One topic I haven’t covered yet here is homesteading. This has nothing to do with the Homestead Act of 1862 that encouraged settling the western United States. A declaration of Homestead basically protects your equity. In many cases, you may not even have to file a declaration to receive the benefits, but whether this is …
Continue reading “Homesteading and Declaration of Homestead”
Just got a search “how can I tell if my prepayment penalty applies to selling my home” Read The Full Note. You need to do this before you sign it. I know that many people are just thinking “Sign this and I get the house!” or “Sign this and I get the money!” but a …
You raise a lot of issues. Some I’m going to deal with very quickly, others I’m going to spend some effort on, but nothing as in depth as a full article would have. I’m going to keep referring to material found in Credit Reports: What They Are and How They Work I’m going to take …
Continue reading “Practical Applications: Credit Cards versus Home Equity Line Of Credit”
Many people are uncertain as to what closing costs are. Basically, they relate to the costs of doing the transaction. There are people who work on getting your loan through the process of approval and funding, and those people have got to be paid. Anytime you’re talking about a fee for a service that needs …
There are several possible options to deal with this issue, depending upon the exact situation. For A paper, both spouses must qualify, credit score-wise. The way around this is a quitclaim to the spouse who has a good credit score as sole and separate property. The catch is that then the good credit score spouse …
Continue reading “Real Estate Loans: What If One Spouse Has a Bad Credit Score?”
my prorated property taxes came were paid at closing but now I’m getting a delinquent tax bill You mean they were supposed to be paid at closing. There are two major possibilities: 1) They were not, in fact, paid 2) They were paid, but were miscredited, or they were properly credited, but your county goofed …
Continue reading “Property Taxes and Whether They Were Paid Through Escrow”
Got a search for that, and it occurred to me that it is a valid question. The answer is yes. The degree varies. You can simply contact the bank to make yourself responsible for payment. They are usually happy to do this, although unlike revolving accounts you typically will not receive back credit on your …
Continue reading “Can Someone Be Added To An Existing Mortgage?”
So what else is available, besides the thirty year fixed? There are many kinds of loan out there. Here’s a quick overview: A Paper In addition to the thirty year fixed, there are several other varieties of fixed rate loan available, and several that are not. Commonly available are five year fixed, ten year fixed, …
One of the things I’m seeing more of in MLS listings and developer advertising, among other places, is the phrase “$X in closing cost credit (or “$X in free builder upgrades”) given for using preferred lender” Sounds like a bargain, right? Just use their lender and you get this multi-thousand dollar credit. After all, “All …
Continue reading “Inducements to Use A Particular Lender for a Purchase”
I enjoyed finding your blog today. It was enlightening, particularly in the area of real estate appraisals. Mortgage fraud is something I’ve been reading about lately. Since the FBI says 80% of it involves collusion and usually with the appraiser, it made me wonder why underwriters don’t just ask for second appraisals when a loan …
