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Home Mortgage Refinancing Article
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Solidifying That Mortgage Quote
from: Mortage & Debt FactsYou’re in the market for a home and it’s an exciting time. Your realtor may be pressuring you to go to a lender and get a mortgage quote so that you know in what range you can buy safely and prequalify too.
You may even be tech savvy enough to hop online and find networking areas where you can get several mortgage quotes from various lenders, but then you’re left wondering which one is the best deal. How do you really know whether one mortgage quote is better than another? That’s where the good faith estimate comes in.
The Breakdown of a Good Mortgage Quote
If you really want to know how it all breaks down, you have to get a good faith estimate from a lender for your mortgage quote. You can get a good faith estimate from any number of lenders that you want and for different mortgage products too. Some people shop for the best deal this way and take the best offer and show it to other lenders to try to beat that one as well.
Without a good faith estimate a mortgage quote may not be reliable. The Federal government insists that lenders provide a good faith estimate within three days of applying for a loan.
Some of the things you can expect a good faith estimate to show are the potential costs at closing of the following:
• Loan application fee
• Fees for pulling credit reports
• Title work
• Attorney fees
• Cost of appraisal
• Cost of inspection
• Survey work
• Document handling and processing fees
• Taxes
• Escrow accounts
• Your interest rate
• The terms of the loan
• The amortization schedule
Comparing Two or Three Mortgage Quotes
If you are trying to find a good deal, you will want to get the good faith estimates for the different mortgage quotes on the exact same product to fully compare them. If you get one that has a teaser interest rate that shifts after six months to a year, it may initially look favorable but in the long run will cost you more money.
Make sure that they all have the same length of term because a 40-year loan will look like a better deal than a 30-year loan when it comes to the amount of the monthly payment you have to make. However, you pay significantly more money over the life of the mortgage with a longer term than you do with a shorter-term mortgage.
So, always make sure that you are looking at very similar offers from different lenders and not two separate types of loan products.
Home Mortgage Refinancing Specific links
Home Mortgage Refinancing News
Realtors(R) Offer Support for Bill to Help Responsible Homeowners Refinance - MarketWatch (press release)
 OregonLive.com | Realtors(R) Offer Support for Bill to Help Responsible Homeowners Refinance MarketWatch (press release) WASHINGTON, DC, May 24, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- A proposed bill to streamline and align the refinance processes of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may soon make it easier for homeowners who are current on their mortgage payments but who have been ... Freddie Mac: 30-year mortgage rate down a tick at 3.78% US 30-Year Mortgage Rate Falls to Record 3.78 Pct. |
Mortgage Q&A: Borrowers hit by mess others made - Washington Times
 Washington Times | Mortgage Q&A: Borrowers hit by mess others made Washington Times The political pundits keep preaching the sermon of the common-sense lending that's needed to get credit flowing again in hopes of jump-starting the housing market and spurring refinancing. Programs have been introduced. The Home Affordable Refinance ... Don't HARP on it, refinance program too good to pass up |
Mortgage applications up on refi demand: MBA - Reuters
 eCreditDaily.com | Mortgage applications up on refi demand: MBA Reuters | NEW YORK (Reuters) - Applications for home mortgages rose last week, fueled by demand for refinancings as mortgage rates hit fresh record lows, an industry group said on Wednesday. The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted index ... Time to Refinance While Mortgage Rates are So Low Record-low mortgage rates spur refinancing Refinancing Up as Rates Keep Falling |
Real estate industry pushes Senate on refi bill - MarketWatch
Real estate industry pushes Senate on refi bill MarketWatch Under the plan, homeowners could take advantage of current market mortgage interest rates, which are between about 3.875% and 4.5% versus the 5% or 6% that some homeowners now pay. The bill would go further than the existing Home Affordable Refinance ... |
Refinance Applications Increase in U.S. for Third Consecutive Week, Driven by ... - World Property Channel
 e-wisdom.com | Refinance Applications Increase in U.S. for Third Consecutive Week, Driven by ... World Property Channel "Mortgage rates again dipped to new record lows in the survey, which spurred more borrowers back into the refinance market. As a result, applications for refinance loans have increased for the third straight week and are at the highest level since ... Current Mortgage Rates: SunTrust, TD Bank and US Bank Home Purchase Rates for ... Bankrate: Mortgage Rates Hold at Record Lows MBA Increases 2012 Origination Forecast By $200 Billion |