What to Know Before You Refinance Your House

December 26, 2009 · Posted in Closing in your Investment Deal · Comments Off 

If you own your home and you are looking to save some money, a great way to accomplish this may be to refinance your house. Interest rates are always going to vary and these days they are on the lower side when you look at the rates historically. If you’ve been in your home for a while then it may be to your advantage to get a lower interest rate as this will lower your monthly mortgage payments. Sounds like a no brainer right? Not so fast.

When you refinance your house it is not as simple as it sounds. There are a few things you should know before you decide to go ahead and refinance you house:

?Do you have equity in your home: Having equity means that your house is worth more than you owe on it. Historically this is almost always the case, but with the recent housing debacle many home owners find themselves owing more on the home then it is worth. A sure way to know is to get your house appraised. This can be done online for free at websites such as Zillow.com but that will only give you a rough estimate. If you want to be absolutely sure, you will have to hire a pro which is going to cost you some money.

?Will you have a pre-pay penalty: Before you get too gung ho on refinancing your house, you need to know if your existing mortgage company is going to charge you a pre-payment penalty. Mortgage companies do this often to discourage people from going with another mortgage company that will then be getting your years and years of interest. Pre-pay penalties vary from company to company but it is not unusual for them to be several thousand dollars.

?Fees: As with your first mortgage you got on your house, a refinanced mortgage is going to include all sorts of fees like closing costs and so on. These fees can also add up to be in the thousands of dollars and need to be looked at.

?How long are planning on staying in your house: You need to consider how long you plan on living in your house. As you can plainly see, refinancing your house can cost you quite a bit of money. While the lower rate will save you on monthly mortgage payments, it may take two or three years before you realize that savings because of all the fees involved. If you are not planning on staying on your home long-term, then it may not be in your best interest to refinance it.

If and when it is time to refinance your house make sure you do so with a fixed rate loan. Going with an adjustable rate loan will save you out of the gates, but only have you trying to refinance when the rates skyrocket down the road.

As with anything else, shop your mortgage refinance around to get the absolute best rate you can. With the fees you will incur by refinancing your home, every little bit of savings counts.

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Why I Love the Latest Home Stimulus Package

November 22, 2009 · Posted in Closing in your Investment Deal · Comments Off 

Since he became US President, Barack Obama has made the issue of housing one of his top priorities. He implemented the new home stimulus package that will help the housing industry with it’s first time home buyers stimulus and home affordable plan. It helps lower income Americans to purchase new homes or to pay for repairs and improvements to their current homes.

Everyone is aware that these are troubled financial times, and that an ever increasing amount of people are losing their jobs and facing mortgage foreclosures, and that is why a home stimulus package such as this is so important. The latest improvements to the affordable home plan packages makes them even more beneficial to US citizens that ever before. One example of these new beneficial changes is one made during the amendment to the home stimulus package last August, which meant even those with an equity of less than 20% percent can now take advantage of the package. The result? Even more Americans now being able to benefit.

Secondly, the interest rate for paying back home loans has been lowered from 6.5 percent to 5.16 percent. This was done so it will be easier for people to pay off their debts. The loan period has likewise been increased to twenty to thirty years in order to give people more time to pay off their debts. Furthermore, payments need now be no more than 31% of your monthly income, which means that you can totally cover the other needs of your family before allocating money towards these debt repayments.

To put these changes into real life perspective, I’ll tell you about a friend of mine; he had wanted to purchase a new home for the past 6 months but was unable to do so, even with the former home stimulus package in place, because he had an equity of only 19%. Also, he was aware that even if he had had the necessary amount of equity, he would have had hard time repaying the loan due to the interest rate being beyond his means. However, with these latest changes to the home stimulus package he has now finally been able to buy the house he has dreamt so long about. For him, these changes really have been a blessing, and he is most thankful to President Barack Obama.

This is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the advantages and benefits this home stimulus package can give us. But, the bottom line is this: You too can now afford to buy your new home or do repairs on your current home as a result of this home affordable plan. So long as your income is lower than $95,000 (single) or $170,000 (married), then you have no reason to not at least research a little more into the great opportunity that is the first time home buyer stimulus tax credit. You have a lot to gain by giving further consideration to taking the government up on this offer, and nothing to lose.

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By Mark Walters.Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/real-estate-articles/why-i-love-the-latest-home-stimulus-package-1488211.html

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