Your Home is a Hedge Against Inflation
The concern about inflation is the sustained upward movement in the overall price of goods and services while the purchasing value of money decreases. Tangible assets like your home consistently become more valuable over time. In inflationary periods, your home is a good investment and a hedge against inflation. Money in the bank loses purchasing power due to inflation and the interest you may be earning is almost always less than inflation. Home prices are going up but so is rent. With mortgage rates near historic lows, the interest is,...
read moreWhy is the APR higher than the interest rate?
Annual percentage rate is a calculation to accurately reflect the cost of the mortgage considering the note rate of interest, financing fees and charges based on the term of the mortgage. Annual percentage rate, APR, calculates the interest rate and loan fees over the life of the loan expressed as a rate. A mortgage has a quoted interest rate plus a specified number of points which may be paid at closing or rolled into the loan, in some instances. For example, a $400,000 loan amount at 2.98% interest for 30-years with 0.7 points would have an...
read moreThere’s more to it than you might think
There is more to selling a home than you might think. Superficially, a person might think that it will sell itself currently because, nationally, homes for sale receive 3.6 offers and they sell within 18 days. Any business student can probably list the four Ps of marketing: product, price, place, and promotion. It may appear that there isn’t much to selling a home: put a price on it; photograph it; put a sign in the yard; and, put it in MLS but, on closer scrutiny, there is a lot more that the best agents provide. Long before the home...
read moreWill Soft Inquiries Hurt Your Credit Score?
Soft inquiries, sometimes known as a soft credit check or a soft credit pull, do not impact your credit scores because they are not attached to a specific application for credit. They can occur when a credit card issuer or mortgage lender checks a person’s credit for preapproval purposes. Examples of soft inquiries are when you check your own credit or one of your current creditors checks your credit. If you are concerned about the negative impact on your score, specify to the lender that you want a “soft pull” to see if you...
read morePaying Down Your Mortgage
When the situation arises that you have a lump sum of cash to pay down your existing mortgage, there may be different options available. Pre-paying principal on a fixed-rate mortgage shortens the term of the mortgage but the payment stays the same. Conversely, recasting a mortgage with a lump-sum principal payment lowers the principal and interest payment but leaves the term intact with the same payoff date. The interest rate on the mortgage will stay the same regardless. Prepaying principal can be done at any time but may not be applied...
read moreIn Search of a Big Mortgage
The Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loan limits are adjusted annually to keep up with cost of living but with the appreciation experienced in many markets, it may not be enough. When the conforming loan limit is not enough, qualified buyers can turn to a jumbo loan. The maximum loan limit on conforming, conventional loans for 2022 is $625,000 for a single-family home but is increased up to $937,500 for designated high price areas. The underwriting guidelines for conforming loans are consistent with regards to things like minimum down payment,...
read moreCredit Utilization Affects Your Score
Credit utilization reflects how much of your available credit is being used at a given time. Lower credit utilization indicates that a borrower is not heavily relying on their credit and that they are using their credit responsibly. Is calculated by dividing your total credit card balances by your total limits. The higher the percentage, the higher the risk which adversely affects the credit score according to most of the companies. It is recommended that your credit utilization be under 30% to positively impact your credit score. If the...
read moreLarger Payment, Shorter Term, Bigger Savings
Some people consider a house payment as basic as monthly utilities but with a plan and some discipline, you can be mortgage free. Consider a person borrowed $300,000 at 3% for 30 years, the principal and interest payment would be $1,264.81 and at the end of 12 years, the unpaid balance on the mortgage would be $210,900. If that same person had financed the home on a 15-year term at 2.5%, the payments would have been $2,000 but the unpaid balance at the end of 12 years would be $69,310. The homeowner will have a larger equity but they have...
read moreHave you checked these lately?
Homeowners know the need to periodically check certain things around the home to ensure that things operate properly and efficiently. If maintenance is required, it may be less expensive to take care of it early rather than waiting until it is not working at all. Checklists are helpful because it requires little effort to know what must be done. They are usually concise and provide enough information to complete the task. These items apply to most homeowners but in no way offer a comprehensive list. Vacuum dryer exhaust … not only does...
read moreUncle IRRRL wants to refinance your VA loan
You don’t have to have an Uncle IRRRL but you must be a veteran with a current VA-backed home loan. IRRRL is an acronym for Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loan. To refinance with this program, also called the VA Streamline, the loan must provide a net tangible benefit (NTB) which would be in the financial interest of the Veteran. Obtaining a lower interest rate is usually the reason behind refinancing but there needs to be enough difference in the current and the new mortgage to justify the expenses incurred. Significantly lower...
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