Equity Finance » Mortgage Payments

Secured Finance – What Is It And How You Can Obtain It

admin — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 23:27:28 +0000

The most common form of secured finance is a home loan. Here are the basics that are universally the same. The first thing you must know that, even though it is secured finance which has relatively fewer risks for the lender than an unsecured loan, it is still a major purchase and a loan of a substantial amount of money for a private individual to borrow.

Be prepared, for that reason, to fill out an extensive loan application, and a lot of information on the property that is being used to secure the financing. Be prepared to explain your budget – your income and your expenses, your assets and your liabilities.

Be aware as well, that your secured finance options can change at any time, as rates do change. Once you have that secured financing in place keep an eye on interest rates.

It may be that somewhere down the road you will see interest rates drop and can save some money through a refinance process on the same secured property. Refinancing a mortgage has become quite commonplace.

When you see a better rate that will save you some money, and more attractive terms, try to take advantage of that secured refinance opportunity to save yourself a considerable amount of money over the life of the mortgage.

No matter which finance option you choose – and for a home loan its almost undoubtedly going to be secured – you must make your payments on time. This is the most important thing you can do to your credit and your ability to retain your home. Nothing can hurt your credit rating than making your mortgage payments late.

And since it is a finance options secured with your own home, youre risking the roof over your head when you are late with a payment. If your mortgage company offers automatic debit payments through your bank account take them up on that. Dont risk your home and your credit.

The options for buying a new car with a loan are generally going to be secured finance deals, although you can make them with the auto dealer or with the bank. You generally have a greater percentage of your own money in the way of cash or a trade in of your present car than you do for a home loan, but you almost always need a secured finance lender as well.

The other choice you would have is to lease the car. The problem with leasing is that the car is never really yours and to make it so you will end up with a huge balloon payment at the end of the lease.

The auto dealer finance option, still secured with your new vehicle, means higher interest rates than most financial institutions. It does have its benefits, however. For one thing you can buy the car, finance the car on the spot and drive it home. For busy people this can be a considerable savings of itself.

Auto dealers have relationships with many lenders and know what institution will lend you what money and at what particular rate. They can, therefore do your comparison shopping for you and generally get you the best deal possible. If your credit is good these auto dealers may also have a special limited time offer on new car loans that they use as incentives.

By: James Copper

About the Author:

James Copper advises people on secured finance and secured loans. In his time James like to write about anything related to the financial services industry.

Create a video blog…instantly.

How to Finance an Investment Property

admin — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:31:28 +0000

The secret in real estate business is to use other people’s money. This is how most real estate tycoons are made. Unlike traditional residential real estate mortgages, real estate financing offers much broader financial options, including lending or financing from various financial institutions. Transactions like these call for above-average negotiation skills.

It’s not advisable to invest your own money in a real estate as for a few very important reasons. First, you you tend to give most of your profits away by not leveraging your investment. Second, real estate is a very risky business – you don’t want to jeopardize everything you have.

This is not to say that real estate investment is all about losses. On the contrary. if you know how to make money work for you, you may actually garner a great deal of money in return for your investment.

Here’s how:

If, for example, you purchase a $100,000 property that increases an average of 7 percent per year (in reality that number could be higher or lower), you would see a net profit from renting your property resulting in an approximately 15 percent return.

If you’re content with little return of investment, you might settle with your 15 percent return. But if you really want to earn on your investment, consider the possibility of what leveraging can do for you. At present, a typical real estate investor can find financing as high as 95 to 97 percent of the purchase price. There even some instances where you may be able to get a 100 percent financing but we won’t use this for our example as it’s an inadequate comparison.

So, if you’re are an investor who is already content with a smallreturn of investment then 15 percent sounds like a lot. But for those who really want to make it big in the real estate, 15 percent is far from being considered a noteworthy return.

How does leveraging work?

Let’s assume that the rental income will cover all your expenses, including the mortgage payments. Taking the same example, a 7 percent appreciation of your property results in a $7,000 profit per year. With a 95% financing in place, you’ll be able to get a $7,000 return on $5,000 (your 5 percent down payment on a $100,000 real estate property). This will provide you with a 140 percent return on your investment. Not only that, with the same $100,000 you can go out and purchase 20 investment properties, finance 95% percent of them, and make an amazing $140,000 profit a year. This totally beats the $15,000 profit with an all-cash transaction.

In terms of the additional 20 properties, expect to have a hard time getting financing for them since usually only five or six new rental property mortgages are the maximum that lenders presently allow. Which is why you need to have an above-average negotiation skills.

By: Stu Pearson

Use A Mortgage Calculator To Guide Your Home Equity Loan Decision

admin — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 01:29:31 +0000

The difference between a home loan and a home equity loan lies mainly in that the home equity loan, also known as a second or even third mortgage, is issued at a higher interest rate. This interest rate is lower than you could expect to pay on a credit card, but it will be still higher than the original interest rate.

Use a home equity mortgage calculator to see what releasing different percentages of your equity makes to the payments required. The mortgage calculator then allows you to compare whether this is the best course of action open to you.

The alternative which may be more attractive financially is refinancing your home completely. This is where the mortgage calculator can really work for you. There are a number of options when refinancing, especially if you have a substantial amount of equity in the home. By inputting these, one at a time, into a mortgage calculator you can create a list which will allow you to clearly see which option benefits you best.

Home equity loans often seem far more attractive to the home owner than they actually are. This is because the lender is hoping to seduce you into signing your property into his hands. Find out all the details and use your mortgage calculator. See if what you calculates matches what they want you to sign for. Later you may find that it wasn’t such a good idea as your home suddenly becomes under threat of foreclosure because of some contractual obligation that you hadn’t fully understood.

Only in extreme circumstances should you even consider a home equity loan that completely strips your property of any value over mortgage total. Keep your payments affordable by using the mortgage calculator and always factor in an additional percent or two on the interest rate.

Refinancing your home is a major step, but as with a first mortgage this is the only claim on your property. If you take out a home equity loan instead, then you will have an additional lender who has a financial stake in your home. If you decide that you much prefer the terms on the home equity loan, and the mortgage calculator seems to bring it well within your budget, then make sure you read the small print carefully.

You need to know what the payments are for: are they just interest which will leave a large capital balance payable at a later date, for example? Make sure you can afford these additional monthly payments.

Here are a few don’ts that will help you in the long run:
* Don’t lie to yourself or your mortgage calculator.
* Don’t over-estimate your income under any circumstances; treat overtime money as “extra” if possible, and not part of your usual salary.
*Don’t over-estimate the equity in your home in the mortgage calculator. This can lead to false hopes which your property appraiser will quickly dispel.

If you are hoping to use the released capital to make home improvements, these should add value to your property. Look into this carefully to find out approximately how much you’ll be increasing your property’s value before committing to either the loan or having the work carried out. Failure to carry out the work means you are still responsible for the loan, but that you have not created any new equity.

By: Gerald Mason

Why Not Take A Home Equity Loan To Finance Your Home Improvements?

admin — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 01:55:20 +0000

As a homeowner, there will always come a time when your property needs some significant work. This could be a few years after the house was built or as soon as you buy the property from a previous owner. Your main concern is bound to be how you are going to finance the work.

There are options available to finance your home repairs that mean you won’t have to make too many sacrifices in your lifestyle and personal expenses. You could look at taking out a mortgage if you own your home outright, or if you already have mortgage arrangement, you could look into a home equity loan.

If you decide to take out a mortgage, you can choose between a fixed or variable interest rate. The first is less risky as the interest rate will remain the same for the entire life of the loan. However, if interest rates are particularly high when you take out your mortgage and are likely to decrease, you might want to consider a flexible rate, which will change with shifts in the overall economy.

Think carefully about how long you are likely to remain in the property to determine the amount and loan period. If you can take a larger sum than you require for your home improvements, you can invest some for potential later repairs or improvements. Whatever mortgage you choose, your initial payments will be mainly interest, with the proportion of capital increasing as time passes. You can choose only to pay interest in the first year or two to reduce your initial outgoings.

A home equity loan will be based on the amount of capital you actually have in your home. This can be seen as the value of your home minus the capital amount you still owe on your mortgage. A lender will also look at your credit history and status. If you have sufficient equity in your home, and good credit, it should be simple to apply for a home equity loan. Interest rates are low as lenders are taking very little risk, and they believe that the home improvements the loan is financing will add to the value of the property.

You should shop around and get a number of quotes to compare when you are taking out a mortgage or home equity loan. Remember to include your regular bank, as being an existing customer can have advantages and qualify you for rates and offers you will not get with a new provider.

Although some home repair projects are unavoidable, many home improvements are not entirely essential. You should always balance how much you will be spending on a project including the interest on the loan, with the benefit you will get in terms of increased property value and quality of life. A loan may seem a large commitment, but if the home improvement project will add greatly to the value of your property the long term investment may be worth it.

By: Clinton N. Maxwell

The Definition of Home Equity

admin — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 20:33:51 +0000

Before considering a home equity loan or line of credit, it’s important to understand the definition of home equity and what it means for your loan. In its simplest terms, equity is defined as the difference between the current value of your home and how much is left on your mortgage.

Let’s say your house has increased in value by $75,000 since you first bought it. If you haven’t paid any of your mortgage principal down (which you probably have unless you have an interest-only loan), this increase in value represents $75,000 which you can borrow against.

Similarly, if you have paid off $15,000 in principal from your mortgage, this is also home equity. Remember, however, that mortgage payments consist of both interest and principal and in the early years of your mortgage the monthly payments is mostly interest. So if you have not had your mortgage very long you may not have paid down as much principal as you might expect. Check your monthly mortgage statement to see how much principal has been paid.

So in this example, if the price of your home has increased by $75,000 and you have paid off $15,000 in mortgage principal, you have built up $90,000 in home equity. This is the definition of home equity in action.

However, that doesn’t mean you can go to a bank for a $90,000 loan. The amount you can borrow is determined by what is known as the “loan-to-value” ratio. The loan-to-value ratio tells you how much of your home equity you can tap into.

Since banks need to protect themselves, they won’t let you use all the equity you may have available in your house. Banks examine your annual income, credit rating, and the amount of your outstanding debt when determining how much to lend you. Most lenders won’t go higher than 80-85% of the appraised value of your house minus what’s left on your first mortgage.

By: J. Nicholson

Home Equity Loan – Some Simple Tips

admin — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 01:57:34 +0000

When you have a home in California, you may consider it as a great asset to use in getting a home equity loan for small investment moves or emergency purposes. A home equity loan basically will require you to put your own home up as security to getting the loan amount that you need.

This requires the bank or lending firm to study your FICO score and credit history; appraise your home value to make sure it can cover the amount that you borrow in case you default on payments; and looking at other factors that will show that your loan payback is guaranteed, such as your employment history and income.

Banks and lending houses sometimes consider a home equity loan to be a high risk venture which is why interest rates tend to be higher on these types of loans. Even borrowers consider such a home loan as a great risk since they are risking losing their homes in the event they default on loan payments. Which is why it is important that borrowers study the process and information about equity home loans carefully first before fully deciding whether or not they are ready to take on this kind of loan with specific conditions.

Before taking out a home equity loan, it is important that the borrower knows all that is involved in making the loan. It is always vital to know what interest rates are available for the borrower’s situation and what rates are affordable for the borrower. It is also imperative that the borrower study the loan terms and mortgage payments (of fixed or variable interest rates) before making a well-informed decision that they will really push through in taking out a home equity loan.

By: Elija James