Articles Category: Mortgages - Intelligent Team Article Marketplace

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A few helpful mortgage application tips By : Dennie Shepherd Applying for a mortgage is a big step. For most American consumers buying a house and applying for a mortgage is the biggest and most significant financial decision of their life. There are a few things you should educate yourself about before obtaining that loan. Adjustable Rate Mortgage Payment Recast - What is It? By : Alex De Mostafa Interest-only and negative amortization payments cannot go on forever. At some point, the loan balance must be paid in full. For all adjustable rate mortgages, there is a mandatory recast after a fixed period of time where the loan reverts to a conventionally amortizing loan to be paid over the remaining portion of a 30 year term. Applying for a home mortgage By : Dennie Shepherd Applying and getting a home mortgage loan is one of the biggest financial step for most American people. There are many issues and considerations when applying for that home mortgage that can have long term consequences on your financials. Here are just a few. Bring Back Paternalism in the Mortgage Market By : Alex De Mostafa As a society, we have created a system that strongly encourages a borrow-and-spend mentality. Saving in all its forms are punished while borrowing is strongly subsidized and encouraged. The credit orgy of the 00s saw this system taken to its ultimate extreme. The result was a vicious credit crunch, a collapse in asset values, and an economic downturn second in severity only to the Great Depression. Obviously, something needs to change. A little paternalism in the mortgage market is one of a number of necessary regulatory reforms. Conventional 30-Year Amortizing Mortgage - Why use It? By : Alex De Mostafa A fixed-rate conventionally-amortized mortgage is the least risky kind of mortgage obligation. If borrowers can make their payment, a payment that will not change over time, they can keep their home. At the end of a predefined term, the original funds have been paid in full, and the loan is discharged. Debt-to-Income Ratios Impact on Residential Real Estate Markets By : Alex De Mostafa The debt-to-income ratio is a measure of how far buyers are "stretching" to buy real estate. Buyers have historically committed larger sums to purchase real estate when prices are rising in order to capture the appreciation of rising prices. Conversely, buyers have historically committed smaller and smaller percentages of their income toward buying real estate when prices are declining because there is little incentive to overpay. Some may look at this phenomenon as a passive effect of the rise and fall of prices, but since buying is a choice, the fluctuation in debt-to-income ratios is an active force on prices in the market. Downpayments Are Back! What Happened to 100% Financing? By : Alex De Mostafa Downpayments are required again thanks to the credit crunch. Many people thought 100% financing would be made available forever. They were mistaken. One-hundred percent financing will never return because it exposes lenders to too much risk. Exotic Loan Programs Always Fail By : Alex De Mostafa Over the last 60 years since World War II ended, a number of experimental loan programs have been attempted. These include interest-only loans, adjustable rate loans, and negative amortization loans among others. It is this group of loans that has consistently failed in the past for one simple reason: if payments can adjust higher, people will default. High default rates doom mortgage programs because these high default rates will eventually cause large default losses for the holders of these loans. Helpful mortgage application tips By : Dennie Shepherd Applying for a mortgage is a big step. For most American consumers buying a house and applying for a mortgage is the biggest and most significant financial decision of their life. There are a few things you should educate yourself about before obtaining that loan. Higher Interest Rates and Residential Real Estate Markets - What Would Happen? By : Alex De Mostafa A key factor impacting the fundamental value of housing and thereby the bottom is interest rates. Higher interest rates would devastate residential real estate markets. When interest rates go up, the amounts borrowed go down assuming a consistent payment. As amounts borrowed go down, so do real estate prices. Home Equity - What is It? By : Alex De Mostafa Many people who purchase real estate have no idea what equity is, what creates it, what destroys it, and what to do with it. People who purchase real estate use the phrase "building equity" to describe the overall increase in equity over time. However, it is important to look at the factors which either create or destroy equity to see how market conditions and financing terms impact this all-important feature of real estate. Housing Bubble - Why Should Anyone Care? By : Alex De Mostafa Why should anyone care about financial bubbles in general and the housing bubble in particular? The first and most obvious reason is that the financial fallout is stressful. Many people lost a great deal of money. Beyond that, the housing bubble had enormous impact on the health of individuals, families and entire communities. Housing Market Bottom - Price-to-Income Ratio Estimates By : Alex De Mostafa One method used to evaluation residential real estate prices is the price-to-income ratio. Since people borrow the vast majority of the funds necessary to purchase residential real estate, and this borrowing must be financed from current income, the ratio of house prices to rent is a useful barometer of market valuation. How to improve your mortgage terms By : Dennie Shepherd If you are reading this article then you either already have a mortgage or you are planning to get one soon. A mortgage is a big financial decision many times the biggest in your like. It is not surprising thus that getting a good mortgage is important. Here are some tips how to do just that. Hyperinflation and the Housing Market By : Alex De Mostafa The Federal Reserve under Ben Bernanke began aggressively lowering interest rates at the end of 2007 in response to the severe economic downturn caused by the collapse of house prices and the related difficulties falling house prices had on the banks and other institutions that made loans using houses as collateral. Many are concerned that these policies will ignite a period of hyperinflation in the United States. Inflation and Home Equity - What Is the Relationship? By : Alex De Mostafa House prices historically have outpaced inflation by 0.7% nationally. In a normal market, this is the only appreciation homeowners obtain. This appreciation is caused by wage inflation translating into higher housing payments and the ability of borrowers to obtain larger loan amounts to bid up prices. In some areas where wage growth has outpaced the general rate of inflation, the fundamental valuation of houses has increased faster than inflation. Interest Rate Resets on an Adjustable Rate Mortgages Are a Problem By : Alex De Mostafa Many people took out adjustable rate mortgages during the Great Housing Bubble. After 25 years of steadily declining interest rates, people forgot about, or never knew about the risk of rising interest rates and what it would do to their housing payments. Adjustable rate mortgages are great while interest rates are declining. Their payments are lower than fixed rate mortgages, and as interest rates decline, they become an even better deal. However, when interest rates go up again, these loans will become a nightmare. Lose Your Money or Learn to Identify Asset Bubbles By : Alex De Mostafa Many people did not see the NASDAQ tech-stock bubble. Many people did not see the Great Housing Bubble either. Those who participated in either financial mania lost a great deal of money. People need to know what to look for in order to avoid future financial manias. Low Mortgage Interest Rates, It Is a Bad Time to Buy A House By : Alex De Mostafa The fluctuation in mortgage interest rates has implications for when it the best time to buy and the best time to refinance a home mortgage. It is a popular misconception that low interest rates make for a good buying opportunity. It is not. Buy when interest rates are high, and refinance when interest rates are low. Mortgage Equity Withdrawal is a Cultural Pathology By : Alex De Mostafa Mortgage Equity Withdrawal or MEW is the process of obtaining cash through refinancing residential real estate using the accumulated equity as collateral for the loan. This is a cultural pathology because it is not sustainable. Many people became addicted to using their houses as an ATM machine, and when prices fell, these people lost their homes in foreclosure. Mortgages are ok if both lenders and borrowers are responsible By : Dennie Shepherd The number of people that can buy a home without taking mortgage is extremely low. With the latest credit crunch and the mortgage crisis taking mortgage seems to be a risky business but it does not have to be that way. Pick-a-Pay Option ARM Loans - What Are They? By : Alex De Mostafa The Negative Amortization mortgage (aka, Option ARM or Neg Am) is the riskiest loan imaginable. It has all the risks of an interest-only, adjustable-rate mortgage, but with the added risk of an increasing loan balance. Using this loan, there is the risk of not being able to make the payment at reset, and the borrower is much more at risk of being denied for refinancing because the loan balance can easily exceed the house value. In either case, the home will fall into foreclosure. Principles And Principals - There's No Confusion Here By : J Donaldson So you are thinking about selling or buying property in the United Kingdom? Then you need to know about these principles. Real Estate Bubble Fallacies - Can You Identify Them? By : Alex De Mostafa There are a number of fallacies about residential real estate that either affirm the belief in perpetually rising prices or minimize the fears of a price decline. These fallacies generally revolve around a perceived shortage of housing or a belief that the higher prices are justified by current or future economic conditions. These misperceptions are not the core mechanism of an asset price bubble, but they serve to affirm the core beliefs and perpetuate the price rally. Real Estate Investment versus Real Estate Speculation - What is the Difference? By : Alex De Mostafa Owner-occupied residential real estate is viewed by many people as a good investment. Realtors often use this idea as part of their sales pitch. This view is fallacious and it is one of the beliefs responsible for creating an asset price bubble. To understand why houses are not a great investment in most circumstances, one needs to understand the difference between investment and speculation. Real Estate Only Goes Up... Not! By : Alex De Mostafa The mantra of the National Association of Realtors is "real estate only goes up." This economic fallacy fosters the belief in future price increases and the limited risk of buying real estate. In 2006, prices in many markets began to fall. By 2008, the rate of price decline had greatly accelerated. This is dramatic proof that real estate does not always go up. Despite this obvious fact, the National Association of Realtors still tries to lure greedy buyers with fantasies of unlimited wealth in residential real estate. Real Estate Speculators Usually Fail By : Alex De Mostafa Despite the huge price spike in the final two years of the Great Housing Bubble caused by wild speculation, most speculators will lose a great deal of money. They will buy when prices are high, and they will sell when prices are low. The causes are rooted in basic human emotions that work against making the proper decisions to profit in a speculative market. Renting Versus Owning Residential Real Estate By : Alex De Mostafa Renting versus owning is both an intellectual, financial decision and an emotional decision. The financial decision is first and foremost an analysis of the comparative cost of renting versus owning. It makes no sense to pay more than rental equivalence to own residential real estate. Many people still do because they are chasing the fantasy of endless appreciation and real estate wealth, but most of these people will find the increased cost of ownership over time negates any appreciation advantage they may obtain. Also, many people have found out painfully that property does not always appreciate in value. Stated-Income Loans - How Common Were They? By : Alex De Mostafa One unique phenomenon of the Great Housing Bubble was the utilization of stated-income loans, also known as "liar loans" because most people were not truthful when stating their income. When house prices were going up, greed motivated many people to buy homes to capture appreciation. Actually having the income to qualify for a loan was a limitation to participating in the financial mania. Stated-income loan programs eliminated this barrier and allowed people to borrow as much as they wanted without concern for home much money they made to cover the payments. Subprime Containment Theory Was a Lie By : Alex De Mostafa Conventional wisdom (or market spin) was that the risk of default from subprime would not spill over into Alt-A and Prime loans. This argument was made because these two categories have historically had low default rates. Of course, this argument ignored the "liar loans" taken out by those with higher credit scores, the unmanageable debt-to-income ratios, and payment resets for interest-only and Option ARM loans which were also given to the Alt-A and Prime crowd. Historically, this group had not defaulted because they have not been widely exposed to these loan types. The Interest-Only, Adjustable-Rate Mortgage is Very Risky By : Alex De Mostafa The interest-only, adjustable-rate mortgage (IO ARM) became popular early in the Great Housing Bubble. When fixed-rate mortgage payments were too large for buyers to afford, they turned to IO ARMs as an affordability product. Unfortunately, these mortgage products are not stable because at some point, payments increase, and the borrowers often default. The One Stop Mortgage and Home Loan Solutions By : Alex De Mostafa Murfreesboro, Brentwood, Clarksville and all of Tennessee and Nashville home loan mortgage solutions and secrets have finally been unveiled in a radically designed website; an educational, informative and inspirational site, www.yourmoneysource.net is fully equipped with Nashville home loans and mortgage related info, loads of free reports, a home buying guide and free mortgage calculators. Specifically designed to enlighten the site visitors, YourMoneySource.net reveals all facts and figures aimed to empower our customers to take sensible decisions while obtaining a mortgage. The Pent-Up-Demand Meme Is Complete Nonsense By : Alex De Mostafa The realtor spin about "pent up demand" is complete nonsense. There is probably a lot of pent up desire for housing, but demand is measured in dollars, and there is a major lack of demand with the absence of lender funds, and a large and growing "pent up supply" of foreclosures. They Aren't Making Any More Land... Not! By : Alex De Mostafa All market pricing is a function of supply and demand. One of the reasons many house price bubbles get started is due to a temporary shortage of housing units. This is a particular problem in California because the entitlement process is slow and cumbersome. Supply shortages can become acute, and prices can rise very quickly. This does not mean land is scarce. It means that the supply of dwelling units is experiencing a temporary shortage. It may seem like a minor distinction, but it is very important. New dwelling units can be created; land cannot. Unaffordable House Prices, Will It Last Forever? By : Alex De Mostafa During the Great Housing Bubble, prices detached from their fundamental valuations and became very inflated. This price inflation created a situation where affordability dropped to record low levels in many real estate markets. The fear of buyers was that failure to purchase a property would mean they would never be able to own because they would be priced out forever. For this fear to be realized, prices much sustain inflated levels of low affordability forever. Is this possible? Ways to improve your mortgage terms By : Dennie Shepherd If you are reading this article then you either already have a mortgage or you are planning to get one soon. A mortgage is a big financial decision many times the biggest in your like. It is not surprising thus that getting a good mortgage is important. Here are some tips how to do just that.

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