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Posts Tagged ‘Real Estate’

Every homeowner knows what a mortgage is but do you Many people have heard that term on movies, television shows, and commercials but don’t really know what it really means.

To put it simply, it’s a loan where you are using your house as collateral. The difference between this and a normal loan is that your house becomes your backup just in case something happens and you are unable to continue payments.

Mortgages come in many different forms depending on what you are looking for with regards to financing. Some examples are the fixed rate and adjustable type.

These differ in how the payments are set up and whether or not each payment will be influenced by current interest rates across the country.

There are also commercial loans if you are planning on buying an apartment complex or other type of real estate that has the potential to make you money.

Before you decide to buy a home, it’s very beneficial to do as much research as possible. You should try to learn about each different type of mortgage and what the payments actually consist of.

Do they change each month Should you put a lot of money down before setting up payments It can be very complicated and stressful for almost anyone due to the sheer ending cost of it all.

Owning a home is a dream for many people and you will want to make sure you are well educated on home ownership before you even speak to a broker.

A good mortgage broker is something every potential homeowner or experienced real estate investor needs to have on their side.

There is no shortage of brokers out there and they come in all shapes and sizes with various personalities.

What people don’t realize is that if you have a very helpful and friendly broker, it can really make a difference in your entire attitude about getting a loan.

When you have a good mortgage broker, you will usually have a pretty stress-free loan process and they will be able to explain it all to you simply and easily.

So how do you know if you have a good broker There are some very simple things that will tell you right away if your broker is good or not.

One of the best ways to judge a mortgage broker is just with common sense. Does your broker like to talk and have an excited attitude

That can definitely improve the experience for you but there are other factors to consider. Punctuality is very important and someone missing dates can be infuriating.

If your broker says they will call at 6 pm and they miss it every time, it might be a problem. You really want someone very punctual.

The broker should be able to list off mortgages and programs by heart as well. It’s not a good sign if they are flipping through a book every few minutes to look up terms and arrangements.

A good way to tell if your mortgage broker is good is to make sure they are willing to answer any question imaginable without getting frustrated.

Ask them something a couple times in one sitting just to see what they do. If it’s obvious they are annoyed and don’t ask why you repeated it, they might not be paying attention and just reciting some spiel they use on everyone.

When applying for a mortgage, the lender you have chosen will take many factors into account. These factors not only influence what type of loans you can qualify for but also what your monthly payments will be and how many years you will take to pay the loan off completely.

Knowing these factors and doing what you can to improve them all can make a tremendous difference when you go and see your lender and start the process that will get you your new property.

Some of the basic factors apply for just about any loan but are especially important if you are trying to get a mortgage. The big one is, yep, credit.

How good is your credit Get copies of all of your credit reports from the 3 major consumer reporting companies and check each one for errors.

Many times they have errors that can be corrected in just a few weeks and that helps boost your score. If you have credit cards, pay them off as well as any other outstanding bills.

A nice large down payment will always improve your chances of being approved. If your credit isn’t completely top notch, the bigger the down payment, the more likely you will get improved.

If your credit is great, you can still put down as much as possible to lower the monthly payments or decrease the total loan time.

Above all else, don’t lie to your lender. If you tell them you are a supervisor of a power plant and they find out you are a UPS man who has only had the job for 6 months, you will be totally screwed. Be honest and your lender will do their best to work with you.

First-Time Buyers: Hurry for $8,000 Tax Credit!!!

It’s time to remind first-time home buyers that in order to qualify for the government’s $8,000 gift in the form of a tax credit, the deal must close by Dec. 1.

Buyers should have a purchase contract signed by early October, so they have 45 to 60 days to arrange financing and safely close the deal.

Ever notice how when people give you a list of reason to hire a Virtual Assistant they are typically all the same; back office management, transcribing, RE assistance, cost savings, etc.  We admit it, we also have a pretty typical list of reasons ourselves.  But what about all the non-traditional reason to hire a VA?  Last night it came to me that we always tell our clients that if they don’t see what they need on our list of services that they should email us.  But I am sure there are plenty of you out there who just don’t want to have to do that, or maybe think what you need is not a worthy reason to hire a VA.  So with that in mind I put together a short list of some unconventional uses of a VA.  Of course we are not experts in everything but we are always here to lend a helping hand.  Are any of these reasons near and dear to you?  Do you have some ideas that we have missed?  We want to hear from you…..

• You are not a business owner but you are thinking about becoming one – we can help you do the research. 
• You are a business owner and are thinking of starting another business – we can help you run your existing business while you work on starting your new one.
• You are a non-profit organization and you need an extra hand but you just don’t have it in the budget to hire another full time employee – call us, we work only when you need us and you wont have to worry about benefits or permanent overhead!
• You’re a writer or blogger or reporter, you write and post your own articles but you just need a second set of eyes to look your stuff over and your friends are not always available – we can help!  We can look at your writing with an open and unbiased mind.  And if you do need someone to post for you then we can do that too!
• You’re a Realtor and you have been using the administrative help in your office but need someone that is more focused on your needs – we can help!  I bet you spend a lot of time investing in your marketing materials and searching for new promotional items and networking arenas.  We can print, design and even mail out marketing materials for you.  We can help you maintain your website and upload your listings.  We can even put together special items and house warming gifts for your best clients.    
• You are getting married and you just have so much to do.  Call us – we can stuff envelopes, return calls, work with your bridal consultant when you cant, make appointments, we can even help you send out the thank you cards later - you just have to walk down the aisle!