financing: Want to Complain About Your Lousy Mortgage Closing?
- 04/16/17 06:44 PM
Think it took a long time to close your last purchase or refi mortgage? How about more than seven hours? That's what happened to a couple of folks I know in Texas, and theirs is just one of many stories I've heard about things, ranging from interest rates that rise to mysterious appearance of random fees, that go way wrong at settlements.
I've heard many of these closing table stories from my husband, who used to be a loan officer, and my BFF, who’s a REALTOR®. Add to that a couple dozen closings where we bought or sold rental properties and you’ve … (0 comments)
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financing: How to Talk to Your Lender About Foreclosure
- 03/12/17 06:48 PM
Many homeowners can find alternatives to foreclosure by negotiating with lenders, often with the help of foreclosure counselors. If you're facing foreclosure, call your lender right now to determine your options, which can include loan modification, forbearance, or a short sale.
Review the details
Start by reviewing all correspondence you've received from your lender. The letters--and phone calls--probably began once you were 30 days past due. Also review your mortgage documents, which should outline what steps your lender can take. For instance, is there a "power of sale" clause that authorizes the sale of your home to pay off a mortgage after you … (0 comments)
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financing: Evaluate Your Adjustable-Rate Mortgage
- 11/21/16 08:58 AM
An adjustable-rate mortgage, or ARM for short, is attractive to homeowners because the introductory interest rate is often lower than rates on traditional fixed-rate loans. That translates into lower monthly payments. ARMs can make sense if you plan to sell your home or refinance your mortgage before the introductory rate expires.
Just keep in mind that there's no guarantee you can sell or refinance in time, especially if real estate markets are depressed or the lending environment is tight. If you're a current homeowner with an ARM, look into your loan options long before the rate resets. A day spent investigating alternatives … (0 comments)
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financing: How Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Save You Money
- 11/15/16 09:26 AM
If all you read is the headlines, you might think mortgage market giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have cost the taxpayers billions. However, a deeper look into these two government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) reveals a decades-long history of making mortgages more affordable, benefiting not just individual home owners, but whole communities.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are federally chartered organizations designed to bring global capital to local communities by purchasing and guaranteeing loans made by mortgage lenders.
As a home owner, there are several ways you benefit from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. If your loan is owned or guaranteed by one of … (0 comments)
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financing: What You Must Know About Home Appraisals
- 10/03/16 11:06 AM
When you refinance or sell your home, the lender will insist that you get an appraisal--an opinion of the value of your home based on what similar homes in your area have sold for in recent months.
Here are five tips about the appraised value of your home.
1. An appraisal isn’t an exact scienceWhen appraisers evaluate a home’s value, they’re giving their best opinion based on how the home’s features stack up against those of similar homes recently sold nearby. One appraiser may factor in a recent sale, but another may consider that sale too long ago, or the home too different, … (0 comments)
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financing: Foreclosure Help: 5 Pros You Need on Your Team
- 08/28/16 11:36 AM
When you're facing foreclosure, it's critical to reach out and ask for the foreclosure help you need to save money and trouble--and possibly your home. Recruit the following five pros onto your foreclosure team.
1. A foreclosure counselor
Your first step to get foreclosure help should be contacting a foreclosure counseling agency approved by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
"A foreclosure counselor should help you evaluate your current financial situation by looking at your bank statements, tax returns, and monthly expenses and income," says Kimberly Allman, manager of homeownership preservation at the New York Mortgage Coalition in New York City. A … (0 comments)
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financing: REALTOR® Groups Fight Foreclosure Crisis
- 08/21/16 11:31 AM
Backed by a $3 million war chest from the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®, real estate agents around the country have come up with a variety of ideas for curtailing the economic effects of foreclosure in their local markets.
They’re volunteering as foreclosure counselors, running vacant property tours, seeking training to better serve clients in foreclosure, and teaching financially struggling homeowners how to “buy time” from mortgage lenders. In addition, they’re pushing federal regulators and legislators to speed up the short-sale process.
Volunteer foreclosure counselors
The Orange County Association of REALTORS® in California has trained more than 300 REALTORS® to serve as foreclosure counselor volunteers.
Working … (0 comments)
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financing: 5 Ways You Can Help Resolve the Foreclosure Crisis
- 08/17/16 10:40 AM
With foreclosures at record highs, nearly everyone lives in a neighborhood where the mortgage crisis has influenced property values. While the U.S. government seeks foreclosure solutions at the federal level, here are five ways you can work at the grassroots level to help turn the foreclosure crisis around in your neighborhood.
1. Volunteer to teach financial literacy or budgeting classes. To teach people in your community to better manage their finances, get training from an organization like Money Management International. After six hours of MMI training, you can teach classes on money and credit when you have time available. Or consider local groups, … (0 comments)
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financing: Foreclosure Alternative: The Short Sale
- 08/10/16 10:39 AM
Facing foreclosure and tempted to stay in your home until the bank pulls it out from under you? Bad idea. Don't do it. A much more graceful exit is a short sale, an agreement between you and your lender to sell your home for less than you owe. Although there's no guarantee that your lender will let you avoid foreclosure with a short sale, government regulations are aimed at encouraging lenders to do so.
Short Sales Get Government Incentives
Although short sales aren't hassle-free, at least you've got the government backing you. The Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA) program provides financial incentives for … (0 comments)
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financing: 4 Ways Vacant Foreclosed Homes Hurt You and 7 Ways to Fight Back
- 08/09/16 10:39 AM
Here are four ways vacant foreclosed homes can hurt you and seven ways you can fight vacant foreclosures and protect your home value:
4 ways vacant foreclosed homes can hurt you
1. You may have trouble refinancing or selling your home to a buyer who needs a mortgage if you live too close to too many vacant foreclosed homes. Appraisers have to report to lenders any vacant or boarded-up homes near yours and to analyze how those vacant homes influence the value of your home.
You’ll begin to have financing trouble if banks don’t pay HOA fees during the foreclosure process. When HOA delinquencies rise to 15%, you … (0 comments)
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financing: Foreclosure Process: How State Laws Vary
- 08/08/16 10:48 AM
Foreclosure is not a universal, single situation. Each state has its own complex rules and timelines for how foreclosures are handled, and even within each state there may be more than one type of foreclosure. You need to know the steps of foreclosure, whether your state has judicial or non-judicial foreclosures, your state's quirks, and any possible loopholes.
Know the steps of foreclosure
Although there are variations, your foreclosure will go through five stages, which gives you some time to adjust to the idea that you need to leave your house and take steps to ensure as smooth a transition as possible:
1. Payment … (0 comments)
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financing: Vacant Homes: 8 Ways to Make Sure They’re Maintained
- 07/12/16 10:50 AM
With the foreclosure crisis, you may have noticed a vacant home or two on your block. Rather than see the home free-fall into disrepair, push local officials to take action before the untended house lowers the value of your own home.
Here’s a list of common vacant-home laws, rules, and programs. Call your local elected official’s office to find out what your community has in place and how you can get those laws enforced:
Special assessments charged to owners of vacant homes to cover the cost of added police and fire protection. Mandatory fire, safety, or code inspections of vacant homes. Laws … (0 comments)
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financing: Home Owners in Foreclosure: Who's Helping Them?
- 06/06/16 10:35 AM
When it comes to helping home owners in financial trouble, no two organizations are alike. Some do round-the-clock foreclosure prevention events that draw thousands of borrowers; others offer walk-in service via a storefront. You can also get foreclosure counseling online or on the phone.
Here are just a few of the ways counseling agencies, community organizations, mortgage bankers, and mortgage insurers are reaching out to distressed home owners across the nation.
Phone a foreclosure counselor
Awake in the middle of the night because you’re worried about losing your home to foreclosure? The Homeownership Preservation Foundation, Minneapolis, takes calls 24/7 at its HOPE™ Hotline at … (0 comments)
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financing: Foreclosure Moratorium May Give Home Owners One Last Chance
- 06/02/16 10:44 AM
You may be just starting foreclosure, or just about to end the process—but suddenly, things have ground to a halt as major banks join the foreclosure moratorium and sort out paperwork problems. This may leave you in limbo, but you don’t have to be inactive. You can prepare for the next step in your life, or even continue the fight to keep your home.
I’m facing default and foreclosure. What does this foreclosure moratorium mean for me?
As banks work through this issue, they may be more receptive to approving alternatives to foreclosure, such as a loan modification, if you can prove you’re … (0 comments)
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financing: Foreclosure Moratorium Creates Challenges for Buyers
- 05/30/16 10:45 AM
All over the country, major banks have enacted foreclosure moratoriums while they sort out paperwork and procedural issues. The causes of the banks’ paperwork snafus are likely to fuel debate for months, leaving buyers of foreclosed homes caught up in the disarray.
I have a contract to buy a foreclosed home. What happens now?
If you’re buying a foreclosed home, hire an attorney to represent you in the purchase transaction by looking over your contract, working with your real estate agent on contingencies, confirming that you will receive clear title to the property, and making sure your closing is done right.
Foreclosures in limbo … (0 comments)
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financing: 5 Reasons for a Mortgage Refinance Other Than Lowering Your Payment
- 05/23/16 10:46 AM
Naturally, if you’re paying 6% for your mortgage and you can refinance at 5%, you’re gonna do it. Although cutting your monthly payment remains an important motive, there are at least five other reasons to consider a mortgage refinance, for long-term savings and convenience.
1. Change your mortgage term
If you decrease the term of your mortgage in a refinance by going from a 30-year to a 15-year, you’ll pay a lower interest rate and shorten your total interest costs. You’ll build home equity more quickly, and pay off your loan sooner, even though your monthly payments go up.
2. Move from an adjustable … (0 comments)
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financing: What Affects Credit Scores? 7 Misconceptions
- 05/22/16 11:00 AM
You have to keep your credit score up in case you want to take out a second mortgage orhome equity line of credit (HELOC), or get the lowest premiums on your homeowners insurance. Here’s the 411 on how various money management tactics goose up or ding your credit score.
More money improves your credit score
False. Your level or sources of income don’t affect your credit score, although lenders may look at it when making loan decisions, according to the Fair Isaac Corp., the company that issues the commonly used FICO credit scores.
Ownership of several credit cards can hurt your credit score
Mostly false. Having many … (0 comments)
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financing: Improve Credit Score with These Home Finance Tips
- 05/18/16 10:29 AM
Your credit score affects how much you’ll pay for a mortgage or refinance—or even if you can get one at all. Master the six ways to manage home-related spending to keep your credit score braggingly high.
1. Postpone that refinance until your credit is squeaky clean.
Even a small blemish on a credit report can cost you at closing. Money expert Denise Winston found that out firsthand: Her husband hadn’t paid a $40 pager charge. The unpaid bill was turned over to a collection agency and ended up damaging his credit score.
Because of that one small unpaid bill, the interest rate on the … (0 comments)
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Think it took a long time to close your last purchase or refi mortgage? How about more than seven hours? That's what happened to a couple of folks I know in Texas, and theirs is just one of many stories I've heard about things, ranging from interest rates that rise to mysterious appearance of random fees, that go way wrong at settlements.
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