Saturday, October 18, 2008

Top 5 Home Loan Tips

Finding the best mortgage available on the market does not have to be difficult. Follow these simple steps to get the best loan available for you.


1) Get the point

If the initial interest rate and payment quote was issued with 0 points, take a moment to view your interest rate buy down options. If you plan on keeping the loan for more than 3 years, it may make sense to pay points to buy down your interest rate. You may find that the lower rate and payment may make the points worthwhile.

2) Break even

Once you have selected an interest rate buy down option, simply divide the total dollar amount of points you will pay by the dollar amount you will save in monthly payments. This will tell you how long it will take for you to break even. For example, $1,500 in points divided by monthly savings of $50 equals a break even timeframe of 30 months. Once you break even, you will have recovered all of the points you paid up front and will then begin saving money every single month from that point on.

3) What you don't know may hurt you

If the rate quote you are receiving from a mortgage company seems too good to be true, it probably isn't. Check for hidden fees or charges that make the lower quoted rate more expensive in the long run.

4) Have faith

You have a legal right to a good faith estimate from any mortgage company that issues an interest rate quote. Request a copy of this document and review it carefully. Everything you need to know to make an apples to apples comparison of loans is contained within the good faith estimate.

5) Do your homework

Don't just assume you are dealing with a reputable company because they have a website, check them out. There are two excellent resources for verifying the integrity of any mortgage company: The Better Business Bureau and The Department of Real Estate. These independent third party resources can verify the integrity, reputation and licensing status of any mortgage company to ensure you are only working with the someone who deserves your business.

If you follow these simple tips you will have the confidence of knowing you are getting the best loan program at the lowest interest rate with the right costs from a reliable company.

Can I Refinance My ARM to a Fixed Rate Home Mortgage-What If I Have No Equity Or Bad Credit and An ARM Loan

Can I Refinance My ARM to a Fixed Rate Home Mortgage-What If I Have No Equity Or Bad Credit and An ARM Loan

Adjustable rate home loans were employed by many home owners throughout the previous decade to purchase or refinance their existing home loans. Many home owners have refinanced their ARM to a fixed rate mortgage so they would stear clear of the virtually certain mortgage rate and payment increase.

Unfortunately there is a great amount of people who are blind to the fact that the home loan they currently are in is going to adjust because they just do not understand the loan. for alot of these people the increase will be a real eye opener and a possible money crisis.

How Will I Find Out If I Have a ARM Loan

To find out if you have an ARM loan you need to assemble your loan documents you were presented at closing. You are looking for something called the adjustable rate rider. This paper will list the guidelines of your adjustable home loan and If you discover this in your loan bundle you hold an ARM. Analyze this document as it will tell you when your loan is supposed to change and by how much.

Changing To a Fixed Rate Home Loan

If you have an ARM mortgage and still have good credit and some equity in your home you should act now and take advantage of the current low interest rates. And by taking advantage of the low rates and refinancing with a fixed rate mortgage you will get stability and in alot of instances a lower house payment then your adjusted ARM required.To do this you will simply have to do a common mortgage refinance.

What Can I Do When I Cannot Get a Loan To Refinance

If you are a home owner that can't refinance ARM to fixed rate because of poor credit or holding insufficient equity in your property you are on the road to some rough situations. To avoid this you must talk to your mortgage lender and try to work out a mortgage modification with them.

If you have always been a dependable client lenders will often times alter ARMS that are challenging for customers to pay into better and more unchanging fixed rate loans.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Getting a Mortgage Loan After Foreclosure

By James McKerr

Getting a mortgage loan after foreclosure can be a daunting options when it comes to finding another mortgage. You need not be such with an extortionate bad credit mortgage where you are paying much higher interest rates than everyone else. The time to start taking action is straight away.

Pay you bills on time. This may sound easy but it we are all guilty of simply forgetting from time to time. Each time we forget our credit score gets hit. If you need to list out your regular payments and place the note somewhere where you will see it every day

Renegotiate your existing finance. If you are able to switch any existing credit onto lower interest scheme you would be a fool not to. Who would not want to save money right?
Start saving. The larger down payment on a house you have the cheaper the mortgage you will be able to find. Start saving today, even if it is only a few dollars each week, just try to get into the habit.

Set a budget. In order to control your spending to help you with both paying of your existing debts and saving for a down payment set a monthly budget where you decide before each month what you have to spend. When you know the amount is limited you will be surprised how easy it is to cut out unnecessary spending. You will soon be amazed how much money you were wasting each month before the budget was set.

For more specific information on Getting a mortgage loan after foreclosure or how to repair your credit please follow one of these links.

Getting a Real Estate Mortgage Loan

By Naresh Shah

Once the real estate economy and pricing are understood, the next factor a person has to know is real estate mortgage. Generally people have low income levels; they can't afford a home spending huge amount. In order to give them safety and security most of banks today provide mortgage loans. Before going for a mortgage loan from a bank it is compulsory for you to understand mortgage loan amount and interest. There are many nationalized banks providing cheap interest rates and huge loan amounts. When you are going for a loan, it is compulsory for you to calculate amount payable to a bank for a year or month. There are some mortgage calculators available online; these calculators will be of good help. They make you understand mortgage loans and they help you in finding the loan amount to be paid monthly or year.

Before going for a mortgage loan, you should analyze legal issues of the bank. Some banks foreclose the properties within short time. They take away property when the bank loan amount is pending for duration of 6 months. When you are going to buy a real estate you should check out the laws and regulations of that bank in order to be on safe side.

Short sale will be a good idea for you when you intend to buy a real estate. Short sale happens when a bank or mortgage lender agrees to give a discount on the property. This discount is generally given based on the economic hardship of the mortgagor. Short sales are generally provided for people in order to prevent a home from foreclosure.

Some of governments provide a special policy for getting a stay on the house when you won't be able to pay amount in proper time. How ever this stay won't come quite easily it needs a strong reason. First you should understand government rules, federal taxes etc so that there won't be any threat from them in the future.

Once you have planned everything for buying a real estate, it is a good practice for you to go for a real estate investment trust. This trust helps you to reduce income taxes, and increases your house rent allowance. This trust helps you to invest some amount as mutual funds on real estate. It helps you in understanding estate trends and lets you maximize profit.

Property guide and real estate career training information. For property and real estate investment resources, visit http://www.PropertyDirectory.In

Mortgage Reconstruction 2009 - The Time For New Mortgage Laws

By Ferdie Frederic

As of Monday July 14th, 2008, the government has passed new laws which cause a decent amount of change within the mortgage industry and how these companies give out loans to homeowners. Even though they were passed on Monday, these rules wont take effect until October 2009 to give time for companies to transition to the new set of standards.

The concept being birthed in 2007, was in response to the treatment homeowners were facing from mortgage companies and to the foreclosure crisis that took place. It has been stated that the basis for these new rules are to protect future home buyers from mortgage companies.

The Foreclosure Crisis
Within the late 2006, the housing industry felt a large blow when a mass amount of foreclosures occurred due to rates on mortgages and also because of the fact that many of the new loans were made to individuals with either bad credit or too low of an income.

Experts believe that the basis for so many of these home loans being in place was the fact that many homeowners thought they could reap benefits when refinancing later on. Even though, their ideology failed because with the interest rates reset higher, refinancing was hard to come by which led to approximately a million foreclosures.

Mortgage lenders, banks and other financial institutions felt the impact dramatically reporting 100's of billion dollars in losses. Not only was the housing industry devastated, but the US economy in a whole was also rocked by the housing crisis. These issues led to the US Federal Reserve cutting down interest rates and to the creation of the economic stimulus package which was passed by the government in 2008 to help offset debt and to spur on economic growth and instill belief in the US economy.

The Economic Stimulus Package
The Economic Stimulus Package of 2008 was passed in order to restore good faith within the economy. Its main purpose was to provide assistance to low and middle income citizens. From the economic stimulus package, all recipients were set to receive at least $300 and an extra $300 per dependent under the age of 17. The maximum pay that a person would receive would be no more that $600. Any individuals with an annual income over $75,000 would not receive any monetary funds except for those who had qualifying children.

In addition to citizens, the law also applied to businesses offered them certain tax incentives. Those include tax deductions on eqiupment meant to improve ones business and an increase in how much a business can deduct in business expenses.

In an article by James Temple from SF Gate he lists several key changes in mortgage practices that was just passed on Monday.

General Mortgage Rules:
- Prohibit creditors and mortgage brokers from coercing appraisers into misstating a home's value.
- Require additional information about rates, monthly payments and other loan features in all advertising.
- Ban seven deceptive or misleading advertising practices, including calling a rate or payment "fixed" when it can change.

Lending Rules For Higher Priced Subprime Loans:
- Force lenders to consider a borrower's ability to repay loans from income and assets other than the home's value.
- Require lenders to document a borrower's income and assets.
- Ban penalties for borrowers who pay off loans early, if the payment can change in the first four years. In certain cases, a prepayment penalty period can't exceed two years.
- Mandate that creditors ensure certain borrowers set aside money to pay for property taxes and insurance, by establishing escrow accounts.

In reference to the new mortgage rules, many claim that these rules will assist many homeowners and aspiring homeowners from companies that prey on them to make a profit despite the views on their practices are questionable. Yet with this belief intact, many individuals still hold firm in their opinion that these rules are just a tip of the iceberg and much more needs to be done within the housing industry and in relation to some of the illegal practices carried on by some of the lending companies.

This article is provided by Ferdie Frederic for S-Proprietor.com, The Entrepreneurs Online Blog. If you are interested in more articles and information please visit our site at http://www.s-proprietor.com

What You Need to Know About Residential Mortgage Services

By Walter A Hilliam

Residential mortgage services are offered to those who wish to purchase a residential property. These usually include mortgages, home equity loans (also called second mortgages) and the refinancing of an existing mortgage.

Mortgages are usually taken out when people wish to buy a home in order to finance the purchase, since home prices are usually much more than people can afford to pay all at one time. Lenders offering residential mortgage services offer a wide variety of financial products with different terms and conditions. It can be a bit confusing, so those seeking need to make sure they are clear on exactly what terms and conditions are included in each loan they are offered so that they can make a fair comparison between their different options. Usually it is helpful to use one of the loan comparison calculators provided by many residential mortgage services companies on their websites.

If you currently have a mortgage and have paid enough principle down so that you have some equity in the house, a residential mortgage services company might be willing to give you a home equity loan or second mortgage in order to finance other major expenditures such as home improvements or paying off other loans with higher interest rates. However, before you get a home improvement loan be sure to keep in mind that you can lose your house if you do not keep up with the payments for this loan.

For those who have mortgages at higher interest rates than the current prevailing mortgage interest rate, residential mortgage services companies may be able to refinance for you and get you a lower interest rate and lower payments. However, this is like getting a new loan to pay off your old mortgage early, so any prepayment penalties will need to be paid, and you will have to pay any fees and closing costs associated with getting a new mortgage, so you need to work out whether your interest and payments will be lowered enough to make paying these costs worthwhile.

Most lenders that offer mortgages offer other residential mortgage services. If you have good credit and a low debt to earnings ratio, it usually isn't difficult to find a multitude of lenders willing to help you out. For those without good credit, it is still possible to find companies to work with you, but you will most likely have to pay much higher interest rates as you will be considered a greater risk.
Walter Hilliam owns and operates http://www.mortgage-services-online.com
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