I would contact them to see if they got your order. Things do get lost in the mail. I have never ordered from them, so I don't know how long it takes. Checking to see,won't hurt.

Hi Saphire, Very easy for you to say without concrete examples. I can try to post case examples for you as available and permission is granted. I have a significant portfolio of such cases... but I do need to get permission, and then put them in a postable format. May take me a bit, but I *WILL* do it... had been on my list anyway. So assuming I am trading up in value and will be financing 80% (because no one will give me the house at 100% and I do not have enough cash to buy it outright) Do you mean no bank will LEND 100% on that house? Be aware, you ARE financing 100% of the purchase. Apparently you'll be taking 80% from the bank at the cost of their interest charges, and 20% from your family at the cost of the safe returns available. There's no free lunch... ALL of the money comes at a cost, including the money you take away from your family's safety reserves and growth investments. if I buy an expensive house (for me) you are right that this affects my portfolio as a whole so how do I get the least expensive rate or product that also is nbot subject to rate increases if the market changes Fortunately for you, right now the expense premium on longterm fixed loans is very small above the more timeframe realistic 5 and 7 year fixed intermediary programs. You can likely get the risks completely bank-carried at just 1/4% or so above the 5 year terms. I'd suggest being a little 'suspicious' of ol' Mr. Market, however... when Mr. Market makes longterm fixed loan costs extremely attractive relative to shorter term periods, the Market knows that the shorter term programs are more likely to become significantly cheaper as they adjust (thus the "market trickery" to entice the consumer into the more expensive programs permanently.) Without concrete examples or references, either as to stradegies that work or references to formulas or analysis it all sounds very ambigious, mysterious and a bit glib. It certainly takes an open mind for numbers, and the ability to visualize offsetting growth or cost curves. The bases of the entire conceptual issue are; Rates are relative; When costs of borrowing increase, yields on savings/investments increase, and vice versa. Cash Is King; The costs of being illiquid in emergency can be catastrophically worse than the costs of staying liquid (in carrying costs on the leverage to do so,) It is very easy to say a FMR is expensive but without providing either alternatives or examples or references as to why that is so, I have to question it Currently the immediate face costs on a 30 FRM versus (as example) a 5 yr ARM are minimal... very financially unusual, which DOES definitely call for suspicion. The more obscure costs on a Fixed are the ongoing higher carry costs incurred when rates shift to the downside on the loan, but you are stuck at the higher rates unless/until you incur another round of transaction costs to reset the financing. Eliminating uncertainty is more efficiently done by matching income yield instruments (savings & investments) to leverage instruments (mortgages.) Properly placed and managed the spread continually works in your favor, and you remain much safer as you are not locked away from your liquidity. CLEARLY explain how this works or various stragies that might work for a trade up house that is intended to be held indefinitely How long you intend to OWN is irrelevant, (what DOES matter is how long you intend to take to reach financial independence,) but I do have a few cases that reflect the same situation. I'll see if I can get them illustrated to present as soon as feasible. Cheers, Dave Donhoff Strategic Equity & Mortgage Planner

Hi everyone! Thank you all so much for the information - it helps me to make sure all my bases are covered before I start looking, go to get pre-approved for a mortgage, etc. My past work history is as follows: Graduated college in May 2009 June 2009 - began working in my field through a temp agency September - 2009 convinced my employer to buy out my temp agency contract and became full-time June 2011 - left my former job to begin this "full-time temporary" job, a contracted position So this June I will have had 3 solid years of employment in my chosen field, with the pay stubs and tax returns to back it up (well, tax returns for two years, but you understand...) My original contract was to run out in March; it was just extended to August 31, 2012. At that point, it may be extended for another year (likely), I will be offered a permanent position (somewhat less likely, but not out of the question), or I will be let go (from what my boss is saying, far less likely, but I do know that unexpected things can happen). Finding a lender who works with these situations is a great idea - I do work for a large, national company but their presence in my community is small. However, there are a lot of freelancers and other similar job situations in the county, so they must be working with banks somehow. Again, thank you for the input - keep it coming with whatever else I may need to consider, it's very much appreciated.

I merely mistyped on first posting you quoted, Summers. Complete accident ( I was probably interrupted and failed to read back). I use a broker to LIST only (so to sell, not buy). I do buy direct, and my second post is accurate. My listings are indeed short. Again, why obligate myself to someone for a long period of time, and of course, if we are in a transaction when the listing ends or if the broker was the procuring cause, I am on the hook anyway. So there is no reason to enter long listings or equivalently, enter long relationships with Buyer brokers. You can always renew. That was the point of that post in which you caught my inadvertent use of the wrong word. My error, and I can see how that caused confusion. I apologize for stating the word "buying" when I meant "listing". I have one user name only, by the way. That said, I stand by what I said in this post regarding the strange delays. And I do hope it works out for this poster.