YOUR FIRST STEP TOWARD BUYING A HOME When preparing to buy a home, the first thing many homebuyers do is look at the real estate ads in...

How would you like a mortgage loan where you did not have to make the whole payment if you did not want to? Or would you like a loan with...

In the olden days, when someone wanted a home loan they walked downtown to the neighborhood bank or savings & loan. If the bank had extra...

WHAT IS A FICO® SCORE? FICO® stands for Fair Isaac & Company and is the name for the most well known credit scoring system, used by...

MORTGAGE BANKERS Mortgage Bankers are lenders that are large enough to originate loans and create pools of loans, which are then sold...

There really is no such thing as a no-cost mortgage loan. There are always costs, such as appraisal fees, escrow fees, title insurance...

Have you received an advertisement offering to save you thousands of dollars on your thirty-year mortgage and cut years off your...

WHAT KIND OF LENDER IS BEST? If you ask a loan officer, “What kind of lender is best?” the answer will be whatever kind of company he...

An alternative to a non-conforming loan is the use of a land contract, which is allowed in some states. A land contract is an agreement...

Have These Items Ready When You Apply For a Loan It used to be that lenders mailed out verifications to employers, banks, mortgage...

Years ago, credit scoring had little to do with mortgage lending. When reviewing the credit worthiness of a borrower, an underwriter...

When you apply for a mortgage loan, you expect your lender to pull a credit report and look at whether you’ve made your payments on time....

When buying a home, it is not enough to just come up with the money. With the exception of no asset verification loans, lenders want to...

This is a detailed summary of costs you may have to pay when you buy or refinance your home. They are listed in the order that they...

An adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) has an interest rate that fluctuates periodically. This is in contrast to a fixed rate mortgage, which...

Now that you know what an ARM is and how it works, you may be wondering what the advantages and disadvantages are. So let’s explore that...