You hear the term mortgage points and shudder. Who wants to pay them, right?
What if they aren’t as bad as they seem? Yes, they are a fee, but it’s a fee that helps you get a mortgage. They aren’t as bad as everyone makes them seem.
It’s time to learn the truth about mortgage points.
A purchase contract is more than a monetary bid. You and the seller must agree on several other terms, including the purchase contract contingencies.
These ‘conditions’ are important and could make or break your deal. Without contingencies, you could be on the hook for a home you don’t want to buy anymore.
If you back out, you could lose your earnest money. With them, though, some sellers may not accept your offer.
Whether you should consider contingencies is a discussion between you and your attorney, but understanding what they are helps the conversation.
Shopping for a mortgage means you’ll hear many terms and acronyms. Some make sense, like a down payment, and others, like PITI, may make your head spin.
Just what is PITI and how is it calculated?
You want to buy a home, but you’ve heard your debt ratio is too high. What does that mean and how can you fix it?
Lenders take a big risk lending you money to buy a home. They loan money for as long as 30 years, with the expectation that you’ll pay every penny back. What if you can’t? If you lose your job, fall ill, or have financial difficulties, you may fall behind or stop making your payments altogether.
Lenders must pay close attention to your debt ratio to prevent this from happening. While they can’t control what happens in your life, they can control who they lend money to, which is why getting out of debt is important.
COVID-19 has changed the way we do most things, including buying a house. Sellers are cautious about who they let in their house – reserving times for only serious buyers that already did the preliminary work of viewing the home.
So how can you find a home with little to no contact?
Try these tips.
It’s a debate many people have – should you pay off debt or save money? It’s kind of a case of what came first, the chicken or the egg because paying off debt is important, but so is saving money.
No one likes to stay in debt, but most people don’t like not having a savings account either. It’s a double-edged sword, but we’ve got a few words of advice, especially for those looking to buy a home or refinance.
Some changes to your home value you can’t help. If the market falls, it falls – there’s not much you can do. But, when the market is steady or even increasing, there are ways you can make sure your home keeps the same pace and appreciates like the other homes in the area.
Here’s how.
You’ve likely heard you need a 2-year job history to get a mortgage.
It’s true – but that’s not the whole story. You can get a mortgage if you don’t have a two-year job history. It’s not an automatic reason to decline a loan, so don’t give up until you know the truth.
Lenders want proof of your creditworthiness (good credit) and the ability to repay the loan (income). But many factors make up both situations; it’s not a one-size-fits-all approach.
Let’s look at some scenarios.
Did the pandemic wreak havoc on your credit score? You aren’t alone.
The good news is that credit scores are fluid. Just because your score fell now doesn’t mean it will stay there forever. With a few simple steps, you can bring your credit score back up where you need it.
You want to buy a home but the thought of paying Private Mortgage Insurance doesn’t thrill you. If you don’t have the 20 percent down payment, though, you don’t have much of a choice, unless you use the piggyback loan option.