Mortgage Debt Elimination in 5 to 7 years!

Mortgage Debt Elimination shows that most home loan debts will be secured. Secured debts usually are tied to an asset, like your house for a mortgage. If you stop making payments, lenders can foreclose on your house.
Unsecured debts are not tied to any asset, and include most credit card debt, bills for medical care, signature loans, and debts for other types of services.
If you fall behind on your mortgage, you must contact your lender immediately to avoid foreclosure, dont wait 2 or 3 months. Most lenders are willing to work with you if they believe you're acting in good faith and the situation is temporary, please tell the truth.
Some lenders may reduce or suspend your payments for a short time, mortgage debt elimination shows you that when you resume regular payments, you will only have to pay an small additional amount toward the past due total.
Other lenders may agree to change the terms of the mortgage by extending the repayment period to reduce the monthly debt. Ask whether additional fees would be assessed for these changes, and calculate how much they total in the long term.
If you and your lender cannot work out a plan, contact a housing counseling agency. Some agencies limit their counseling services to homeowners with FHA mortgages, but many offer free mortgage debt advice to any homeowner who's having trouble making mortgage payments.
Call the local office of the Department of Housing and Urban Development or the housing authority in your state, city, or county for help in finding a legitimate housing counseling agency near you.
The prospect of debt elimination is something that many Americans are dealing with today. If you are concerned about your current debt situation, constantly trying to eliminate debt from your life, you are not alone.
In fact, over half of all American households have trouble meeting their minimum monthly obligations, driving them further and further into debt.
Interest on the average home mortgage will cost the homeowner nearly TWO TIMES the cost of the home.
If you were to purchase a $150,000 home with a $120,000 mortgage (80%), and you paid an interest rate of 9% for 30 years, you will have paid over $227,500 just in interest (in addition to the original $120,000). That's nearly two times the cost of the home!
Without mortgage debt elimination, you can pay-off your home, credit cards, car loans and other debts the slow, old-fashioned way and maybe end up with a few thousand dollars saved for your retirement years...or you can stop living Pay-Check to Pay-Check. Starting Today!
NOW! Imagine what you will feel like, when you wake up one morning and absolutely know that all of your debts have been eliminated, and you Now Own Your House, mortgage debt elimination shows you how.

Real Estate : Understand a Real Estate Appraisal

If you buy a house or refinance one, through a lender, you will have to have an appraisal. The reason it is required is FHA insures the loan, VA quarantees the loan and conventional loans are federally related. The easiest way to explain the process is from the beginning.

There are three types of residential appraisers. There are also timber, agricultural, industrial and other appraisers. Most residential appraisers are not allowed to do those and even if they are usually they will reject the request because they don’t have that kind of expertise. There are licensed, certified and general appraisers. Usually the licensed appraiser has the least education and can do an appraisal up to a certain value. I always find this a little stupid since you can’t know the value until you are done with the appraisal. What do you do, complete it and then tell the lender, oops I’m sorry, I can’t give you the completed appraisal because it exceeded my limit. Certified appraisers can usually do any value of residential property and up to a certain amount in commercial. General can pretty well appraise anything, Trump’s ......

Usually appraisers receive the assignment, request, contract with the contact information and address. From there begins the initial file work. A search is done of the area , then of the neighborhood, determining types of housing, age range, price range, marketing time....Hopefully at that time there is adequate information to make one trip. A call is made to the contact, usually a homeowner or agent. Sometimes the house will be on a lockbox, which makes it convenient for everyone, especially the appraiser, if it works. First an oblique picture is taken of the front, rear and one of the street. The house is supposed to be measured on the exterior including porches, bay areas, garage, etc. Then the square footage is calculated in the living area, which excludes unfinished, unheated areas, such as the garage, a utility room and open areas above the first floor.

Think of an appraisal like a physical exam. Everything, I mean, everything , from the front door (insulated steel entry) to the floor (ceramic tile) to the windows (insulated double hung) and the screens (full) is noted. When he or she started the file some of the information they were looking for was three recent, similar sales that occurred in the same neighborhood. That’s the perfect condition but it doesn’t always happen. I should say it never happens in rural areas unless there is a new development. So if the subject’s size was fairly close to accurate (taken from most public records, mls, agent or plans and specs) then the appraiser has it made , almost. With map in hand they go on to the comparables. A front picture and notes are all that’s needed there. Back to the office they go. Please rate and tell friends.

How To Get a Mortgage If You're Self-Employed

If you are self-employed, work on a contract basis, or have an income that is irregular or comes from multiple sources, it will generally be harder for you to get a mortgage than it is for someone who is an employee and can easily prove their income.

A self-employed person is someone who runs their own business and works for themselves without an employer. Directors of small limited companies, although technically employed on a PAYE basis, will generally be classed as self employed when it comes to applying for a mortgage or remortgage.

With over three million self-employed individuals in the UK, the attitude of many mortgage lenders towards the self-employed population is a problem that can affect a large number of people, even though many self-employed people often earn more than a lot of salaried workers.

The problem stems from the fact that the majority of mainstream mortgage lenders require proof of income when assessing a mortgage or remortgage application. Employed people can use their payslips and P60 as proof of salary, but there is no such straightforward equivalent if you are self-employed.

In place of payslips, self-employed workers may be asked to provide audited accounts that show their income over the last three years. However, in many cases, these accounts will not give an accurate reflection of how much money a self-employed person is making. This is because if the accountant who prepared the accounts is doing his job properly, he will have offset as many allowable expenses as possible against tax. This has the effect of reducing the self-employed person's net profit, upon which the lender will base the size of mortgage or remortgage they are prepared to offer.

The situation is even worse for the newly self-employed, as they may not yet have been trading long enough to have had three years' worth of accounts prepared.

This is where mortgage lenders who specialise in self-certification mortgages and self-employed mortgages come into their own. These types of lenders appreciate the different and complex working patterns of the self-employed, contract workers, and people whose jobs are seasonal. They are prepared to look at each case individually and assess each mortgage application on its own merits, rather than just applying a series of one-size-fits-all income tests. In many cases, self-certification means that you do not need to supply any proof of income - you just declare what your income is without having to provide any supporting documentation.

In addition, specialist self-employed and self-certification lenders are more likely to offer flexible mortgage products that allow overpayments and underpayments. This is ideal for people whose income can fluctuate throughout the year, as it means you can overpay when times are good and underpay if you're business is going through a quiet period.

Total Cost Of Credit vs Monthly Payments

I read a press release the other day which points to the fact we need to be very careful with our finances. The subject of the release was home mortgages. A company was announcing the availability of 40 year mortgages for its customers. The stated purpose was to lower the monthly payments to make buying a home more affordable.

Whenever I hear the phrase “more affordable”, I put my hand on my wallet because the attempt to empty it will begin any moment. Almostnever is that phrase used in relation to the total cost of financing. It isalways used in reference to the size of the monthly payment, as in this example.

Let’s see what it really means. I did the math. A mortgage for a $100,000 home at 6% for 30 years would have a monthly payment
of about $600 for principal and interest. You would pay about
$216,000 over the life of the loan of which $116,000 would be
interest..

A mortgage on that same home for 40 years would be at 6.25%,
with a monthly payment of $565. The payments over the life of
the loan would total about $271,200 and $171,200 of the total
would be interest.

The forty year mortgage has a higher interest rate (usually
between.25 and .50 percent) because the lender has his
money at risk for a longer time (Lenders are well aware that
time is money. You should be as aware).

This higher rate coupled with the extra ten years of the loan, has the borrower paying 47% more interest, or $55,000 more over the life of the loan. Even with a lower payment that supposedly makes it more affordable to purchase that home. Sounds like a pretty good deal for the lender.

Another problem the borrower faces is building equity much
more slowly in the beginning of the loan. The extra interest
expense paid for the extended length of the loan prevents equity
from building up quickly. All of this for a monthly payment that is only $35 less.

You need to think in terms of overall cost and not just monthly
payments. The total cost is what you will give back to your
creditors. The focus on the monthly payment takes attention
away from the total amount to be repaid. You need to look at
this with any indebtedness, car payments, personal loans, credit cards: figure the total cost, not just what you pay each month.

You'll begin to hear more about these loans I'm sure. Think long and hard before you lengthen your indebtedness. The goal is to become debt free and to do it as fast as possible. Advise your families and friends to do the same.

Turn That Fixed Rate Mortgage Into A Goldmine

When you purchased your home, you most likely got a fixed interest rate mortgage with a 15 or 30 year term. These are the most popular mortgages in the industry. Even in the summer of 2004, when the interest-only or simple interest mortgage loans became popular, the average American stuck to the fixed rate. You see, the fixed rate offers security to conservative people, and the average American home buyer and home owner is a very conservative person.

Today, it's time to ignore that conservative nature and throw out that fixed rate mortgage. If you have a home, no matter when you purchased or refinanced your mortgage, you now need to refinance your fixed interest rate mortgage to an adjustable rate mortgage.

Now, before you begin to panic and start calling me all kinds of unsavory names, read on, and you'll see why an ARM is actually a cash goldmine, and you need to start panning for this gold immediately.

When I was originating loans fulltime, I could barely get the word ARM out of my mouth, before the customer would say, “Oh no! I don’t want an adjustable mortgage. I’ve heard how the rates change and your payment skyrockets, and some people actually lose their homes. No, no, I don’t want my rate to change.” Of course, once I illustrated the thousands of dollars they would save in just a few years and quashed all of those myths about loan payments “blowing up,” most of them decided the ARM was not the “devil loan” it’s made out to be.

But why risk an adjustment of your rate, you may ask, when you can have it fixed for the life of the loan? The answer is twofold and quite simple. The first part is the most important, and that is the average American either sells or refinances his or her home in four to seven years. So, if the chances are that you’ll sell or refinance in five years, why fix your rate for 30 years at a higher interest than you can get on an ARM?

The second reason to get an Adjustable Rate Mortgage is because the interest rates are so much lower than fixed rates. And since these great rates are fixed for a particular period, five years on a 5-year ARM and three years on a 3-year ARM, there really is no risk, at all. Again, in most adjustable rate mortgage programs, the interest rate does not adjust monthly or yearly
(although programs with these types of adjustment periods do exist at much lower rates).

For example, as of publication of this article in 2004, the 30-year fixed rate mortgage was going for around 5.75%, and a 5-year Adjustable Rate Mortgage was going for about 4%. Suppose you’re financing $100,000. The 30-year fixed rate of 5.75% would give you a monthly payment of $583.57 (not including your taxes and insurance, which vary from state to state and county to county). The same $100,000 financed at 4.0% interest yields a monthly payment of $477.42. The difference in these two payments is $106.15. This is $1,273.80 each year, and $6,369.00 for five years. I can hear you saying, “Wow, that’s hard to believe,” but these are real numbers and real savings. You may be saying, “Sure, but the rates change.” This is true, but the difference in the fixed rate mortgages and the ARMs is almost always the same, regardless of what rates the market bears, so you’ll always save a ton of money in the difference in these two payments.

The numbers are even more staggering if you finance $150,000. The fixed rate payment is $875.36 and the 5-year ARM payment is $716.12 – a monthly savings of $159.24 and over $9,500 for five years. If you buy or refinance a home and finance $200,000 or more, you’ll save between $13,000 and $15,000 over five years, with the 4% rate as opposed to the fixed rate of 5.75%.

Bank that money and you can buy a decent car for cash, or pay for a year of college, or take a European vacation. Pretty powerful stuff, huh? Now, if you’re one of those people who is really into cutting into the term of your mortgage, and you can afford the higher fixed-rate payment, simply apply the difference back to the principal loan amount. You’ll build equity in your home very quickly, and you'll always have the option of paying the lower payment.

So, get your adjustable rate mortgage today, and start using your own personal goldmine.

Bankers Don't Want You to Know That You Pay for Your No Cost Home Loan Forever

With mortgage rates continuing on a downward trend, the competition in the business is fierce. A day never passes that I don't hear some crazy advertisement about a new loan program that XYZ mortgage company has and no one else offers. One of the oldest programs remains steadfast in both its high profile and its duplicity. This program is the No Cost Home Loan -- the one bankers say is free, but you actually pay for as long as you have the loan.
The no closing cost home loan is virtually everywhere. It is advertised in the mail, on radio and on TV all the time. "Hey, refinance your loan today, and there will be no closing costs," the ads scream. Wow, a free loan. Imagine the money you'll save. So, if you are in the market for a refinance loan or home equity line, which you probably should be, with rates at all-time lows, you might consider running to XYZ mortgage company, who is now offering free mortgage loans.
Just be careful you don't go bankrupt, along the way. Remember, the old cliche, Nothing in life is free, because it makes a lot of sense. You actually can get a mortgage with little or no closing costs. What bankers don't tell you (one of their great secrets) is that you pay a higher interest rate than you really qualify for, when you get your loan for "free." So, you might save $2,000 or $3,000 in closing costs, but your monthly payment could be $100 to $300 higher than it would have been if you had actually paid the costs.
Imagine taking this loan and saving $2,000 in total closing costs. Perhaps you borrow $200,000. Now, if you simply pay all the costs and tell the banker you want the best rate available, let's say it is 6% for this example, you would have a monthly payment of $1,199. Now, let's assume the wiley banker convinces you to pay no closing costs and take an in terest rate of 7%. He might say, "Now, your interest rate will be a bit higher, but you'll save $2,000 in closing costs." Sounds great, you might think.
What he doesn't do, though, is spell out the difference in the 6% rate you could qualify for, versus the 7% rate you choose to take for your "free" loan. If you borrow $200,000 at 7% interest, your monthly payment is $1,330. This is $131.00 more each month than you will pay on the same loan at 6% interest.
If you choose to pay the closing costs and save $131.00 monthly, it will take you 15 months to get your $2,000 in closing costs back. Now, if you keep this loan for five years beyond that first 15 months, you will save an additional $7,860 at the 6% interest rate. If you listen to the crafty banker, selling the No Cost Loan, you'll allow nearly eight thousand dollars to drift right up your home's chimney.
Unless the difference in the interest rate on your no closing cost loan and the loan with costs is a tiny amount, say .125%, you are almost always better off paying the costs. Be sure to ask what the difference in the rates is. Then learn exactly what the total closing costs will be. Calculate the difference in the two monthly payments (one with closing costs and one without). If that amount will pay back your closing costs in two years or less, and you intend to remain in your loan for at least five years, pay the costs and take the better rate.
Use this method, and you'll never go wrong.