Dec 08
adminCheap Mortgages
Mortgages. First-Time Buyers Let Down By The Governments Homebuy Scheme.
Late last year, accompanied by the usual razzmatazz, Gordon Brown announced the Governments new Open Market Homebuy mortgage scheme for first-time buyers.
Under the Homebuy scheme, first time buyers take out a mortgage for 75% of a home’s value with no deposit and the Government and the mortgage lender will in practice buy the remaining 25% of the property. Then when the borrower eventually decides to sell the property, the borrower will receive 75% of the net sales proceeds and the remaining 25% of the sale price will go to the Government and the mortgage lender. In the mean time, if the owner wishes to buy out all, or part, of the Governments or mortgage lenders 25% interest, the borrower can simply repay the money the Government and mortgage lender initially put in.- there will be no penalty.
In our view, first time buyers shouldn’t become too excited about this scheme for six reasons: –
The Government has recently confirmed that buyers will have to pay a 1% premium on top of the usual mortgage rate.
There has been no announcement as to the amount relative to income, which borrowers can qualify for. So at this stage it’s impossible to judge what sort of house a first-timer could buy. However, we bet it’s a very small one!
Despite hopes that more mortgage lenders would join the Yorkshire Building Society, the Halifax, and the Nationwide, as co-sponsors of the scheme, no additional lenders have been added to the list.
The Government expects Homebuy to lend to 4,000 first time buyers per year. That’s only fractionally over 1% of the 361,000 first time house purchases arranged each year. In terms of availability, it seems as if Homebuy mortgages are going to challenge hens teeth!
The Government hasn’t even announced the rules under which a first time buyer can qualify to even apply for a Homebuy mortgage.
The scheme is not planned to be operational until October 2006.
So even if you’re happy to pay the 1% premium, your chances don’t look too good for qualifying for an Open Market Homebuy mortgage. Our advice is to forget about them and find a top class mortgage broker to seek out a great deal on the open market.
Signs that our reticence is shared amongst Members of Parliament came from a comment from Michael Grove, shadow housing minister. He is reported as telling the Sunday Telegraph that he wanted to see the Homebuy scheme made easier and cheaper for lenders in order to encourage greater participation from the mortgage providers. We think that’s fine, but participate in what? Until we know who can apply and how much they can borrow, the scheme means nothing.
Nov 10
adminCheap Mortgages
Planning for a new home, new property and other finances for the first time is not only a question of gathering money– it is a building a dream to create heaven for you and your loved ones. Though it is a hard fact that getting a mortgage loan is always a question of liability.
Houston based first time home mortgage companies offer easy solutions for those who are mortgaging for the first time.
They welcome first time homebuyers by offering programs to help you first-time homeowners by the home of their dreams. With their help you may qualify for low interest rates and reduced tax rates through the Housing Finance Agency (HFA) and the Mortgage Credit Certificate (MCC) program can help with reduced taxes. There are also low down payment loans available to qualified first time buyers and many more options.
Most Houston mortgage lenders offer first time buyers many loan options and assist the buyer in finding the best loan for them. For The Federal government has developed two loan programs to assist homebuyers that have a little or no down payment. These programs are called the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and the Veteran’s Administration (VA). These programs are not solely intended for first time buyers, and your loan advisor will be able to determine if you qualify for either program. FHA and VA loans can be especially advantageous when combined with a HFA or MCC first time buyer program.
First time buyer programs are designed to help borrowers who may not have enough money to pay the full cost of the down payment or the closing costs on a mortgage. These programs make obtaining a mortgage more cost effective.
Sep 08
adminCheap Mortgages
The Federal Housing Administration has been helping Americans get loans for over 70 years. Heres an overview of the Administration, better known as the FHA.
Federal Housing Administration
The Federal Housing Administration is, ironically, more of an insurer than anything else. The FHA does not provide mortgage loans to you and me. Instead, it insurers mortgage and home loans provided to us. This makes lenders more willing to write loans for people that otherwise would be frowned upon.
The insurance aspect of the FHA is a fairly common tool used by the federal government to promote a specific behavior. Student loans are a classic example. An 18-year-old person typically couldnt qualify for a loan to by a sandwich, but student loans are plentiful and easy to get. This is because the federal government wants to promote education and does so by guaranteeing the loans. If you fail to pay the lender back, the government is on the hook. The FHA provides similar insurance for the purpose of promoting homeownership in the United States. In fact, the FHA is biggest mortgage insurer in the world, doing so for over 30 million mortgages since it was created in the 1930s.
FHA loans are a very attractive mortgage option. Unlike a private mortgage, FHA loans are designed to cut you a major break so you can buy a home. The break comes in the form of a very small down payment. The typical down payment is only three percent, a huge break compared to the 20 percent most traditional mortgage lenders like to see.
To the surprise of many, the FHA is not funded with our tax pounds. Instead, it is funded by premium payments. If you go with an FHA loan, you will have to pay the insurance premiums the FHA charges in providing the loan. This typically occurs for the first five years of the loan or until the debt ratio on the home is roughly seventy eight percent. The figures change, so make sure you get an accurate depiction if you are considering an FHA loan.
In many ways, the FHA has revolutionized the mortgage industry. When it was formed in 1934, homeownership was a fairly rare occurrence. To buy a home, you typically had to provide a down payment equal to half the value of the home. The mortgages were also fairly short with some being only three years. At the end of that period of time, you had to come up with the total then due. Talk about a tough real estate market!
Ultimately, the FHA serves as a stabilizing force in the real estate market. Private lenders can change mortgage requirements for better or worse, which can dramatically impact the ability of people to buy homes. The FHA smoothes out these fluctuations by always providing a mortgage loan resource.
Sep 01
adminCheap Mortgages
The federal national mortgage association, better known as Fannie Mae, is an integral part of the mortgage industry. Heres an overview on Fannie Mae and what it does.
Fannie Mae Providing A Little Help
Throughout the history of the United States, federal and state governments have used financial programs to modify our behavior. While it sounds draconian, it is actually a fairly bland concept. To stop us from undertaking bad or unhealthy behavior, taxes are levied on things such as cigarettes to motivate us to stop smoking. On the positive side, similar financial incentives are create to promote positive things such as homeownership.
Homeownership is often referred to as the American Dream. In truth, it is one of the key factors in maintaining a middle class in our country. Homeownership is, more or less, an involuntary savings plan for most Americans. Property appreciates over time which means you are gaining wealth regardless of what you are doing with your credit cards.
Today, more of us own homes than at any point in history. This is due to a number of factors, one of which is the broad availability of mortgages in which we can borrow large sums of money over long periods of time. The federal government through Fannie Mae among other institutions promotes this opportunity.
A common mistake is to assume Fannie Mae is a government entity. It is not. The company is a publicly traded entity just like Microsoft, Google or your favorite stock.
A second misconception is that Fannie Mae provides mortgages directly to borrowers. Again, it does not. Instead, the company provides liquidity to mortgage lenders so they can continue to provide you with home loans.
Fannie Mae was created in 1938 by the federal government. Its purpose was to provide liquidity [money] to a secondary mortgage market. If youve ever had a mortgage, you probably have experienced the odd event where your mortgage is sold to another lender. These secondary lenders rarely work directly with the public. Instead, they buy mortgages after the application process and collect the payments. In creating Fannie Mae, the government desired to make sure there was enough money in the secondary market to keep the mortgage industry operating smoothly. To this end, Fannie Mae was specifically charged with the task of buying mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration, better known as FHA.
In 1968, Fannie Mae went private and expanded the secondary mortgage operation by purchasing both FHA loans and non-FHA instruments. This evolution made Fannie Mae a major player in the mortgage industry. Since going public, it has purchased more than 63 million mortgages, which has helped put a lot of our fannies in homes.
While Fannie Mae is a publicly traded company, it is still tied to the federal government through a congressional charter. The charter allows Congress to oversee Fannie Mae and make sure it is following its initial purpose. Fannie Mae, however, receives none of our taxes.
Jul 21
adminCheap Mortgages
Buy to let mortgages: long term investment on the concrete structure.
Buy to let mortgage market was worth 21.8 billion in 2004 and accounted to 38.2 % of commercial market in the same year. The buy to let market has grown more than any market as a whole which is remarkable. Such a strong market spells nothing but benefit to mortgage hopeful. Buy to let mortgage was a constructive effort by The Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) to encourage growth in the private rented sector.
Buy to let mortgage is a specialized product for a special mortgage product. However, there is little difference between this and other mortgage products. If you understand the various details of buy to let mortgage, there is no way that you wont be successful in your attempt. Every buy to let mortgage will undergo the usual mortgage guideline. The lender will check your credit worthiness, value of your property, the amount of down payment before he approves your buy to let mortgage.
Buy to let mortgage have emerged as an increasingly popular mortgage in last few years. They are marked lower interest rates and have added to their attraction. Also rental income is more dependable form of income than other investment forms. The Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) operates a buy to let scheme which is supported by a group of lenders. There are other buy to let mortgage lenders who operate outside the scheme and you dont have to go through any ARLA agent.
A buy to let mortgage lender would ask for your rental details along with your income. There are some mortgage lenders who will allow you to add your rent to the salary, while other will base the buy to let mortgage entirely on the rent. Any previous mortgage will have a say in what you can borrow with buy to let mortgage. Different lenders will have different criteria which apply also for the amount you can borrow. The maximum that you can borrow will be anywhere between 150,000 to 1m per property. Buy to let mortgage can be taken on more than one property with maximum up to 5 properties. But more than one buy to let mortgage would not be possible on the same property.
Buy to let mortgage lenders usually lend 85% of the property value. Buy to let mortgage entails down payment. The down payment varies from 15%-25%. The larger down payment you can avail the better deals. There is a little variation in the rates of buy to let mortgage and other mortgages. The rental income formula varies but usually rental income should be 130%-150% of total monthly repayments.
The interest rates offered for Buy to let mortgage are fixed, variable, capped, tracker, capped, discounted. According to the inclination of the borrower, any interest rate type can be applied for. Always ask for quotes and compare. This will enable you to sort out buy to let mortgage that corresponds with your expectations. Research is fundamental in every loan process including buy to let mortgage.
Buy to let mortgage is a secured loan which means that it is secured on your property. Late repayment will show in your credit report and inability to repay can lead to loss of property. Think before you apply for buy to let mortgage. First check affordability and then apply for buy to let mortgage. Since it is a long term investment, you have to be careful about making payments on time. Since you have rental income, it will enable you to payments during difficult circumstances. You can take deposit form tenants to make prevent making arrears. We good record with buy to let mortgage will open doors for more investment as buy to let.
Before Buy to let make sure which property you are buying and whether it is compatible with the area. The neighbourhood should be such where there is considerable scope for letting it out. Plan out how much you are ready to pay for the property, keeping in mind expenses like down payment, stamp duty, evaluation fee, solicitors fee and other expenditure like remodeling to enable anticipated usage.
A few years ago buy to let mortgage was something which would cost you higher interest rate, larger down payment and expect large penalty for changing mortgage. However, the buy to let orientation has changed considerably. Buy to let mortgage has considerably moulded itself to become more consumer friendly. In such a stable mortgage market, there is great scope for expansion.
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