Mortgage Tips
Simple mortgage tips to help you better prepare for the mortgage process and ideally save money on your mortgage.Is It a Bad Idea to Buy a Home During a Pandemic?
A recent op-ed said buying a home during a pandemic was a terrible idea. The author, Teresa Ghilarducci, noted that both home prices and uncertainty are high. Her basic message – we’re maybe acting irrationally due to the COVID-19 pandemic, ... Read More »
What Is a Mortgage Loan Servicer?
Perhaps one of the most confusing aspects of getting a mortgage is knowing who you actually pay once the thing funds. And to that end, when your first mortgage payment is due. While Bank X may have closed your loan, ... Read More »
Rounding Up Your Mortgage Payment: Does It Actually Work?
There are all sorts of gimmicks, tips, and tricks out there to pay down the mortgage a little (or a lot) quicker. And one that sounds relatively painless is the simple rounding up of one’s mortgage payment. So if you ... Read More »
When Do Mortgage Payments Start?
A little bit of mortgage Q&A: “When do mortgage payments start?” New homeowners (and those refinancing a mortgage) often wonder when mortgage payments start, as there’s sometimes a considerable gap between loan closing and the due date of the first ... Read More »
How Low Will Mortgage Rates Go?
It seems that lately we reach a new all-time low for mortgage rates just about every week, which begs the question, how low can they go? Indeed, mortgage rates have hit record lows eight times so far in 2020, and ... Read More »
Do Mortgage Inquiries Affect Credit Score?
Mortgage Q&A: “Do mortgage inquiries affect credit score?” When preparing to take out a mortgage, you may have concerns about your credit report being pulled numerous times within a short period of time. This can occur while shopping for that ... Read More »
Is a 2.25% 30-Year Fixed Mortgage Rate in the Cards?
One of the problems with refinancing a home loan right now is that mortgage rates keep falling. As such, you might find the need to refinance again shortly after refinancing. Aside from being inconvenient, it’s also not very cost-effective. Yes, ... Read More »
What Is a Gift of Equity?
One of the biggest hurdles to homeownership is down payment. Most people can afford a monthly mortgage payment, especially with interest rates so low, because it’s often not too different than a rent payment. But coming up with 20% of ... Read More »
Is Mortgage a Good Debt or a Bad Debt?
You may have heard that mortgage is a “good debt,” in that it’s okay to carry a multi-hundred-thousand-dollar loan for decades on end. While that may sound counterintuitive to the many anti-debt folks out there, such as Suze Orman or ... Read More »
Are Mortgage Points Worth the Cost?
Mortgage Q&A: “Are mortgage points worth it?” When taking out a mortgage, whether for a new home purchase or to refinance an existing loan, one decision you’ll undoubtedly have to make is if it’s worth paying mortgage points to obtain ... Read More »
