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Fannie Mae's standard mortgage guidelines include its 5-10 Properties Financed Program. Yet, most banks won't offer it to the public. If you've ever been turned down by your bank for having more than 4 properties financed, here's what to do about it.
"Good" jumbo mortgages are tough to find. There are big price differences from bank-to-bank. Here's how to find banks with low jumbo rates.
On Nov 15, the government will release the details of its new HARP refinance program. By Dec. 1, lenders will be accepting applications. Early applicants are expected to get the lowest mortgage rates.
The original HARP program was expected to help 9 million U.S. households. Fewer than 900,000 executed. It's why the revamped HARP II incorporates major changes, including unlimited LTVs.
With adjustable-rate mortgage rates available under 3 percent, it's a terrific time to look at ARMs.
The USDA mortgage program has new guidelines for buyers to follow. Review the changes in an easy-to-follow format.
In February 2009, Fannie Mae approved investors to finance more than 4 properties at a time. Two years later, though, finding a bank that'll do make that loan is tough. You have to search more directly.
Over the last 60 days, bank checking accounts are paying 38% more interest, and interest rates are approaching a 2-year high. It's an insider's signal that a surge in jumbo mortgage rates is coming.
Banks are now making loans against non-warrantable condos and condotels. But you won't get approved with The Big Banks if you try -- you've got to look local instead. Here's how to do it.
Starting next week, Fannie Mae is putting major restrictions on the popular "interest only" loan product. This follows Freddie Mac's earlier announcement to discontinue interest only loans entirely.
It doesn't take an elephant's memory to remember that Prime Rate was 8 percent-plus just 2 years ago. A few years before that, Prime Rate neared 10 percent. These are the facts that the banks aren't selling. Instead, banks and credit unions are dangling low "start rates" as bait and looking for homeowners to bite.
Another day, another piece of evidence that
How do you avoid paying jumbo mortgage rates on a jumbo-sized mortgage? You avoid taking your mortgage to a Wall Street lender, that's how. It's pretty simple when we break it down. The word "jumbo" is a Wall Street-specific term for home loans larger than $417,000. In certain "high-cost" areas,...
As home values stagnate around the country, mortgage lenders are actively trimming their exposure to home equity. Until recently, they've done it one of two ways: They eliminated no downpayment loans (except in rare circumstances) They capped second mortgages (i.e. home equity loans) at 95% of the home's value But...
Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) came back in vogue in 2007 for a number of reasons, the most widely-known of which was that PMI was suddenly tax-deductible. But it came with a catch. Only families earning less than $100,000 could take the full tax deduction. For everyone else, PMI was same...
One advantage of using interest only loans versus amortizing loans is that it opens the door to more sophisticated financial planning. One way in which that's possible is that interest only loan payments are re-calculated each month based on how much money you are currently borrowing. The industry term for...
Okay, so you've seen me use this sort of graphic before. Published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, this Fed Funds Rate Future chart is an analysis of what action market players think the Fed will take at its next meeting. The Fed next meeting is a two-day affair...
Suddenly, Private Mortgage Insurance is back in vogue. If only by default. Since 2002, many homeowners have financed a portion of their homes using second mortgages. It wasn't well-publicized, but these "piggyback" loans that helped people finance 85%, 90%, 95% or 100% of their home's value were really sub-prime loans,...
LIBOR (Lie'-boor): 1. The variable in most people's "What's my mortgage adjusting to" mortgage rate formula; 2. Media darling now that writers are wondering from where the next big mortgage problem will originate. Despite what you may hear in the news, LIBOR's rapid ascent will not have a major bearing...
If governments see fit to curb the use of interest only mortgages, I propose a solution for mortgage borrowers everywhere. The 100-year mortgage. Using the 100-year mortgage, your payment on every $100,000 borrowed will be just $1.26 higher than it's corresponding interest only payment. Yes, this post is somewhat tongue-in-cheek....
A year ago, I called the 15-year fixed mortgage a "sucker's bet" in one of my most popular posts ever. There was a fair amount of debate around the subject and some of you posted legitimate economic discourse on the subject. It made me feel good about my audience, actually....
Could the title of this post be any longer? Matt in Manhattan sent this question via email. I thought I'd share the conversation because it makes for good learning. The question (edited for length and clarity): The payment on a 30-year fixed mortgage for $1,000,000 is $6,418. The same payment...
Let's talk some more about negatively-amortizing ARMs and why they are not universally bad mortgage products, as Business Week would have us believe. To reach agreement on that point, however, we need to agree on something else: Financial instruments -- including mortgages -- are sophisticated and heavily nuanced. Before ever...
In reference to 50-year mortgages, here is a quick amortization schedule comparing 30-year, 40-year and 50-year mortgages. After 30 years, a 30-year mortgage term is paid in full After 30 years, a 40-year mortgage term has 57% of the original borrowed amount remaining After 30 years, a 50-year mortgage term...
The Chicago Tribune's Mary Umberger wrote an interesting piece on the lengthening of mortgage terms, from 30-years to 40-years and now to 50-years. It ran in Sunday's Business section on the front page. Mary talked to me as a part of her research on 50-year mortgage story, about which I...
I've had this exact conversation way too many times: Me: "Home Equity Lines of Credit are not fixed interest rate. Your cost of borrowing on a HELOC is a lot higher now than it was 18 months ago." Homeowner: "No, my HELOC is at a great rate." Me: "Oh, okay!...
Oh boy, oh boy. The cost of credit is going up (again). The Fed is widely expected to raise its benchmark Fed Funds Rate to 3.75% today and that's bad news if you have a "first lien HELOC", a popular mortgage product popular from 2003. First lien HELOCs are lines...
Another day, another "mortgages are risky" article in the papers. Today, the headline of an article in USA Today screamed: "Stretching mortgage to 40 years can be risky". We get it! Mortgages are risky. In any form. Of any product. With any terms. They're risky. McPaper piece cites the same...
Negatively amortizing home loans get a lot of bad press. Some of it is deserved; most of it is not. If you've never heard of NegAm loans, maybe you know them by their more popular, "brand" names: Option ARM Pick-a-Payment ARM Deferred Interest Option Loan The basic concept of a...
MSN Money recently ran an article stating that interest only loans are bad choices for most borrowers. The headline ran as "Interest-only loans: not magic, usually not smart". Then, the next line: The last interest-only mortgage craze ended with a wave of foreclosures in the Great Depression. Today's interest-only ARMs...
