Entries from Dan Melson's Website tagged with 'cost of money'

New Consumer Article: Why It May Be Costly to Reject Paying Points

The new consumer article for today is Why It May Be Costly to Reject Paying Points. The advice "never pay points" actually started out as misleading advertising intending to keep consumers away from what in fact were better loans, but...

New Consumer Article: Confusing Past Performance and the Present Situation with Future Planning

The new consumer article for today is Confusing Past Performance and the Present Situation with Future Planning. If you are sitting on the sidelines thinking about buying property, you need to read it. If you have a property you're thinking...

New Consumer Article: Jumbo Loans and The Current Market (January 2009)

The new consumer article for today is Jumbo Loans and The Current Market (January 2009). There is always a tradeoff between rate and cost on mortgage loans, but lenders vary exactly what that tradeoff is in order to suit their...

New Consumer Article: Fifteen Year Loans

The new consumer article for today is Fifteen Year Loans: Are They A Good Idea?. Lots of nonsense gets put out there about fifteen year loans, and to many people there is a certain cachet to only needing fifteen years...

UPDATED Consumer Article: Refinancing When You Owe More Than The Home Is Worth

This morning I updated my popular article Refinancing When You Owe More Than The Home Is Worth, talking about the changes in the possibilities since I originally wrote it. I really want to be writing more original stuff, but...

New Consumer Article: APR vs APY: What The Difference Between Note Rate and APR Tells You

Today's new consumer article is APR vs APY: What The Difference Between Note Rate and APR Tells You. I advise people to ignore APR as a means of shopping a loan. But there is some information in the difference between...

New Consumer Article: Second Trust Deeds: Home Equity Loans and Home Equity Lines of Credit

Today's new consumer article is Second Trust Deeds: Home Equity Loans and Home Equity Lines of Credit, talking about the basics of what forms that these loans take, the Home Equity Loan and Home Equity Line of Credit....

New Consumer Article September 15th, 2008

Today's new consumer article is Mortgage Accelerators, Money Merge, and Paying Your Mortgage Down, which deals bluntly with the contention that these programs that allegedly "pay off your mortgage in a fraction of the time" actually help. They don't. I...

New Consumer Article August 26th, 2008

Today's new consumer article is What If You Cannot Refinance Later?, which addresses a very real concern that there are many reasons why people may not be able to refinance their property at a later date, so even though the...

How Can I Lower The Down Payment Requirements So I Can Buy Real Estate?

With a few lenders starting to loosen their requirements slightly in San Diego, it's becoming increasingly obvious that the bottom is behind us. However, the issue has now become, "I don't have much of a down payment. How do...

Prepaid Interest and Why You Never Really Skip a Mortgage Payment

Many people think that mortgage interest works like rent: paid in advance before you live in the property for the month. This is not the case. Mortgage interest is paid in arrears. As you begin the month, interest begins...

Why Cost Is As Important As Rate For Mortgage Loans

A few days ago I wrote an article explaining why borrowers should consider a 5/1 ARM, because the tradeoff between rate and cost is lower for that loan, and most people don't keep their loans 5 years anyway, so...

The Difference Between Note Rate (APY) and APR

I am continually horrified how many people shop their loans by APR, just as I am by people shopping their loan based upon payment. Why? Because in either case, you're setting yourself up to spend a lot of money in...

Debunking the Money Merge Account Scam (Games Lenders Play, Part 8)

Mortgage Accelerators, or Money Merge Accounts, have become the thing that everyone's pushing of late. I have gotten so much junk mail about this from more originators (who don't know who I am) and wholesalers (who should) in the last...

Refinancing With a Prepayment Penalty

how soon should I start shopping around to refinance my home? I have a 2yr interest only and it's up in (four months) Okay, the 2/28 loans which you are describing all have prepayment penalties for at least two years....

Changing Rates and Streamline Refinancing - Reasons to Love Zero Cost Loans and Hybrid ARMs

Rates move up and down constantly. This is one of the strongest reasons both Intelligent consumers and intelligent loan officers love zero cost loans. Every time rates drop, I call or send an e-mail to those clients who signed...

Dealing With Looming Forclosure - Get Out of Denial

Last week, I got a call from a hard money lender, asking what I could to to "rescue" one of his clients by refinancing. He was being about as altruistic as a drowning man. What he really wanted was...

"Should I Refinance?" - Consider Overall Cost of Money, Not Payment

With Rates having dropped again, many people are looking at refinancing their properties. With the state of financial education in this country, many people will shop for loans by payment, figuring the lowest payment is the best loan. As...

Yield Spread is a Beneficial Tool That Can Be Misused

If you read the papers and the congressional record on the current 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...