Entries from Searchlight Crusade tagged with 'rate cost'

How Loan Providers Make Money

In an attempt to debunk some of the slanders that are floating around out there, this article is an itemization of how lenders and brokers make money on loans. The first method is obvious: Origination or discount points charged to...

Looking For Loans In All The Wrong Places

No, I'm not turning into a country western singer. Just got a search for "no closing costs no points loan cheapest rates loan". The visit (to this article) lasted less than a full second. The obvious implication was that it...

Forty and Fifty Year Mortgages

For a while there, the forty year mortgage had started to make a comeback, and a few lenders started introducing the fifty year mortgage. The reason, straight from the horse's mouth, the lender's representatives, is lowered payments. In an uncertain...

Yield Spread is a Beneficial Tool That Can Be Misused

If you read the papers and the congressional record on the housing crisis, you might think yield spread is the central culprit for the entire meltdown. You would be wrong. Yield spread is a beneficial tool, offered voluntarily by lenders,...

Should I Buy A Home? Part 1: Preparation

I am considering buying a home, although I have not made up my mind on the subject. This is not due to indecision, but rather due to a lack of necessary information. There are many factors to be considered...

Payment, Interest Rate and Up Front Costs: Choosing a loan intelligently

Most people tend to shop for a mortgage based upon the payment. They figure the lowest payment will be the cheapest loan. This is the way most people make banks rich. Because they are looking for the loan with the...

The Loan Shopping Koan

It's very easy for loan providers to talk about a much better loan when you're shopping than they have any intention of delivering. Then you give them thirty to sixty days after you sign up, and you're put into a...

Wanting a More Expensive Property Than You Can Really Afford

This is one of the biggest issues with my local real estate market. Because the San Diego market has very high demand and limited supply of property, prices are high. A reasonable two bedroom condo runs around $200,000. A 1200...

Saving Money by Refinancing Your Mortgage

pfadvice talks about debunking a money myth and perpetuates one of his own. He took issue with someone refinancing to lower their monthly payment, insisting instead that the term of the loan was all important. His point is understandable in...

Refinancing Out of A Negative Amortization Loan (Or Any Other) Before The Penalty Expires

HI, My name is DELETED and my husband and I are searching for a way to get out of our Negative ARM loan before we get upside down. Our problem right now is our loan to value. Our loan right...

Shopping For The Best Loan In The Changed Lending Environment

It shouldn't be any surprise to anyone with the headlines of the last few years that shopping for a mortgage loan has radically changed. Indeed, a lot of the regulatory changes seem directly aimed at what were the best...

Pre-Payment Penalties Expiring and Rate Locks

I read with great interest you article on the internet about pre-payment penalties. I find my self in a situation involving a pre-payment penalty and would appreciate your advice on this. I currently have a loan in which the...

Loan Fall-Out And The Effects Upon Consumers

This is going to be a long article and somewhat technical in places, but it needs to be covered and it's important to everyone who is thinking about getting a real estate loan. "Fall-Out" is very simple: The number...

The Difference Between a Reliable and Unreliable Prequalification or Preapproval Letter

If you don't know, chances are your agent doesn't either. Even if you know, chances are that your agent is as clueless as a newborn about loans. I and my clients get asked for all kinds of nonsense (to put...

Whatever the New Trick in Loans is, It's an Always Attempt to Keep From Really Competing On Price

It seems every week I get asked about some new or revived trick that loan providers are pulling. The one thing they all have in common is that they are methods to avoid competing on price. What the basic terms...

Truth In Lending and APR

(Note: This article is a reprint of one of the earliest articles I wrote, from a time when rates were higher. The principles, however, are quite valid - and even reinforced by the fact that rates now are much lower)...

Why It May Be Costly to Reject Paying Points

I hear it and read it all the time - advice that says to pre-emptively reject the possibility of paying points. People that talk to me about loan rates that tell me they will not consider any loan that...

Why The Higher Rate Loan Is Often Better

The short answer is "Because it costs less". It costs more money to get a lower rate - simple fact. It takes time to recover the extra money you spend to get a lower rate via that lowered cost of...

Lowballing Mortgage Quotes Versus "Junk Fees"

One of the things that most mortgage and real estate consumers get mixed up on is the distinction between low-balling and junk fees. Junk fees are when they add fees that really aren't necessary to what you're paying. Low-balling is...

Fifteen Year Loans: Are They A Good Idea?

My take on the matter is "mostly no", but they do have some uses. The one advantage that they usually carry a lower interest rate. There have been exceptions to this, just as there have been exceptions to the...