Today’s Mortgage Rates

Originally posted 2011-08-23 11:14:11. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Loan Type	Rate	APR
30 Year Fixed	4.12%	4.33%
15 Year Fixed	3.38%	3.64%
5 Year ARM	2.88%	3.14%

Related articles

• Mortgage rates set ALL NEW record low (hsh.com)
• Don’t Believe These 3 Mortgage Myths (moneyning.com)
• What’s Ahead For Mortgage Rates This Week : August 22, 2011 (clewismortgage.wordpress.com)

Lawsuit.com – The Online Law Firm

Originally posted 2009-04-24 14:27:34. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Have you heard of www.lawsuit.com?  If you haven’t, you should check it out.  www.lawsuit.com not only evaluates ongoing lawsuits, but it gives updated news on topics that affect consumer safety and puts public awareness at the forefront for consumer on issues like mesothelima. 

Mesothelima is a cancer that is caused by exposure to abestos.  It is a concern for anyone that has work in a factory that was built in the early 1800 to 1980.  For more details and list of common symptoms of mesothelima visit www.lawsuit.com.

The most unique and important feature that lawsuit.com provides is  a directory of attorneys.  The attorneys are required to provide videos for the consumer to review about the attorney’s specialty.   These videos are especially useful so that the consumer can get insight in to the symptoms that he or she is experiencing are related to medication or work related injury or exposure. 

Remember to use www.legaldocs.com/legaldir/ListingIndex.aspx to search for your next attorney.  If you are in need of inexpensive legal forms visit www.legaldocs.com.

Land Trust is a Good Option for Investors in This Market

Originally posted 2009-01-29 14:53:45. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

There was a great post at www.whataboutloans.com on the advantages of a land trust.  The post goes on to list advantages to the land trust to include:

• ease of control
• ease of transfer
• privacy of ownership

The article further defines the parties that own and use the trust and their roles in the transaction of a trust in relation to the purchase of real estate. 

Another key advantage to the trust that the article depicts is that the “beneficial interest in a trust is considered to be personal property, not real property. Therefore you can assign your beneficial interest in a trust to another party without a formal closing.”

Remember due to recent changes to Fannie Mae’s financing criteria investors need to reconsider how they take ownership of their new investor property.   Those changes are affecting investors who want to refinance the properties in their portfolio and have those properties under the entity, limited liability corporation (LLC). 

Freddie Mac backs many of the conforming loans on the secondary market, so any changes in the rules is very important and should be headline news; hence, this news release. 

The land trust is the best solution to combat this issue. 

Credit and You

Originally posted 2009-04-04 05:39:19. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

If you are considering purchasing a home, auto, insurance, etc. it is important that you build a better credit rating.  In today’s podcast, Serena discusses the importance of improving your credit rating. 

This podcast reveals that there are three credit bureaus that every first time home buyer and investor should be aware of.  Those bureaus are:

• Equifax                 800-685-1111             www.equifax.com
• Experian               888-397-3742             www.experian.com
• Transunion           800-916-8800             www.transunion.com

 

Get your own playlist at snapdrive.net!

Purchasing a home may be the biggest purchase that you do so it is important to repair your credit at least three to six months before you plan to purchase your home. 

As promised, there is an attachment to a free example of a letter to dispute mistake on your credit reports.

sample-dispute-letter

Do-it-Yourselfers Take the Market By Storm

Originally posted 2009-05-28 05:00:21. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

With economical woes taking its hold on everyone’s finances, several consumers are going back to the basics and doing it themselves.

Recently, Lake County, Indiana had its 10th annual Home and Garden Show, the show had a record number of do-it-yourselfers show up to learn everything from starting a garden to what plants grow best for less in Northwest Indiana.

Several vendors reported that their presentation received raved reviews as participants learned how “to invest in their own properties” by beautifying the landscape.

The Lake County Home and Garden Show is held annual in the last week of March.  Come join the festivities from 10 am to 5 pm.

Commercial Real Estate Next Big Economical Crash

Originally posted 2009-08-21 05:00:18. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Just when economists are forecasting the worst may be over, the commercial real estate market appears too headed for the same disaster that the residential real estate market was in a few months ago.

Maguire Properties, INC. is planning to default on several commercial buildings due to declining rental amounts and high vacancy. Maguire Properties, INC is one of the largest owners of office building in Southern California; therefore, the announcement from the company does have a big impact on the market. Maguire owes 1.06 billion dollars to credits and do not feel that it can make the money needed to pay back the loan.

This announcement also affected Maguire’s stock and it plummeted from $12 a share to $1 a share today.

Because Maguire is a major company that is forecasting and announcing record losses and possible foreclosure it is apparent that this will affect the stock market in a negative way.

Be on the look out for more commercial real estate companies announcing failures of their companies.

Did You Know Your Mortgage is a Closed End Loan?

Originally posted 2008-11-30 07:59:21. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

  

Did you know that your mortgage is a closed end loan?  What is a closed end loan, you ask?  A closed end loan is a loan that has limitations because the money paid in cannot be withdrawn.  Meaning that once the money is received by the lender it is paid on the balance owed and equated into an equity position in your home.  Equity is the different between what you owe and how much the property is worth.  The lender will apply a full scheduled payment.  If you desire to pay toward your principal you must specify that the money needs to be applied to the principal.  Oh, by the way, you must be current on your mortgage to be able to pay on your principal balance.  Remember, the lender is in the business to make money so if you do not instruct the lender, where to apply the extra payment they will apply the additional money to, you guessed it, interest, because that is how lender makes money.  Interest, of course, is the rent that you are paying the lender to borrow their money to get your home.

The closed end loan is driven by an amortization schedule.  This amortization schedule does not move at the speed of light.  It moves the opposite slower than a snail.  Hence, taking 30 years to pay it down.  Before we go any further, I feel you need to understand what an amortization schedule is.  It is the blending of loan payments showing the principal and the amount of interest that you are paying each time you made your scheduled payment.  Why, you ask?  Let examine.  If your mortgage payment was $2,000.00 a month.  You will pay only $199.10 to principal and a whopping $1,800.90 to interest in your first month.  The second month, the amount to principal will increase by only one additional dollar, so for every month that follows there is only one more dollar applied to the previous months principal payment.  That’s right one dollar.  For instance, month two the principal payment is 200.10, month 3 $201.10, month 4 202.10, etc.

Another interesting thing about a closed end loan is the interest charges are from the principal balance at the end of the month.  In other words, the interest paid is for the next month not the month that the bill is due.  The interest is a pre-determine amount.  Meaning it is calculated daily but applied to the month end principal balance.  Now, this does not effect daily interest in the month the payment is receive, but effect the following month pre-determine amount.

It is should be easy to see that in order to reduce the choke hold that the lender has on us through our mortgage we must reduce our principal balance.

History Behind a Midwest Town

Originally posted 2009-01-11 10:37:49. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Did you know that an industy or company could develop a community or city?  In most of the Midwest this was a common practice, hence the development of the community of East Chicago, Indiana.

The city has a history of being described as the “Twin Cities”.  This description was due to the city being divided into as east and west sides by the citizens at the time of inception.  The east side was known as Indiana Harbor and the west side was known as Sunnyside.

East side was comprised of Inland Steel and several other industries, and the west side was comprised of 140th Street North, south of Columbus Drive, west of Alder Street, and east of Cline Avenue.

The city grew and it 1920 had a population of approximately 36,000.  It was in 1920, that the section of Sunnyside was developed as a new community in Indiana Harbor.    This new community was comprised of 100 duxplexes that still stand today.   The homes were owned and rented to Inland Steel employees.   The rent was reasonable, so there was always a waiting list.

As times and financing changed, so did the ownership of the development, in 1963 the Purdue Calumet Development Foundation took over operation of the development.  The Development decided to sale the duplexes in 1969 with Inland employees getting first choice on the purchase of the homes.

With the sale of most of the homes, there was a need to develop more homes in the area.  In 1970, 38 homes were built.  With another eight homes being added to Evergreen Estates in 1974.

With the growth of Inland Street, the company committed to renovating the 100 duplexes in 1971.  This renovation was named the largest renovation in Midwest history.  The homes received many upgrades at the time to include upgrades to the plumbing, electrical wiring, and heating.

In those days, the companies were involved in your life to make your life better on and off the job.  I think that we may be headed by to those times.  Remember history has a habit of repeating itself.

What is Foreclosure?

Originally posted 2009-02-11 11:04:33. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Foreclosure takes place when the deed is foreclosed through court action. It takes court action to <a href=”www.taylorbrownrealestatetalks.com”>foreclosure</a> on a home. 

 

The borrower uses his or her home as security or collateral for a mortgage. If the lender does not pay as agreed the lender can accelerate the mortgage and then places a lien on the property. Along those same lines, however, when the borrower pays off the loan, the lender gives the borrower a satisfaction of mortgage. The satisfaction of mortgage removes the lien on the property.

 

The <a href=”www.taylorbrownrealestatetalks.com”>foreclosure</a> progress begins with the lender’s attorney filing a summons and a complaint to the borrower and any other parties that may have rights in the property.  A trial is held, but once the borrower is notified the borrower has twenty days to respond to the complaint.  The borrower can challenge the lender on the foreclosure lawsuit.  If the borrower challenges the foreclosure, the court has 40 days to respond back to the borrower.  Each challenge must be related to the mortgage <a href=”www.taylorbrownrealestatetalks.com”>foreclosure</a>.  This process can go back and forth between the lender and the borrower as long as the borrower finds something incorrect information in the complaint. This, of course, slows the <a href=”www.taylorbrownrealestatetalks.com”>foreclosure</a> proceedings because it must be hear in court.  By virtue of the back and forth of this procedure many homeowners can stay in their homes for months often years after they have stopped paying their mortgage.

 

Loan Modification with Indy Mac is Made Simple

Originally posted 2009-04-23 12:03:08. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Recently, Indy Mac announced that it will allow homeowners who are in default on their loans to streamline into loan modifications.  If you have a loan with Indy Mac, you may be asking yourself what does that mean?

• To qualify, the mortgage that is default must be your primary home.
• Indy Mac will contact you will a proposed modification to your mortgage. 
• If you have not been contacted by Indy Mac and you are falling behind contact the Loss Mitigation department at Indy Mac to get your modification package.

How will the modification work to your advantage?

• The modification will be within 38% debt to income ratio.
• The interest rate will be fixed Freddie Mac rate.
• The modification can include a combination of interest rate reductions, extended amortization, and principal forbearance.

To apply for the program with Indy Mac contact them at 800-781-7399.  Visit http://www.fdic.gov/consumers/loans/modification/indymac.html for information on the loan modification with Indy Mac.

Other Reading

I’d like to finish this post with a link to another post where I answer the question – What is a Loan Modification?

Another post is about “A Loan Modification is WIthin Your Reach“.

In this post, you will learn the common myths about a loan modification and how to overcome them.

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