The mortgage industry may seem simple on its face, but it is actually fairly complex. In this article, we discuss the ubiquitous mortgage servicer. If you have ever had any kind of fixed term loan, such as a student or car loan, you know that the loan...

Most people have a pretty good idea of how their credit looks. At least, they think they do. It is vital that you actually verify your credit situation before applying for a mortgage to avoid ugly surprises. Your credit score plays a vital role in get...

If you decide to sell your home, you most likely are going to want to buy another one. This process is known as stepping up in the market, but can lead to financing problems. Selling and buying homes can be a bit stressful to say the least. If you rec...

Only in America could you have something like credit cards. Lenders more or less throw money at you by offering you credit cards, but can you have too many when it comes time to apply for a home loan? Credit cards are so numerous, it is rather stunning...

When it comes to financing for real estate, the tendency is to think big in relation to the amount you can borrow. In truth, affordability should be a bigger issue. For the last seven years or so, many people have been borrowing money like mad when it...

There were many benefits to the red-hot real estate market earlier this decade. One is the fact many people are sitting on homes with lots of equity. Tapping such equity should be done very carefully. Home equity is a beautiful thing. For most homeown...

If you own a home, sooner or later you will start thinking about refinancing. Making the decision to refinance should be carefully done or you could regret it. The decision to refinance is an entirely different situation compared to when you first too...

One of the biggest hurdles to buying your first home is coming up with the down payment. Alas, you may already have it and not even realize it. Long ago, you needed twenty percent of the value of the home you were interested in as a down payment. On a...

Homeowners have seen massive increases in the values of their homes. At the same time, they tend to have significant personal debt. Ah, I think we have a match. You hear it on the radio everyday or perhaps see a television advertisement. Why should yo...

Given the massive appreciation rates many areas saw in the early part of this decade, creating liquidity has become popular. The best way to convert equity to cash is through a refinance strategy. From 2000 on, the real estate market in many areas of t...

The mortgage industry is full of interesting little rules of thumb. When it comes to refinancing, you may have heard of the 2 percent rule. The 2 percent rule is one of those clichés that has taken on a life of its own. The rule applies to refinancin...

The key to getting the best financing for your home purchase is to use a mortgage broker to shop the various loans available. Before you can do that, you need to know how to pick one. A mortgage broker is an independent loan professional. Put another ...

The mortgage market has grown leaps and bounds from the days when the 30 year mortgage was the primary loan available. That doesn’t mean that all the new products are good for homeowners. As the real estate market has cooled off, the big lenders are...

If you have owned a home for some time, you probably have amassed a nice nest egg of equity, particularly if you owned it through the recent price run up. So, how do you use it for practical needs? The equity in a home simply refers to the difference b...

Many people focus on the interest rates and points of a loan till they can’t see straight. In truth, the term of the loan is just as critical if not more so. The term of a home loan is simply the number of months you will be repaying it back. Most p...