You've finally found the perfect home for your family. Now the only thing standing between you and domestic bliss is the loan process. Use these techniques to shorten the amount of time between placing your bid and getting the final approval on your new home mortgage. Perfect Your Credit Rating Your credit score is a measure of your financial responsibility. Lenders look closely at your creditworthiness in their attempt to decide your loan's risk. Before you start shopping, take some time to clean up your credit history. Some credit habits that help shorten your loan approval period include: … [Read more...]
4 Things You Should Know About Conventional Mortgage Rates
Securing the best conventional mortgage rate possible can pose a challenge for even veteran property buyers. Your mortgage rate will be determined by a variety of factors that pertain to your unique financial portfolio as well as economic forces. While no one has full control over all of the things that influence the process, understanding the manageable aspects can improve your negotiation position when securing a conventional mortgage. Consider these four things that impact how conventional mortgage rates are determined. 1: Credit Is King A borrower's credit score has a tremendous impact on … [Read more...]
Seller-Paid Closing Costs In A Seller’s Market? Yes, It’s Still Possible
For first-time home buyers, closing costs are a major hurdle for home ownership. Coming up with a down payment and several thousand dollars for closing costs can be hard without home equity to tap. To help, buyers often ask sellers to cover all or some of these costs. In markets favoring buyers, this is a common habit, but when the market switches to favoring sellers it becomes harder. Sellers who know they may get multiple offers are less likely to say "yes" to this request. Yet even when the market favors sellers, buyers can still ask for this help. It all depends on how the offer is … [Read more...]
Can I Have A Co-Signer For My Mortgage Loan?
Like credit cards or car loans, some mortgages allow borrowers to have co-signers on the loan with them, enhancing their application. However, a co-signer on a mortgage loan doesn't have the same impact that it might on another loan. Furthermore, it poses serious drawbacks for the co-signer. Mortgage Co-Signers A mortgage co-signer is a person that isn't an owner or occupant of the house. However, the co-signer is on the hook for the loan. Typically, a co-signer is a family member or close friend that wants to help the main borrower qualify for a mortgage. To that end, he signs the loan … [Read more...]
The Benefits of Using a Veterans (VA) Loan To Purchase Your Home
U.S. military veterans have opportunities to enjoy some richly-deserved benefits in other aspects of their lives, including some special options for financing their homes. VA loans may give active military personnel, retired veterans, and sometimes surviving family members of veterans the ability to purchase homes that might not prove available to them through more conventional mortgage loans. But the mere fact that you can do a thing doesn't necessarily mean that you should. In some circumstances, military home seekers may find other types of loan options more amenable to their … [Read more...]