Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Falling Home Prices and Cheaper Mortgage Rates - Your Dream Home a Reality Now



The loss in the housing sector was almost crippling the credit market. Banks are not lending each other fearing a bundle of bad stocks in exchange, which further requires admitting their bad debt, damaging their credit rating. A fall in the credit rating will make it just impossible for them to raise funds to stay back in business. The Federal Reserve pumped in money to increase the liquidity. It was later realized that the need for credibility was the reason behind all the havoc and created a super fund for purchasing bad mortgages, alas, it was too late a decision to stop the cascading effect.



Cheaper Mortgages Rates now make your Dream Home a reality



While the impact of financial meltdown is certainly disastrous, it has indirectly helped certain sections of the society. One of the common areas which has seen the advantage is Home Loan Mortgages. Banks literally stopped lending; thanks to the intervention of Federal Reserve which pumped in billions of dollars by purchasing mortgage rates backed securities guaranteed by Freddie Mac and Fannies Mae and reduced the interest as low as 4.



5 percent to keep the credit market moving. It has resulted in the lending rates falling below the historical rates in turn reducing the cost of borrowing. Home prices have fallen with no demand. This has offered tremendous opportunity for home buyers even in such challenging circumstances, to reduce their liabilities and purchase a home at almost half of its original cost of borrowing. In short, it is a dream come reality, where you can afford to own a house in times of severe credit crunch.



Current Housing Markets:



Housing market is finally getting some relief, with lower mortgage rates encouraging refinancing.



Home owners who are facing a credit crunch and are unable to meet their liabilities call it a positive change. Refinancing their existing home loan liability with the recently changed home loan rates helps them to not just reduce their monthly liability, but also the impact of their home loan rates with reduced cost of borrowing together with savings for the future. Those borrowers who have a good credit score and a home which has not lost much of its value, find the reduced rates really profitable with more money available for other expenses.



With a fall in interest rates more people are eligible for refinance loans, as their principal and interest payments have fallen.


Is Refinancing for Credit Repair a Good Idea?



Refinancing your home mortgage is an excellent start for credit repair. Although lenders are much stricter when you have poor credit, refinancing to help restore your credit is still very possible. It is important that you do your homework and approach the right lender. You will most likely need to find a sub prime lender. You can effortlessly find a sub prime lender on the Internet or by referral.

Even though sub prime lenders are significantly more lenient to borrowers that need credit repair because of a bad credit history, they use the same type of approval process as other lenders.



This means that your debt-to-income ratio, work history and personal assets, are still factors taken into consideration when determining if you will be approved for a sub prime loan for credit repair. As long as you have strength in at least one of those factors, you have a chance of qualifying for the loan.

Sub prime lenders are the only lenders that will lend to high-risk borrowers dealing with credit repair. Due to their increased risk factor, these lenders charge higher interest rates and fees.



However, even though you end up paying more for your refinance, the benefits of rebuilding your credit far outweigh the higher interest rates and payments.

Sub prime refinanced loans are merely temporary solutions. As long as you are timely with your mortgage payments and take further actions to repair your credit, you will qualify for a better loan within four years. In the meantime, try to work on other methods for credit repair.

If you are in need of some extra money during the process of your credit repair, you should consider refinancing the loan for more than what you currently owe on your mortgage.



This way, you can get cash out from the equity for the credit repair you have in your home. If appropriate, you could pay off your higher rate credit cards, unresolved collections and outstanding liens. The money could lead to credit repair even sooner.

Realize that if you have poor credit, it is very possible to re-establish a good credit history for overall credit repair. You just need to learn from your mistakes and promptly pay every bill for good credit repair. Look into online bill payment systems.



Most banks offer them for free, and you can set up unlimited automatic payments. That will ensure your payments go out in a timely fashion every month.

Guy Ray is the owner of all credit repair tips, the website with credit repair tips, resources and information.






How to Get Your Home Mortgage Loan



If you are thinking of purchasing a new home soon you will need to know how to qualify for a new home mortgage. If you have a good credit history you will find it much easier to get approved for your home loan. If you do not have a good credit report you will have to take some time to build up your credit so that you will be able to get approved for a home mortgage loan in the future.

Good credit is based on your showing responsibility when it comes to paying your bills.



And this is all of your bills not just your credit cards. If you do not pay your telephone bills or your electricity on time each month you will find it difficult to get approved for a mortgage loan.

It is next to impossible for most people to buy a home without getting a mortgage loan. Do you have a couple of hundred thousand dollars in the bank right now? Who does? That is why home mortgage loans are so important.

The larger your down payment is the more likely you are to get approved for your mortgage loan.



If you have a sizeable chunk of the cost of the house that means that the bank will not have to lend you so much money. The less they have to give you the smaller the risk on their part and this is when you are going to get the loan. Banks do not like to take unnecessary chances so if they are sure they will get their money back you are guaranteed approved.

I personally recommend getting a mortgage quotes froma different lenders which can be found here: www.RateEmpire.com www.Bankrate.



com www.aimloan.com

Martin Lukac, represents, #1 Loans USA, a finance web-company specializing in real estate/mortgage market. We specialize in daily updates, rate predictions, mortgage rates and more:http://www.1LoansUSA.com


INSTANT Buy to Let Mortgage Quotes



Are you looking to make more profit from investment property? Use an on-line buy to let quote system to compare mortgage products, rates and options. Learn how you can make the most of your property investments by using some of the best buy to let mortgage products. Using an on-line buy to let mortgage quote system will help you work out your monthly repayments on a buy to let property or the remortgaging of an existing buy to let property. This can help you establish if now if the right time to start investing in the property market.



It would be easy to start saying just how easy it is to become a landlord and earn income from investment property and how you can simply sit back and watch the profit tumble in like a cascading waterfall. The reality is that there are a number of key issues that you will have to be involved in to ensure your investment property portfolio works to its optimum. Firstly you will need to find a suitable investment property for sale. Then you will need to find a good buy to let mortgage.



To give you an idea of what your monthly repayments might be, it is worth trying an instant on-line buy to let mortgage quote system. An then there will be tenants to source and vet, an investment property to maintain, letting agents to manage and accounts to monitor, it does take a certain level of commitment. So if you are still keen to have a slice of the much talked about property game then you will want to read on to find out how to get started? It's also worth picking up a Free Buy to Let Guide.



Firstly, you need to establish if this is the right time for you to become a landlord and how much it is going to cost you. Can you afford to tie up money in a property? If the worst comes to the worst, can you afford to lose that money?

The simplest way to work out the repayments on a buy to let mortgage is to use an on-line buy to let mortgage calculator to get a Free Buy to Let Mortgage quotation. These can help you work out the best buy to let mortgage product for the type of investment property you are considering and your individual circumstances.



Some products may carry a fixed rate whereas other might be a variable rate. You need to decide if you need the stability of knowing exactly what your buy to let mortgage monthly repayments will be every month or whether you are prepared to opt for a variable rate buy to let mortgage. A fixed rate means the rate is fixed for a certain period of time. A variable rate will generally change as and when the Bank of England Base Rate or LIBOR rate is amended. If the rate reduces then your monthly repayments should reduce and vice versa.



Although, the lender may not always forward on the full percentage of rate cut/increase so you should check your product before you commit. Either way with an on-line buy to let mortgage quote system, you should be able to compare different products, rates and lenders to give you some of the choices available. You will need to know the likely rent that can be achieved for the property as this will determine the maximum loan amount available against the purchase price or refinancing value of the buy to let property.



It is worth bearing in mind when you are getting your buy to let mortgage quotation, that lenders normally suggest that the rental income each month represents at least 130 per cent of the monthly mortgage payment. Although there are some buy to let products calculated on ratios of as little as 115%. Use the buy to let quote system to see how the buy to let mortgage payments work out on a monthly basis. By working on these calculations, gives the investor a margin to cover the letting agent's fees and other associated costs.



This is a long-term investment and you need to take the same approach to investing money into a house or flat as you would to buying into the stock market. Historically the value of properties have doubled every 10-15 years but that doesn't mean to say that there won't be peaks and troughs in between. These are times that you have to be prepared and most importantly can afford to ride through.

Increasing your returns by using buy to let finance to your advantage

For example, lets say you have ฃ100,000 cash to invest into Investment Property.



Is it best to buy a property outright or use this money as deposits on multiple buy to let properties?

Mr Jones - decides to use his ฃ100,000 to purchase a brand new property outright for cash. He lets the property for ฃ600 per month giving a return of ฃ7,200 per annum. Due to inflation, the rent will increase accordingly and eventually, after fluctuations in the property market, the house doubles in value.

Mr Smith - decides to use ฃ100,000 as deposits (15% for each investment property) to buy ฃ500,000 worth of properties similar to the one Mr Jones bought.



This results in Mr Smith receiving five times as much rental income, i.e. ฃ3,000 per month or ฃ36,000 per annum. The other ฃ400,000 is borrowed on buy to let mortgages and Mr Smith pays interest on this at a rate of approximately 5%. These monthly interest only repayments would work out to be ฃ20,000 per annum. Therefore, net of interest they receive ฃ16,000 per annum. Mr Smith is already better off than Mr Jones….. but what happens in years to come? Well it is probably safe to say that Mr Jones's rental income will rise with inflation as per Mr Smith.



However, Mr Smith's buy to let mortgage costs remain the same. Therefore, the gap between Mr Jones and Mr Smith's rental income will continue to widen as time goes on. And finally after 10-15 years when property could have doubled again. Mr Jones would have made a capital gain of ฃ100,000 and have ฃ200,000 worth of investment property. Whereas, Mr Smith would have made ฃ500,000, which is five times as much capital gain!!

The most successful landlords will use some of the best buy to let mortgages to fund their buy to lets and with buy to let mortgage products becoming more sophisticated and competitive the right buy to let financing can ensure you maintain your investment property portfolios in such a way that you are always working to the most optimum cashflow situation.



Whether they are looking to make a new purchase of an investment property or re-mortgage a buy to let, they will often use an on-line buy to let mortgage quote system to work out which products are likely to suit their circumstances.

Best Buy to Let Mortgages

Finding the best buy to let mortgage is crucial to your success as a property investor. Unlike other forms of investment, a lot of the money you put into a buy to let property is likely to be borrowed.



Over the last few years, the buy to let mortgage market has boomed, and borrowing money to invest in this way has become easier than ever. There are a number of different buy to let mortgage products available from fixed rates, discounted variable rates, discounted rates and so on. A good buy to let mortgage quote system should help you identify what would suit you best. Different products may be suitable for different investment properties.



And don't be tempted to just go for the cheapest buy to let mortgage as there may be penalties that make it less attractive in the long term.

Always find out the best buy to let mortgage deals available at the time. Some investors may decide to retain their entire portfolio with one lender, but it's important to realize that different buy to let products between different lenders can provide you with maximum flexibility and cashlow depending on how you structure your funding.



However it is very important that you get the correct guidance with your buy to let finance. You will often find that buy to let mortgage brokers have access to numerous different products and lenders and some can even offer exclusive products that wouldn't necessarily be available to you if you approached the buy to let lender directly.

Questions that are worth considering when finding the best buy to let mortgage:

1. Do they have access to lots of different products in the market place?

2.



Do they have the ability to create a long term property development strategy for you?

3. Are they able to secure Exclusive Products?

4. Are they able to arrange mortgages within 10 working days?

Most buy to let lenders will offer a maximum loan of 85% requiring you to fund at least a 15% deposit towards your investment property. The buy to let mortgage industry is very competitive with new products being launched on a very regular basis.



Some buy to let mortgage brokers may charge a brokerage fee up to 2% to arrange the buy to let finance for you but don't let this put you off because if they do have the ability to secure exclusive products for you, it could be very beneficial to your cashflow as a landlord. Plus, if they are able to reach formal mortgage offer stage in a very short space of time, this could result in you being able to secure the investment property at very competitive prices if you have the ability to tell the vendor that you can have the deal completed within a matter of a few weeks.



How much you can borrow for the buy to let property will usually be worked out differently to how much you can borrow to buy your main home. Different lenders and different products carry different criteria for working out the maximum loans available. Some will lend on how much you earn, others on the rental income you achieve from the investment property. And sometimes a combination of the two.

Jennifer Tweed is the founder of http://www.buytolet4sale.com. One of the UK's first property portals solely dedicated to all types of investment property for sale.