Monday, September 22, 2008

Consult Professionals for Home Mortgage

Buying your dream home can be quite confusing. You are probably just like the millions of aspiring home buyers who do not have enough know-how to determine whether you are getting a great deal or not, you probably are not sure whether a particular home mortgage offer is right for you. If such is the case, it is best that you consult professionals so that you would know what to look for when buying a house or getting a home mortgage.

What to expect when consulting professionals for home mortgage?

You should expect home buying professionals to do the following for you when you consult them:

1. Check your qualifications to determine the price range that is affordable to you

2. Consider your preferences or wishes to look for homes that would fit your taste and requirements

3. Take you to the actual location of houses that would meet your specifications

4. Give you a good backgrounder on the area where the house is such as the profile of the community, where schools are, the location of hospitals, the rates of property taxes, specific building codes and regulations, the quality of services in the community, etc.

5. Give you the specifics of each property such as the zoning, the size of the house and lot area, the age of the property, the equipment there, the utilities, and the other important information about the property.

6. Be your representative to the seller and present what you can offer to them

7. Be the one to arrange the details of closing

8. Give you advice about mortgage lenders and rates, attorney for the real estate, title companies, and home inspectors.

9. Help you determine if the deals are good or not.

Tips when consulting with professional:

-Even if you already have a house in mind, be sure to as the professional to show you more houses. When buying a home, it is important that you see all options before closing a deal.

- Check for signs that you are being manipulated in a certain way either to veer you away from or to persuade you towards a particular house or community. If such as the case you can look for a second opinion.

- Always read everything carefully before signing. Even if it is the professional’s job to help you get a great deal out of a home or mortgage, you still have to be cautious when doing such a major purchase.

It is always best to consult professionals when you are confused about something. When getting home mortgage, a professional can help you make more sense of such important matters.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Compare Home Mortgage Rates

One of the most essential factors of a person’s decision to get a home is how the mortgage rates fare for a particular time. Rarely can people afford to buy houses on a cash basis thus getting a home loan has been the norm for several decades already. But there are different types of mortgages and to get the best deals with home loans, it important to compare home mortgage rates.

Mortgage Rates 101

Mortgage rates are simply the payment people pay to lenders, such as banks and other financial institutions, for letting them borrow money. Mortgage rates are affected by numerous factors that generally affect the entire economy. And the varying rates make it possible for people to get the best deals at a particular time if the know how to compare them.

Mortgage rates are generally based on certain decisions of the Federal Reserve in New York. The Federal Reserve studies the current economic trends such as exportation and inflation to see how fast or slow the economy is moving.

If the economy is rather sluggish or inactive, mortgage rates are lowered so that people would be more encouraged to apply for loans and make business transactions. On the other hand, if the economy is moving rather too fast, mortgage rates are raised so that people and businesses would be discouraged to make investments or do transactions.

To get a good deal when buying a house, it is important for people to compare the mortgage rates across different times and different types. One may benefit from looking at the trends of the mortgage rates to see whether rates at a particular time are higher or lower when compared to rates in the past.

Current Home Mortgage Rates

The mortgage rates of this year is somewhat higher when compared to that of the year 2005. As of September 21, 2006, the average mortgage rate for 30-year fixed rate mortgages is 6.40 percent while for the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage it is 6.06 percent. For the 5/1-year adjustable-rate mortgage it is 6.08 percent and for the 1-year adjustable-rate mortgage it is 5.54 percent.

Apart from comparing home mortgage rates according to different periods, it is also important to compare interest rates according to individual lenders. This can easily be done through the internet by going to online mortgage and economic websites such as www.bizrate.com, www.bankrate.com, www.mortgagenews.com, www.mortgageloan.com, among many others.

Home mortgage rates are manageable if proper comparisons are made. To best deals are those made with the best comparisons.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

An Introduction To Home Loan Interest Rates

Getting a home loan is one of the very important aspects of modern living, and one of the most important parts of this endeavor are interest rates. However, a lot of people cringe at the very mention of interest because of the common image that is another venue for expending money. But this intimidation in turn results into the little knowledge about interest rates that most people have.

To conquer the fear of something, one should know more about it. Here is a little some useful information about home loan interest rates that could help one get acquainted with home loans in general:

What are the two types of home loan interest rates?

There are two major types of home loan interest rates available for people who are planning to borrow money to buy a house. The first is the fixed rate home loan, in which there is a fixed interest rate as well as monthly dues extended over a fixed period of time, such as 15 years or 30 years. The second type is the adjustable rate home loan, where the interest rates vary up or down according to the fluctuation of the interest rates in the market.

Fixed Rate Home Loan Interest

Fixed-rate home loans are generally the more popular type of interest rate scheme among the two. They are very popular mainly because people are quite adamant about the image of their home payments falling down or rising up because of varying interest rates. People usually get fixed-rate home loans whenever the rates offered for a particular time are quite low, making the mortgages quite affordable for them.

Fixed-rate home loans are generally divided into two types according to the duration of loan 15 or 30 years. Some people believe that 30 years is quite reasonable, while other think that 15 years is more so. Here are the advantages and disadvantages of each type of fixed-rate home loans:

30-year Home Loan

This type of fixed rate loan provides the borrower a chance to loan money for a long time without being bothered by fluctuating payments and interest rates. Many people believe that this type of loan is more affordable because the monthly payment rates are significantly lower that those involved in a 15-year loan since the interest rate is distributed over a wider period of time. The smaller increments of monthly payments allow the borrower to allocate their resources to other investments, which may help them maintain their houses better.

The disadvantage of a 30-year home loan is that it takes very long for borrowers to develop equity since the payments made during the early portions of the loan term just go mostly to the interest instead of the principal.

When computing the overall interest rates, they are significantly higher than that of a shorter-term loan since the term for amortization is much longer. The interest rates for this type of loan are also significantly higher than for the 15-year home loan.

15-year Home Loan

This type of home loan is good for others because they allow the borrowers to develop equity significantly faster because the amortization schedule is shorter. When computing for the overall interest, the borrower would get a significantly lower total than those who are on a longer term. Interest rates for this type of loan are also significantly lower than for the 30-year home loan.

However, some people cannot afford this type of loan because the monthly payments may be very much higher than with the 30-year home loan. Typically, buyers could only acquire houses of smaller value than what they may be able to afford with a loan of a longer term.

Adjustable-rate Home Loans

Despite the idea of fluctuating interest rates, some people prefer adjustable-rate home loans. Those who do generally understand that the interest rates do not really rise or fall like a seesaw. Adjustable-rate home loans actually start with fixed rates for a particular, longer period and then followed by a significantly shorter period of adjustable interest rates.

What is good about adjustable-rate home loans is that the fixed interest rates for the initial period are very much lower than that of fixed-rate home loans. And this fixed-rate portion of the loan is very much longer than the adjustable part. For instance, the fixed-rate term might be 10 years long, while the adjustable rate term would be just a year. Some people actually get to save more in such scenario.

However, people still have to be careful when getting adjustable-rate home loans. Careful study must be made to ensure that interest rates in the adjustable part of the loan do not rise dramatically.

Knowing about the types of interest rates for home loans is an important factor when planning to borrow money to buy a house. To know more about home loan interest rates, it is best to consult with loan experts.