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  • Not Ready to Refinance Your Home Mortgage? It Could Be the Perfect Time…

    Posted on March 19th, 2006 admin No comments

    Today we’re joined by Brian Jenkins, with a great resource article on the benefits of refinancing. Most of us don’t know the right time to refinance our home mortgage, and that’s okay. The important part is to listen to sound advice and speak with professionals. We’ll let Brian take it away with his article on…

    Real Estate ~ The Benefits Of Refinancing A Mortgage

    There are a variety of reasons why someone would want to refinance their mortgage. To take in the benefits, it helps to catch exactly what refinancing a mortgage involves. When you refinance a mortgage, you are basically buying your home again. The benefit, of course, is that you are buying the home from yourself. The asking price? The amount left on the loan. So, if you have lived in your home for several years, and have a service deal of equity in your home, you can refinance the balance of your mortgage. Typically, people refinance when mortgage rates have lowered. The benefit then, is that by financing at a low ebb money, and financing it at a lower rate, you can either shorten the term of your mortgage, or you can lower your monthly mortgage payment.

    There are other reasons that people refinance their mortgage as well. If you need a substantial amount of money, refinancing is a weal way to come up with the cash. In what is known as a cash out refinance, it is possible to refinance your home, using the appraised appraise of your home as the loan amount (or a percentage of the value, typically without 80%). The difference amid the amount of loan that you qualify for, and the amount you owe on the home, is paid as cash. This is an excellent way to come up with capital for college, home repairs, or other big ticket items. Because homes every moment discern in survey purchase, it is possible to appropriate a substantial amount of wherewithal if you have lived in your home for five or more years. Of course, the more equity that you have in your home, the more cash you can receive. It is important to remember, however, that you will be making mortgage payments on this new loan amount, whatever the amount may be.

    Some people choose to refinance a mortgage in order to consolidate their debts. If you have a substantial amount of credit card debit or medical expenses, refinancing can be an excellent way to pay these debts off over an extended week of time. The process is similar to a cash out refinance, however, you will pay off your creditors instead of having extra cash in your account. If you choose this type of refinance, it is important to remember that you are not debt-free. The bills are rolled into your mortgage, so you will be paying the credit card or other insolvency off over a era of 30 years, or whatever your mortgage terms are. If you go caudal to spending the way you were previously when you acquired this debt, then you will end up in a wrong circle. It only makes sense to consolidate your bills into a mortgage loan if you are serious about reducing spending and preventing yourself from getting into the same financial position again.

    Drawbacks of Refinancing a Mortgage

    Refinancing a mortgage does not always make sense. While it can be an excellent way to save wherewithal on your mortgage, or reduce your monthly expenses, for some people it does not make sense. Typically people look at refinancing their mortgage when interest rates drop one to two percent. This is not, however, the only indicator that refinancing is a improvement choice.

    There are costs associated with refinancing. As stated earlier, refinancing is essentially re-buying your home. This capital that you will once again be theme to closing costs. Your home will be appraised, the medal will be checked, and the bank will, of course, have their fees. If you resolution on staying in your home for at least five more years the refinance, then it makes sense to consider refinancing your mortgage when rates drop a percent or two. If you credit that you will move before five years, you will like enough not save any wherewithal by refinancing.

    One way to save funds on refinancing expenses is to stay with the same lender that currently holds your mortgage. When you stay with the same lender, you may be able to negotiate reduced closing costs, or a reduced mortgage rate without paying points. If you are interested in exploring a mortgage refinance, and you have been basically happy with your lender over the second of time you have had your mortgage, it makes sense to start there in the search for refinancing options. If you find lower interest rates or low closing cost loans at another institution, first ask your current company if they can match these deals. The mortgage market is very competitive, and, if you have a history of prompt payments, and have a substantial amount of equity in your home, it is very likely that the mortgage company that holds your loan will be willing to work with you.


    Brian Jenkins is a freelance writer who writes about topics pertaining to the mortgage industry such as a Mortgage Company.

    Thanks for the excellent advice, Brian. We appreciate the time you spent to put together this resource for us.

    If you’d like to learn more about timing your own mortgage refinance, we’d be happy to help point you in the right direction and start speaking with the right people. To get started, let us know where you’re at and we’ll go from there.

  • Want to do a Home Loan Modification? Not Without These Tips!

    Posted on November 2nd, 2004 admin No comments

    I don’t know of anyone that wouldn’t want to take advantage of a loan modification to save money, but there is a good way and a bad way to go about it. Before you begin your loan modification quest, here is what you need to know?

    Loan Modification Choices - Things You Need to Know

    A Home Loan Modification is an offer to make a permanent change in the borrowers mortgage terms which is normally involves a rate modification. To find out if you qualify or how to get help on a mortgage loan modification there are plenty of attorneys and loan modification companies to help consumers.

    To determine if you are eligible the legal representative will request certain documentation and ask you income and expense questions. One will need to be in a hardship situation such as job loss, dramatic reduction in income, divorce, death, etc. many individuals opt to try and do the loan modification themselves without the assistance of an attorney who knows the laws, knows how to stop a foreclosure, knows what errors to look for in the closing documents, and what is needed to qualify.

    There are other companies out there who claim they can do a loan modification and then actually can’t help the homeowner and find themselves even more underwater since they had to pay that particular company a processing fee. A loan modification, also called debt restructuring, with an attorney can significantly make headway for clients at a faster rate and faster responses. I have personally witnessed people trying to save a buck here and there and do it themselves. Yet, they discover six months later they are still no closer to a modification agreement and are still chasing down different office staff in the lenders office.

    Some homeowners that are struggling to make their mortgage payments or close to foreclosure may choose to employ a real estate attorney or a loan modification company rather than doing it ion their own due to the fact that an attorney has a significantly more positive impact and results, when ordinary individuals have failed. The lender has to respond to attorney in a timely fashion otherwise there are penalties, possible loan rescission, and expensive legal fees. They don’t want this in addition to a foreclosed property. Once an individual fails to negotiate with the loan servicing company, it is much harder to use an attorney later on to stop a foreclosure due to time constraints and the lender having your current information. Getting to the right person or persons within the mortgage lenders’ loss mitigation department can be difficult to impossible at times. Some have stories that their documents simply disappeared like the loss mitigation has a magical genie on staff. Mail and faxes may suddenly become misplaced, agreements moved to different departments, etc. Their objective is to collect for their investors. You are not the client to them. The investors are.

    Remember the lender is mainly trying to collect delinquent payments, not give you a break. The loan loss mitigation area is not in the business of offering each person that requests 3.00% fixed rate for 5 or 10 years or reduce the principal loan balance down by $100,000. Although, the odds increase when using qualified loan modification companies with an attorney. If they are done at all, it is based on the individual file and must be properly negotiated to achieve positive results. When one uses the loan modification services from a company that has an attorney on staff, they are usually going to have a better outcome.

    A loan modification is a long term solution, modified forbearance agreements are designed by the lenders to just get paid. Of coarse they will negotiate with you to get caught up, requiring a portion of the late payments to be paid up front to reinstate the loan or to stop foreclosure.

    Be Careful of Loan Modification Company without an Attorney

    There are many loan modification companies also known as loss mitigation companies marketing their success stories, refunds, and principal reductions. If they guarantee a principal reduction, then you need to do business elsewhere because that simply cannot be guaranteed period. It may be a strategy within the loan modification company’s marketing but there is no guarantee!
    If they say refunds, make sure they disclose the refund amount if their processing department deems it not to be a favorable file for a loan modification.

    I will agree that not every company out there is untruthful however most of the salesman are working just to make a sales commission. You should work a loan modification company that has attorneys, paralegals and experienced bank negotiators to personally handle files that come in.

    What is a Typical Loan Modification?

    A standard loan modification puts the borrower into a comfortable and long term ability to make their new payment. Modifying the mortgage terms of the current loan can involve a very low rate that is fixed for a period of 3 to 7 years then systematically rise to the current market fixed rates. In certain situations, the lender may also choose to decrease the principal loan balance or wipe out part or all of the second lien if it is introduce properly with documentation. In summary, a loan modification should be favorable solution to both the homeowner and the investor.


    Homeowners interested in a loan modification program who are behind on their payments or have a financial hardship can apply with a Real Estate Lawyer or visit http://www.OCRealEstateLawyer.net website to have experienced paralegals, debt negotiators supervised by Attorneys who know this business.

    What an excellent perspective!

    To get professional advice for your mortgage situation at absolutely no cost, get in touch with us today.