Posts Tagged ‘mortgage’
Down Payment Assistance Program for Fort Worth Residents
The Neighborhood Stabilization Down Payment Assistance Program is offering up to offers $25,000 in assistance to future Fort Worth residents. That’s right. $25,000. And out of that amount, $5,000 can be used on your closing costs and $5,000 can be used on doing minor repairs. Any remaining amount can be used by you for your down payment. All of this is funded by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (or HUD) in an effort to provide financial assistance to qualified homebuyers to purchase lender-foreclosed homes with the City of Fort Worth in specific target areas. Which areas? Well I’m glad you asked. Here they are: 76131 76133 76123 76112 76179 76248 71637 Obviously the HUD isn’t going to just give this money away to anyone who asks, so there are some qualifying factors you must take into consideration when applying. First of all, income is the main thing the HUD will want to know when you fill out your application. The limits are set in advance by HUD, so conversely, your income cannot exceed their parameters in order to qualify. For example, the maximum allowable household income for a family of 4 is $72,900. For 5 people it ...
Get 50% off Your Home Purchase With The Good Neighbor Next Door Program
Are you a teacher, law enforcement officer, firefighter or emergency medical technician in Dallas or Fort Worth? Are you looking to buy a house? Want to save 50% on it? That's right, I said 50%. Well right now this is actually a possibility, due to the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s “Good Neighbor Next Door Program.” Long story short, the HUD is offering half off a home mortgage if you are in one of the previously mentioned fields and find a property that falls into one of the designated geographic areas authorized by Congress under provisions of the National Housing Act. Why would they do this? Basically, HUD desires to make the communities of America stronger and safer, and improve the quality of life in distressed urban communities by encouraging Law Enforcement Officers, Teachers (pre-Kindergarten through 12th grade), Firefighters, and Emergency Responders (EMT) to purchase and live in homes in these communities. In return for the 50% discount, you must only prove once a year that you occupy the property as your primary residence. You must do this for a total of 36 months. In other words, as long as you live in ...
How to Get Pre-Approved for a Mortgage Loan
Found a house you love but need a pre-approval letter to show your realtor? We can help you out with the process! To get pre-approved, you will need to CONTACT one of our loan officers, who can analyze your situation and tell you how much you can afford to spend on a house. How is this accomplished? Well, long story short, lenders are going to look at a few specific things before they give you the green light to go shopping for your first house. This includes running your credit and seeing how much income you earn, and then comparing it to how much you want to spend each month. They will also take into consideration things such as how much money you have on hand and how much you pay each month towards bills like credit cards. If you are ready to apply or are interested in getting pre-approved, just select the option below that is most convenient for you. Complete our Quick Loan Application Form. This process usually takes less than five minutes. A loan officer will contact you once we receive your application. Give us ...
How to Estimate Your Payments Using Mortgage Loan Calculators
This week, our guest blogger Jennifer tells us the benefits of using mortgage calculators when considering a home loan. Enjoy! Online mortgage calculators will help you in planning and acquiring a home loan for your dream home. These loan mortgage calculators are user-friendly tools which will help you in knowing your monthly payments, interest rates, pay-off dates, amortization schedule, etc. Have a look at the top 5 mortgage calculators: Home affordability calculator: This loan mortgage calculator will give you an idea about the loan amount that you can afford to buy a house. You’ll have to mention the required loan amount, interest rate, time period, etc to determine your monthly payments and required income. APR calculator: You will be able to calculate the annual percentage rate on your mortgage and get an amortization sheet of your monthly payments by using this calculator. You need to enter your interest rate, loan term, mortgage amount and additional costs to calculate APR. The additional costs would include the fees that you pay at the closing. Refinance calculator: You can use this calculator to find out how much you can save by ...
USDA Rural Development Loans Offer 100% Financing For Surrounding Areas of DFW
Over the past several years, the Government and the Mortgage Industry as a whole has continuously tightened the rules and regulations when it comes to buying a home. It has gotten to the point where even people with stellar credit and a solid borrowing history still need a hefty down payment before they can purchase a new house. Fortunately though, there is a new program available from the United States Department of Agriculture that offers 100% financing for people that live (or are looking to live) in rural areas. Why would they do this? Is it too good to be true? Well, long story short, the government offers the option of “zero money down” so that people who live in rural areas (who may have always been renters) can finally have access to affordable mortgages. Consequently, this type of loan is often the best scenario for people who live in the country and want to find a place they can call home. Another amazing feature of this loan is that 100% of repairs that ...
$8,000 Tax Credit Extended (And EXPANDED) for DFW Residents
The $8,000 tax credit, which was scheduled to lapse on Dec. 1 of this month, was effectively extended through the end of June 2010. This is great news for people who were rushing to find a good home in order to qualify! Homebuyers must now sign a contract before April 30 and close on their home by June 30. There were also some changes in regard to income limits. Single buyers can now earn up to $125,000 and still get the full credit, while a married couple can earn $225,000. Hooray! But the government didn't stop there. Not even close. The new bill even makes more homeowners eligible to claim the credit on their taxes. First-time homebuyers (those who haven't owned a a home in the past 3 years) still qualify for the existing credit of $8000, but now those who have owned (and lived in) a residence for at least 5 years can claim a credit in the amount of $6500! "The new version of the tax credit has the potential to stimulate the ...
Getting Pre-Qualified for a Mortgage
Getting yourself pre-qualified for a mortgage is a relatively simple process. It can be achieved as easily as contacting a loan officer and having them take down some general questions about your income, employment, and monthly expenses. Once the loan officer has this information from you they will run your credit and and make an estimate of approximately home much money you can afford to borrow at the current interest rates. After this is done you will get a "prequal letter" that will have this amount indicated on it. Prequal letters are often given to realtors as a a form of good faith because they show that a borrower can in fact afford a house payment of a certain amount. This way a realtor will know what price range of houses to show a borrower, and they also know that the borrower is working with a loan officer, and thus serious about finding a home. Another benefit of getting pre-qualified is that it makes you much more desirable to someone who is selling their home. When there are multiple ...
The Regular Joe’s Guide to Types of Mortgages
If you are in the market for a new home, it is utterly imperative that you review your financing options before you make any concrete decisions. Depending on the circumstances (and in order to make sure you get the best possible loan) you should be aware of what choices you have, and what types of financing are at your disposal. Believe me, all the different types of loans can be quite intimidating to someone uneducated on the subject. In fact, most people in America don't know hardly anything about their financing options. But don't worry. That's to be expected. BASIC LOAN TYPES The type of mortgage that the majority of people today will get is know as the traditional fixed rate mortgage, or FRM. Over 70% of homeowners this year will get this type of financing for their new home. The main reason for this is that the FRM offers a much stronger sense of stability over the other types of financing. Whether the life of your loan spans 15 or 30 years, the ...
Should You Buy Mortgage (DISCOUNT) Points?
One of the most commonly referred to aspects of obtaining a mortgage is the all-important issue of "points." If you're in the market for a new home, or if you're looking to purchase for the first time, you've undoubtedly heard of them before, although you may have no idea what it means, or what "points" even refers to. Let's start at the beginning. When you hear someone talking about mortgage points, they are speaking in reference to "discount points." In the most basic sense, one point is equal to one percent of the amount you are planning to borrow. So for example, if you were getting a loan for $150,000, then one point would be equal to $1,500. After that is when it gets tricky, so pay attention. When you purchase points, you are basically making the decision to prepay part of your mortgage interest. If that doesn't make sense, look at it this way. For every point you buy, your lender will offer you a lower interest rate. The actual amount your interest rate will drop can vary, but in most cases its is approximately 1/4 of a percentage point per every discount point you ...
Closing Costs Explained
When it comes to purchasing a house there is one thing that will shock a first-time home buyer more than anything, and that is the total cost associated with closing a loan. To be totally honest, closing costs can be quite earth-shaking to someone who isn't ready. If you are planning to buy a house anytime soon it is strongly recommended that you get your budget in order ahead of time. If you would like us to review your situation and give you an estimate of what closing costs you may encounter, please feel free to contact us. If not, feel free to read the rest of the article! Continued: Some of these closing costs are charged by the mortgage company itself, while others are payable to various parties. Here's a little breakdown on some of the fees you may be charged, and who's getting your money. One of the first fees you're going to run into is the Application Fee. This is charged when you fill out your initial application (the 1003) and is non-refundable. This covers the costs your lender pays in regard to paperwork, or maybe ...
