| 361. | Risk Insurance for Your Mortgage
To most of us, "title search" and "title insurance" are just two more items on that unbelievably long checklist associated with buying a house -- two more items for which you must pay. Many people resent having to pay someone one or two hundred dollars to be formally told that the person they are buying the house from really does own it and is actually entitled to sell it to them...
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| Article XML Feed | | - Tuesday, March 13, 2001 |
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| 362. | Are You Willing to Chance a Low-rate Mortgage?
No matter what today`s conventional 30-year mortgage rate is, how would you like one that is two points lower? You can probably get a loan that low with an adjustable rate mortgage (ARM), but you have to be willing to take some risks. It would also help to have a good idea of how long you plan to stay in your home...
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| Article XML Feed | | - Tuesday, March 06, 2001 |
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| 363. | Is a 15-Year Mortgage Right for You? How About an "Unofficial" One?
Refinancing a 30-year mortgage to a 15-year mortgage could save you tens of thousands of dollars in interest over the life of your loan, and allow you to build equity in your home much, much more quickly. There is, however, a downside -- a significantly larger monthly payment...
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| Article XML Feed | | - Tuesday, February 27, 2001 |
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| 364. | Insurance Policies and Mortgage Loans
When applying for a mortgage loan, many consumers discover that there are several types of insurance that need to be purchased. Here are the answers to some of the more common questions that borrowers ask...
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| Article XML Feed | | - Tuesday, February 20, 2001 |
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| 365. | Low Mortgage Rates Open Door to More Homebuyers
As way too many of us learned the hard way when the stock market started imploding last year, the key to survival is timing -- knowing when to move and when to sit still. It`s the same with getting the best mortgage rate...
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| Article XML Feed | | - Tuesday, February 13, 2001 |
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| 366. | Know the Score: Earning a Mortgage-worthy Grade on Your Credit
Remember when you`d stay up half the night cramming so you could get a good grade on a big test? If you`re in the market for a new mortgage, your credit score is one of the most important grades you will ever receive. Too bad you can`t cram for it...
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| Article XML Feed | | - Tuesday, February 06, 2001 |
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| 367. | As Mortgage Interest Rates Fall, Mortgage Insurance Rates Climb
If you buy a home with a conventional loan and you make a down payment of less than 20 percent on your purchase, the interest rate on your mortgage loan is not the only rate you will have to consider. The interest rate you`ll pay on your private mortgage insurance (MI) is also important...
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| Article XML Feed | | - Tuesday, January 30, 2001 |
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| 368. | Pennies Do Add Up and Reduce Mortgage Interest Payments
When we think of mortgages, we tend to think in terms of thousands of dollars, tens of thousands of dollars, maybe as much as a hundred thousand dollars or more. At times, however, it helps to think in terms of pennies...
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| Article XML Feed | | - Tuesday, January 23, 2001 |
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| 369. | APR: What Is It? Does It Affect Your Mortgage Loan?
We`re all used to hearing the term Annual Percentage Rate (APR) applied to credit cards and car loans, but this term is also used with mortgage rates. When it is, however, it gets complicated...
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| Article XML Feed | | - Tuesday, January 16, 2001 |
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| 370. | Four Options for Avoiding Foreclosure
The economy is still trying to recover from the "dot.bomb" explosions, crooked CEOs and a rash of corporate malfeasance issues, the still-weakened stock market, and higher unemployment rates...
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| Article XML Feed | | - Tuesday, January 09, 2001 |
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| 371. | Can You Really Afford the House Your Lender Says You Can?
When we go house hunting, there`s sometimes a difference between the home we dream of owning and the home we can actually afford. The challenge for most of us is to find out how close one is to the other...
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| Article XML Feed | | - Tuesday, January 02, 2001 |
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| 372. | Mortgage Math 101: Why Most of Your Payments Go Toward Interest
Few things are guaranteed to make the average homebuyer`s eyes glaze over faster than a discussion of mortgage amortization tables. If you keep reading -- and stay awake -- for a few minutes, not only will you be able to understand them, you`ll also understand why your mortgage payments are set up the way they are...
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| Article XML Feed | | - Tuesday, December 26, 2000 |
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| 373. | Canceling Your Private Mortgage Insurance
Private mortgage insurance is one of the homeowner`s mixed blessings. If you are buying a home with a conventional mortgage, but you don`t have enough cash to make a 20 percent down payment, you will need Private Mortgage Insurance (PrivateMI) in order to get a mortgage...
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| Article XML Feed | | - Tuesday, December 19, 2000 |
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| 374. | Is a Cash-Out Refi Right for You?
Aside from your home being "your castle," do you consider it to be an investment, or a source of cash? In today`s economy, more and more people are looking at their homes as a way out of debt, and they are using what the mortgage industry refers to as a "cash-out refi," or cash-out refinancing. In a cash-out refi, you borrow against the equity in your home...
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| Article XML Feed | | - Tuesday, December 12, 2000 |
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| 375. | Where Do Mortgage Rates Come From?
When you read about mortgage interest rates, the focus of the article is usually on where they are, how long they will stay there, and whether they will go up or down. While this is definitely important to know, it is also helpful to know WHY mortgage rates are where they are...
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| Article XML Feed | | - Tuesday, December 05, 2000 |
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| 376. | In a Low-Interest Rate Market, is a Low-Rate ARM Right For You?
With interest rates on a 30-year-fixed rate mortgage as low as they are today, few people consider alternative loans. Those who do, however, often find an even lower rate through an Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM)...
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| Article XML Feed | | - Tuesday, November 28, 2000 |
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| 377. | Taking Back A Second Mortgage: Balance the Profits against the Risks
"Taking back" a second mortgage when you sell your home -- "loaning" the buyers some of the money they need in order to buy your place from you -- can be both an effective selling tool and a good "investment." If the transaction is not handled properly, it could be an expensive and major financial blunder...
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| Article XML Feed | | - Tuesday, November 21, 2000 |
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| 378. | Automated Underwriting Speeds Mortgage Approval
Before lenders started using automatic underwriting software that decided if you qualified for a loan, human underwriters could spend 30 days or more answering that question. Today coming up with a decision is often achieved in 30 seconds -- or less...
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| Article XML Feed | | - Tuesday, November 14, 2000 |
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| 379. | Higher Loan Limits Could Lower Mortgage Payments
House prices are going up and housing experts expect that trend to continue into 2003. That`s why Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, government chartered publicly owned companies that buy mortgages from lenders, set conventional loan limits for the new year at levels that are expected to keep pace with the higher prices...
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| Article XML Feed | | - Tuesday, November 07, 2000 |
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| 380. | Balloon Home Loans Can Be Fun and Exciting -- Then They Pop
Finding the mortgage that is just right for you may require some trade-offs. Unless you want to risk a lift-off with your interest rate, however, you probably should avoid a balloon mortgage...
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| Article XML Feed | | - Tuesday, October 31, 2000 |
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| 381. | Buying a Duplex is Simplest Way to Become a Landlord
In the natural order of things, most of us start out as renters and, over time, become homeowners. A small percentage of homeowners take the next step...
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| Article XML Feed | | - Tuesday, October 24, 2000 |
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| 382. | FHA Mortgage Loan Limits Rise for 2003
Even though the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has higher loan limits on its Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage loans for 2003, the process and paperwork that you have to go through to get that loan are the same. The only thing that has changed is the numbers...
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| Article XML Feed | | - Tuesday, October 17, 2000 |
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| 383. | Not All Buy-Down Mortgages are Created Equal
The upside of adjustable-rate mortgages, or ARMs, is that they start out at a lower interest rate than a fixed-rate mortgage. The downside is that you don`t know how high the adjustment will go...
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| Article XML Feed | | - Tuesday, October 10, 2000 |
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| 384. | Don`t Let "Fear of (Mortgage) Commitment" Stop You from Owning a Home
"Fear of commitment" is one of those phrases that you hear psychologists, psychiatrists and relationship counselors bandy about on talk shows. While they usually use it to describe people who cannot bring themselves to commit to one person in marriage, it could also apply to people who cannot bring themselves to commit to buying a home and living with a mortgage...
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| Article XML Feed | | - Tuesday, October 03, 2000 |
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| 385. | "No-Doc" and "Low-Doc" Loans are Not for All Borrowers
The promise that "one size fits all" on a sweatshirt, sweater, nightgown or pair of socks really means that the item really will fit a lot of people of many different shapes and sizes. There will always be some, however, who are too tall or too small, too thin or too heavy, too something or other that excludes them from the label`s promise...
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| Article XML Feed | | - Tuesday, September 26, 2000 |
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| 386. | It`s Tax Time: Be Grateful for Mortgage Interest
You know that the holidays are officially over when the Christmas cards and catalogs that used to fill your mailbox have been replaced by credit card bills. That`s when the anticipation that we felt as we opened those cards and catalogs is replaced by dread as we see the interest we are paying on our credit card bills for all those holiday gifts that we bought...
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| Article XML Feed | | - Tuesday, September 19, 2000 |
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| 387. | FHA Offers Special Loan Forbearance Program to Help Avoid Foreclosure
With Christmas bills lingering and the economy and job market still sagging, some out-of-work homeowners are starting to fall behind in their mortgage payments. This is driving the holiday-inspired "visions of sugar plums" out of their heads, and replacing them with nightmares of foreclosure...
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| Article XML Feed | | - Tuesday, September 12, 2000 |
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| 388. | You Can Divorce Your Mate, but Not Your Mortgage
Few divorces are friendly, and in too many cases, one or both parties use whatever weapons they have at hand to get back at their former partner. Two of the most common weapons used are the family home, and the mortgage that is paying for it...
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| Article XML Feed | | - Tuesday, September 05, 2000 |
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| 389. | Jumbo Loans: Big Loans Have Big Interest Rates
There are big homes and small homes and big loans and small loans. Just as most big homes cost more than small homes, big loans cost more than small ones...
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| Article XML Feed | | - Tuesday, August 29, 2000 |
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| 390. | Capital Gains Tax Break Makes Home and Mortgage Great Investments
One of the major advantages of putting your money into home improvements instead of the stock market is that you©ˆll probably be able to keep all of the profits you make when you sell your house. While the capital gains tax is a major issue for many people in the stock market, it©ˆs a non-issue for most people when they sell their homes...
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| Article XML Feed | | - Tuesday, August 22, 2000 |
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