Refi.com is staunchly committed to producing accurate content so you can make the right decisions about financing your home. All content is created by individuals with deep knowledge on mortgage and real estate, and in many cases, have first-hand experience in lending. Learn more about our editors and authors.
Tim Lucas oversees the site. In his 11 years in the mortgage industry, he has personally helped hundreds of families buy and refinance homes. Tim is the former editor of TheMortgageReports.com, MyMortgageInsider.com, and others and has appeared as an expert source in publications like U.S. News and Realtor.com.
Editorial Process
Each article or other resource on the site goes through at least three phases of review.
- Writing: A staff or freelance writer with industry knowledge researches the topic and, in some cases, interviews a leading expert to add color and first-hand experience.
- Editing: Tim Lucas or another team member fact-checks the piece for accuracy.
- Last Look: A staff member completes one final check for accuracy and clarity prior to publishing.
This multi-layered approach helps us publish accurate content that doesn’t mislead readers or oversell a program or product.
Sources
Whenever possible, Refi.com relies on primary sources when discussing lending rules. For example, we dig through current rulebooks from lending agencies such as Fannie Mae. These resources are often hundreds, or sometimes over 1,000, pages long. Example source materials include:
- The Fannie Mae Selling Guide
- The Freddie Mac Seller/Servicer Guide
- HUD’s Single Family Housing Policy Handbook 4000.1 for FHA loans (Nearly 2,000 pages)
- The Department of Veterans Affairs Lender Handbook
- USDA’s Guaranteed Loan Program Technical Handbook HB-1-3555
Writers and editors at major publications often don’t know these guidebooks exist, let alone how to navigate their complex search features and tables of contents. And when they do, they often misinterpret the information due to a lack of real–world experience. Or worse, they search online and find outdated information from a secondary source.
Refi.com, though, employs people who know the rules and where to find current guidelines. That expertise ultimately translates to better decisions for our readers.
Updating Content
Mortgage rules change often. The Refi.com team follows mortgage and real estate updates from lending agencies and reputable news sources. If a guideline change occurs, we scour our content using word-search technology to discover areas of the site where we may have mentioned the former rule. The, we systematically update each mention to reflect current guidelines.
In some cases, we may delete an article or resource if the topic is no longer relevant or becomes unavailable. This keeps the site streamlined and prevents the article from appearing on search engines and potentially confusing the public.
Why It Matters
There’s almost too much content on the web. Much of it is strictly opinion, or worse, entirely inaccurate. We commit to only publishing objective and accurate content to ensure the site is a “safe place” to do your research.
But we take it a step further. If a lending product isn’t good for your situation, we’ll tell you. We promise not to make a lending product sound better than it is or a cure-all for every situation. Every program has pros and cons.
In the end, all we care about is improving your finances — and therefore your life — even if it’s not in our own financial interests.
Tim Lucas
Editor, Refi.com