by Louie LatourÂ
If you have a poor credit rating, and nearly half of Americans do, the first thing you need to do before thinking about a mortgage is tune up your credit. You need to request credit reports from each of the three credit reporting agencies. The credit agencies are Equifax, Trans Union, and Experian. Don’t pay for your credit reports; recent legislation requires each of them to provide one free copy of your credit reports every year. You can access these free reports at the website AnnualCreditReport.com.
Once you have your three credit reports carefully examine them for errors. If you find errors you will need to dispute the errors with the corresponding credit reporting agency. The credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Trans Union, and Experian) all have websites with detailed procedures for disputing errors. Once you have verified your credit reports are accurate or disputed any errors you need to focus on your bills.
Before applying for a mortgage you should try and have at least six months of on time payments on your credit report. That means paying all of your bills on time. Mortgage lenders look at your repayment history when determining how much of a risk you are for lending money. The fewer late payments you have on your record, the better.
Next, work to lower your debt-to-income ratio. There are two ways to accomplish this. One way is to increase your income by getting a higher paying or even a second job. The next way is to reduce your debt. Paying down the balances on your credit cards and closing the accounts of cards you do not use will do wonders for raising your credit score.
This credit score make-over will take you about six months to complete. You need to allow this long for the credit agencies to correct any errors and to build up a solid record of on-time payments. Once you have done this you are ready to start shopping for a mortgage loan.
savannah mortgage refinanceÂ
Louie Latour has twenty years of experience in the mortgage industry as a mortgage broker.
He is the owner of Mortgages Refinance Advisor, a mortgage help site devoted to saving homeowners money with a free guidebook Mortgage Refinance: What You Need to Know.
Sign up for your free guide today at: http://www.refiadvisor.com
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Posted by leaddog50 as Home Loans at 8:23 PM CDT
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by Jim Hart
Are you planning on refinancing? Homeowners…keep these simple (yet often unexplained) concepts in mind when considering a refinancing:
1. You typically want to see a 2% improvement from your current interest rate and the proposed “new rateâ€. When you add up the costs of refinancing as well as the time and hassle associated with the process, you may find a refinancing doesn’t make a lot of economic sense with a spread lower then 2%.
2. Find your break-even point by taking the total costs of refinancing (divided by) the projected monthly savings under the new rate. Doing so will tell you how many months it will take to get your money back!
3. How long you plan to own the property is important. Rule of thumb: If you plan on owning the property for less then 5 years, a refinancing may or may not make sense. Only you and the numbers can tell!
4. A “Discount point†is 1% of the amount of money you are borrowing and is paid to a lender to secure a lower interest rate on a mortgage. Many people want to pay “points†to get a lower rate. But, are you really getting a lower rate? When you pay discount points you are basically prepaying the lender interest 15 or 30 years in advance! You are handing over “real dollars†for an intangible “interest rate†that will result in a lower monthly payment…the more important question is will you live in the property for 15 or 30 years? If not, why prepay the interest? Hint: Zero point home loans often make the most sense.
These are only four (4) of the one hundred and one 101 tips you will find in our FREE EBook 101 Real Estate Tips for Home Buyers, Home Sellers and Money Borrowers located in the FREEBIES section at our website. You can download it instantly at your convenience, enjoy! Jim Hart
Copyright © 2006 James W. Hart, IV All Rights reserved
SMART BOOKS: http://www.smart67.com FREE DOWNLOADS: We have a variety of high quality EBOOKs that can be downloaded for free at the Smart Books site. MEDIA INTERVIEWS Yes-See Bio for booking information
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Posted by leaddog50 as Home Loans at 5:16 PM CDT
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by Tony Reed
Home buyers often save rigorously for their home, forgoing expenditures and making sacrifices to pay down the mortgage and save for retirement. At retirement they get to enjoy their dream home debt-free. The only problem with this scenario for a lot of retirees is that they live on a fixed, and often not very large, income.
One option is to take a reverse mortgage - a loan against the home, which brings you money while you still live in your home. You can usually borrow between 10 to 40 percent of the value of your home depending on your age. A reverse mortgage loan requires no repayment for as long as you live in your home and you will never owe more than the value of your home.
This loan is different from a traditional mortgage in two ways. In order to qualify for a traditional mortgage, the bank checks your income to see how much you can afford to repay each month, but with a reverse mortgage there are no monthly repayments. With most loans, if you fail to make your repayments, you are in trouble. With a reverse mortgage, you don’t have any repayments. Thus, the debt grows larger as you keep getting cash advances and the interest is added to the amount you owe. This is why a reverse mortgage is called a “rising debt, falling equity” loan. As the amount you owe (your debt) grows larger, your equity (the value of your home less debt) is getting smaller.
You can receive income from your reverse mortgage in two ways. You can take the loan and invest it in an annuity. In turn, this annuity will provide you with income until your death. The second alternative is to receive monthly income from your reverse mortgage provider. Here you simply increase the size of your loan on a regular basis in order to receive income.
There is one big downside to all of this - you still owe money on your home. The total amount you will owe at the end of the loan will equal the loan plus all the interest accrued. All the interest can be a substantial amount of money.
Before you apply for a reverse mortgage, discuss your options with your family. Remember that a reverse mortgage will reduce the size of your final estate.
About the author: Tony Reed is the author of “
Consider a reverse mortgage - as your last option“, please visit his website
Loans, Mortgage & Credit for more information.Â
This article is free for republishing as long as you leave the article title, author name, body and resource box intact (means NO changes) with the links made active.
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Posted by leaddog50 as Home Loans at 7:36 PM CDT
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by Maksim FisherÂ
Today, it seems as if everyone is offering a mortgage to those that are looking to purchase a home. There are mortgage lenders here and there, offering the ‘lowest rates’ the ‘best financing’ and the “best terms†but what is the truth to all of this? Many times, people find themselves lured into advertising and that is probably one of the worst things that you can do. Instead, when looking for a home loan, carefully think about what you are getting in the loan first.
There are several aspects that should be carefully considered when looking at a mortgage offered by any of the lenders there. Everyone should take the time to carefully consider these things as they will determine just how much money they will ultimately pay for their home as well as the experience they will have.
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- Interest rates are by far the most important aspect of the home loan. This is the charge, the cost of doing business with the financial lender. This dollar amount is going to cost a different amount of money from each lender as most will offer a different rate from each other. What is important to consider is the difference that is evident from one lender to the next. Often, cutting down the rate just slightly can save thousands of dollars in the long run.
- The terms of the loan are also an important feature. The longer the loan is, the more interest will be charged to it and the more costly it will become. What many people think about though is the cost of the home’s monthly mortgage payment. The longer the terms of the loan are, the lower the monthly payment amount will be. Carefully find the best terms here so that you can make your monthly payments but that you can pay off your loan as quickly as possible too.
- Customer service and experience is very important as well. If you do all of your banking on the web, you’ll want to make sure that this lender will offer that option to you as well. If you call the company to get a quote, they should provide you with the best of service. If they do not do it now (or you have to stay on hold for excessive time) then that is what you will get later on too.
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The home loan that you select should have the best combination of these features. The better your interest rate is the lower the amount of money that you pay for your home is. There are many other things to consider as well, but this is the ideal topic that you need to know to get started with. Use the tools that are provided to you, such as a loan calculator to help you to determine what the loan will ultimately cost you. With so many lenders out there, looking for your business, you should provide your business to those that can offer you the best rates, the best terms and the overall best options to consider. A mortgage can be very costly if you do not pay attention to these details.
Maksim Fisher is a freelance writer, specialising in finance subjects such as loans, banking,
mortgage, etc. He recommends use of a mortgage calculator for calculations at
http://www.mortgagecalculatorplus.com.
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Posted by leaddog50 as Home Loans at 10:13 AM CDT
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by Brandon Cornett
The Internet has changed all aspects of the home buying process, including the way we shop for mortgages and choose lenders.
In the early days of online mortgage lenders, there were few choices and plenty of shady practitioners. But today you have many more options, and government regulation has helped limit the number of “predatory” lenders using the Internet.
Still, it pays to be informed and to do plenty of research. Here then are some of the pros and cons of online mortgage shopping.
Online Mortgage Shopping – Advantages
Shopping for a home mortgage online lets you compare many loans at once. Before the Internet, the only way to do this was to make a lot of phone calls and office visits!
Another advantage is that you can do your research and make inquiries anytime day or night. So if you work full time, you can do your mortgage homework in the evening (when an actual mortgage office would be closed).
Online Mortgage Shopping – Disadvantages
Because of the anonymous nature of the Internet, you have to be careful when shopping for a mortgage online. Of course, this is true of any Internet site — dating sites, auction sites, commerce sites, you name it.
Some mortgage “companies” use the Internet to prey on naive victims. So always do plenty of research, and ask plenty of questions. Stick to the mortgage companies you know and trust. Be wary of the lesser known “mom and pop” companies.
Another disadvantage to shopping for a mortgage online is that the quote you get may not be as accurate as what you’d get in person. There are a lot of variables in the mortgage process (credit history, debt to earning ratio, etc.), and a website can’t consider them all. Nor can it answer your specific questions or give you advice.
That’s not to say online mortgage companies can’t answer questions and handle unique circumstances — they just can’t do it through their websites. Eventually, you’ll have to speak to a representative.
Conclusion
Shopping for a mortgage online can be a convenient time-saver. But you have to weigh both sides of the issue to see if it’s right for you. Do your homework and ask plenty of questions. Be careful transmitting financial information over the Internet. Stick to the companies and names you trust. In short, look out for yourself.
Learn more!
To learn more about the
home mortgage loans visit HomeBuyingInstitute.com, the Internet’s largest library of home buying advice. Visit:
http://www.homebuyinginstitute.com today!
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Posted by leaddog50 as Home Loans at 11:34 PM CDT
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