Posts in category 'Mortgages'

When it comes to buying a house, most people know what they prefer: a bungalow or a condo, a hot neighborhood or a sleepy street.

Mortgages, too, come in many styles — and recognizing which type you should choose is just slightly more involved than, say, knowing that you prefer hardwood floors over wall-to-wall carpeting.

First things first: To pick the best loan for your situation, you need to know what your situation is, exactly. Will you be staying in this home for years? Decades? Are you feeling financially comfortable? Are you anxious about changing loan rates? Consider these questions and your answers before you start talking to lenders. (And before you choose a lender, 

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Homebuyers make a lot of mistakes that hurt their chances of getting a mortgage pre-approval from their lender. You don't want to join their ranks and sabotage your home purchase.

To find out what those missteps are, we talked to two lending experts: Casey Fleming, a mortgage advisor with C2 Financial Corp. in San Jose, California, and Heather McRae, a senior loan officer with Chicago Financial Services in Chicago.

Here are the six common mistakes they see borrowers make — and tips to avoid them:

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If you can afford it, it might be simple to pay off your mortgage earlier. But should you? That's a complicated question.

Homeowners with low mortgage rates may be better off putting extra money in a Roth IRA or 401(k), both of which might offer a higher return than paying off the mortgage.

Then there's the college aid factor. If you're applying for need-based aid for your kids, that home equity could count against you with some colleges because some institutions view equity as money in the bank.

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Whether you're new to homeownership or have been making mortgage payments for years, it never hurts to find ways to slash your costs. Here are three tips that can help you save thousands.

1. Accelerate a 30-year loan when you can't afford a 15-year term

One major advantage to getting a 15-year mortgage, as opposed to a 30-year loan, is that you'll generally be eligible for a much lower interest rate. For example, last week, 30-year fixed mortgage rates averaged 3.97%, while 15-year fixed rates averaged 3.23%. T...

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Mortgages might not be as much fun to shop for as new shoes or a new car, but if you know how to do some smart comparison shopping, you're going to save yourself a lot of hassle … and a huge chunk of change. Some of this will require an attitude shift. Because while most of us already know full well that you'll need to see lot of houses before you find The One, many people take the first mortgage that comes along.

In fact, almost half of consumers don't shop around at all for a mortgage, according to a report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

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