Archive for August, 2007
Virginia Home Mortgage Loans – 3 Things to Look for in a Lender
By J.A. Hale
The Virginia housing market is considered to be one of the hottest markets in the country. Home values in Virginia increase much faster than the national average, with the largest gains occurring in Northern Virginia and metropolitan areas like Winchester, Hampton Roads, and Charlottesville.
With most price gains in the double digits, there is no denying that Virginia real estate is an excellent investment. This may be why lenders are more than willing to offer Virginia home mortgages. When trying to decide who to borrow from, there are three particular things you should look for in a lender:
Availability
Though it can be very exciting, buying a home can also be a stressful process. The last thing you want is a lender who isn’t available to answer your questions. When searching for a lender to handle your Virginia home mortgage loan, try to choose someone who is personable and available to you via phone and email. Someone who works with a whole team of lending professionals will be your best choice.
Flexibility
While your first instinct may be to borrow from a traditional bank, this may not be your best course of action. More than half of all mortgages in Virginia that are taken out by borrowers who have a credit rating less that 660 are considered unconventional. Often times, traditional banks can’t offer many unconventional choices. An online lender or broker, on the other hand, usually has a wide variety of creative financing programs to choose from.
Fair Charges
The amount of money that you pay in interest, closing costs, and lending fees will affect the total amount of money that you spend on a Virginia home. Finding a lender who has fair rates and charges will be in your best interest. Take time to get quotes and good faith estimates so that you can make comparisons before accepting an offer.
Visit Virginia Lending Center for a list of Recommended Virginia Home Mortgage Lenders, whether you are looking for home purchase, refinance or a home equity loan.
Home Mortgage Loan, California, Here I Come!
Today I liquidated my home mortgage loan California, paid it off, got rid of it, free at last! And tonight we will be celebrating, first at Maximum, that cute little wine bar on Third Street, followed by dinner at Chez Joey’s, from there to The Hanger for a little dirty dancing and then on to our California home and the king size bed. We have been loyal and not always such prompt customers of the home mortgage loan California scheme and despite a few two thousand decibel complaint phone calls, “you are 2 months behind!” life was pretty peaceful during out twenty years together. I was granted the mortgage when I was barely twenty years old, a stripling with no clear future in sight and a man-size mortgage to prove it, a newcomer to California in search of quick and easy money.
I heard about the home mortgage loan, California project from Melissa who was working there at the switchboard. But Melissa wasn’t as willing as the home mortgage loan California people, so I dropped her after the second date and moved on to Lisa who was more than accommodating. And it was Lisa who taught me the new trick, the one I used to land the job at Universal and the one I am still using today to keep my bank account bulging after twenty years.
Mortgage rate soars
Applications for loans hit 4-week low as housing slump worsens
Mortgage applications in the United States declined to a four-week low as the rate on one-year adjustable loans jumped by the most since the Mortgage Bankers Association began keeping records in 1996.
The report demonstrates the difficulty some homebuyers face in securing affordable financing. The organization’s index fell 4 percent last week to 615.2. The group’s purchase and refinancing gauges each decreased for a second week.
Banks may be jacking up short-term rates to dissuade buyers from choosing riskier mortgages as defaults on subprime loans climb. The housing slump will worsen as banks restrict the availability of credit and falling real-estate prices prevent owners from tapping home equity for extra spending money, economists said.
“If rates go up and credit gets tighter, that is going to lead to a drop in demand on top of what we have already seen,” said Abiel Reinhart, an economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in New York. “That is going to have an adverse impact” on the economy through the first half of 2008, he said.
The mortgage bankers’ purchase index fell 4 percent to 424 last week from 441.5. The refinancing index decreased 4.2 percent to 1729.6 from 1806.3. Both measures were the lowest in four weeks and below their year-earlier levels.
More than 100 mortgage lenders have ceased operations or sought buyers this year as investors’ demand for riskier assets has dried up.
The average rate on a one-year adjustable mortgage surged to 6.51 percent, the highest since January 2001, from 5.84 percent the prior week. The rate also surpassed the cost of a 30-year fixed loan for the first time.
The number of applications for adjustable-rate loans slumped 23 percent, while those for fixed-rate mortgages rose 0.2 percent. Adjustable-rate mortgages dropped to 15 percent of all applications, the fewest since July 2003.
The average rate on a 30-year fixed loan fell to 6.41 percent last week, from 6.49 percent. At that rate, monthly borrowing costs for each $100,000 of a loan would have been about $626, little changed from a year ago.
via Deseret Morning News