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Understanding How Mortgage Amortization Works and How It Can Affect Your Future

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Understanding How Mortgage Amortization Works and How It Can Affect Your FutureWhether you’re just beginning to peruse the market or you’ve recently found your dream home, there’s a chance you’re already considering the lenders and loan terms that will work best for you. Amortization may be a less-familiar term when it comes to the layman’s knowledge of buying a home, but knowing more about exactly what it means can go a long way towards a more secure financial future.

Explaining Mortgage Amortization

Amortization is the process of paying off your mortgage loan through regular monthly payments. While a portion of each monthly payment will go towards the price of the home and a portion will go towards interest, having a higher monthly payment can mean you pay less interest on the home’s balance overall. This means that, with a shorter amortization period, you can actually end up paying a lot less for your home.

Why It Can Be Good To Pay Down Sooner

It’s easy to believe that paying your monthly mortgage amount is enough, and this can certainly suffice, but putting down more than this can actually improve your financial situation in the long run. Because the early years of paying off your mortgage will involve paying interest on a larger home balance, it can take a while to even break even and begin to see a lowered interest payment and principal. By making lump sum payments or pre-payments, you may significantly lower your amount owing and pay off your home much sooner.

What’s Best For You?

Certainly, higher monthly payments or lump sums can minimize the amount you owe, but depending on the house you choose, a higher monthly payment can be a tight squeeze. This can also adversely affect the quality of your life if you’re working too much to make ends meet or budgeting so much you can’t enjoy your life. While a shorter loan period is great if you can swing it, if it will negatively impact your life and the financial benefit is not worth it, you may want to take a little longer to pay down.

There are a lot of terms and phrases involved in the mortgage process that can be confusing for the new homeowner, but deciding on the length of your amortization can have a significant impact on your future finances. If you’re currently considering the amount of house you can purchase with your monthly payment, contact your trusted mortgage professional for more information.

Baby on the Way? Helpful Advice for Managing a Mortgage With Only One Parent Working

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Baby on the Way? Helpful Advice for Managing a Mortgage With Only One Parent WorkingIf you’re dealing with paying off your mortgage and going down to a one-income family, it can be complicated to determine how to financially swing it. However, becoming a parent and managing a mortgage are quite common nowadays with maternity leave and the modern family. While managing a mortgage on just one salary can be a challenge, there are a few simple things you can do to make it work.

Buy The House You Can Afford

It may sound much too simple, but many people get so wrapped up in the concept of a dream home that they forget about what makes the cost of it manageable from month to month. While affordability is important, it becomes even more important when you’re dealing with one income, so ensure you have a monthly payment that you can pay off with one salary. Even if interest rates shift or an emergency comes up, you’ll still be able to handle your monthly payment.

Create A Budget

Budget may very well be the dreaded ‘b’ word when it comes to finances, but there is nothing that’s going to be a better friend to you in managing a one-income mortgage than sticking to it. Instead of leaving your expenses to chance, make sure that you’ve set aside the appropriate funds for your mortgage, groceries, car payments or transportation, necessities and any extras that go along with living. Keep in mind that while starting a budget is good, you may want to schedule weekly meetings to ensure you’re sticking to it.

Maintain An Emergency Fund

Since it may be a struggle to pay off your mortgage and pay for day-to-day life on one salary, it’s important that you’re prepared for any emergencies that come up. Because these will be the things that arise that can sink your budget, like your car breaking down or a window needing to be replaced, you should be setting aside money each month to cover the incidentals. Tossing aside your budget for an emergency can have serious financial implications, so be prepared for what can arise.

It goes without saying that managing a mortgage on one income can be a challenge in this day and age, but this is a situation that many families find themselves in when they decide to have children. If you’re currently trying to determine how you’ll be able to manage your mortgage on one income, contact your trusted mortgage professionals for more information.

$500 Renovations That Will Boost Your Home’s Value and Speed Up Your Sale

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$500 Renovations That Will Boost Your Home's Value and Speed Up Your SaleThe idea of home renovations when you’re selling your home can be unpopular because of the cost and time that can go into sprucing up a place you’re about to leave behind. However, making a few simple, economical touches can go a long way to capitalizing on your home’s value and making a difference in dollars. If you’re curious about cheap options for an easier sale, here are a few that may make the deal a little sweeter.

Kick Up The Kitchen A Notch

With all of the time that a family spends in the kitchen, it’s unsurprising that it is fast becoming one of the most important features that go into a potential buyer’s interest in a home. For less than a thousand, you may want to consider an upgraded appliance that will serve as a sparkly new selling feature or even some slightly revamped cabinet fronts that will keep the price down and the look up-to-date.

A Little Bathroom Fix-Up

With the bathroom being one of the smallest spaces in any home, it can be hard to know how to properly enhance this minimal space for maximum effect. Instead of re-doing the floor or the tub, consider the basic cost of a new light fixture and an updated mirror. Simply updating these two items will completely shift the look of an aging bathroom.

Clean Up The Carpet

With carpet making a bit of a comeback, it’s certainly not going to be worth your while to replace any damage it’s incurred before leaving your home. Instead of leaving things to chance, though, consider a relatively economical carpet cleaning that will drastically improve the look of your carpet and may convince potential buyers it’s less worn than it is.

Lighting Is Everything

There are few things that can lend or detract from the look of a room more than the lighting you choose. While you may want to consider a new, nice fixture to change up your living room, kitchen or foyer area, a shade of light that is complimentary to the space it’s illuminating will have more of an impact than anything on how your home is viewed.

Renovations may seem like unnecessary work if you’re planning on selling your home in the near future, but some minor upgrades can make a huge difference on the price tag that your home sale will pull in.

What’s Ahead For Mortgage Rates This Week – October 31, 2016

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Last week’s economic reports included S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Indexes, along with readings on new and pending home sales. Recurring weekly reports on mortgage rates and new jobless claims were also released.

Case-Shiller: Pacific Northwest Shows Fastest Home Price Growth

According to the Case-Shiller 20-City Home Price Index for August, home prices in Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington grew fastest year-over-year. Portland posted an August index reading of 11.70 percent and Portland followed closely with a reading of 11.40 percent. Denver, Colorado rounded out the top three cities with the fastest rates of home price growth with a year-over-year reading of 8.80 percent. The 20-City Home Price Index rose 0.30 percent year-over-year to 5.30 percent in August.

Low inventory of available homes poses challenges for housing markets, but Case-Shiller reported that the national home price index was 0.60 percent lower than its peak reading in 2006. The 20-City Home Price Index was 7.10 percent lower than the 2006 peak. This provides a positive context for healthy home price growth, but concerns linger about a repeat of the housing bubble that burst and caused home prices to crash.

David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the S&P Index Committee said that a new housing bubble is unlikely. Home buyers are not taking out huge mortgages as was common prior to the Great Recession; mortgage lenders have adopted stricter qualification standards to help ensure that borrowers can afford their mortgages.

New Home Sales Rise in September

Sales of new homes rose to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 593,000 sales in September according to the Commerce Department. Although lower than analysts’ expected reading of 600,000 sales, September’s reading surpassed August’s reading of 575,000 sales. August’s reading was downwardly revised from its original reading of 609,000, which suggests that new home prices are growing at a slower rate than expected.

High demand for homes boosted September’s reading for pending home sales, which represents homes under contract for sale that have not closed. Pending home sales increased in September with a reading of 1.50 percent growth as compared to August’s negative rate of -2.50 percent. Pending home sales provide indications of future completed sales and mortgage loan volume.

Mortgage Rates Rise, New Jobless Claims Fall

Mortgage rates were lower last week according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey. The average rate for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage fell five basis points to 3.47 percent; rates for a 15-year fixed rate mortgage averaged 2.78 percent, which was one basis point lower than the prior week’s reading. The average rate for a 5/1 adjustable rate mortgage was also one basis point lower at 2.84 percent. Average discount points were 0.60, 0.50 and 0.40 percent respectively.

In spite of growth in home prices and volume of sales, consumer confidence slowed in October. October’s index reading of 98.60 as compared to an expected reading of 101.00 and September’s reading of 103.50. Analysts said that uncertainty over the upcoming presidential election contributed to October’s lower reading.

What’s Ahead

Next week’s scheduled economic reports include readings on inflation, construction spending core inflation, and labor reports. Non-farm payrolls, ADP employment, national unemployment rates will also be released. Freddie Mac’s mortgage rates report and new jobless claims will also be released.

Dealing with Mice: Peppermint Oil, Dryer Sheets and Other Crazy Tricks to Try

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Dealing with Mice? Peppermint Oil, Dryer Sheets and Other Crazy Tricks to TryThere are things that everyone shares: the need for food, the search for love, and the intrusion of mice into our homes. But don’t despair! There are several ways to deter and remove mice. Read on to learn about a few of the more well known, if a little out-there, methods.

Peppermint Oil And Cotton Balls

The smell of peppermint is lovely for humans, but terrible to a mouse’s nose. Put a few drops of pure peppermint oil on cotton balls and place them where you’ve noticed evidence of mice. Be careful to change those balls for fresh ones at least once a week once the smell wears off, cotton balls are great material for a mouse nest.

Dryer Sheets

Another strong smell that will discourage mice from your home is dryer sheets. Place fresh ones around mouse hangout points, or stuff them into entry holes. Same thing here, though: make sure to remove them once the smell wears off. Nothing looks nicer for a nest than an unscented dryer sheet.

Mousetrap! The Glass Bowl Version

One humane and cost-effective choice is to build a live trap by balancing a glass bowl on an upright coin. Put some chocolate or peanut butter high up inside the bowl. When the mouse reaches for the treat it’ll upset the coin and drop the bowl to the floor, trapping itself. Then slide stiff cardboard over the bowl opening and carry the mouse at least 1km from your home before releasing it. Or you can go the store-bought route but either way, check all traps at least once a day.

Plug Those Holes!

With the mouse gone, there’s two things left to do. First, clean up after it (remove its droppings and sanitize the area) to discourage a return. Then close all its doors. Block any holes bigger than a pencil with caulking, steel or copper wool, or even aluminum foil all of these are tough to chew through.

And that’s it! Keep an eye out, and call in help if it becomes too much to handle these steps are most effective for a small number of rodents.;