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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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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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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Setting Your Budget: How to Analyze Your Finances to Determine How Much Mortgage You Can Afford

Whether you're buying a home for the first time or you've decided it's about time that you upgraded to a larger, more expansive house, if you're making a real estate purchase you'll need to be aware of how much you can reasonably afford to borrow in a mortgage. In today's post we'll take a look at a few ways that you can analyze your financial situation to help decide how much mortgage you can truly afford. Prepare An Honest Monthly Budget The first step in understanding how much of a monthly payment you can afford is to create an honest…
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Turned Down for a Mortgage? What to Do if You are Declined – and How to Get Second Opinion

If you have been declined for a mortgage, you may think that buying that new home is out of reach. However, there are ways to turn a rejection into an approval and to find a more accessible loan. Here are just a few steps you can take to learn about your loan options and get the mortgage that works for you. Find Out Why The Mortgage Application Was Denied The first step to getting a second opinion is to find out why your mortgage application was denied. Banks commonly deny mortgages for reasons like a low credit score, a high…
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Speeding Up the Close: Five Tips on How to Close Your Mortgage Loan Faster So You Can Start Moving In

When a seller accepts an offer from a buyer, the process of obtaining the property has just begun. The buyer now has to conduct an inspection, get approval from an attorney and obtain a mortgage - all of which can be time consuming. Here are a few ways that you can speed up the mortgage process and close the deal sooner. Make Sure That You Have Money For Closing Costs Do you have the money needed for a down payment and to pay other closing and prepaid costs? If not, you won't be able to close until you find the…
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