Second Mortgage

Understanding mortgage impound accounts can help you save money each month on your mortgage.

Mortgage Impound Account Payments

The purpose of a mortgage impound account is to have you pay the lender each month including your regular loan payment, income taxes and hazard insurance. Read the rest of this entry »

Qualification ratios are the measure lenders use to evaluate potential borrowers.

It determines how much of a loan you qualify for.

A lender uses two basic ratios when looking at an applicant:

current monthly debt load
projected future mortgage debt load
total monthly income
The current monthly debt load is based on the borrower’s current monthly payments such as credit cards, student loans, and other consumer lines of credit. Read the rest of this entry »

Doing a mortgage negotiation properly can save you thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars.

First of all, mortgage fees are negotiable. Just because you receive an official looking stack of documents from a mortgage broker or lender doesn’t mean you can’t negotiate. You will get your “mortgage quote” in the form of a good faith estimate. This will outline the expected charges. This is not a guarantee of final loan costs. It is only an estimate. Read the rest of this entry »

A balloon mortgage is a loan that is provided for a short period of time for a set amount of money.

 Balloon mortgages will often involve periodic payments that are made at a fixed interest rate. During this period, the loan may not be amortized. The balance of the loan has to be paid in full at a specific time.

Another feature of balloon mortgages is that they will combine many of the features seen in adjustable rate mortgages and fixed mortgages. The interest rate will remain fixed for a certain period of time, which may be from 5 to 7 years. Read the rest of this entry »