Archive for January, 2009
Suze Orman Offers Refinancing Advice on Adjustable Rate Mortgages
Posted by: | CommentsHow long do you plan to live in your home. However if you plan on keeping your home for 5, 10 or 15 years or more and you have an adjustable rate mortgage loan above 6%…
Wake up and refinance…The Fed has lowered interest rates to record levels. Borrowers can refinance into fixed thirty-year mortgages at 4.5%. Whether you want a FHA loan or a conventional home mortgage, interest rates are the lowest level recorded since the Great Depression. Make sure that you can recover your closing costs prior to moving otherwise, Suzi believes that it may not be worth it. Consider refinancing your second mortgage or home equity loan into a one fixed rate mortgage if you have enough equity.
The Mortgage Meltdown Continues to Fuel Foreclosure Crisis
Posted by: | CommentsForeclosures jumped 81% from the previous record year and neraly a million homeowners negotitated a loan modification that lowered their mortgage payments. Yet after 6 months, almost 50% of these homeowners re-defaulted on their mortgage modification. Does anyone out there not think this a real crisis. What started with subprime mortgages going bad has spread into a global crisis that threatens a lot more than just home equity. We have mortgaged our great grand kids economies with devastating financial impacts that will impact many generations to come.
CBS’s Scott Pelley reports on the mortgage crisis that has yet to find a resolution and has spun into a serious foreclosure crisis that is far from over, with a second wave of expected home loan defaults on the way that could deepen the bottom of the U.S. economic recession.
Mortgage Financing with a FHA Home Loan
Posted by: | CommentsFHA home financing continues to be the most popular first time homebuyer loan, but now FHA has become the loan of choice for experienced borrowers buying new homes as well as homeowners seeking FHA home refinancing. Most new home buyers like the fact that FHA down-payment requires only 3.5% of the sales price.
FHA continues to approve seller concessions up to 6% of your home purchase price. First-time home buyers can get a tax credit up to $7500! “First-time home buyer loans” actually refer to any borrower who hasn’t owned a house in the last three years. Need a more affordable mortgage payment? FHA refinance loans may be the only opportunity for borrowers with bad credit scores to finance or refinance into a low rate mortgage loan. Ask a loan officer about FHA mortgage rates and FHA streamline loans if you currently have a FHA mortgage on your primary residence property and have not been late on that mortgage in the last 12 months. FHA offers responsible fixed rate mortgages with no pre-payment penalties and limited lender fees.
Last year, Congress increased 2008 FHA home loan limits to $729,750. This year, HUD called for 2009 FHA loan limits to be reduced to $625,000 in high cost areas nationally. Even though HUD reduced the loan limits slightly in 2009, most real estate evaluators believe that the revised mortgage limits will still help millions of homeowners refinance their home with record low interest rates below 5% on thirty year home mortgages. FHA mortgage loans ensure borrowers they have an affordable loan that is insured by the U.S. government.
Nationwide Mortgage -- Mortgage Loan News Reported by NBC News
NBC Nightly News discusses the effect of credit crisis on mortgage rates for FHA home loan and conventional mortgages that help borrowers finance a new home.
A Sr. HUD official recently defended the performance of the FHA at a congressional hearing looking into questions raised in a magazine article about mortgage originators. A November published Business Week article said that the Federal Housing Administration allowed the market for FHA-insured mortgages to be infiltrated by abusive mortgage brokers and loan originators from the subprime mortgage market. The deputy assistant secretary of HUD Phillip Murray said that these types of articles “misrepresent a well-respected federal program that has provided untold benefits to millions of Americans.” Murray criticized the shallow stories that parallel and compare FHA-insured mortgage practices to those seen in the subprime market. “FHA mortgages are not high-cost loans nor high-risk for homeowners,” he said.
Most people understand that FHA home loans have regained their popularity, with first time homebuyers and subprime borrowers, but most Americans do not realize that FHA is offering prime rate loans up to 97.75% of your home value or sales price with fixed rates below 5%. HUD still offers FHA loans with cash out refinancing to 95% but HUD now requires two URAR appraisals from FHA-approved appraisers. Take advantage solid government home financing loans that promote homeownership and responsible fixed rate refinancing. FHA guidelines could change at any time and this economy; waiting could cost you thousands of dollars.
Home Equity Loans for Refinancing Credit Card Debt
Posted by: | CommentsMany Americans remain uneasy about taking out a home equity loan to refinance their adjustable rate credit card debt. “I understand the psychological basis for a homeowner wanting to minimize and ultimately pay off their mortgage loan,” notes Joseph Badal CEO of Thornburg Mortgage Home Loans, Inc, “but it makes no sense to sit on equity in a home while carrying high rate revolving interest.”
Credit card statistics indicate that American credit debt totals $785 billion and this comes to an average of nearly $9,000 per household. Revolving credit card debt will lower your credit score and drain your saving or monthly cash flow because the borrower is paying interest on top of interest. If your credit card debt is getting out of hand, now may be time to take a hard look at your spending habits and your options.
There are a several significant benefits to debt consolidation by means of home equity rather than simply making the minimum payments for your credit card payments. Credit cards are open-end loans, unlike home equity loans. Most home equity loans have fixed interest rates and are considered closed-end loans. Credit cards are revolving and credit cards have compounding interest. Home equity loans and lines of credit have mortgage interest that is tax deductible unlike credit cards where the interest isn’t tax deductible. Also credit cards are not secured by your home, which means higher interest rates and payments. The bottom line is that credit card debt ultimately costs you more money than a home equity loan.
There are many different second mortgage products available to consumers and with carefully consideration the right one may help you solve your debt problem. Find a reputable lender that you trust and discuss the available equity loan option that pertain to your credit score and qualifications. Refinancing and eliminating compounding interest debt with an equity loan or mortgage refinance can consolidate and reduce your payments. In most cases, this will put you in a better position to find the path leading to debt freedom.
FHA Mortgage Update for Refinance & Home Loans
Posted by: | CommentsIf you haven’t heard, Federal Housing Administration continues to provide the best FHA loans for refinance mortgages and home purchasing. After replacing most of the loan products in 2006 for subprime lending, FHA continues to push the envelope for home financing because it is one of the few mortgage products that isn’t focused primarily on credit scores. Then HUD introduced FHASecure refinancing to help the millions of borrowers who were struggling to refinance their adjustable rate mortgage. Recently HUD rolled out a widely publicized FHA refinance loans, Hope for Homeowners program in an effort to provide mortgage relief with principal reductions and short refinancing for borrowers who were currently delinquent on their mortgage and did not qualify for the regular FHA mortgage product.
Presently, FHA insures almost one third of the country’s mortgage loans. Until recently, FHA loans did not have nearly the market share, at least not the in the last forty years. Beginning January 1, 2009, FHA will insure single-family home mortgages up to $271,050 in low cost areas and up to a maximum of $625,500 in high cost areas. Just last February, Congress passed the 2008 Stimulus Package that temporarily increased the FHA mortgage loan limit to $729,750 through December 31, 2008. The new $625,500 maximum, however, represents a significant increase over the $362,790 limit that was in effect prior to the Stimulus Package. Higher FHA loan limits do not cost the government any money because the FHA Insurance Fund is fully supported by premiums paid by borrowers who receive FHA-insured mortgage loans.
Increased FHA mortgage limits do not cost the government any money because the FHA Insurance Fund is supported completely by premiums paid by borrowers who receive FHA-insured mortgage loans. The Housing and Economic Recovery Act announced that the national conforming mortgage loan limit to a house price index chosen by the new FHFA. For 2009, the national conforming limit will remain at the current level of $417,000. This Financing Act says that the new FHA loan limits will be set at 115 % of the median house price in a given area, as determined by HUD, but cannot be lower than 65 % of the conforming loan limit. Also, the FHA mortgage limit cannot exceed 150 % of the national conforming loan limit. FHA mortgage rates have reached record low recently with interest rates declining to 5% on fixed rate mortgages on thirty year terms.