Years ago, credit scoring had little to do with mortgage lending. When reviewing the credit worthiness of a borrower, an underwriter would make a subjective decision based on past payment history. Then things changed. Lenders studied the relationship be...
Read more
When you apply for a mortgage loan, you expect your lender to pull a credit report and look at whether you've made your payments on time. What you may not expect is that they seem to be more interested in your FICO® score. "What's a FICO® score?" is a ...
Read more
When buying a home, it is not enough to just come up with the money. With the exception of no asset verification loans, lenders want to verify where the money for your new home will be coming from. If you can document that the funds are coming from your p...
Read more
This is a detailed summary of costs you may have to pay when you buy or refinance your home. They are listed in the order that they should appear on a Good Faith Estimate you obtain from a mortgage lender. There are two broad categories of closing costs. ...
Read more
An adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) has an interest rate that fluctuates periodically. This is in contrast to a fixed rate mortgage, which always has the same interest rate. Every ARM has basic components: An index A margin Adjustment Period An inter...
Read more
Now that you know what an ARM is and how it works, you may be wondering what the advantages and disadvantages are. So let's explore that issue. Offering adjustable rates allows lenders to transfer part of the interest rate risk from themselves to the bor...
Read more
Title Insurance. It's a term we hear and see frequently - we see reference to it in the Sunday real estate section, in advertisements and in conversations with real estate brokers. If you've purchased a home before, you're probably familiar with the bene...
Read more
What is title insurance? Newspapers refer to it in the weekly real estate sections and you hear about it in conversations with real estate brokers. If you've purchased a home you may be familiar with the benefits of title insurance. However, if this is yo...
Read more
After months of searching, you've finally found it -- your perfect dream home. But is it perfect? Will you be purchasing more than just a beautiful home? Will you also be acquiring liens placed on the property by prior owners? Have documents been recorde...
Read more
Lower interest rates have motivated you to refinance your home loan. The lower rate may save you a tremendous amount of money over the life of the loan, but you should also expect to pay the lender the typical closing costs associated with any new loan, i...
Read more
314-
Email Us
