Tag Archives: mortgage

Advice for First Time Home Buyers Seeking Loans

First time home buyers are faced with a lot of confusion when seeking loans. Their inexperience could lead to them taking several wrong decisions which could become disastrous in the long run. Thus it is necessary to be well-informed on how the home mortgage market operates before entering into it.

Things to consider at the onset are the interest rates. That must be one of the prime deciding factors of the person seeking a home mortgage loan for the first time. After all, it is the rate of interest that will decide the amount of payment to make every month for a long period of time. The homebuyer must take time out and compare the rates of interest of different lenders.

However a low rate of interest is not just the only thing to be considered. Every mortgage has several other fees to be paid, such as appraisal costs, application fees, lawyers’ fees, closing costs, etc. All these must be found out in advance so that they do not hit hard later.

One more thing to consider is how much mortgage can really be afforded. This would determine how much payment the homebuyer would be making per month. The payments should not go beyond the budget of the borrower. When all these decisions are made, only then should a meeting be scheduled with the lender. The lender would make a careful study of the borrower’s credit history and then only decide how much mortgage they would give, and at what terms. This is where the borrower must decide whether the payments could be afforded or not.

Rents must not be taken as a parameter to decide how much loan payments can be afforded per month. Rents are for a short term, while mortgages tend to go on for as much as thirty years. Hence, the borrower must think on a broader perspective. Also, the person will have to pay taxes such as property taxes, which were not involved when living as a renter. Renters get several utilities for free, but the homebuyer would need to pay for them. Examples could be water, gas and electricity bills. With homes bought on mortgages, the resident would also need to conduct repairs and maintenance, which were not the responsibility while renting out a house.

An often neglected part of the mortgage is mortgage insurance. All lenders make it mandatory for borrowers to purchase mortgage insurance in case of any eventuality. If the mortgage is a high-ratio mortgage, then this amount could be very high.

So, the first time homebuyer should not just take the rent to compare with how much payments he/she could afford, but consider all other expenses as well. Only then would he/she not feel the pinch of the mortgage payments month after month.

The lender should also be sympathetic with first time homebuyers. You could find this out in the way they carry the preliminary discussions itself. If they are too highbrow to condescend to first-timers, then you are well off with another lender. Talk to them in detail about the packages they offer, and the features of the loan, so that there are no misunderstandings later. It is wisest to take copies of everything that is related to the loan.

How to Get A Bank of American Mortgage Loan Modification

Bank of America mortgage loan modification is one of the harder loan modification programs to find information on. Their requirements are tightly sealed to anyone not legitimately requesting a loan modification. But despite that, there are things you (or any homeowner under any lender) should do in order to make your loan modification application debate-proof.

Do call their loan modification or loss mitigation departments and ask what their requirements for loan modification are. There is no information on Bank of American mortgage loan modification requirements on-line, so making that phone call is a crucial step. If you’re too far out of the requirements, applying would most likely end up as a bunch of wasted time and a headache.

You need to write a hardship letter to send in along with your application, but before that work out a new budget to supplement the lower payments you are requesting. Working out the new budget will give you a good perspective on things later on if your mortgage loan application is approved.

It’s also good to do the budget as one of the first steps because you can use it to boost up the effectiveness of your hardship letter. The hardship letter portion of the application is your chance to explain your situation and to formally request the modification.

You need to be as clear as possible while still going details over your financial hardship and stating the rate you feel would be ideal. Also in the letter include your willingness to work with the lender and mention your plans or prospects coming in the future that will positively affect your ability to pay your mortgage.

Be sure not to lie on a single thing in either your application itself or the hardship letter. Like with any lender, Bank of America has a zero tolerance policy on false information. Be sure to double – even triple – check your application papers and letter to make sure there is no information that could be seen as false or misleading. You don’t want to go through all that trouble only to have your mortgage loan modification application denied for an unexplained reason.

The last thing is: Try to submit all of your papers in at the same time. Giving all of your application forms and the letter to Bank of America all at once will speed up the approval process – meaning you will get the modification sooner as long as you are qualified. Bank of American mortgage loan modification isn’t difficult to receive, though you do need to put some real effort into it.