If this is one of your first foray into the complex and often daunting world of applying for a mortgage, you probably have a list of questions lined up, including “what is a Good Faith Estimate?” Also known as a GFE in short, a Good Faith Estimate is essentially a form that … [Read more...]
Archives for July 2015
Saving for a House: The First Time Buyer’s Tips & Tricks Cheat Sheet
Putting money aside in order to purchase a home is a complex issue, which takes several distinct factors into account. For one thing, it directly relates to the size of your household budget, as well as to your ability to save money for the downpayment. There’s no simple and … [Read more...]
The 2 Main Options for Selling your House When You Can’t Make Mortgage Payments
It’s unpleasant and potentially dramatic, yet the recession and its aftermath saw quite a lot of it: borrowers failing to meet mortgage payments and being forced into a foreclosure. When a property is foreclosed, the lender takes over ownership of it and the borrower gets … [Read more...]
Fixed Mortgage Length: 15 or 30 Years?
When considering mortgage loans, most prospective borrowers know there are two basic types available on today’s market: fixed rate mortgages and ARMs (short for adjustable rate mortgages). Both types of mortgage loans come with specific subtypes, classified based on their … [Read more...]
Grants for First Time Home Buyers
Grants for FTHB are largely different from first time home buyer loans, mostly because, unlike loans or mortgages, grants for buying homes are non-refundable. Great, so, that means you can just walk into your local federal housing agency and ask for some money, for, say, … [Read more...]
Does Buying a Home Help on Taxes?
Today’s post tackles yet another seemingly straightforward question: does buying a home help on taxes? If you were to believe the hype, which you get plenty of, due to the competitive nature of the home lending industry, the answer would be a resolute ‘yes’. Yet, in reality, … [Read more...]
The Lowdown on CFPB Mortgage Rules and Reforms Applied to Them
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB, in brief), watches over just about all the segments of the US economy, in order to make sure that the consumers’ best interests are protected in all areas related to financial services and involving transactions. The mortgage … [Read more...]