Mortgage Refinansing Help

Mortgage Refinancing Help: Home

“Mortgage can last a lifetime and that extra 1% can add up to literally thousands of dollars over the years. I have friends that are in their 70s and still paying off their home loans. It'll pay off in the long run to make sure you find the best deal possible. Don't let poor credit stop you from refinancing your home. ”

Mortgage Refinancing Help : Home: Personal Finance: Money Management: Loans : Home (32)

Make sure that your original mortgage does not have a pre-payment penalty or early payoff penalty of any kind. Sometimes people will get into their mortgage with the mortgage having a pre-payment penalty and they will not even know about it. Pre-payment penalties usually range from 6 months to 3 years with a penalty for an early payoff. The penalty is usually about the amount of 6 months worth of your mortgage loan interest, but this varies. You would have to be able to have some significant payment and interest savings on your refinance loan to justify refinancing a mortgage loan with a pre-payment penalty.

Mortgage Calculators@ (17)
Reverse Mortgages (7)

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Business: Financial Services: Mortgages (927)
Home: Homeowners: Home Buyers (4)

Mortgage Insider »
Mortgage articles, tutorials, podcasts, and online tests, designed to prepare, educate and protect consumers shopping for home loans written by industry insider, Rob K. Blake. The site also has sections aimed towards real estate professionals and financial advisors.

Dept. of Housing and Urban Development »
Government agency oversees home mortgage lending practices.

Ask Mortgage Master »
Provides answers to questions consumers may have regarding mortgages.

HUD On Your Side: Buying A Home »
Various topics are covered from settlement costs to buying land and new construction. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Mortgage Forum »
Post questions and receive answers from mortgage professionals.

Mortgage-X »
Calculators, mortgage market trends, detailed information on various loan programs, articles and publications, a large vocabulary of mortgage terms.

Mortgage-Helper.com »
Information on purchasing homes with little or no money down.

Borrower's Guide to Home Loans »
A borrower's guide that can help get the best possible loan and avoid bad, or predatory loans.

Mortgage Professor »
Mortgage articles and resources by Wharton Professor and nationally syndicated mortgage columnist Jack M. Guttentag.

Home Loan Guaranty Services, Veterans Benefits and Services »
Information on the home loan program of the Veterans Administration.

AOL Real Estate: Making Homes Affordable »
Information about government assistance and other resources for homeowners to make homes affordable.

All Regs »
Provides an up-to-date database of mortgage lending guidelines.

Mortgage Loans - Information for First Time Buyers »
Information for First Time Buyers - First time borrowers can learn about the financing of a home. Comparative chart displays commonalities and differences between the types of mortgage loans.

Making Home Affordable.Gov »
Information about refinancing and loan modification options available under the Home Affordable Refinance Program.

Ginniemae-Finding a Lender »
A step-by-step guide through the home loan process.

The Housing Bubble Blog »
Author Ben Jones examines the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole. Entries typically cover a specific region of the United States and are commentary on published news from that area.

Mortgage Talk »
Offers a mortgage book plus advice on moving.

HUD Loans »
Information about loans from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development any buying homes with a low down payment.

Mortgage for Beginners »
Information on fixed and adjustable rate mortgages, home equity loans, refinancing, and reverse mortgages. With a glossary and mortgage calculators.

Home Buyer's Information Center »
Presents a consumer guide to choosing a mortgage.

Decision Aide »
Complete set of tools and analysis to determine the optimal way to structure a home loan.

HUD: Common Questions from First-Time Homebuyers »
Detailed answers for new home buyers seeking a first mortgage. Also features a library of PDF files for download.

HousingTracker.net »
Provides near real-time home asking price and inventory tracking as well as affordability measures for housing markets across the United States. Features include city-by-city break-down charts and 25/50/75 percentile monitoring.

Understanding the Home Mortgage Process »
US Federal Reserve Board provides information to help consumers understand the mortgage lending process.

Mortgage Types »
Explanations of the different types of mortgage loans available to homebuyers.

Know your credit score before you begin looking for a loan. If you can, try to remove any blemishes from your credit report before applying for a refinance.

Ask the lender or broker for a comparison of the up-front costs, principal, rate, and payments with and without this rate trade-off.

When it comes to lowering your rates you will need to weight the benefits of having a lower rate vs. paying points up front. You may end up paying a lot more depending on your choice and how long you plan on keeping your mortgage.

When you do a cash-out refinance you are leveraging the equity in your home in order to receive a lump sum of cash at closing. Many individuals and families use this type of loan if they want to remodel their home, or they have kids that are attending college soon. Veterans and other military personnel can now take advantage of a 100% cashout refinance thanks to the Veterans Benefits Improvement Act of 2008.