IRS Changes for Meals and Entertainment
On December 27, 2020 the IRS announced a two-year exception as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act that impacts the meals and entertainment deduction rule for businesses. This exception will be reflected on the 2021 and 2022 tax returns. How does this rule affect the way underwriting will look at self-employed borrower’s income? Let’s go […]
Changes to 2021 Tax Returns for Underwriting
This time of the year we all have an important to-do list item…. tax preparation. I try to make sure I turn in my numbers to my CPA by my birthday February. Now that I have a chance to look through the tax returns to complete my own tax preparation, I wanted to report what […]
Fannie & Freddie Drop P/L Requirements
As a person that has worked, trained, and mentored in the mortgage underwriting world for 27 years, I definitely guessed the profit and loss situation wrong! My best guess was at earliest they may remove the P/L after you filed your 2021 returns, but to my surprise the following happened. On February 2, 2022 as […]
Crazy Year To Date Income
When January rolls around we often see encouraging messages, stories, tweets, or other social media posts encouraging us as we cross into the new year. A common word I hear used is “Perspective”. Perspective is an interesting word, Webster’s Dictionary gives it a few different examples to explain it’s meaning. One of the meanings it […]
New Job Income
Working in the mortgage business means you get a little more involved in your clients life then the typical financial transaction. Speaking for myself, that is an enjoyable part of being in the profession. Over the years I have met people as clients that have developed friendships due to these transactions. When I started in […]
Tax Extension Deadline
October brings us into another fall season, with that comes a change in temperatures, your favorite football team may or may not be your favorite after September’s games, and the IRS loses it’s patience! That’s right, the IRS says as of October your procrastination comes to an end. This means all business and personal tax […]
COVID Procedures for Profit and Loss Income Review
COVID 19 continues to create challenges with determining income for borrowers with more complex pay types such as self employment. The most common questions for a self employed borrower is “How do I meet agency guidelines for unaudited profit and loss statements”. The what, why, and how First we need to understand what a profit […]
File Locks and Role Management
We live in a world where we have many safety features preventing catastrophe’s, such as child locks on car doors or windows. They can sometimes be frustrating as an adult, and we may think that they are unnecessary because, after all what is the harm if I open the window? But we don’t play the […]
FHLMC updates appraisal re-use rules
A few years back I wrote a blog explaining the rules that allow a lender to re-use the borrower’s appraisal for an additional transaction. (See the blog here: Recycle Rules For Appraisals). Looking over that blog I found some interesting comments in 2016 ranging from “you are crazy, that is not possible and a few appraisers stating this was just another […]
PUD, Condo, or Co-op?
As subject matter experts on Project Reviews, we have often been invited as guest speakers to discuss the topic of project types and how they differ. Being outside the scope of their usual credit review, this subject is always of interest to curious underwriters of all experience levels. PUDs, condos, and especially co-ops, are exotic […]