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Tips for Getting Home Loan
After you have enough money to make a deposit for your chosen home, the next step is to find out how much ownership will really costs you. There are a lot of additional fees associated with home buying. For example, legal costs, stamp duty, disbursement, survey report, mortgage insurance, pest control, and builders report expenses can all add up to a significant amount. You should also consider application fee, registration fee, and the valuation fee.
Buying a home is definitely stressful; it is one of the biggest financial investments you will make during your lifetime. Taking proper care and precaution is necessary in this instance. To help you make the most of your home loan, we have compiled the following tips:
Make Additional Repayments There is a minimum monthly repayment on your home loan. One of the best methods to reduce the internet on the loan is to pay more than what is required. Another benefit is that it will shorten the term of your loan so you can be immune to market fluctuations in the future. In general, a $1 in extra payment you make right now can save you $2 over the interest of the loan depending on your term. You can consider making lump-sum payment or increasing your monthly repayment amount. Before you do this, ensure that your loan allows you to give additional payments without incurring penalty. There are some loans, specifically the fixed-rate home loan that restricts additional payment or charge you for this modification.
Be Careful About Introductory Offers One technique to entice borrowers is to offer introductory discounts or benefits. Credit card companies do this by waiving the annual fee for the next year. A similar concept is implanted by home lenders. Usually, they give attractive very low “honeymoon” rates for the buyer. Then, these rates can increase by 2 percentage points in six months or a year. Dont let the introductory rate influence your choice of a lender because it is more important to have flexibility for the future.
Be Wary about Fixed Home Loans Although the fixed rate interest option is attractive in a market where interest rates are rising, you should also consider the future. Fixed rate home loans will lock you in for a certain timeframe. You cannot make extra repayments or pay off the loan early without penalty. Variable rate loans offer more flexibility. It is important for you to decide which home loan will suit your needs best.
Getting Home Loan with Bad Credit Traditional lenders such as banks and credit unions are wary about lending to individuals who have poor credit history, are self-employed, or had just arrived in the country. If this is the case for you, consider “non-conforming” lenders. Typically, these lenders charges higher interest rates but it can become lower after several years of regular repayment.
Probably the best time in choosing a lender is to exercise caution. Looking at the reputation of the establishment and the actual terms of the loan are critical in ensuring that you get the right lender.
Know Your Loan Options before Applying (Page 1 of 2)
All loan options are not the same; there are huge differences in them with respect to the options they provide. Sometimes with all these features it becomes very difficult to choose the loan option that could be ideal for you. In order to make the process of deciding which loan to take, let us first know what the different types of loans are.
1. Fixed Rate Mortgage Loans
These are the most popular types of loans available. With these loans, the mortgage rates are fixed throughout the life of the loan. Even within fixed mortgage loans, there are different kinds according to their tenures:-
a) 30-year Fixed Rate Loans: These loans are preferred by people who wish to stay in their houses for longer periods of time. Since the repayment is spread over to a period of thirty years, the amount paid back each month is low, which allows the family to have some liquidity in hand. However, the borrower will end up paying more in the long run because of the more interest paid.
b) 15-year Fixed Rate Loans: The shorter period makes it possible for the house to become the borrowers sooner, but he/she would have to make much higher monthly payments. The interest rate would also be half of that on the 30-year loan.
c) Biweekly Loans: With these loans, the payments are to be made every fortnight instead of every month. They are generally given on 30-year loans. Due to the excess payments made, the loans get over in something like 23 years. Also the loan builds up the equity faster. But some people might find the frequency of the payments too much to keep up with.
2. Adjustable Rate Mortgage Loans
With adjustable rate mortgage loans, the rates of interest are subjected to ups and downs as per mortgage trends. Generally these loans begin with lower rates of interest, and they could build up over time. The advantage with these loans is that the rates of interest in the beginning could be lower since the borrower would lock in a low rate of interest. But the rates could go higher at any time and then the borrower would have to make highly monthly payments.
There are some other aspects to home loans that must be known well in advance. Let us see these options.
1. Hybrid and Convertible ARM These loans provide the borrower with the ability to switch from a fixed rate of interest to an adjustable rate, or from an adjustable rate of interest to a fixed rate. Hence the loans become flexible. Naturally it makes sense to convert with these loans only if the rates are lower than with the option you are currently using.
2. Interest Only Loans In these loans, the borrower is supposed to make only the payments on the interest month after month, but will have to pay lump sums on the principal periodically. Interest only loans are those for people who work with lower salaries but get huge bonuses at the end of the year. This makes it possible for the borrower to get higher loans and keep more money in his/her pocket for all year round. But the disadvantage is that these loans do not make any payments on the home all through the year.