15
Oct
By Jim Hasek
Home Mortgage Tips, ,

Refinance Now or Wait? How to Determine the Best Time to Refinance Your Mortgage

Refinancing your mortgage is a great way to reduce your monthly payments or take out some of the equity in your home to reinvest in renovations, upgrades or in other areas in your financial portfolio. Let's take a quick look at a few questions that you can ask yourself in order to determine whether you should refinance now or wait until sometime in the future. Can You Lock In A Lower Interest Rate? Depending on when you first purchased your home and took out your mortgage, you may find that by refinancing now you can lock in a lower interest…
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14
Oct
By Jim Hasek
Market Outlook, ,

What’s Ahead For Mortgage Rates This Week – October 14, 2014

Economic news was lean last week as the first week of the month tends to be calm in the aftermath of the rush of end-of-month reporting. Of note was CoreLogic's report on housing markets, the release of the minutes from the most recent FOMC meeting and lower mortgage rates reported by Freddie Mac. CoreLogic Reports Lowest Home Price Gains in Almost Two Years August home prices hit their slowest growth rate in nearly two years according to CoreLogic data released last Tuesday. Annual home prices grew by 6.40 percent in August as compared to July's reading of 6.80 percent. Year-over-year…
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10
Oct
By Jim Hasek
Home Buyer Tips, ,

The Pros and Cons of Buying a New Home Versus Buying Pre-owned

Are you thinking about buying a new home? Congratulations! Buying a house, condo or townhouse is an exciting and rewarding time which tends to be a lot of fun. However, along the way you'll need to make a number of decisions – including whether you want to buy a pre-owned home or one that has been built recently and is brand new. Let's take a quick look at some of the pros and cons of buying a new home versus buying pre-owned. New Homes Tend To Have Fewer Problems One of the major upsides of buying new is that newly-built…
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09
Oct
By Jim Hasek
Home Mortgage Tips, ,

Self Employed and Seeking a Mortgage? How to Ensure That Your Lender Knows You’re Able to Pay

Whether you're a freelance web designer who spends their days working from a coffee shop or a small-business entrepreneur with a team of staff, if you're a self-employed individual and you're thinking about buying a new house you may face some difficulty getting approved for a mortgage. In today's blog post we'll share how you can provide paperwork and other evidence to show your mortgage lender that you're a quality applicant who has the ability to make their payments. Have Your Accountant Prep Your Paperwork As a general rule of thumb, if you're in business you should invest in the…
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08
Oct
By Jim Hasek
Home Buyer Tips, ,

Closing Costs: Understanding What It Costs to Close on a Home and What You Can Expect to Pay

If you're in the process of buying a new home, you've likely heard the term "closing costs" in regards to the many different fees and taxes that you'll be required to pay during the purchase process. In this post we'll look at a number of these closing costs and what you will be expected to pay when you buy that next dream home. Taking out a Mortgage? There Will Be Fees Attached If you're taking out a mortgage to finance the cost of buying your home you'll end up incurring a variety of fees. Nearly all lenders will charge a…
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07
Oct
By Jim Hasek
Home Mortgage Tips, ,

Shopping Around: How to Compare Mortgages from Different Lenders or Underwriters

Buying a home is a major financial transaction, especially if you're going to need mortgage financing to help cover the purchase cost. The only way to know if you're getting the best deal on a mortgage is to shop around, but with so many different lenders vying for your business it can be very tough to choose which mortgage is the best fit for your own situation. In this post we'll share how you can compare mortgages from different lenders or underwriters so that you can get the best possible deal on your mortgage loan. Start By Comparing Interest Rates…
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