Mortgage Soup
J.Stewart
Mortgage Soup
Looking for home mortgage loans can get confusing with the alphabet soup of mortgage loans programs available today.
Most of these programs are just variations of fixed rate and adjustable rate mortgage loans. These loans can be structured to meet your financial needs, and most are available in 15 or 30-year terms. Your long-term plans play an important part in selecting the right type of loan, use
these general guidelines to help you as you shop for home mortgage loans.
Fixed Rate Mortgage - If you’re going to be staying in your home for at least 7 years, consider a fixed rate. This
loan’s interest rate is fixed for the life of the loan or term – 15, 20 or 30 years. Usually the shorter the term,
the lower the interest rate. This type of loan is amortized – both the principle and the interest are paid off at the end of the loan term.
Adjustable Rate Mortgage - If your only planning on living in your home for a short period of time you may want to
consider an adjustable rate. Your interest rate can adjust – up or down. The rate is tied to an index like treasury bills or prime rates. The initial rate usually starts out
low, but can adjust after a set period of time. If you choose this type of loan and then decide to stay in your
home, you may want to refinance after two years to avoid any upward rate adjustments.
Combination Fixed and Adjustable - Going to be in your house for just a few years? This type of home mortgage loan can start out as a fixed rate for a set number of years, keeping
your rate and payments low, and then the loan adjusts. Like the adjustable rate, the amount of the adjustment is tied to an index that can go up or down. This loan is sometimes
called a two-step or convertible ARM. Just remember, these loans usually go up after a set period of time, or if you have to convert after a few years it can cost you money. Be sure you understand your loan and when your payments could go up to avoid paying more than you have to.
Balloon - An interest only loan. You would only want to use this loan if you were only staying for a short time in your home. Because you’re only paying interest, and nothing towards the principle, you don’t build any equity. At the end of the loan term, you have to pay the balance off all at once, but few people ever keep these loans for the entire term.
Having an understanding of these basic types of loans and combinations of them is the key to finding the mortgage loan
that is right for you.
About the Author
J.S.Stewart is the author of "Mortgage Soup." Visit his
site to shop for mortgage loans at
http://www.2applyforloan.com
The latest information and news on Mortgages:
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With the Obama administration and private lenders actively considering mortgage principal-reduction programs to help financially distressed homeowners, the Internal Revenue Service has issued a new advisory to taxpayers who receive -- or seek to receive -- such assistance. The IRS gets involved in m...
Borrowers in foreclosure prevention plan losing mortgage aid (Washington Post)
About 90,000 distressed borrowers have lost their mortgage aid under the government's foreclosure prevention plan, and many more are at risk of losing the help, according to Treasury Department data released Friday.
Some tax issues to consider on mortgage write-downs (Washington Post)
With the Obama administration and private lenders actively considering mortgage principal-reduction programs to help financially distressed homeowners, the Internal Revenue Service has issued a new advisory to taxpayers who receive -- or seek to receive -- such assistance. The IRS gets involved in.....
Lender blames escrow shortage for $400 increase in monthly mortgage payment (...
Q: We have owned our house for many years, and the lender has always escrowed money to pay our real estate taxes and insurance. This year, we received a notice from the lender that our monthly mortgage payment will increase by over $400 because there is an escrow shortage. Can we cancel the escrow r...
Mortgage interest rates down for second week as home loan applications rise (...
Mortgage interest rates declined for a second consecutive week as the number of home loan applications rose.
Yahoo! News Search Results for refinance
Refinance may limit financial flexibility (Bankrate.com via Yahoo! Finance)
Reduced financial flexibility may be the price for a home refinance that lowers your mortgage rate.
Pernod Ricard Plans to Issue Bonds to Refinance Absolut Buyout (Bloomberg)
March 10 (Bloomberg) -- Pernod Ricard SA , the world?s second-biggest liquor maker, is planning to sell six-year bonds to help refinance loans used to buy the Absolut vodka brand in March 2008.
Tamaqua Area school district to save $137,000 by refinancing bond (The Pottsv...
TAMAQUA - Tamaqua Area school directors say they will save the district about $137,000 by refinancing a bond issue that originally paid for the Tamaqua Area Middle School. School directors unanimously voted to refinance about $3.1 million in outstanding
Euro finance ministers to agree on Greek aid: source (Reuters via Yahoo! News)
Euro zone finance ministers are likely to agree on Monday on a mechanism for aiding Greece financially, if it is required, but will leave out any sums until Athens asks for them, an EU source said on Saturday.
LA council approves $2B sale of LAX bonds (Daily Breeze)
The Los Angeles City Council agreed Friday to sell another $2 billion worth of bonds to help pay for construction projects and refinance existing debt for Los Angeles International Airport.