Tag: mortgage brokers

How Much Mortgage Can You Afford?

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

Know-How Much Of A Mortgage You Can Afford

Are you unsure about how much mortgage you can afford to pay on a home? If so, then you’re not ready to take the next step until you figure out a few things.

By being sure about how much of a payment you can handle without struggling, you can be confident about going to the next step… Finding a home that meets your budget.

Owning a home should make you feel secure and safe not stressed and worried. You should calculate what you can realistically afford and safely fit into your budget.

Buying a home is usually a very emotional decision and that emotion can sometimes get you into trouble. There’s nothing worse than buying a home because you fell in love with it and then realizing that you really can’t afford it and end up falling behind on payments. This will take years off your life and can easily be avoided by knowing what your budget is.

 Think Ahead.

Lenders and mortgage brokers don’t know and don’t really care about future plans that you may have for your personal life. Only you know what’s coming down the road.

Are you planning to have more children, kids are expensive!

Do you have a teenager that will be heading off to college soon?

Are you thinking about returning back to school yourself?

How secure is the job that you currently have?

All of these things and a million more can have a drastic effect on your income which is why you need to look out a bit further on the horizon when considering homeownership. In addition to factoring in your lifestyle and what you want to accomplish, here are some guidelines that will help you to determine a budget you can afford.

 1- Figure Out Your Budget- Write down every monthly expense that you have on a piece of paper and be sure to not leave anything out no matter how insignificant you might think it is. Make sure to also include future trips and vacations that you plan on taking that year.

See how much is left over to pay the costs associated with owning a home like a mortgage, insurance, property taxes, utilities, homeowners association dues, yard maintenance, pool maintenance, etc.

Just by doing this exercise alone, you’ll have a much clearer picture of what your budget for owning a home will be. Most people are usually very surprised to see how much they spend in a month and not in a good way. The number is always much higher than people expect it to be.

 2- What’s Your Down payment? The more you put down on a house, the lower your monthly payment will be. However, the lower your down payment is the bigger your loan amount will be and your monthly payment will also be higher.

Another thing to consider is that loans that require less than a 20% down payment will usually require that you pay private mortgage insurance or “PMI”. This insurance protects the lender against default and can easily add on another 2 or 3 hundred dollars to your payment.

3- Use A Mortgage Broker. Getting a loan without using a mortgage broker is like buying or selling a house without hiring a realtor. And just like when you’re looking for a good realtor, you should research the mortgage broker to see what his track record is and see if they have any online reviews, etc.

Once you find a good mortgage broker, he or she can be instrumental in getting you a mortgage that meets your needs. They should also be able to help you to figure out your monthly budget in addition to helping you navigate through the mortgage shopping process.

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Orlando Mortgage Brokers Speak Out

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

Orlando Mortgage Brokers Spill Their Guts

Recently, top mortgage brokers in Central Florida were asked what their biggest challenges were in their industry. A few of them had this to say…

Some claim that the mortgage market still has ways to go before it fully recovers and that home sales are still below normal levels when you compare them to last year. Brokers feel that inventory levels still haven’t quite caught up with the demand. They went on to say that many people are still reluctant to buy because of the overall lack of confidence in the job market.  All of these factors have a tremendous impact on home purchases in Orlando. Some believe that there is a building demand from new families as well as baby boomers that want to move into a smaller space to begin their retirement.

A mortgage broker’s role is to help their clients understand the entire process involved with a mortgage and how to make sense of it so that they can become homeowners or refinance their existing mortgage. As an Orlando Realtor, I depend heavily on my relationship with a few select mortgage brokers that have proven what they can do through past transactions. It works the same way for them. I get a steady stream of short-sale clients from the mortgage brokers that I work with because they know that I’m an Orlando short sale expert and they can count on me to get the job done.            

  

Customer Service Is King …                                                                                                                                                                              Mortgage brokers would also be wise to really focus on making their customer’s experience a good one. I can’t tell you how many times mortgage brokers get blamed when something goes wrong at the closing table. Turn around time is key when you do mortgages and the most successful mortgage brokers are the ones that get the job done and get it done fast. Even though mortgage brokers take a lot of heat when something goes wrong at the closing table, People should understand that many times it’s completely out of the mortgage broker’s hands.

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Home Buyers in Orlando Gear Up as Rates of Fixed Mortgages Fall Further

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

The spring buying season of 2014 started off on a good note and it seems to only be getting better. Rates of fixed mortgages were on a downward spiral since the first week of April. The week beginning April 14 marked the second time when the rate of fixed mortgages fell to its lowest levels since February.

As noted by Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored mortgage buyer, the average rate of interest on standard 30-year home loans dropped to 4.27 percent in the week beginning April 14. The week before (April 7-13), fixed mortgage rates stood at 4.34 percent. The 4.34 percent – rate was again, 0.7 percent below the rate of fixed mortgages in the week beginning March 31. At the beginning of the year, these rates stood fairly high at 4.5 percent.

This week’s decline marked the second consecutive week when fixed-mortgage rates were the lowest since February and Orlando Realtors say prospective buyers are getting more enthusiastic about the spring buying season.

Will the Drop-in Fixed Mortgages Sustain Itself in the Coming Weeks?

Most probably yes. According to 56 percent of the market analysts interviewed by the website Bankrate.com, the rates are going to hold steady in the coming weeks. They say the rates of interest will continue to be low and remain stable over the next couple of weeks. They did not predict a rise in mortgage rates.

Realtors note that concerns of a weak market – one that wouldn’t be able to support a dynamic increase in prices of residential real estate  – to be one of the primary reasons rates began spiraling downwards in January 2014.

A good time to buy homes?

According to the Orlando real estate agents it is. According to the most recent report from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, March was marked by an increase in new residential construction. The report, released April 16, revealed that housing starts in March increased by 2.8 percent, compared to February. The month also saw a  reduction in permits for residential buildings, as compared to the number of permits issued in February (2.4 percent decline). The number of permits was, however, 11.2 percent higher than the number in March 2013.

Increasing inventory and reducing rates of mortgages typically result in increased buyer activity. The Orlando real estate industry has seen its fair share of residential starts and realtors say more prospective buyers are inquiring about the rentals and purchases in upcoming properties.

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