The Truth About Mortgage Blog
A warm, friendly, and most importantly unbiased place to learn about mortgages, ideally before you make contact with a real estate agent or lender. The more you know, the better you’ll feel, and hopefully all that hard work will help you snag a lower mortgage rate too! So what are you waiting for? Let's go! See all mortgage help topics to get started.
Latest Posts
Home Prices vs. Recessions
There have been three recessions since the 1990s, including the Great Recession, which took place from 2007 and 2009 and lasted about a year and a half. Earlier, a recession took place in 1990 thanks to growing inflation and debt, ... Read More »
2019 Mortgage and Real Estate Predictions
First off, here are my 2018 predictions in case you want to see how they panned out. Overall, I think I did alright, though my call for the 30-year fixed to end 2018 at 4.5% didn’t quite materialize. There’s actually ... Read More »
10 Things You Should Do Before Applying for a Mortgage
I once wrote that you should look for a mortgage before searching for a property to buy because unless you have lots of cash, you’re going to need a loan. Now let’s talk about what you should do before you ... Read More »
2019 Conforming Loan Limit Will Be $484,350 for Mortgages Backed by Fannie and Freddie
As expected, the conforming loan limit for 2019 has increased thanks to an ongoing rise in property values, according to a news bulletin released by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) this morning. Beginning in 2019, the maximum loan amount ... Read More »
The Cash Out Refi Share Is Above 80%, But There’s a Catch
While it would appear that borrowers are using their homes as ATMs again, it’s a bit misleading. Yes, the share of home mortgage refinances that resulted in cash out rose above 80% in the third quarter, per Freddie Mac data, ... Read More »
Can I Lower My Mortgage Interest Rate Without Refinancing?
Here’s an interesting one. Is it possible to snag a lower mortgage rate without refinancing? While it’s not all that difficult to refinance a home loan, it does take a bit of time and energy, and you generally need to ... Read More »
What Is Verification of Employment for a Mortgage?
When you apply for a mortgage, underwriters will comb through your finances to determine if you’re a good candidate for a loan. This includes verifying a lot of personal information, including your income, assets, credit history, and employment. Without these ... Read More »
Wells Fargo the Top Mortgage Lender in 2017, Quicken Tops for Number of Loans
Despite closing a higher number of mortgage loans last year, Quicken was unable to wrestle the coveted top spot away from Wells Fargo, per HMDA data parsed by iEmergent. During 2017, the under-fire San Francisco-based bank managed to fund $93 ... Read More »
See How Home Purchasing Power Is Eroding Thanks to Higher Rates and Prices
It’s no secret that residential real estate is expensive right now, at least relative to where it stood just a few short years ago. Home prices have moved higher and higher for about five straight years since bottoming out post-Great ... Read More »
Purchase Mortgages Expected to Increase Next Year Despite Higher Interest Rates, Pessimism
There’s been a lot of negativity regarding the housing market lately, some that I feel reflects the usual seasonal slowdown more than anything else. Yes, listing prices often fall in autumn because there are typically more homes on the market ... Read More »
