Articles by Peter Miller - Page 9

If you're worried about being approved for a mortgage, you're not alone. Here's how to assess and improve your chances.

When you buy a house, you may be competing against many other people. Should you waive contingencies to make yourself a more attractive buyer?

Natural disasters frequently affect real estate markets where they occur. But Hurricane Harvey's impact could be far more wide-reaching.

For a lower mortgage rate, knowledge is power. Here's how to get the information you need from lenders, and how to use it to get your best deal.

Does a low down payment affect a home seller's perception? Can a low down payment make it harder for your offers to be taken seriously?

A refinance mortgage, if you rent your property with Airbnb or another agency, may be harder to get or more costly. Here's why.

It may seem pretty old school, but lenders will still send a mortgage offer through snail mail to connect with a targeted customer. Is it worth considering, or should you just put it in the "circular file?"

If you're behind on your mortgage payments, and you have private or government-backed mortgage insurance, you may be able to get back in control with a claim advance. A claim advance is money from your mortgage insurer used to bring your account current.

Anyone can have mortgage problems, but when the victims are your parents, things can get a little hairy. Here are several solutions to your parents' mortgage problems.

Sometimes, you should take a second mortgage to repay student loans. Here's how to decide.

It's important to know how to choose a home builder because guessing wrong could be very expensive. Here is what you need to know.

Is the military loan from the VA better than FHA mortgage financing? usually. here's what you need to know about this valuable benefit.

Short sale homes are still around and can represent a nice bargain. Learn about buying a short sale home here.

FHA guidelines are very important -- to FHA underwriters. You don't need to know all 1,000 pages of FHA guidelines -- just these facts.

The mortgage prequalification letter tells home sellers and their agents that you are serious about buying a home, and deserve a little respect.

When does refinancing make sense? It depends on your goals and the loans available to you. Here are some scenarios in which refinancing does and does not make sense.

Cash out refinance rates are as unpredictable as all other mortgage rates. But most experts expect them to eventually go up. So if you're considering a cash out refinance, now is probably a good time to pull it off.

If your mortgage credit report has limited data, don't despair. Mortgage lenders are much more accepting of non-traditional credit today.

15 year mortgage rates typically run .5 to one percent lower than 30 year home loan rates. Fid out how much you can save by refinancing to a 15 year home loan.

How much house can I afford? That's a question every homebuyer should ask before shopping for a house. Affordability depends on your mortgage rate, down payment, the price of the house and other factors.