To qualify you, lenders look at three main factors: 1. Affordability. Lenders use a debt-to-income (DTI) ratio which tells them what percentage of your income will be going towards all of your bills. They will let you spend as much as 43 percent of your income on housing and non-housing bills. 2. Credit health. Lenders will run […]
1. Get a Lower Interest Rate Getting a lower interest rate is the most popular reason to refinance a mortgage. It simply means you are swapping a higher interest rate for a lower one, which can save you considerably on your monthly mortgage payments. It can also help you save thousands of dollars in interest over the life […]
When you’re in the market for a mortgage, it’s best to shop around to find the best rates or get better lender fees. But because this process typically involves multiple lenders checking your credit score, many buyers are concerned these credit inquiries or often referred to as “credit pulls” will hurt their score, leaving them […]
Just as homes come in different styles and price ranges, so do the ways you can finance them. While it may be easy to tell if you prefer a rambler to a split-level or a craftsman to a colonial, figuring out what kind of mortgage works best for you requires a little more research. There […]
Just as homes come in various styles and at different price points, so do the ways you can finance them. There are a number of loan options to choose from, but deciding which kind is best for you requires a little bit of time and research. Many home shoppers assume the best choice is the […]
An FHA loan is a mortgage that’s insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). They are popular especially among first time home buyers because they allow down payments of 3.5% for credit scores of 580+. However, borrowers must pay mortgage insurance premiums, which protects the lender if a borrower defaults. Borrowers can qualify for an FHA loan with a down payment […]
A cash-out refinance is a refinancing of an existing mortgage loan, where the new mortgage loan is for a larger amount than the existing mortgage loan, and you (the borrower) get the difference between the two loans in cash. Basically, homeowners do cash-out refinances so they can turn some of the equity they’ve built up […]
According to Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors® (NAR), a typical homeowner in the U.S. saw his or her housing wealth increase by $9,500 over the past year. Yun commented in NAR’s first quarter report on existing home sales that the quarter had been beneficial to homeowners as “the majority of […]
Mortgage rates change daily, but they have remained in a historically low range for quite some time. If you’re in the market for a mortgage, it could make sense to lock if you see a rate you like. Just make sure you’ve looked around for the best rate first.
Mortgage ratesdidn’t move much today, but the average lender is quoting microscopically higher rates, if anything. Week-over-week, it wouldn’t be unfair to claim that rates are slightly lower. Today’s average news coverage suggests the same due to the weekly release of Freddie Mac’s mortgage rate survey.