Should You Bother Refinancing Your Current Mortgage Rate? 7 Reasons Why You Can’t Refinance Your Mortgage Why Adjustable-Rate Mortgages Are Bad News Right Now 10 Ways to Build Home Equity A Mediocre Credit Score Will Cost You Big on Your Mortgage Should You Buy a House Now or Wait? 6 Things Holding Renters Back From Becoming Homeowners

Should You Bother Refinancing Your Current Mortgage ...

If you don’t mind, let me beat a dead horse. Mortgage rates are at or near record lows and you could save a ton of ...

7 Reasons Why You Can’t Refinance Your ...

With mortgage rates so low, just about everyone and their mother has at least inquired about refinancing. Unfortunately, a lot of current homeowners are finding ...

Why Adjustable-Rate Mortgages Are Bad News Right ...

With mortgage rates as low as they are at the moment, you may be looking beyond fixed-rate options if you’re in the market to purchase ...

10 Ways to Build Home Equity

These days, home equity is all the rage. During the housing boom, it was all about tapping into your home equity with a line of ...

A Mediocre Credit Score Will Cost You ...

While there are a number of factors that determine what mortgage rate you’ll qualify for, assuming you can indeed qualify for a mortgage, perhaps the ...

Should You Buy a House Now or ...

With mortgage rates on long-term fixed-rate mortgages finally slipping into the 3% range, mind you just barely, more fence-sitters may be pondering this very question. ...

6 Things Holding Renters Back From Becoming ...

A new survey from real estate listing service Trulia revealed that 59 percent of renters aspire to be homeowners, but there are six main issues ...

Latest Posts

Obama Hasn’t Refinanced His Mortgage in Seven Years

Obama Hasn’t Refinanced His Mortgage in Seven Years
May 17, 2012 No Comments »

Despite a push to allow more Americans to refinance their mortgages (Harp 2.0), the Obamas haven’t taken the time to refinance their own, according to a disclosure released yesterday by the White House. The financial disclosure revealed that as of ... Read More »

You May Have Missed the Housing Bottom, But Not the Mortgage Rate Bottom

You May Have Missed the Housing Bottom, But Not the Mortgage Rate Bottom
May 15, 2012 No Comments »

Over the past several months, it has become somewhat clear (insert gigantic grain of salt here) that home prices may have bottomed last year, at least in some areas of the country. While it’s still too early to say so ... Read More »

Bank of America Ramps Up Principal Reductions

Bank of America Ramps Up Principal Reductions
May 8, 2012 No Comments »

It took a while, but Bank of America announced today that it intends to mail out principal reduction offers to some 200,000 homeowners. The first letters should be arriving in mailboxes this week, with most mailed by the third quarter ... Read More »

Watch Out for Low Mortgage Rates You Have to Pay For

Watch Out for Low Mortgage Rates You Have to Pay For
May 7, 2012 1 Comment »

Mortgage rates keep on marching lower and lower, with new records broken seemingly every week. But with all the fervor surrounding mortgage rates, some lenders are playing the “how low can we appear to go” game. For example, mortgage lenders ... Read More »

Wells Fargo Claims More Than a Third of Mortgage Market

Wells Fargo Claims More Than a Third of Mortgage Market
May 3, 2012 3 Comments »

Talk about dominating the market. A new report from Inside Mortgage Finance revealed that San Francisco-based bank and mortgage lender Wells Fargo snagged 33.9% of the mortgage market in the first quarter of 2012. It was the biggest residential mortgage ... Read More »

Mortgage Lending Standards: It’s Not 2006 Anymore

Mortgage Lending Standards: It’s Not 2006 Anymore
April 30, 2012 No Comments »

I’ve noted time and time again that it has become a lot more difficult to qualify for a mortgage over the past several years. And the latest Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices (wow that’s long) released ... Read More »

Costco Mortgage Review: What Don’t They Do?

Costco Mortgage Review: What Don’t They Do?
April 26, 2012 1 Comment »

Costco, the well-known mega wholesaler that runs a chain of membership warehouses internationally, is rolling out it’s so-called “Mortgage Services” to all customers after a year of initial testing. The company already offers all types of insurance, a co-branded credit ... Read More »

3 Ways a Low Down Payment Can Raise Your Mortgage Payment

3 Ways a Low Down Payment Can Raise Your Mortgage Payment
April 23, 2012 No Comments »

If you’re in the market to purchase a new home, perhaps because mortgage rates are low and the “worst is behind us,” you may be thinking low down payment all the way. Heck, for many borrowers, a low down payment ... Read More »

Mortgage in America: A Word Cloud

Mortgage in America: A Word Cloud
April 19, 2012 No Comments »

Above is a collection of words that essentially illustrate (and sum up) what I’ve written about over the past six years on this blog. I recently came across a website called Wordle that lets you create “beautiful word clouds,” which ... Read More »

Do 40-Year Mortgages Make Any Sense?

Do 40-Year Mortgages Make Any Sense?
April 18, 2012 No Comments »

Every now and then, I’ll take a look at a certain mortgage product to determine if it could be a good fit for a prospective (or existing) homeowner. Today, we’ll digest a relatively popular home loan option, the “40-year mortgage.” ... Read More »