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Friday, July 16, 2010

Home Loan Refinance - Online Searches Get You The Best Rates

Personal Finance
Are you considering a home loan refinance?  Online searches can often turn up the best rates.  So, what should you look for in a home loan refinance online?

First you have to ask yourself if refinancing is right for you.  Using a home loan refinance online calculator, compare your existing loan, a new loan and your financial situation to determine if and how you may be better off refinancing. It might make sense to have a smaller or larger monthly payment — especially if your income has changed. A smaller monthly payment will increase your available funds, while a larger monthly payment will speed up your mortgage payoff. Either way, refinancing should help in meeting your financial goals.

Next you should look for a rate reduction.  The general rule of thumb is that if your closing expenses can be recovered in 30 months or if the interest rates are 1 percent lower than your current rate, home loan refinance – online or off – makes sense.

You should also look for ways to reduce the term of your loan.  If you are 5 years into a 30 year mortgage and you can get into a 15 year mortgage for about the same monthly payment, you shave 10 years off your loan and save tens of thousands of dollars in interest rates.

By doing a home loan refinance online calculation, you will also be able to determine whether you can switch from an adjustable rate to a fixed rate mortgage.  Another option is to change the terms of your adjustable rate mortgage to make it more attractive.

The final refinancing solution that you want to be looking at is whether you can get money out of your home.  Perhaps you want to send your kids to college, make repairs and upgrades to your home, or just take a dream vacation.  By doing a home loan refinance online calculation, you can see whether these options are viable for you.

It can make a lot of sense to refinance when the interest rates drop -- if you are going to be staying in your home for long enough to recoup the closing costs.  Also, if you can increase or decrease the loan term to meet your current financial goals, refinancing can be a good idea.

You will need to provide many of the same documents you supplied for your first closing.  A new credit check, survey, title search and insurance, an appraisal and an inspection are usually required. You may want to check your files for the original documents and begin collecting updated information on these necessary items.  Depending on the mortgage loan you select, there may be charges for loan origination fees and points.

You can pay your closing costs in cash at the time of closing, roll the costs into your new loan amount, or add a premium to your interest rates. 

Additionally, you should know that if you pay more points, you can sometimes lower the interest rates. 

All of these factors can be calculated when you do a home loan refinance online.

Personal Finance

Expresspath Financing A Solution For REO Sales

Personal finance

Expresspath financing is available only on Fannie Mae REO properties.  This is a special type of financing that can make getting into the home of your dreams a reality as there is a very low down payment of $500, low interest rates, waived mortgage insurance, and 15 or 30 year terms.  Consider going with expresspath financing if you want a REO property.

REO stands for “real estate owned” and it means that it is a property that the bank has foreclosed on.  Generally, you will get a better deal on a REO property than you would if it were available from an initial homeowner.  This is because the lender is not in the business of owning or managing properties.  Therefore, they have an incentive to get the homes off of their books.  Expresspath financing was developed specifically to get homes off Fannie Mae’s books.

ExpressPath financing uses a low down payment fee (also known as LDPF), which means the mortgage insurance is not built into the rate. Buyers are able to compare rates from other lenders more easily with LDPF. There is a “MIsubstitute”, which is comparable to traditional mortgage insurance that a buyer would pay.

For owner occupied single family homes, 100 percent of the loan can be financed through expresspath.  However, the new homeowner is expected to make a token $500 down payment.  The $500 may be used for closing costs.

A property must be “owner occupied ready” to qualify for expresspath financing.  That means that no significant repairs must be made in order for the home to be habitable.  The NPDC makes the final determination on whether a home is owner occupied ready.  The NPDC is authorized to make repairs themselves to make a home owner occupied ready.

You will get a low down payment loan with an interest rate between 0 and 3 percent.  Additionally, you can get up to 5 percent back as a seller concession.  Expresspath financing is available in 15 and 30 year loan periods.

Investors who can put down 10 percent of the loan are eligible for all of the benefits of Expresspath financing.  Investors may receive appraisal waivers, reduced documentation, and all of the PHH Mortgage Guarantees

Additionally, manufactured homes are eligible for expresspath financing if they are coded correctly.  The maximum loan to value on a manufactured home is 95 percent.  Unlike traditional properties, manufactured homes must be owner occupied to qualify for expresspath financing.

One of the benefits of expresspath financing is that the appraisal is done before the home goes to market.  When the buyer goes for financing, approval can be quickly granted based on your own credit and income information and is not dependent on the home’s performance.

Expresspath financing is a quicker way to get into your new home and you can often get a better rate by using the system.  When you apply, you get a loan decision (not just pre-qualification) in 30 minutes or less.

If you are looking to buy a new home in today’s market, give expresspath financing a second look.

Personal Finance

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Bad Credit Second Mortgage Lenders Take A Risk On People With Lower Scores

Personal Finance Second Mortgage Lenders

If you need a bad credit second mortgage, you should know that they exist, though you might need to work a little harder to find them.  Lenders who specialize in the bad credit second mortgage market tailor their portfolios so that they can assume the extra risk these loans entail.  As a result, you will pay higher interest and fees.

Second mortgages are secured loans that do not have first claim to the house.  If you go into foreclosure, the primary mortgage will be paid off from the proceeds of the sale before the second mortgage is.  That is why second mortgage interest rates are higher because there is more risk involved.

Because people with bad credit are at higher risk of defaulting on their home payments and going into foreclosure, bad credit second mortgage solutions are harder to find.  Here are some of the things banks look for.

First, is there any equity in the home?  A bad credit second mortgage ca often be secured when the homeowner owes 80 percent or less than the house is currently valued at. 

Second, is there a low debt to income ratio?  The more debt you have, the less chance you have of securing a bad credit second mortgage.

Third, do you have a solid employment history?  If you do, you are more likely to secure a bad credit second mortgage.

Second mortgages can be used for a number of things.  If you do not have the traditional 20 percent down payment, the second can secure the difference.  Seconds are also used as home equity lines of credit to allow the homeowner to renovate the home or just spend the money.

It is also possible to secure a second mortgage above and beyond the value of the home.  Though this was more common when the credit markets were flush, sometimes you can get loans totaling 125 percent of the value of the property.  Lenders usually allow these loans when they perceive that the value of the property will rise in coming years.  This could be because the real estate market is on the upswing or it could be because the new owner is investing in improvements.

You should also know that it is possible to take out third and even fourth mortgages on your home, though these are rare.  The interest rate on each successive loan becomes steeper as the order of payment in case of a foreclosure is reversed.

Prior to its going belly up, Countrywide was the largest source of bad credit second mortgages.  Now that they are no longer in business, it is more difficult to find these loans.  If you need a bad credit second mortgage, you may want to simplify the search by turning to online providers.  In this way you can fill out one form and have several lenders make offers for your loan.  You can compare rates in one easy step. 

Friday, July 2, 2010

Bad Credit Mortgage Lenders - Homes For People With Less Than Perfect Scores

Personal Finance
Bad credit mortgage lenders offer people with less than perfect scores on their credit reports the hope of owning their own homes.  By offering higher interest higher fee sub prime mortgages, bad credit mortgage lenders offer the chance for people with bad credit to own their own home.

Home ownership is part of the American dream.  But, the average cost of a home is six to ten times an average person’s salary depending on what part of the country you live in.  The only chance of owning a home for an ordinary person is to take out a mortgage.  If you have bad credit, it means going to bad credit mortgage lenders.

Many things can happen in people’s lives to put them in a situation where they have bad credit.  It may be the result of overextending yourself.  It may be that you are bad about paying bills.  You may have also had situations outside of your control like a major medical crisis or unexpected layoff.  In any case, bad credit mortgage lenders give you a chance to achieve the American dream of homeownership.

Unfortunately, it is not as simple to get yourself out of a bad credit situation as it was to get into it.  There are some things you can do immediately to improve your credit score, but other options take years of steady payments to improve the bottom line.

One thing you can do immediately is to obtain a free copy of your credit reports.  Then, go through and see if there are any errors.  If errors exist, report them immediately.  The credit bureau has 30 days to confirm the debt.  If they are unable to, then they must remove it from your records.  This can help your credit score tremendously.

When you are thinking about buying a home, make sure you make all your payments on all of your bills on time for at least a year.  This will improve your chances of getting a good rate on a loan.

But, when it comes to actually buying the home, you may find that you have no choice but to go to bad credit mortgage lenders.  This will mean that you have a higher than average rate on your loan and you may also be required to pay extra points.  The lender may also require that you take out insurance to secure the loan.

If you agree to these terms, you have a good chance of improving your credit over the next couple of years.  That is because when you make payments on a home, it improves your credit score.  After 24 months, consider refinancing the home because you should be able to get better rates after you have had the time to rebuild your credit.

Bad credit mortgage lenders offer subprime loans because the risk they take that you won’t pay them back is outweighed by the higher rates and fees you pay.  That’s how bad credit mortgage lenders make their money.

Personal finance