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Archive for the ‘Mortgages’ Category

Mortgage 80 20 With Mortgage Brokers

Friday, September 24th, 2010



Mortgage 80 20 and mortgage servicing loans?
Mortgage 80 20 was a trend, an easy access mortgage loan, a lot of people would say that this mortgage is servicing the homeowners to qualify for a mortgage and get their dream home.

What is Mortgage 80 20?
First I’ll tell you what it’s not- it’s not the mortgage financial plan you had in mind when you were thinking about buying a Home, that’s for sure.

Mortgage 80 20 was a popular loan that everybody used because they didn’t need to put any down payment, just come and take the keys to your dream house and it’s yours. Dreams don’t come easy we need to work for it, have you ever heard this saying: “what comes easy goes easy”?

That’s exactly what I’m talking about, your mortgage financial plans are buying a home, pay the home and own it 100 percent- good so don’t think that the mortgage 80 20 program is a good mortgage, that’s why today you can’t get a mortgage 80 20 loan anymore.

Consult your mortgage broker or loan officer, that’s the first thing you need to do, if you know your mortgage broker or loan officer so listen to what they have to say, their mortgage financial plans for you are not a mortgage 80 20 loan, if they’re good mortgage brokers and loan officers then they will recommend you on putting at least 10 percent down payment if not more to purchase a home, or in a refinance situation to not maximise the ltv(loan to value)of your Loan.

During the mortgage underwriting the underwriter normally will know if you will qualify for a loan and how much you can qualify for.

mortgage underwriting is the most important issue of all and if the underwriter will not think that the file is strong enough to qualify for a loan you will not have the money.

What underwriters want you to have, when applying for a loan?

1. High income, at least double then what you spend a month.
2. Money in the bank, so if you don’t have enough money to make the payment from your salary next month at least you will have some money in the bank to make the payment.
3. That you’re on title, because if you’re not on title it’s an occupancy issue, sometimes they will ask from you also some utility bills.
4. If you own another property they will have to know, another occupancy issue.
5. Your credit score, it’s very important that your credit will be good, the underwriters want to make sure you will make the payments on time, so if you have any mortgage lates or credit cards lates you need to work on them.
6. That you had the same job for longer than 2 years, they want to know that you’re stable in your life and stable job is important.

The underwriter makes the final call ,not your mortgage broker. but a good mortgage broker will know ahead what the underwiter will ask from his clients so it will save you time in the process.
Make sure you get the right mortgage broker to help you with your project so you will not waste your time and eventually not qualify because your mortgage broker has no knowledge.

1. Stay with your mortgage financial plans
2. Don’t even think about mortgage 80 20 (I think it’s not even exist anymore)
3. Your mortgage broker or loan officer is very important, he can kill the deal or make the deal.

Stop Foreclosure by Restructuring Your Mortgage

Thursday, September 23rd, 2010



Stop this by restructuring your mortgage is one of many options that you may want to explore to stop foreclosure on your home. If you’re looking for creative ways to stop foreclosure by restructuring your mortgage you need to know how to increase your chances of success. What matters when stop foreclosure by restructuring your mortgage? Will it affect your credit score? Will your repayments be the same?

Do You Qualify To Stop Foreclosure by Restructuring Your Mortgage?

How long has it been since you contacted them actually spoke with them last? A month? Two months? More? If you haven’t discussed you’re the problems you’re having in meeting your mortgage repayments you should do so. Don’t “try to”, but actually do so as soon as you can. No matter what’s happening to you right now, no matter what may be going on, you can still pull through and stop foreclosure by restructuring your mortgage.

#1 Mistake People Make When Facing Foreclosure

Possibly the #1 mistake people make when facing foreclosure is not recognize the cost of inaction. If you do procrastinate, it will affect you in the long term. Sadly, it’s not everyone that can actually catch up with their monthly repayments. This is particularly true if you have fallen behind by several months. For most middle-class Americans, their mortgage repayment is a big chunk out of their monthly income. The possibility of doubling that payment in order to make up for a missed payment simply just isn’t practical. Take a closer look at your mortgage if you’re facing foreclosure.

What Happens When You restructure Your Loan?

When you restructure your loan, a number of things may happen that could ultimately benefit you. If you’re absolutely confident that you’ll be in a position to make your current mortgage payments again, once you are caught up, your lender may, on this basis, agree to add your existing past due amounts to the end of your existing mortgage term. This does mean though that you’ll have to pay more interest on it at the end of the day and over the time of your loan.

If for any reason you still can’t make the same payments don’t lose hope. Don’t give up. Not all is lost. A smart move would be to call your lender and establish if it’s possible for them to refinance your home. The beauty of this is that if they can re-extend the terms of your loan to longer terms (or the original terms), your monthly payment can be greatly reduced. This will of course depend on the amount you still owe on the loan. It’s a good and practical way to stop foreclosure on your home. Just make sure you approach your lender before you get into financial difficulties.

How Can I Increase Your Chances Of Success?

To increase your chances of success when it comes to ways to stop foreclosure on your home you must speak with and work with your lender that holds your mortgage or your bank. They don’t want to take your home from you and would rather you stayed in it and they got their money on a regular basis. They are best placed to provide feasible solutions to stop foreclosure fast. Always remember, they don’t gain if they take your home through foreclosure because it means that they’ll most likely end up losing money in the process.

So What Can You Do Right Now?

To learn more about how to stop foreclosure by restructuring your mortgage and other options available you should download and read a free report from [http://www.stopforeclosurehandbook.com]

You can stop foreclosure lgally in nine days or less using options lenders don’t want you to know about.

Who Sets Mortgage Rates?

Saturday, August 28th, 2010



Does the Fed set mortgage rates? In a word, no. Who then is responsible for setting mortgage rates? The truth is that mortgage interest rates are set by market forces, so the real question lies in looking at which factors most influence mortgage interest rates.

The Fed Funds Rate

First, let’s take a look at the Federal Reserve and how its policies affect mortgage rates. One of the responsibilities of the Federal Reserve is to set what is commonly called the Federal Funds Rate. This is the rate often referred to when people talk about the Fed cutting or raising “rates.” In reality, the Federal Reserve does not cut or lower “rates.” Instead, the Federal Reserve determines the Federal Funds Target Rate. This is the rate that banks charge when they lend money to other banks, usually overnight. Banks are required to meet reserve requirements, typically 10%. That means they must keep 10% of their funds on deposit with one of the Federal Reserve banks or as cash in their vault. If at the end of the day a particular bank has only 9.75% in reserves, that bank must borrow money to bring their reserve balance up to 10%. The quickest way to get that money is to borrow it from a fellow bank that has excess reserves. In short, the Fed Funds Rate is the rate that a particular bank will pay to borrow money from another bank for an overnight loan. A bank that consistently fails to meet reserve requirements will be shut down, so banks must borrow money to meet reserve requirements if their reserves are insufficient.

The Fed Funds Rate affects short term loans (usually overnight) between banks. As such, it does not have a direct affect on mortgage interest rates, which are long term financial instruments. Using common sense, the rate a bank pays to borrow money for one night will not directly affect the interest rate charged on a 30 year home loan. The Fed Funds rate is truly the shortest of short term interest rates. On the other end of the financial spectrum is the 30-year fixed rate mortgage, the longest of long term financial instruments. It’s easy to see why the two are not directly related. However, the Fed Funds Rate does have an affect on interest rates in general because it directly affects the prime rate, which is the base rate that banks charge when lending money. As you can imagine, if the banks pay more to borrow money, in turn, the banks are going to increase the interest rate they charge to customers. As such, the prime rate is tied to the Fed Funds Rate.

Even though the Fed Funds Rate does not affect mortgage interest rates directly, there is an indirect relationship. The Fed Funds Rate affects interest rates which, in turn, affect the financial markets. Anything that affects the financial markets is going to affect mortgage rates, so indirectly speaking, the Fed Funds Rate does have an effect on mortgage interest rates. When the Fed Funds Rate has been at historic lows, so have mortgage interest rates, for example. However, if the Fed drops the Fed Funds Rate, do not expect mortgage interest rates to drop because the two are not directly related.

Mortgage Backed Securities

Many people do not realize that mortgages are often sold almost as soon as they are originated. Here is how it works. You take out a mortgage with a well known home lender. That lender might retain the servicing on the loan (meaning they will still send you statements and answer your telephone calls), but they will often sell the mortgage itself. What they do is pool a group of mortgages and sell them to Wall Street. The people on Wall Street then sell those financial products (now labeled “mortgaged backed securities”) to investors. The people looking to buy mortgage backed securities are often pension funds, insurance companies and other institutional investors. Think of mortgages as the supply and the investors as the demand. Because the performance of the mortgage backed securities market represents demand, there is a direct relationship between the mortgage backed securities market and mortgage interest rates.

The 10-year Treasury

A 10-year Treasury Bond is an interest-bearing note issued by the United States Treasury. If you own a T-bill, the government owes you money. Because the Treasury bonds are backed by the “full faith and credit” of the United States, they are seen as low risk, making them a benchmark for other investments. Because mortgages rarely last longer than 10 years before being paid off, they are often compared to 10 year T-bills for investment purposes. While there is no specific or official relationship between the two, there is an unofficial trend between mortgages and t-bills. Here is how it works. Investors look at their options. Treasuries are 100% guaranteed to be repaid because the government can either raise taxes or print more money when the t-bill matures. Mortgage backed securities, however, are not a guaranteed investment. Some of the mortgages could default, for example, directly affecting the value of the mortgage backed security. Because the mortgage backed securities carry more risk, they do, of course, provide for a higher rate of return. To compensate for the added risk, mortgage rates must be priced higher than treasuries. The “spread” between mortgage rates and treasury rates widens and contracts based on investor appetite. The “spread” is an approximation of how much risk the market thinks there is. Essentially, mortgage bonds and t-bills compete for the same investment dollar, so there is a relationship between the two, although the relationship isn’t a fixed one.

In the end analysis, there are many factors that influence mortgage interest rates including supply, demand, inflation, and the economy in general. If the Fed Funds Rate is lowered tomorrow, it will have no more direct affect on mortgage interest rates than it will on the price of orange juice. However, the mortgage backed securities and treasuries markets are closely related to mortgage interest rates.

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Using an 80 20 Mortgage to Avoid Mortgage Insurance

Saturday, August 28th, 2010



An 80 20 mortgage is also called a zero down loan or no money down loan. It is actually two loans, a regular home mortgage which constitutes 80% of the price of the home and a second mortgage or home equity loan that consists of 20% of the cost of the house. The idea behind this type of loan is avoiding mortgage insurance (PMI) by using the home equity loan as the down payment.

Just about all mortgages require some form of mortgage insurance if you are unable to make a down payment of at least 20 percent. By obtaining a second mortgage or home equity loan for 20 percent of the homes cost you can circumnavigate this requirement by using that second loan as the down payment.

There are variations of this type of mortgage such as an 80-15-5 loan. This means that the borrower got a main mortgage of 80 percent of a home’s purchase price, a piggyback loan for 15 percent, and made a 5-percent down payment. This can be a good option if you have some money for a down payment but not enough to cover the entire 20%.

The second mortgage can either be a fixed second mortgage or it can be a line of credit. If it is a fixed second mortgage then the interest rate is normally fixed for the entire length of the mortgage. Most fixed second mortgages are a 30 due in 15 which means that the second mortgage is amortized over 30 years, but is due in 15 years. The benefit of going with the line of credit as the second mortgage is that the interest rate is normally much lower than the fixed second mortgages rate. They can also be an interest only loan which could save you hundreds of dollars in mortgage payments every month.

The 80 percent first mortgage can be a fixed-rate (15-year or 30-year), adjustable-rate (usually 5/1, 7/1 or 10/1fixed period ARM) or interest-only loan. Typically, the interest rate on the second mortgage loan is higher than the interest rate of the first loan. But because the borrower doesn’t have to pay mortgage insurance, the overall cost is less than a traditional mortgage even with the higher mortgage interest rate on the second loan.

Plenty of mortgage programs allow borrowers to buy houses with little or no money down, but they usually require private mortgage insurance, or PMI. Getting an 80 20 mortgage can be a good way to avoid the extra cost that PMI will add to your monthly payments.

Help Lower My Mortgage Payments to Avoid House Foreclosure – With 8 Steps That Spell M-O-R-T-G-A-G-E

Sunday, August 22nd, 2010



If You Need Help, You are not alone

If you are struggling to pay your mortgage you are not alone. Authorities project that over 2 million homes will go into default this year. One out of every 18 homeowners is behind on their mortgage payments. That’s bad news.

Help Is Available

The good news is that many real estate professionals as well as the government and lending and banking institutions, are very interested in helping you save your home. On the average, a home foreclosure reduces the surrounding property values by $17 to $18 thousand dollars – within a five mile radius of the property. Every home saved means fewer vacant homes, which supports higher property values, a stronger community, and an improved local economy.

Real Estate and Financial Professionals Can Help

Many Real estate and financial professionals realize that some in their communities are going through difficult times and it is affecting their ability to make their mortgage payments, avoid foreclosure and save their homes. Saved homes mean stronger communities that have a greater need for their services.

The US Government Wants To Help

The housing market is an important sector of the economy and the government wants reduced foreclosure rates and increased property values to strengthen the economy. The government has helped by coming up with new loan programs that make it a little easier for homeowners to refinance into a loan with better interest rates, which translates to lower mortgage payments. However, not all mortgage brokers keep track of these programs. It’s important to work with a broker who specializes in this area because he or she can stay up to date on these new developments.

The Banking and Lending Institutions Can Help

The banking institutions are often willing to negotiate with homeowners who are behind on their payments, or whose interest rates are adjusting to the extent that they won’t be able to make their payments any longer. The banks would often prefer to have a paying homeowner on modified terms, rather than end up with a vacant house on their books which they have to pay to fix up and sell.

Use A Team Of Experts For Best Results

You can of course talk to your lender and try to make an arrangement on your own. However, there are professionals who have become expert at these types of negotiations and know exactly how best to present your case to your lender to get you the best possible terms of loan reinstatement or interest rate reduction. The end result of a successful negotiation can be a lower mortgage rate but there is no guarantee. Timing and strategy are important. This is where having a professional in this area is the key.

By the same token, you could try to find out about all the latest loan programs and decide which one is best for you, but working with the right mortgage broker will keep you from having to ‘reinvent the wheel’, as the saying goes.

Seniors Have A Special Advantage

Seniors are a special case. If you are a senior, it may be possible to eliminate your mortgage payments altogether with a mortgage product that actually pays you every month, instead of you paying a mortgage. It’s called a reverse-mortgage. It’s not for everyone, but it may be exactly what you need to be comfortable during your retirement years. Even if you have applied for a reverse mortgage in the past and been denied, there are some new loan products evolving that may be even better suited to your situation.

Action Plan To Reduce Your Mortgage and Save Your Home

Now is the time to empower yourself by taking constructive action.
If you are a homeowner who is saying “I need to lower my mortgage payments or I will not be able to avoid house foreclosure.” Here’s what I would suggest you do next. Take the 8 Steps below that spell:
M-O-R-T-G-A-G-E

M – MOVE IT!: – Make sure you take action as soon as possible. The quicker you act, the more choices you have

O – ORGANIZE YOU DOCUMENTS: Have you been letting those scary letters pile up in the corner? Make sure you have organized all related files and paperwork so you can get your hands on what you need, quickly. This also increases your sense of control over your situation.

R – RECRUIT YOUR TEAM: Look for an experienced team of real estate and financial professionals that is working together in your best interest. Start by asking to your friends and family for recommendations and searching offline as well as online. Remember that in the financial world you are not limited geographically. Your best team members may be hundreds of miles away. Keep searching until you are certain you have the right group. Good advisors often work together. Sometimes the key is to find one team member that you know is the right fit for you and he or she can lead you to others.

T – TAKE ADVANTAGE OF ALL RESOURCES: Keep an open mind. Work with your team to explore all of your options for yourself and your family. The solution may or may not be straightforward. Make sure you clearly communicate the issues that are most important to you. Brainstorm. Ask questions. You will often find that the best strategy will present and confirm itself as you keep cycling through this process.

G – GAIN FAMILY CONSENSUS: Discuss options with all concerned and affected by your decision. (well maybe not the dog, but everyone else). Talking it through will help to eliminate some of the stress and provide needed support when everyone is on the same page. It’s amazing how much more you can accomplish when you have full cooperation of the most important people in your life.

A – ACT: Take a deep breath, take action and make your best choice. Don’t give in to analysis paralysis. At a certain point, you have to pull the trigger and make a decision.

G – GIVE YOURSELF A BREAK: Go easy on yourself, knowing you have done your best for yourself and your family. Guilt, anger, and frustration only sap your creative problem solving energy.

E- EXPECT TO SHARE YOUR KNOWLEDGE: When you are ready, pass on the knowledge you have gained to others worthy of your wisdom. Remember when you were at the team recruitment stage and were asking around for recommendations? Now it’s your turn to ‘pay if forward’ and share your experience so it benefits others. Word of mouth travels. You may be the reason someone else can save their home by lowering their mortgage payments!

So there you have it. If you get:

Moving,
Organize all of your documents,
Recruit your dream team,
Take advantage of their wisdom,
Gain your family’s consensus and support, take
Action,
Give your self a serious break, and
Expect to share your knowledge with someone else who needs help,…

You will be amazed at how smoothly you can come up with a workable solution… with a little help from your friends!

I hope you have gained some useful knowledge. May you and your loved ones have all the best for your future!

Mortgage Refinancing

Saturday, July 24th, 2010



Mortgage is a long term loan and the mortgage monthly payments form a major monthly expense. A lower mortgage rate means lower monthly mortgage payments. This is one reason why people hunt for low interest rates on a mortgage.

As we know, there are two types of mortgage rates i.e. fixed and floating, and different people prefer different types of rate. Again, the prevailing market rate keeps changing all the time. So it’s quite possible that you entered a mortgage at a rate that is higher than the current rate. This is when you start thinking of mortgage refinancing. By mortgage refinancing we mean full payment of the current mortgage loan by entering into a new mortgage loan at a lower rate. So mortgage refinancing starts making sense as soon as the difference in the mortgage rates becomes significant (say 1.50-2% points) i.e. prevailing market rate comes down significantly as compared to the mortgage rate on your current mortgage.

Mortgage refinancing decision would, of course, also depend on the remaining term of your mortgage (for mortgage refinancing would make no sense if you had just a short period of say 4-5 years remaining on your current mortgage). These criteria for mortgage refinancing are based on the various costs associated with mortgage refinancing. These mortgage refinancing costs include prepayment costs for the current mortgage, closing costs of the new mortgage and other fees etc. Generally, people use mortgage refinancing as a tool to move from a higher adjustable rate mortgage to a lower fixed rate mortgage. Though the reverse is possible too in some cases but adjustable rate mortgage to fixed rate mortgage is generally the case.

Another reason for mortgage refinancing is ‘need for money’. So, if you have built a significant home equity, you can use mortgage refinancing to get a home mortgage loan that will generate cash for you (by bartering your home equity). This money generated from mortgage refinance can be used for various purposes like financing the education of children, debt consolidation or home renovation. Debt consolidation is one big reason for mortgage refinancing. You can use mortgage refinance for creating money to get rid of high interest debts (like credit card debt, personal loans etc) and hence save money and your credit rating too.

By mortgage refinancing you can save thousands of dollars in terms of the total interest you pay over the term of loan. So mortgage refinancing is surely a good option but must be exercised only after proper evaluation of the situation and of your own needs.

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