home as soon as their offer is accepted by the seller.  Knowing you will have the newest, latest, largest flat screen TV in the new place is important (!) but your mortgage lender does not agree.  

Don't change anything with your job.

Don't change jobs.   Even if your boss is a jerk and this is 14th time they ask you to go take their poodle for a pedicure.   Or, if you are offered a great new, better paying job, this is also bad.  Honest.

The mortgage lender needs to see a boring job history before you apply for a loan but even more importantly a boring job history from when you applied until the closing.   Job changes can equal a dead closing.

Don't switch banks or move $ around.

Both seem like easy no big deal things that would be fine.   Between when you applied for the loan and when the home closes, don't move money around.   Lenders don't like to see a new bank name appear on your credit report that they will pull 5 days before the closing.  They also don't like big chuncks of money appearing in your bank during that period nor leaving your bank during that period.  If money has to move around in either direction, document it all and keep copies of the statements from the place the money left and the sister statement showing that money arriving in the other place.

Become great friends with your lender after your offer is accepted.

You were pre-approved for a loan.  Then you went house hunting, found THE best place and your offer was accepted.  Now you sit back and chill for 45 days right? 
 
Yuh-no.

Now you are going to call that lender (or another) and tell them you just received an accepted offer on this great new place.  They will then ask you to email them 549 documents.   Then right when you send those in, you will get another call saying they need another 23 more.   And the week after they will need 78 more.   It seems crazy but this is how the business works since 2008.   It is normal and this happens to every borrower.  Don't take it personally and get those forms in promptly so you don't lose your deal.

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Credit Reports - Things That Go Bump In The Night

10/8/2015

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This again is one of those boring things that we all face one time or another - just like your Uncle Harvey's vacation slides from his trip to Yellowstone.

Credit reports shouldn't scare you.   Credit reports while you are shopping for a mortgage shouldn't scare you either.  You may worry about shopping your home loan around to a few lenders because you worry they will each pull your credit and make your score go down.

Seriously, there are way more important things going on in the world to worry about.  This isn't one of them.

Why?  It is because if the lenders pull a credit check within a short period of time of each other (45 days) the credit scoring systems view those as just one single pull.   The credit scoring systems understand that you are shopping for the best deal on your loan and they won't ding your score for this.

Now go back to sleep.  Everything is going to be ok.
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West Wilmette In My Eyes

10/8/2015

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http://coldwellbankerapps.com/wordpress/neighborhood-profile-west-wilmette/
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