Mortgages

Why Higher Mortgage Rates May Be Great For The Housing Market

As stocks sell off in part due to higher interest rates, the question now turns to how higher mortgage rates will affect the housing market? You might automatically think higher mortgage rates are negative for the housing market. But let’s look at the other side. One of the reasons why I like investing in real […]

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Mortgage As A Forced Savings Account To Build Wealth

A forced savings account will help make you rich over time. It forces you to save versus relying on your own discipline to do the right thing. A mortgage is exactly this, a forced savings account where the homeowner pays down principal each month and builds equity. Every month you pay your mortgage means a

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Why Are Rental Property Mortgages More Expensive Than Primary Home Mortgages?

Buying rental properties is a smart move. Interest rates are still relatively low, which means the value of rental income has gone way up. Therefore, there’s good value in owning rental property, especially with inflation so elevated. However, getting a rental property mortgage is more expensive than getting a primary residence mortgage. In this article,

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Why Does It Take So Long To Refinance A Mortgage?

Are you wondering why does it take so long to refinance a mortgage? The simple answer is because lending standards have tightened tremendously since the 2008-2009 Global Financial Crisis. Underwriters are asking for more documentation to prove your income and net worth. The banking sector lent too loosely before the crisis. Then the banks lost

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Negative Real Mortgage Rates Means Don’t Pay Down Extra Principal

As a homeowner with a mortgage, the holy grail is having a mortgage rate below the 10-year bond yield. When you have this situation, it’s like living for free and you should not pay down extra principal. If you had the money, you could invest an amount equal to your mortgage into a 10-year Treasury

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2022 Conforming Loan Limits Increase To Record Highs, Improving Affordability

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has announced new 2022 conforming loan limits for conventional loans. The baseline conforming loan limit for 2022 will be $647,200, up $98,950 from 2021’s limit of $548,250. That is a record-high increase of 18% based on the FHFA House Price Index. In higher-cost areas, the new loan limit increases

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A 15-Year Mortgage Is Probably Best, But It Has One Big Disadvantage

Out of all the mortgages out there, a 15-year mortgage will likely save you the most amount of interest expense. 15-year mortgage rates are almost always lower than 30-year fixed mortgage rates. However, the absolute payment is usually larger given the shorter amortization period (15 vs. 30 years). But the big benefit of the mortgage

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Home Mortgage Refinancing Tips For A Smarter You

The beauty of an economic downturn is cheap credit. And when there is a global pandemic, mortgage rates tend to go dow. As a result, every homeowner should be refinancing their mortgage right now as rates hover near all-time lows. Here are some home mortgage refinancing tips from someone who has refinanced many times. Since

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State Of The Mortgage Industry: Things To Know Before Buying A Home

Before buying a home in the midst of a pandemic, you need to understand the state of the mortgage industry. This information is vital if you want to make the best purchase possible with the information available. In 2022, as we get out of the pandemic, the state of the mortgage industry is changing. Lending

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The Ideal Mortgage Amount Is $750,000 (If You Can Afford It)

The ideal mortgage amount was $1,000,000 before the Tax Cut & Jobs Act was passed in 2018. Today, the ideal mortgage amount is $750,000, if your income can afford it. The reason why $1,000,000 was ideal was because that was the mortgage limit for where you can write off the interest. Today, that ideal mortgage

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