Mortgage Tips

This was the first category I created when this website was created in 2006.

And it’s really why I launched the site to begin with. To educate prospective home buyers and existing homeowners.

Simple guides and practical mortgage tips can help you better understand and prepare for the home loan process.

Same goes for answering mortgage questions and brushing up on the latest mortgage lingo.

Sometimes home buyers focus exclusively on the real estate piece while ignoring the home loan part.

This can result in some bad decisions when it comes to getting a mortgage. Or simply overpaying because of missteps (or a lack of shopping around!).

Learn how to get a mortgage, refinance an existing loan, and discover the many different loans programs available today.

You’re not financing a TV, or a car for that matter. It’s a big purchase and it deserves a lot more time and attention.

Arm yourself with knowledge early on and you’ll likely enjoy a better outcome.

Refinancing to an ARM If You Plan on Moving Soon

I was looking at rates on hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages the other day and thought it could make sense for some folks to refinance out of… Read More »Refinancing to an ARM If You Plan on Moving Soon

Let’s forget about whether it’s okay for a mortgage to be easily obtained. Yes, I’m looking at you Rocket Mortgage. Thanks for riling everyone up.… Read More »Your Mortgage Has a Better Chance of Approval on a Sunny Day

These days, pretty much all banks and mortgage lenders use FICO scores to determine your creditworthiness before approving you for a mortgage. It’s one of… Read More »Now You Can Get a Mortgage Without a FICO Score

It’s time for another round of real estate and mortgage predictions for the coming year. Here are my 2015 and 2014 predictions in case you… Read More »10 Predictions for Real Estate and Mortgage in 2016

There are plenty of ways to pay off the mortgage early, which I’ve already highlighted here, but I wanted to add another I recently stumbled… Read More »Redeem Citi Points for a Mortgage Payment Reward to Reduce Your Mortgage Balance

This headline may have caught your attention seeing that it sounds like terrible advice. But wait, let them explain. Well, let me explain Trulia’s rationale… Read More »Trulia: Not a Bad Idea to Buy an Unaffordable Home

If you were to get a mortgage today, where would you go? Would you turn to your local bank or would you look elsewhere? I’d… Read More »Why Most People Don’t Get Mortgages from Their Bank

There seems to be a new trend regarding insurance and homes losing value. Perhaps the unfortunate part is that all these new services are arriving… Read More »Down Payment Protection for Your Home Purchase Is a Thing Now

Whether you realize it or not, when you take out a mortgage you wind up paying a lot of money in mortgage interest. And that’s… Read More »A Mortgage Credit Certificate Can Save You Money on Mortgage Interest

Continuing my series of “Things My Friends Say,” I had yet another thought-provoking conversation with a buddy about the current state of the housing market.… Read More »I Wish I Could Buy a Home While Interest Rates Are So Low