You may have thought I was going to discuss something to do with confusion in this article, but the title is literally about puzzles. One of my favorite activities when I was young was constructing puzzles. My mother was always a fan and passed it along, having several in the house for rainy days.

 

I was pretty good at puzzles and at work what is most rewarding for me is finding the missing pieces to a project or piecing together tasks successfully to complete a job. If you handle the household finances you understand puzzle solving too. There’s always a bit of moving this to that account to pay whatever bill and this transfer will work better for us here, not there.

 

REALTORS® have to be very good at putting the puzzle pieces together when it comes to assisting buyers with their loan process, particularly today. I know you live it every day, but when I try to put myself in a first-time buyer’s shoes, never having gone through such an overwhelming process like buying a home, and then to be faced with the financing of it – whew, what an impossible puzzle, one of those with the tiny 1,000 pieces!

 

Thankfully, those want-to-be homeowners work with you, a knowledgeable REALTOR®, and I’m pleased to help you build on your knowledge base by offering the informative article in this issue’s feature on helping buyers get a loan. Changes have been rampant over recent years, and I hope you find the article helpful in keeping up to speed on the mortgage qualification rules and what advice loan experts have to offer to help your buyers. We’ve also touched on the Qualified Mortgage Rule on page 6 and Linda Kody, expert
instructor on short sales and foreclosures offers some insight on that arena on page 24.

 

And as robust as this issue is with financing information, I must remind you that there are other resources the REALTOR® Association has to assist you. MAR has conducted a few great webinars featuring expert mortgage consultants from Wells Fargo, Poli, and MassHousing. These webinars are archived on marealtor.com, are free for viewing anytime, and they provide great resources and information on financing options. Also, NAR’s Houselogic website is a fantastic source where you can gather information to pass along to your clients covering all aspects of financing, including taxes, escrow rules, financial planning, and so much more.

 

Because your Association has your back, you should be well on your way to collecting the necessary pieces to the puzzle to assist your buyers and get them to the closing table.