Newsletter
The Forward Mortgage newsletter
Regular insights from Brian Mutter (NMLS #1109257) on mortgage rates, the housing market, and how they connect to your financial life.
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What Is a Mortgage Broker, and Why Use One Instead of a Bank?
When I tell people I'm a mortgage broker, about half of them nod politely while clearly filing me under "bank guy." Totally fair! The industry has never done a good job explaining the difference. But
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How Mortgage Rates Are Actually Set (Spoiler: It's Not the Fed)
Every time the Federal Reserve meets, my phone lights up. "The Fed cut rates! Should I refinance?" And every time, I have to deliver the strangest little fact in all of consumer finance: the Fed does
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Refinancing in Michigan: When It Makes Sense, and When It Really Doesn't
Nobody needs another article telling them to refinance. The moment rates twitch downward, your mailbox fills up with urgent letters, your phone rings with strangers, and everyone in the mortgage busin
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The Michigan Divorce Mortgage Guide (From a Certified Divorce Lending Professional)
If you're reading this, you're probably going through one of the hardest seasons of your life, and on top of everything else, somebody just asked you what you want to do about the house. I'm sorry you
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Will We Ever See 6% Again?
It's the question I get more than any other right now. At closings, at open houses, in texts from past clients: "Are we ever going to see 6% again?"
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Buying a Home in Michigan: The Plain-English, Start-to-Finish Guide
Buying a home is one of those things everybody around you assumes you already understand. Your agent talks fast, your lender talks in acronyms, your parents bought their house in 1994 and remember rou
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Self-Employed and Want a Mortgage? Here's How We Actually Look at Your Income
If you work for yourself, somebody has probably told you that getting a mortgage will be a nightmare. Maybe it was your brother-in-law. Maybe it was a bank that turned you down in about eleven minutes
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Charge-Offs, Collections, and the Credit Myths That Cost Homebuyers Real Money
Every few weeks, someone sits down across from me and says something like: "I know my credit's a mess. I paid off a bunch of old collections last month to get ready for this." And my heart sinks a lit
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VA Loans and the Funding Fee: What It Is, What It Costs, and Who Doesn't Pay It
First things first: if you served, thank you. Truly. And I'm glad you're reading this, because the VA loan benefit is one of the best things the federal government has ever done for homebuyers, and I
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What Actually Happens During Underwriting (From a Guy Who Watches It Every Day)
If you've ever had a loan in process, you know the feeling. You got pre-approved, you found the home, you signed the purchase agreement, and then... your file disappeared into something called "underw
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