Find The Lowest Rate for your Home Laoan

Find The Lowest Rate

So you've got your new home picked out and you're ready to embark upon the long process of securing a home loan and ultimately taking ownership of your dream home. Armed with that excitement, you take to the Internet in hopes of uncovering a hidden interest rate nugget, that low rate that other people have overlooked and that you have found through persistence and effort. Well, as you embark on that trip, there are some things to keep in mind during the pursuit for the lowest interest rate possible.

There are probably thousands of web sites offering financial data that can be pertinent to your search, so it is important to quickly cut through them all and pick one that seems to be at least somewhat reputable and has easy-to-access information. You'll probably want to focus your search on a 30-yeark, fixed-rate mortgage to get a barometer of the interest rate climate initially.

There are many sites out there that will go into detail on interest rate fluctuation but finding one with graphs that can show you the trend of that rate over time will provide you with a great piece of ammunition when trying to determine what the short term market might do and what kind of interest rate would, in the end, be a good one for the time frame you're looking at.

In addition, there are scores of financial articles written every day about the state of the real estate market and doing some reading on the current state of the market will help you greatly in your pursuit for a low interest rate. Sites like the Wall Street Journal online and other respected newspapers usually publish their full financial sections online. Google News and other outlets can additionally offer a slew of recent financial articles with a search or two.

Each loan has its own special set of financial aspects, so comparing them can be difficult at first glance. Thankfully, there are sites out there that will do it for you and doing a search for financial loan comparisons will give you a few good results. By putting in some information about you and your financial status, you can get some loan offers back that are tailored to your situation and can be compared against each other. This is a great step to help save time that might otherwise be spent deciphering the many loan options available through a multitude of lending agencies.

Finally, be thorough in your search. If you are truly looking to get a full picture of the loans available to you, contacting your local institutions (banks and credit unions) is a great step in the process and sometimes the added benefit of supporting local business or having a nearby branch office can make up for an interest rate shortcoming. It is up to you to assign priority to something like that.

Interest rates are important but while you've set out to pursue the lowest rate possible, you might find that there are other benefits you haven't considered that are important as well. These aspects should also make their way into your loan comparison as things like convenience, reliability and other factors differ from lender to lender. Decide what is important to you and what concessions you would make to accommodate one of those other desires.

Finding the lowest interest rate possible is a noble goal and with the avalanche of online information at the fingertips of anyone with an Internet connection, finding that rate is easier now that in the past. However, as you go through your search, keep in mind that a mortgage is more than just an interest rate and remain open to other benefits that might offset a bit of a higher rate.

This is another original article by Joe Lane, co-owner of The Lane Real Estate Team at http://www.joelane.com/. Are you looking for an experienced Tri City WA Real Estate agency? With 20 years of service based, business experience, Joe and Colleen Lane work hard to serve home buyers and sellers for the Tri Cities of Washington's Kennewick, Richland, Pasco, and surrounding areas.

Do you know your mortgage interest rate?

1/3 Don't Know Their Rate

Ask any American how much money they make for a living, and they'll tell you down to the weekly penny. Ask what interest rate governs their single-largest monthly expense, and more than a third don't know.

"Your mortgage rate is one of the most important numbers in your financial life, and there's a good chance that one of your neighbors has no idea regarding how much he or she is paying," said Holden Lewis, a senior mortgage analyst at Bankrate.com.

Bankrate.com surveyed a national sample of 1,000 adults and found that 35 percent did not know their mortgage interest rate. One in 7 mortgage holders were either "not too confident," "not at all confident" or had no idea about their rate.

Lenders say the finding is not at all surprising. Home buying is stressful, and most borrowers are honed in on what their monthly payment will be, not how they get to that payment. What does this mean for home purchases? It means that setting up the borrower with the right loan and payment and making the process smooth and stress-free is more important than the interest rate to the borrower as part of the experience.

Mark Walker NMLS#: Phone: 314-862-0123

Email: everyonebigbend@mimutual.com

Save Money on your home loan

Understanding Credit

Understanding Credit

Credit is one of the most important components in the mortgage approval process.

Lenders look at a borrower’s credit score, number of open accounts, payment history, type of credit borrowed and a series of other factors when determining what level of risk to assess to each lending scenario.

Down payment requirements, loan programs, flexibility on income and even interest rates can be impacted by a slight bump in a credit score.

According To Wikipedia:

A credit score in the United States is a number representing the creditworthiness of a person or the likelihood that person will pay his or her debts.

A credit score is primarily based on a statistical analysis of a person’s credit report information, typically from the three major American credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.

The Fair Isaac Corporation, known as FICO, created the first credit scoring system in 1958, for American Investments, and the first credit scoring system for a bank credit card in 1970, for American Bank and Trust.

The three credit reporting agencies in the United States of America, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, collect data about consumers used to compile credit reports. The credit agencies use FICO software to generate FICO scores, which are sold to lenders. Each individual actually has three credit scores at any given time for any given scoring model because the three credit agencies have their own databases, gather reports from different creditors, and receive information from creditors at different times.

In the United States, a resident is permitted by law to view their credit report once a year at no charge by visiting the websiteAnnualCreditReport.com. The individual’s “credit score” information is available for an additional fee from each of the three credit reporting agencies. In addition, the Fair Isaac Corporation sells FICO scores directly to consumers using data from Equifax and TransUnion.

A FICO score is between 300 and 850, exhibiting a left-skewed distribution with 60% of scores near the right between 650 and 799.

Once credit has been established and maintained, credit scores are based on five factors to varying degrees: payment history (35%), total amounts owed (30%), length of time (15%), type of credit (10%) and new credit (10%).

The largest impact on credit scores is payment history and amount owed, which is why it is important to pay bills on time.

Debt should be kept to a minimum and funds should be moved around as little as possible. It may be beneficial to leave all accounts open, even if they have a $0 balance.

Different types of credit (ie. mix of credit cards, installment loans and fixed payments) can also be beneficial to a credit score.

However, too many installment loans can negatively affect credit.

Although time is a necessary factor for improving credit scores, this can be controlled by keeping the accounts that are opened during the same time period to a minimum.

By following these guidelines over an extended period of time, credit scores can be maintained and improved in order to improve the borrower’s loan potential and interest rate.

Key Factors That Impact Your Score:

1. Payment History (35%)

It is essential to pay your credit bills on time. Every 30 days late, collection, judgment, or Bankruptcy significantly drops your score.

2. Amount You Owe Compared to Balances (30%)

Your available credit compared to the amount owed. It’s a good rule-of-thumb to be at 40% or less of the available balances

3. Length of Credit History (15%)

Easy rule-of-thumb: the longer your accounts are open, the more positive impact it will have on your overall credit score.  In fact, if you happen to have a card that is over 10 years old with even a little activity, it would probably be a bad idea to close that card.

4. Mix of Credit (10%)

Generally speaking, if you have loans, such as a car loan, as well as open credit cards, it helps prove to creditors that you have experience borrowing money.

5. New Credit Applications (10%)

There is a model that compensates for people shopping rates on home and car loans, but it can hurt your credit score to have multiple reports pulled in a short amount of time.

Factors That DO NOT Impact Credit:

• Age
• Race
• Sex
• Employment History
• Income
• Marital Status
• If you’ve been turned down for credit
• Length of time at current address
• Whether you own a home or rent
• Information not contained in your credit report

Establishing Credit:

Several factors can be used to establish credit initially, including bank accounts, employment history, residence history and utility bills.

Although they are not reported directly to credit bureaus, bank account history is important to lenders for first time loans and should be kept in good standing.

While they are also not reported to credit bureaus, utility bills (such as electric, telephone, cable and water) can also show a lender the risk associated with a new borrower.

Credit may be initially established through a bank, in which a credit card is linked to a specific amount of money deposited in the bank.  If the credit card is not kept in good standing, the bank can then take the secured funds for payment.

Initial credit may also be established with a department store credit card (for example), but borrowers should beware of the high interest rates associated with these cards and pay off the balances in full.

_________________________________

David Sharp

123 Mortgage Team

7512 Big Bend Blvd St. Louis, Mo 63119

NMLS # 280482

(314)260-4360 Office

(314)440-3620 Cellphone

Common Documents Required For A Mortgage Pre-Approval for Home Buyers

Even though many lenders are still quoting quick 10 minute pre-qualifications over the phone or online, a true mortgage approval that holds any weight is one that has been issued by an underwriter who has had an opportunity to review all of the necessary documents.

With a constant stream of new lending guidelines, volatile mortgage rates and tightening regulation from Washington, very few real estate agents will show new homes to a First-Time Home Buyer without at least a pre-qualification letter.

A Pre-Approval Letter will help you in three ways:

• It lets you know how much mortgage you can qualify for
• It gives you an estimate of what your total housing payment would be
• Submitting a strong “Pre-Approval” letter with a purchase offer will give the seller more confidence about your ability to complete your end of the agreement

It’s obviously a good idea to get your paperwork prepared ahead of time so that the pre-approval process is as thorough as possible.

In order to get a pre-approval letter, you’ll start by filling out a loan application and submitting a few documents for the loan officer and / or underwriter to review.

Common Loan Pre-Approval Documents:

Income / Assets for Wage Earner:

• Last 2 year W2s and Tax Returns
• 2 most recent Pay Stubs
• 2 most recent Bank Statements, 401(K), Liquid Assets, Investment Accounts

Income / Assets for Self-Employed:

• Last 2 year Tax Returns – Business and Personal
• Last Quarter P&L Statement

Letter of Explanation For:

• Employment Gap or New Line of Work
• Late Payments / Judgments / Bankruptcy on Credit Report

Other:

• Bankruptcy Discharge
• Child Support Documentation
• Lease Agreements (If own other Rental Properties)
• Mortgage Payment Coupons (If own other Real Estate)

…..

Most borrowers also want an opportunity to learn more about the loan officer before digging up all of these personal documents. Spend 15 minutes on the phone asking the loan officer to explain how mortgage rates work, quizzing them on some basic industry vocab or just to see if they know what to prepare your agent for ahead of time. The Q&A session can be more than just a lender qualifying you, as long as you’re prepared to ask the right questions.

Either way, you’ll definitely want to have the above list of approval documents ready once you’ve decided on the right loan officer that you trust will meet your expectations.

David Sharp

NMLS#280482

123 Mortgage Team

314-260-4360

Tips for Home buyers

Buying a home can be exhilarating and terrifying all at the same time, especially for first time home buyers. So to help relieve the anxiety and ease you into the home buying process, we have provided a few important tips to help you on your way to owning your dream home.

Know Your Credit - Your credit score can be the most important element that comes into play when you decide to become a homebuyer. The number in your credit score will influence a lender on whether or not you will qualify for a loan. So pay attention to that number and any debts being owed on your credit report. Make an effort to pay off any outstanding balances, also once the balances are paid in full, make sure the company you owned a debt too, updates it to the credit report companies.

Down Payment - A down payment on a new home can be a huge chunk of money, especially to a first time home buyer. So you should prepare for the down payment ahead of time, tucking away any extra money you can every pay. Also as a first time home buyer check into any programs your state provides to help out first time home buyers with down payment assistance. Finally contact a mortgage lender to see what advice they can give you or where they can turn you too for help.

Keep Documents Organized - Keep any and all documents which authenticate your income and taxes. Mortgage lenders typically request the previous 2 years W2’s, and tax returns, your two most recent paystubs, and the last two months bank statements. So by keeping organized and everything handy this will help save you time when a lender request them.

Buying a home can be scary and time consuming but the end reward out surpasses any fear you may have. Just remember these tips before getting started to ensure you have a smooth sailing experience.