Blog

WHEN TO LOCK-IN AN INTEREST RATE – PURCHASE TRANSACTION

We often get asked when to lock-in the interest rate after you have entered into a contract to purchase a home. You typically have 30-45 days to close, so you’ll have to lock-in the rate during this time. Hopefully, during the pre-qualification process, you had discussions with your loan originator as to interest rates and payments you would be comfortable making. It is during this process when you can consider your options of loan products, payments, and interest rates. Many times, lenders will qualify you for a higher payment than what you would want to pay. Make sure the payment...

INTEREST CREDIT

Did you know if you close in the first few days of the month, you may be able to choose when to make your first mortgage payment? This can help if you have a cash flow issue right after closing. When you make a mortgage payment, you pay the prior month’s interest. For example, if you make a mortgage payment on April 1st, you are paying March’s interest. The reason is that the lender can only charge you interest for the time you lived in the home. This is different than rent, i.e. when you make the April 1st rent...

BANKS EXPECT MORE TIGHTENING FOR CRE LOANS

Today’s post is written by Michael Green, Senior Commercial Loan Originator with Counsel Mortgage Group, LLC. Mike writes monthly on the commercial mortgage market. Check back each month to check his commentary. The Federal Reserve’s Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices (SLOOS) regularly checks with banks to better understand their lending landscape. The short take for CRE from the most recent survey is that even tighter underwriting standards can be expected in the future. And while easing interest rates are eventually expected to support relatively low demand from borrowers, that is unlikely to happen now until late...

INTEREST RATES AND VALUES

Each month we send out the Interest Rates and Values email to keep you up-to-date with what is happening in the residential real estate market. We review and analyze mortgage rates and median sales price charts and data to keep you apprised of the trends in the marketplace. Here is the video we sent out this month. If you would like to receive these emails and videos, message me and I’ll add you to the list. We feel the more you know, the better you will be able to make a decision on purchasing and financing real estate. We stay...

HOME EQUITY LOANS AND LINES OF CREDIT

You may have a lot of equity in your home and would like to leverage it to make repairs or take cash out for other purposes. But, you have a low rate mortgage and do not want to refinance your home at higher rates. Well, you can keep that low rate mortgage and take the cash out with a second mortgage, i.e. a home equity loan or a home equity line of credit. Home equity loans are fixed rate loans. You have to take the entire amount of the loan at closing. Payments are to principal and interest. Home equity...

RENOVATION AND CONSTRUCTION LOANS

Are you looking to purchase a property, but it needs a bit of work? Or, are you looking to build a home, ground-up construction? Or, do you have an existing home and want to add a room? We can help you find financing for these scenarios. Renovation and construction loans have 2 approvals. One is the credit and income approval, which is required on all loans. The second is the approval of the construction project. Renovation and construction loans allow you to roll the costs to build into the loan. You will need to have the building plans, specs, and...

IF WE CAN’T HIT THE TARGET, MAYBE WE SHOULD CHANGE THE TARGET

Today’s blog is written by Michael Green, Commercial Loan Originator for Counsel Mortgage Group, LLC It’s well-entrenched in market participants’ minds by now that the Federal Reserve’s target rate for inflation is 2%. While that goal is admirable, we are still in a period of “sticky” pricing pressure, making the central bank’s target seemingly difficult to achieve. The most recent CPI report for December included components that showed some sectors of the economy are still facing persistently higher costs. History shows that once entrenched in an economy, inflation tends to be “sticky” indeed. Sector rotation among goods and services, imports...

INTEREST RATES

You may be wondering why your interest rate is different from your friend’s, even though you both locked the rate at the same time. There are many factors that go into determining the interest rate. First is your credit score. The higher the score, the better the rate. Here is a blog we wrote on how credit card balances can affect your score: https://counselmortgagegroup.com/credit-score-tips-credit-cards/ If you are looking for some more tips on getting your credit score up, give us a call, we can help. Amount of down payment is another factor lenders use to determine the interest rate. The...

I THINK I’LL WAIT FOR RATES TO GO LOWER

Here’s a blast from the past! Check out this video from the early ‘80s where buyers were hesitant to purchase a home because the interest rates were at 18%, and they wanted to wait until they came down. Lenders were offering a variety of creative financing options to help them, such as buydowns and contributions towards closing costs by the sellers and builders. The more things change, the more they stay the same. One thing is for certain, if they purchased in 1980 and held onto the home, they made some $$$.

BRIDGE LOANS

A bridge loan is where you use the equity in your current home to help you finance the purchase of a new home. In other words, you leverage the equity in your current home and use it as a bridge to get you into the new home. We have done many of these loans over the years. Here are a couple ways to finance this. One way is to get a home equity line of credit on your current home and use that cash to make a down payment, or pay cash for the new home. Another way is a...