Category Archives: Home Mortgage
Financing a new home in Chicago (Page 1 of 2)
Chicago is the largest city in the state of Illinois and also the third most populated city in the United States of America, with almost 3 million people. Chicago is located along the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan and when combined with its suburbs and the nine surrounding counties in Illinois, the metropolitan area known as Chicagoland encompasses a population of 9.4 million. Nowadays Chicago is known as a major transportation, business, and architectural center of the US and it is the economic, business, financial and cultural capital of the Midwest. The Chicago area is moderately expensive; the home price median here is nearer the national median than homes in spots such as New York City. Buyers can probably spend about three times their incomes, depending on the part of the area where they’re house-hunting.
Chicago’s suburban real estate market is as vibrant as the city itself. The suburbs have developed both commercial as well as residential real estate at a tremendous pace. A large number of properties are always available for purchase in Chicago’s suburban areas such as Lake County, Kane and DeKalb counties and DuPage and Will counties. There are real estate firms that specialize in one of the suburbs, while others deal with all of them. When financing a new home in Chicago, have in mind that the real estate prices are high. Northern suburbs are considered “elite”.
There are many ways to finance a new home in Chicago. It all depends on your credit history, the price of the property and your income. The next paragraphs give brief explanations on some of the methods for financing a new home in the city of Chicago.
The first thing to understand is the difference between a variable, or adjustable interest rate mortgage and a fixed rate mortgage. With a fixed rate mortgage, the monthly payments remain the same over the period of the loan. The adjustable rate mortgage has a lower introductory interest rate, but it may vary over the duration of your loan. So depending on the interest rates, whether they are lowered or raised each month, your monthly mortgage payments will also change accordingly.
When financing your new Chicago home through a loan, no matter if it is adjustable or fixed rate, you have to consider the length of the loan, in terms of how long you finance your home. The most common terms are 15, 25, 30, 40 and now even 50 year mortgages in some areas. Of course, the longer the period the more you will pay in interest over the duration of the loan.
With a FHA home loan you can purchase a single family home, condo, house, or apartment in one of the neighborhoods in Chicago. This FHA home loan is mostly used by first time home buyers because it allows the purchase of a home with a lower down payment, in some cases as low as 3%. This form of new home financing requires you to have a good credit history and enough income to cover the loan and your other financial obligations.
The Chicago City Mortgage program offers qualified first-time homebuyers 30-year, fixed-interest mortgages at competitive interest rates and a gift of 4 percent of the mortgage amount to cover down payment and closing costs.
Private Student Loans
Private financial companies including banks or other specialized educational money lenders provide private student loans for students. It is one of the different types of loans available for the students to continue their higher education when they do not have the money to do so.
Private student loans have all the features of various government loans, and can be the best choice for those in search of educational finance. They have higher loan limits with attractive interest rates. Similar to the federal loans, they also have a grace period and students do not need to start repaying them prior to the completion of studies.
The grace periods of the loans vary from company to company and can be from six months to 12 months. Even though private student loans offer lower interest rates, they can be a little higher than the government loan interest rates, but much lower than other private loans. Unlike government loans, there are overhead charges often called origination fees, which are applicable at the time of the loan processing.
Private student loans are based on the credit history of the applicant or of the co-signer. This type of loan is utilized by students who are not able to pay for their educations without a loan but cannot apply for federal loans due to the possession of assets beyond the qualifying limit or due to higher income of the family.
Private student loans are looked as an alternative to federal student loans for parents, known as PLUS (Parent Loans for Undergraduate Students) loan. Private student loans need not be paid back until graduation, whereas the repayment of PLUS loan starts soon after the procedures. Many international students can also acquire these private loans with the help of a co-signer. The loan amount is paid directly to the school by the lender and the remaining money is given to the student for living expenses. Due to a lower interest rate, these loans are widely used by students. Today, many companies also offer online private student loans.