Finances

Why You Need a Bridge Loan

You have to move fast in today’s housing market if you want to get into the home of your dreams. In cities such as Seattle or San Francisco it’s not uncommon for a buyer to receive half a dozen offers within the first day or two after putting the house on the market.

Unless you have enough excess income to buy a second home without selling your current abode, you will have to play the timing game; finding a home to purchase while finding a buyer for your own. This can be especially sticky if you are buying in an area with a hotter market than the one you’re leaving. Most sellers won’t be willing to accept ‘contingent’ offers (you buying their home is ‘contingent’ on you selling your home) because of the overwhelming demand in the area manifest by the numerous potential buyers beating down their door.

Under these competitive conditions, a bridge loan may be just what you need to avoid missing out on a time sensitive real estate purchase. Not sure how to go about securing a bridge loan? Eventually you’ll go through a bank or private lender to get a bridge loan, but it pays to know the basics before you set foot into the local loan office.

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You bought a house and you were promoted to the position of a homeowner. It was perhaps the most important decision of your life. Now you are taking a loan and it is going to be a decision that will affect your financial plans henceforth. What if we join these two life changing things ? homeowner and loan? The result is ‘homeowner loan’. The result is a Good loan but there is a scope for improvement. Let us join ‘personal’. The result is Homeowner personal loan. Now, that is one commendable loan type.

If you are a homeowner, I bet you have not yet realized the positive energy it exudes. Especially, in connection to loan borrowing. More and more loan lenders are lining up with exceptional innovations to provide homeowners in UK with homeowner personal loan. The homeowner personal loansis secured against your property. It is a secured loan with numerous advantages. The only disadvantage is that you might loose your assets in face of repayment failure. This is however one major drawback with homeowner personal loan.

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If you have a mortgage on your property, whether it’s for your personal residence or a real estate investment, chances are you have an escrow account. But if you are working on building wealth through real estate, you may want to take a hard look at your escrow account (or accounts, if you own more than one piece of real estate) and decide if you really need it.

Escrow accounts, also known as impound or reserve accounts, are often maintained by mortgage lenders on behalf of their borrowers. They typically work like this: the borrower’s monthly payment covers the loan principal and interest, as well as a prorated amount that is deposited into the escrow account. The lender holds those funds and uses them to pay taxes and insurance for the property when those bills come due on an annual or semiannual basis.

There are a number of benefits to both lenders and borrowers. Serious problems can arise when taxes and insurance bills are not paid, so having that money in escrow helps reduce the lender’s risk. The lender also benefits by having funds on deposit; most states don’t require lenders to pay interest on escrow accounts, but they can certainly earn money on them. And secondary market buyers who purchase mortgage notes generally pay more for loans that have escrow accounts.

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You’ve been looking at houses for months, and finally you’ve found it–the house that’s just right. So now, all you have to do is to purchase your new home, move in, and get settled, right? Not quite. There’s one more big step to go-getting a mortgage loan. You’re going to want to decide on the type of mortgage and payment terms that fit within your budget. And you’re going to have to prepare yourself by doing some research. What follows is valuable information that will be crucial in helping you make loan decisions that will fit your budget and circumstance.

Series: 3 Finding a Perfect Match for your Home Mortgage

Factors That Affect Your Mortgage

Mortgage payments are determined based on the following criteria:

Amount of the loan
Length of the loan
Down payment
Discount points
Closing costs
Credit quality
Income level
Lock in period

Loan Amount: The amount of your loan can increase your interest rate if the amount financed exceeds the conforming loan limits set by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, (private corporations regulated by the federal government) that administer loans. The conforming loan limit changes at the beginning of each year.

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Real estate prices are rising across the country, and Americans are tapping into their home equity like never before. Americans took out $431 billion in home equity loans in 2004, and that amount may increase in 2005. The reasons vary; some are using the money for home improvement, others are using the money to buy real estate, and some are taking reverse mortgages in order to enjoy a better retirement. With interest rates still near historic lows and the bull real estate market continuing, more and more predatory lenders are entering the lending profession.

Most lenders are honest, and prospective borrowers will probably not have any problems resulting from taking out a loan with a national bank. On the other hand, newer, smaller, and less honest lenders are advertising aggressively and may grab your attention by offering terms that seem more favorable than those offered by the larger banks. Sometimes, these terms sound too good to be true, and they often are. Here are a few things to watch out for when taking out a home loan:

A promised low interest rate "disappears", only to be replaced with a higher figure on the contract at closing time. The borrowers, who expected to close right then and there, feel pressured to sign and often accept the higher interest rate.

Previously unmentioned fees turn up on the application at closing. Again, by presenting these previously undisclosed fees at closing time, the borrower is pressured to sign.

Blanks on the application form. It’s hard to believe that a lender would present a blank form and assure the borrower that the blanks will be filled in later, but this actually happens, and borrowers actually sign such deals. Remember, your signature on the form constitutes your agreement to the terms, even if the terms are filled in later.

These problems can be avoided by taking a few simple precautionary steps. Ask about the total fees and interest rates ahead of time. Inform your lender that you fully expect to see those same figures on the documents at closing, and make it clear that you will not sign documents that state otherwise. Make certain that you have provided honest information to the lender. Refuse to sign any blank documents. These things may seem obvious, but when closing approaches, borrowers tend to get in a hurry, as they are eager to get the closing out of the way. Borrowing against your home is not something to take lightly; you can lose your home if you unknowingly sign a predatory document. Take your time.

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Reverse mortgages used to be considered the last resort of desperate retirees who needed to borrow against their home equity in order to pay for medical expenses. With home prices across the country rising at astonishing rates, more and more retirees, aged 62 and over, are taking out reverse mortgages to fund better retirement living. A reverse mortgage works more or less the opposite way from a conventional mortgage; the borrower receives payments from the lender in the form of a lump sum, a line of credit, or monthly payments. The amount borrowed constitutes a lien against the home must be repaid upon the death of the borrower, or when the home is resold. There are costs associated with a reverse mortgage, however, and potential borrowers should be aware of these when considering taking out such a loan, particularly if the borrower takes out a line of credit.

All loans have fees associated with them. There are home appraisals, paperwork fees, mortgage insurance fees, and additional "points" added to the cost of the loan. In general, the costs of taking out a reverse mortgage are higher than those associated with a traditional mortgage. There are several reasons for this, including the fact that the time period for receiving repayment of the loan is indefinite, typically depending on how long the borrower lives. This uncertainty is added into the loan in the form of additional fees.

Most people who take out a reverse mortgage opt to take their funds in the form of a line of credit, rather than a lump sum or monthly payments. There are advantages to a line of credit, which allows the borrower to use the funds by simply writing checks against the loan. The primary advantage is that the borrower only uses the funds when he or she needs them. Because of this, interest only accrues on the money if the borrower actually writes checks. Borrowers should be aware, however, that the costs of the loan, which can be substantial, apply even if the borrower doesn’t write any checks against the loan. If the homeowner takes out a line of credit and decides to sell the home shortly thereafter without ever having written a check against the loan, the borrower will not owe the lender any interest or principal, but the borrower will lose the money paid for the cost of the loan, which is not refundable. If the borrower rolled the costs into the loan itself, they could owe payments even if they never wrote a check.

In short, borrowers considering taking out a reverse mortgage should make sure that they plan to stay in their home for quite some time and that they actually need the money from such a loan. A reverse mortgage is a great idea for those who have a specific purpose or use in mind, but as an emergency source of "rainy day" funds, it can be an expensive choice.

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If you are considering buying a home, then you may be more than a little confused by all of the terms you hear about home loans. After all, lenders throw around words like fixed rate, balloon mortgages and adjustable rate mortgages without a thought. But if you aren’t at least familiar with the basics-those terms can be pretty confusing!

Here’s a basic guide to the three most common types of home loans. Study it, and determine which one is right for you.

Fixed Rate Home Loan

If you are thinking about buying a home and staying in it until you pay it off, then you will probably want a fixed rate home loan. With this type of loan, you will be assigned a fixed interest rate, and then that rate will not change for the life of the loan. If interest rates skyrocket, yours will remain the same. On the other hand, if they plummet, you will likely be paying a higher rate. (You can always refinance in order to get a lower rate.)

Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM)

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Maybe you’ve heard the expert advice that your debt to income ratio shouldn’t be more than 36 percent of your total income. But do you truly know what that means, and how lenders will look at your financial history in order to decide whether or not to extend you a mortgage? If you need help figuring out your debt to income ratio, simply follow the guidelines below and soon you’ll know whether or not you’re in a position to apply for a mortgage loan.

Your debt to income ratio is the amount of monthly debt you pay out in contrast to how much income you have coming in. Start by figuring the easy part-your income. If you are on a structured paycheck, then it will be easy-simply calculate your monthly salary. If you work on a commission or other type of varying income, total your last six month’s earnings and divide by six.

Now you will need to figure your monthly debt. You should total your car payment, credit card payments (use the minimum amount payments for this calculation, even if you pay more), any other monthly debt-such as child support payments-along with the estimated amount of your new mortgage payment.

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Imagine this: you’ve found the perfect house, and feel lucky because the interest rates happen to be at an all time low. So you submit your mortgage loan application, and then?wait. The next week, interest rates go up a point, but you’re still waiting. Another point would mean a significant amount in the monthly payment you will pay, and you groan when you open the newspaper and find that indeed it has gone up again.

Can this be avoided?

Luckily, there are some steps that you can take to speed up the process of your loan application! Here are a few suggestions.

First of all, if you haven’t yet started shopping for your new home, you should consider shopping for a home LOAN before the home. It is possible to be approved for a mortgage loan before you ever find your home, and this will accomplish two things. First of all, it will allow you to lock in an interest rate, which will completely eliminate the "waiting" game mentioned above. In addition, if a seller sees that you are pre-approved, he will be more likely to negotiate with you because he will view you as a "serious" buyer.

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If you in the process of looking for your first home, there are some essential steps that you should be aware of. Many times, people fall in love with a home and rush into the deal-not considering some important issues. Unfortunately, many of those people end up unhappy with their purchase or end up with a deal gone bad.

Avoid this by following the suggestions below and ensuring that you have thought out your purchase thoroughly.

The most important consideration should be the sales price of the home. Just because it’s the best home in the neighborhood, that doesn’t mean that you should pay a lot more for it. In fact, experts tell us that the "best" house in the neighborhood probably won’t sell for much more than the other homes in the area. You should look to pay not more than 10-20 more than the other homes in the area-no matter how much nicer the home is. Anything higher than that is based on emotion-not business-and will probably cost you when you go to sell it.

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