Archive for November, 2006
Fixer Uppers
Thursday, November 16th, 2006Another strategy used by real estate investors, is to buy run-down property, fix it up, and then resell it at a handsome profit. In some cases, the approach varies - the idea is to buy a property significantly below value, and live in it after renovation; thereby getting a home that’s much better than what […]
Accelerating your mortgage payments
Wednesday, November 15th, 2006Your monthly payments on your mortgage go to pay both interest and principal on your loan - during early years, the interest component is much higher than your principal. If you have a 30 year loan, during the first year more than 90% of your payment goes towards interest.
Many investors don’t like the idea […]
No Money Down?
Tuesday, November 14th, 2006Many home buyers wonder whether they should look for “Nothing Down” opportunities, for their first home; books by Robert Allen and others talked about the potential of building wealth through leverage. Robert Kiyosaki’s books also touch on these possibilities.
It’s tempting - why struggle to pay a down payment, when you could do without? A HELOC […]
Closing costs - keeping a reserve.
Monday, November 13th, 2006Most buyers assume that once they are pre-approved for a loan and have enough for the down payment, they can go ahead to buy. After all, the big expenditure is covered - what more can there be?
Quite often, comes a rude awakening; when closing costs and other expenses add up to a sizeable amount. Most […]
Build or buy, new or used?
Friday, November 10th, 2006After looking around for a few days and not finding anything suitable, most new buyers begin to wonder - rather than looking to buy an existing house, wouldn’t it make more sense to build your own? You can have the design to your convenience and needs, it might be cheaper, and you don’t seem to […]
Prequalifed or preapproved
Thursday, November 9th, 2006Once you’ve found the lender whose terms are most appropriate for you, you’re all set to go ahed looking for a home. It makes sense to take another step - getting yourself prequalified for a loan, or preapproved.
Prequalification is in some ways similar to the eligibility check for how much you can get - you […]
Your credit score
Wednesday, November 8th, 2006The two key factors to maximising the amount you can get for a mortgage loan are the period of repayment and your credit rating. The longer the period of the loan, the lower the instalments - and hence, the higher the amount of the loan you can obtain.
Your credit rating determines the rate of interest […]
Improving your mortgage
Saturday, November 4th, 2006Contrary to what most people think, mortgage terms aren’t cast in stone; it’s possible to get a better mortgage, with a little planning and judicious activity.
You need to know which factor is the key.
Always shop around and get at least 2 or 3 estimates. Some banks, wanting to limit exposure to a particular area, may […]
Better mortgage terms
Thursday, November 2nd, 2006After running through mortgage calculators, people often find that the loan they can qualify for is a lot less than what they’d like. Nothing new there - except that it doesn’t make sense to compromise while buying a home.
So what can you do? Some people do compromise and buy smaller. Some look at property that’s […]
What can you afford?
Wednesday, November 1st, 2006Before you start looking at homes, it makes sense to check out what you are able to buy. As we’ve discussed earlier, it’s very rare for anyone to buy a home with all cash down - it’s very likely that you’ll be taking a mortgage.
To start with, check out your personal details with our mortgage […]