During my 25+ year career as a loan officer, I’ve had to compete against many loan officers who advertise unusually low rates. While some people can technically get the rates that some of these loan officers advertise, it’s usually a very rare situation. Factors That Determine Rates On an Individual Loan: I’m not a fan […]
I get asked a lot of questions about interest rates – why wouldn’t I? I’m a loan officer. The problem is that interest rates don’t tell the whole story, neither does APR. I’ll attempt to sort out the issues and – BONUS – help you understand when it’s good to buy the rate down or, […]
The Issue A few weeks ago I had a past client call me about refinancing her loan. She only owes $144,000 and has a great rate at 3.75% BUT most all of her credit cards are maxed out or close to it and they have two car loans so even though they make good money, […]
There are those whose goal it is to pay off their mortgage…as quickly as possible. Some people’s approach to this is to get a 30-year mortgage and pay extra every month while others just get a 15-year mortgage and pay it off that way. Then there are those who get a 15-year mortgage AND make […]
With a title like this, some readers may think I am trying to justify higher interest rates than my competitors. The fact is, I have very competitive interest rates, I just think that if that’s all you focus on when getting a mortgage, you miss a lot of other things. For instance, the timing of […]
What is the Return on Investment on the Equity in Your Home? Some people think it’s the rate of appreciation on real estate in their local area. Other’s aren’t quite sure what to say because it seems like the answer should be obvious but if it is, why do I ask the question? Because the […]
I was meeting with a client the other morning who needed to either refinance or sell her townhome to access some equity to pay off her sister. If she decides to sell, she will buy another townhome closer to work, where as it will be pretty much business as usual if she refinances. A situation […]
In this series we have talked about ways to put your dead equity to work for you. All options require pulling out excess equity (typically equity over 20% of the home’s value). The first option was to renovate / update – this allows your equity to build more equity by making your personal home worth […]
In the first of this four part series, I talked about using your equity to renovate and update your home. Part two discussed taking your equity out to buy a 2nd home. In the third installment of ways to put your equity to work for you, I will discuss starting an investment portfolio. Invest in […]
You have equity in your house and it’s increasing every month as you pay your mortgage down and as your house appreciates. What is your equity doing for you? Absolutely NOTHING. As I have written in many other blog posts (here’s one: Four Ways to Put Your Equity to Work for You: #1 Renovate / […]