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Mortgage Matters

DEMYSTIFYING THE LOAN APPROVAL MAZE

Comprehensive, eminently readable, and free of jargon—an all-in-one resource for anyone seeking a mortgage loan.

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A mortgage professional shares everything consumers need to know about mortgages and the loan process.

Residential mortgage loan officer Gutiérrez promises to demystify the loan approval maze, and she holds true to her word in this lucid debut work. There’s not much missing in this book: personal finance, home ownership benefits, the basic steps to mortgage approval, the mortgage market, types of loans and the loan application process, the importance of credit scores, homeowner insurance requirements, and more. If that isn’t enough, also included is a chapter entitled “Answers to Your Most Common Questions” that identifies at a glance the key questions borrowers should ask (with authoritative answers to go with them). Another chapter walks the reader through every section of the Uniform Residential Loan Application. Some sections of the book depart from the ordinary to touch on areas that may be neglected in other sources. For example, Chapter 9, “Managing Expectations,” lays out 39 specific steps in the typical loan process/purchase transaction, covers turnaround times, and offers insider tips about purchase contracts. Chapter 11, “Challenges Affecting the Immigrant Community,” highlights the “additional systemic challenges to homeownership” that face foreign nationals, nonpermanent resident aliens, and other non–U.S. citizens. Perhaps of less interest to the mortgage seeker and more appropriate for industry professionals is the appendix, which offers a substantial look at some of the challenges facing the mortgage industry; still, the quick refresher on the 2008 financial crisis in this section is as good as any. Throughout the book, Gutiérrez provides solid advice, helpful tips, and useful checklists in a clear, conversational writing style that serves to make a very complex topic largely comprehensible. A companion website offers downloadable resources, too.

Comprehensive, eminently readable, and free of jargon—an all-in-one resource for anyone seeking a mortgage loan.

Pub Date: June 22, 2015

ISBN: 978-0-9904004-1-7

Page Count: 366

Publisher: RealWorks Press LLC

Review Posted Online: July 20, 2015

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2015

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NUTCRACKER

This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.

Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955

ISBN: 0670717797

Page Count: -

Publisher: Viking

Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955

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