Sep
3
Is Senior Reverse Mortgage Loan For Me?
Filed Under Finance | Leave a Comment
Juhani Tontti asked:
A starting point is, that if a senior is American, at least 62 and owns a home, where he has equity left, i.e. major part of the traditional mortgage is paid away, he will qualify for a senior reverse mortgage loan. Almost all house types are accepted.
1. What Makes This A Senior Product?
The law says so! When the U.S.Government decided about these products, the idea was to help senior Americans, who are cash poor, but equity rich. Maybe there was also such a thinking, that these loans are easy alternatives to the social aids and thus will save the public money.
2. Can My Spouse Come With?
Yes, he or she can. A senior reverse mortgage loan allows altogether three person to be in the title or borrowers. When another one dies or moves away, the remaining borrower will continue with the loan. When the spouse comes with, he or she must fulfil the requirements too.
3. Are The Costs Worth It?
A senior reverse mortgage is more expensive, than a traditional mortgage. You will get the detailed calculations from the federal counselor. This means, that the purpose or need for which you plan to take the loan must be a serious one. Many seniors buy a house to a child or will pay the grown medical bills, for instance.
4. Can I Apply For Medicaid Too?
The reverse mortgage payments may affect your eligibility for U.S. Government benefits, like Medicaid. This is a serious reason, why it is wise to get guidance and to do the financial planning before you take a reverse mortgage loan.
The reverse mortgage payments can influence your eligibility for the Government benefits, like Medicaid. A general rule is, that the income from the reverse program is not counted as income, if the money will be spent during the same month as it has been received.
5. Is There Alternatives?
Everything depends on your needs. If you need a home repair loan and are able to pay it back monthly, then a normal loan against your house is better. If you are willing to sell the home and to move to a cheaper home, then you can use the difference for your needs.
The reverse loan is always a long term investment. It is not a solution, if you will move away after a couple of years and pay it back. Because there are so many things to know and to go through, before you can make a decision, it is wise to go and to meet a federal counselor, who is an expert to give personal guidance. And he is not in the payroll of any lender.
Michael
A starting point is, that if a senior is American, at least 62 and owns a home, where he has equity left, i.e. major part of the traditional mortgage is paid away, he will qualify for a senior reverse mortgage loan. Almost all house types are accepted.
1. What Makes This A Senior Product?
The law says so! When the U.S.Government decided about these products, the idea was to help senior Americans, who are cash poor, but equity rich. Maybe there was also such a thinking, that these loans are easy alternatives to the social aids and thus will save the public money.
2. Can My Spouse Come With?
Yes, he or she can. A senior reverse mortgage loan allows altogether three person to be in the title or borrowers. When another one dies or moves away, the remaining borrower will continue with the loan. When the spouse comes with, he or she must fulfil the requirements too.
3. Are The Costs Worth It?
A senior reverse mortgage is more expensive, than a traditional mortgage. You will get the detailed calculations from the federal counselor. This means, that the purpose or need for which you plan to take the loan must be a serious one. Many seniors buy a house to a child or will pay the grown medical bills, for instance.
4. Can I Apply For Medicaid Too?
The reverse mortgage payments may affect your eligibility for U.S. Government benefits, like Medicaid. This is a serious reason, why it is wise to get guidance and to do the financial planning before you take a reverse mortgage loan.
The reverse mortgage payments can influence your eligibility for the Government benefits, like Medicaid. A general rule is, that the income from the reverse program is not counted as income, if the money will be spent during the same month as it has been received.
5. Is There Alternatives?
Everything depends on your needs. If you need a home repair loan and are able to pay it back monthly, then a normal loan against your house is better. If you are willing to sell the home and to move to a cheaper home, then you can use the difference for your needs.
The reverse loan is always a long term investment. It is not a solution, if you will move away after a couple of years and pay it back. Because there are so many things to know and to go through, before you can make a decision, it is wise to go and to meet a federal counselor, who is an expert to give personal guidance. And he is not in the payroll of any lender.
Michael
Sep
1
Obama’s Federal Mortgage Modification Plan – Do You Qualify?
Filed Under Real Estate Investment | Leave a Comment
Aug
30
Aug
30
Short Sales vs Foreclosure – What Are The Effects On Your Credit?
Filed Under Real Estate | Leave a Comment
Chuck Lunsford asked:
Homeowners looking to stop foreclosure are faced with a number of options, one of which is doing a short sale. Some people, depending on their situation, may allow a property to go into foreclosure instead of attempting a short sale. One reason is they don’t want to keep the home in the first place. By accepting a short sale, the lender can avoid a lengthy and costly foreclosure, and the owner is able to pay off the loan for less than what he owes. The primary consideration above all is the affect both can have on your credit score.
The Basics Of A Short Sale
The concept of a short sale is fairly simple. A short sale occurs when the sale proceeds of a house fall short of what the owner still owes on the mortgage. Many lenders will agree to accept the proceeds of a short sale and forgive the rest of what is owed on the mortgage when the owner cannot make the mortgage payments. A few words of warning are in order. Not every lender will negotiate a short sale. If for example your payments are current, yet you foresee imminent cash flow problems arising that will affect your ability to make your monthly mortgage payment. Lenders have no interest in negotiation unless your payments are several months late. Another consideration is you may be held liable for taxes on the difference between the sale amount and the original loan amount. Short sales require nerves of steel.
The Credit Affects
Foreclosure
Without a doubt sellers will incur more damage on their credit report by going through foreclosure. Typically your credit score will take plunge between 200 to 300 points.
Short Sale
Short sales have a far less damaging affect on a seller’s credit report. Credit scores typically lose between 80 to 100 points. What happens to your credit down the road? It is takes around three years after a foreclosure before a lender will offer a sensible interest rate, whereas for a person who went through a short sale typically waits around 18 months to buy another home at a good interest rate.
Salvaging your credit should always be the primary concern when making the decision between a short sale and stopping foreclosure. The savings in interest payments alone should be convincing enough for most people, not to mention your buying power in the near and distant future.
Tonya
Homeowners looking to stop foreclosure are faced with a number of options, one of which is doing a short sale. Some people, depending on their situation, may allow a property to go into foreclosure instead of attempting a short sale. One reason is they don’t want to keep the home in the first place. By accepting a short sale, the lender can avoid a lengthy and costly foreclosure, and the owner is able to pay off the loan for less than what he owes. The primary consideration above all is the affect both can have on your credit score.
The Basics Of A Short Sale
The concept of a short sale is fairly simple. A short sale occurs when the sale proceeds of a house fall short of what the owner still owes on the mortgage. Many lenders will agree to accept the proceeds of a short sale and forgive the rest of what is owed on the mortgage when the owner cannot make the mortgage payments. A few words of warning are in order. Not every lender will negotiate a short sale. If for example your payments are current, yet you foresee imminent cash flow problems arising that will affect your ability to make your monthly mortgage payment. Lenders have no interest in negotiation unless your payments are several months late. Another consideration is you may be held liable for taxes on the difference between the sale amount and the original loan amount. Short sales require nerves of steel.
The Credit Affects
Foreclosure
Without a doubt sellers will incur more damage on their credit report by going through foreclosure. Typically your credit score will take plunge between 200 to 300 points.
Short Sale
Short sales have a far less damaging affect on a seller’s credit report. Credit scores typically lose between 80 to 100 points. What happens to your credit down the road? It is takes around three years after a foreclosure before a lender will offer a sensible interest rate, whereas for a person who went through a short sale typically waits around 18 months to buy another home at a good interest rate.
Salvaging your credit should always be the primary concern when making the decision between a short sale and stopping foreclosure. The savings in interest payments alone should be convincing enough for most people, not to mention your buying power in the near and distant future.
Tonya
Aug
29
Aug
29
Conquer Those Mortgage Management Problems
Filed Under Finance | Leave a Comment
Barry Dawn asked:
You are not alone. No, this does not refer to the Michael Jackson song, but to the fact that when speaking about mortgage – Thornhill or anywhere else in Canada – many people are availing of this option. Millions of people from around the world are getting a mortgage because that is perhaps the easiest way to purchase a home. Not everyone has access to hundreds of thousands of dollars at any given time that they can immediately buy a house whenever they feel like it. Thus, people resort to getting a mortgage.
The sad part is, you frequently read about people unable to make their monthly payments and suffering from enormous financial trouble. There are pieces of news talking about people losing their homes because they were not able to properly handle their mortgage payments. Exposure to these stimuli would not help you – especially if you have a current mortgage – Toronto or elsewhere.
The good news is, you have all the power in the world to prevent having to face mortgage management problems. You have the power within yourself to ensure that you don’t ever have to stress yourself about losing your home to your creditor. Here are some tips:
1. Keep all your records.
There are bills that you can throw away after a year or so. Among these are your electric bills, phone bills and even your credit card bills. But when it comes to your mortgage bills, don’t ever feed them to your trash bin. A mortgage is a long-term engagement, usually ranging between 20 and 30 years, and is something that involves a very large amount. Therefore, make it a point to keep all documents and records pertaining this. When refinancing options are calling on you, you would need all your mortgage records. This takes away the inconvenience of asking for copies of your bills from your lender – a task that’s either stressful or uncomfortable.
2. Take advantage of refinancing.
Over the course of your mortgage, there will come a time when interest rates will be at their all-time lows. When this is the case, take advantage of it. Make sure that you are aware of the movement of the current market rates so you know when to move from one mortgage to another. By refinancing, you get to enjoy lower rates. Some people are not able to take advantage of this option out of either ignorance or sheer inertia – they don’t know that such an option is available and they simply don’t want to “work.”
But not all circumstances are perfect for refinancing. To make sure that your unique mortgage situation is ideal for refinancing, consult a financial expert.
3. Keep a healthy reserve of funds.
Especially when you are paying a mortgage, the need for you to have a healthy reserve of funds is more pronounced. This watches your back when you have a sudden loss of income or in case you will be faced with unexpected fees related to your mortgage. By having a healthy savings account, you are protecting yourself from having nothing to rely on when emergency mortgage funds are needed.
Kathleen
You are not alone. No, this does not refer to the Michael Jackson song, but to the fact that when speaking about mortgage – Thornhill or anywhere else in Canada – many people are availing of this option. Millions of people from around the world are getting a mortgage because that is perhaps the easiest way to purchase a home. Not everyone has access to hundreds of thousands of dollars at any given time that they can immediately buy a house whenever they feel like it. Thus, people resort to getting a mortgage.
The sad part is, you frequently read about people unable to make their monthly payments and suffering from enormous financial trouble. There are pieces of news talking about people losing their homes because they were not able to properly handle their mortgage payments. Exposure to these stimuli would not help you – especially if you have a current mortgage – Toronto or elsewhere.
The good news is, you have all the power in the world to prevent having to face mortgage management problems. You have the power within yourself to ensure that you don’t ever have to stress yourself about losing your home to your creditor. Here are some tips:
1. Keep all your records.
There are bills that you can throw away after a year or so. Among these are your electric bills, phone bills and even your credit card bills. But when it comes to your mortgage bills, don’t ever feed them to your trash bin. A mortgage is a long-term engagement, usually ranging between 20 and 30 years, and is something that involves a very large amount. Therefore, make it a point to keep all documents and records pertaining this. When refinancing options are calling on you, you would need all your mortgage records. This takes away the inconvenience of asking for copies of your bills from your lender – a task that’s either stressful or uncomfortable.
2. Take advantage of refinancing.
Over the course of your mortgage, there will come a time when interest rates will be at their all-time lows. When this is the case, take advantage of it. Make sure that you are aware of the movement of the current market rates so you know when to move from one mortgage to another. By refinancing, you get to enjoy lower rates. Some people are not able to take advantage of this option out of either ignorance or sheer inertia – they don’t know that such an option is available and they simply don’t want to “work.”
But not all circumstances are perfect for refinancing. To make sure that your unique mortgage situation is ideal for refinancing, consult a financial expert.
3. Keep a healthy reserve of funds.
Especially when you are paying a mortgage, the need for you to have a healthy reserve of funds is more pronounced. This watches your back when you have a sudden loss of income or in case you will be faced with unexpected fees related to your mortgage. By having a healthy savings account, you are protecting yourself from having nothing to rely on when emergency mortgage funds are needed.
Kathleen
Aug
29
Wells Fargo Reverse Mortgage
Filed Under Big Time | Leave a Comment
Aug
25
Leslie Collins asked:
If you fall into one of these categories you should definitely consider an FHA loan.
- Considering a home purchase with less than perfect credit
- Considering a home refinance with less than perfect credit
- Considering buying a home but have not established traditional credit.
- Currently in an ARM loan that is due to reset – and have less than perfect credit
If you have less than perfect credit or no traditional credit you may be in luck due to easy FHA loan qualifications.
Why?
FHA loan qualification guidelines are perhaps the most lenient in the mortgage world because they do not use FICO scores exclusively to assess your risk as a borrower.
Many With Low FICO Scores Qualify for FHA Loans
FHA makes it’s decision on whether or not to grant you a loan based on your total credit profile. For example, your credit score may have taken a dip because of some isolated events in the past, job lay-off, illness, divorce etc…Fortunately FHA lenders look at your bill paying history over the last 2 years to determine if you qualify or not, your low FICO score will not disqualify you from receiving an FHA loan.
FHA Looks at Overall Credit Profile
FHA’s philosophy is that the majority of borrowers overcome these financial setbacks. You are truly NOT the high risk your FICO score indicates; even though your credit score may indicate sub-prime status.
FHA will assess your income, recent payback status with current lenders as well your current debt-to-income ratio giving borrowers a chance to purchase or refinance a home.
Non Traditional Credit Qualifies
What if you have no established credit? You may have never used credit cards, had a car loan, student loan, or mortgage. These are considered traditional means of credit which are recorded with the 3 major credit bureaus.
FHA qualifications consider non traditional credit references as proof of responsible money management. Payments like rent, utility bills, cell phone, personal loans, and even regular deposits into a savings account as proof of “credit worthiness”
So if you thought that your bad credit or non credit disqualified you from purchasing a home – think again – an FHA loan may be the answer.
Dan
If you fall into one of these categories you should definitely consider an FHA loan.
- Considering a home purchase with less than perfect credit
- Considering a home refinance with less than perfect credit
- Considering buying a home but have not established traditional credit.
- Currently in an ARM loan that is due to reset – and have less than perfect credit
If you have less than perfect credit or no traditional credit you may be in luck due to easy FHA loan qualifications.
Why?
FHA loan qualification guidelines are perhaps the most lenient in the mortgage world because they do not use FICO scores exclusively to assess your risk as a borrower.
Many With Low FICO Scores Qualify for FHA Loans
FHA makes it’s decision on whether or not to grant you a loan based on your total credit profile. For example, your credit score may have taken a dip because of some isolated events in the past, job lay-off, illness, divorce etc…Fortunately FHA lenders look at your bill paying history over the last 2 years to determine if you qualify or not, your low FICO score will not disqualify you from receiving an FHA loan.
FHA Looks at Overall Credit Profile
FHA’s philosophy is that the majority of borrowers overcome these financial setbacks. You are truly NOT the high risk your FICO score indicates; even though your credit score may indicate sub-prime status.
FHA will assess your income, recent payback status with current lenders as well your current debt-to-income ratio giving borrowers a chance to purchase or refinance a home.
Non Traditional Credit Qualifies
What if you have no established credit? You may have never used credit cards, had a car loan, student loan, or mortgage. These are considered traditional means of credit which are recorded with the 3 major credit bureaus.
FHA qualifications consider non traditional credit references as proof of responsible money management. Payments like rent, utility bills, cell phone, personal loans, and even regular deposits into a savings account as proof of “credit worthiness”
So if you thought that your bad credit or non credit disqualified you from purchasing a home – think again – an FHA loan may be the answer.
Dan
Aug
24
Jayson Gibson asked:
Last week President Obama’s administration began implementing a $75 billion loan modification program and homeowner refinance program to help as many as 9 million homeowners avoid foreclosure. The plan uses money from the $700 billion approved last year as part of the TARP I funds that were originally used to bailout banks and get credit flowing.
This new plan, dubbed Making Home Affordable, uses incentives to encourage lenders and loan servicers to modify loans. The lenders and servicers can do this either by lowering interest rates or by dropping the principal amount of the loan. J.P. Morgan’s Jamie Dimon said that the bank would not reduce principal payments; they would only lower interest rates for 5-years and after 5-years, the loans interest rates would reset to current levels (around 5%).
The Making Home Affordable plan has two main components. The Home Affordable Refinance portion of the plan offers current homeowners that are not behind on their mortgage payment breathing room by allowing the homeowners to refinance their home into lower interest rate loans, this is done by allowing them to refinance to as much as 105% of the home’s current value.
The Home Affordable Modification portion of the plan offers assistance to struggling homeowners that are behind on payments and in danger of losing their home to foreclosure. This portion of the plan modifies a current mortgage so that a homeowner’s monthly payment is no more than 31% of their monthly gross income.
If you’re a homeowner that would be interested in refinancing their home into lower interest rates, or a homeowner that is struggling to meet financial commitments and needs a loan modification, visit the new government website Financialstability.gov.
This plan is a portion of the larger TARP II plan that may include a “bad bank” that will buy up troubled assets from banks; it’s a plan that could cost as much as $2 trillion, but at the same time, TARP II may stabilize our financial and housing markets. Do you think the plan will help curb foreclosures and get our economy back on its feet?
Ben
Last week President Obama’s administration began implementing a $75 billion loan modification program and homeowner refinance program to help as many as 9 million homeowners avoid foreclosure. The plan uses money from the $700 billion approved last year as part of the TARP I funds that were originally used to bailout banks and get credit flowing.
This new plan, dubbed Making Home Affordable, uses incentives to encourage lenders and loan servicers to modify loans. The lenders and servicers can do this either by lowering interest rates or by dropping the principal amount of the loan. J.P. Morgan’s Jamie Dimon said that the bank would not reduce principal payments; they would only lower interest rates for 5-years and after 5-years, the loans interest rates would reset to current levels (around 5%).
The Making Home Affordable plan has two main components. The Home Affordable Refinance portion of the plan offers current homeowners that are not behind on their mortgage payment breathing room by allowing the homeowners to refinance their home into lower interest rate loans, this is done by allowing them to refinance to as much as 105% of the home’s current value.
The Home Affordable Modification portion of the plan offers assistance to struggling homeowners that are behind on payments and in danger of losing their home to foreclosure. This portion of the plan modifies a current mortgage so that a homeowner’s monthly payment is no more than 31% of their monthly gross income.
If you’re a homeowner that would be interested in refinancing their home into lower interest rates, or a homeowner that is struggling to meet financial commitments and needs a loan modification, visit the new government website Financialstability.gov.
This plan is a portion of the larger TARP II plan that may include a “bad bank” that will buy up troubled assets from banks; it’s a plan that could cost as much as $2 trillion, but at the same time, TARP II may stabilize our financial and housing markets. Do you think the plan will help curb foreclosures and get our economy back on its feet?
Ben
Aug
24
