Home Equity Loan Improvements
There's more Regulation Z compliance on the way, courtesy of the Home Equity Loan Consumer Protection Act. This fall banks will have to implement the new home equity loan disclosure rules the Federal Reserve Board was required to issue under the act.The Federal Reserve released the final version of ... more...

Home Mortgages: How About Those 1.75% Loans?
Youve undoubtedly heard or seen ads for mortgages with very low interest rates such as 1.75%. For example, one mortgage company in the city where I live is advertising a 40-year mortgage with a 1.75% interest rate. That sounds like a pretty good deal, doesnt it? After all, if you were to buy a ... more...

Warning: Many Home-Owners Could Be Living Above Their Means!
San Ramon, CA -- Federal Reserve Board Chairman, Alan Greenspan, commented best when he stated "Homeowners might have saved tens of thousands of dollars had they held Adjustable-Rate mortgages rather than Fixed rate mortgages during the past decade". If you own a 30year fixed mortgage, the first ... more...

Real Estate Professional in the Palm of Your Hand
GETTING THE MOST FOR THE LEASE-TRACKING YOUR REAL ESTATEIf you own rentals and/or investment properties, you know that you have to keep track of your portfolio, maintenance profiles, property managers, and related financial matters. There are a multitude of programs for the Palm-Pilot system to ... more...

Secrets of the Option ARM Loan
How Does an Option ARM Loan Work?Option ARM (also called Pick A Payment or Pay Option ARM) loans work by providing the borrower with four payment options each month.Before we get into the payment options, let's review some of the important terms and concepts involved with this loan program.ARM - ... more...

WARNING: Many Home Owners May Be Living Above Their Means!
San Ramon, CA -- Federal Reserve Board Chairman, Alan Greenspan, commented best when he stated "Homeowners might have saved tens of thousands of dollars had they held Adjustable-Rate mortgages rather than Fixed rate mortgages during the past decade". If you own a 30year fixed mortgage, the first ... more...

What is the PayOption ARM?
Imagine an adjustable rate mortgage that allows you to pick one of four payment options on your monthly mortgage bill. It is an ARM on which the interest rate adjusts monthly and the payment adjusts annually, with borrowers offered options on how large a payment they will make. The options include ... more...

How to Compare Fixed Rate Mortgages and Adjustable Rate Mortgages
There are many types of mortgages, and the more you know about them before you start, the better. To compare one Adjustable Rate Mortgage with another or with a fixed-rate mortgage, you need to know about indexes, margins, discounts, caps, negative amortization, and convertibility. You need to ... more...

Are Option Pay ARM's Risky?
The general consensus about the riskiness of Option Pay mortgage loans is that they are high risk; high risk to both the borrower and the lender. To add even more risk to the loans, consumers and loan officers not only have to understand initial and lifetime caps, various indicies and margins, but ... more...

An Investment Real Estate Strategy Unknown To Most Is A Negative Amortization Loan
If you want to make the most of your personal or investment real estate, you should consider a negative amortization loan. Mortgage amortization is basically mortgage balance reduction. Consequently, when a mortgage has negative amortization, the loan balance not only is not reduced, it actually ... more...