Getting a Mortgage Quote Online

If you are interested in buying a home then you are certainly shopping for a mortgage quote from a variety of different lenders. This is important because when you have more than one mortgage quote you can compare the different lenders and find the one that is best for you. Frequently, the average mortgage quote online will be lower than the average mortgage quote from your neighborhood bank. Since every penny counts and you want to save as much money as possible, get a mortgage quote online as well as from your neighborhood lenders to find the best deal for you. The following suggestions will help you find a mortgage quote online as well.


Mortgage Quote Tip #1 Bid for Quotes
The best way to get a mortgage quote online is to visit the sites that ask for some general personal financial information and then submits it to various lenders. Then, all of the lenders respond with a mortgage quote for your personal financial situation. Once you receive the mortgage quote it is up to you to forget it or contact the lender that provided you with that particular mortgage quote.


Mortgage Quote Tip #2 Professionals
You want a professional and real mortgage quote, so make sure you are dealing with a professional company that will provide you with a legitimate mortgage quote online. If not, you will be wasting your time and risking your investment by dealing with a sketchy company.


Mortgage Quote Tip #3 Realistic
While you want the lowest mortgage quote possible, you need to make sure the mortgage quote is realistic within the scheme of things. If you receive a mortgage quote that is several percentage points lower than the lowest mortgage quote you have seen, you might want to question it. While there are many reputable online mortgage quote companies, there are those out there that are not professional.


About the author:
Jay Moncliff is the founder of http://www.mybestmortgage.info a website specialized on Mortgage, resources and articles. This site provides updated information on Mortgage. For more info on Mortgage visit: http://www.mybestmortgage.info

Three Rules of Thumb for Mortgage Refinancing

You might think that deciding to refinance a mortgage requires only a quick comparison of loan interest rates. Unfortunately, that’s not really true. Refinancing is trickier than that! Fortunately, three useful rules of thumb can often help you make sense of refinancing opportunities.


Rule 1: Don’t Ignore Total Interest Costs

You really want to use refinancing as a way to reduce the total interest cost you pay. While that sounds simple in principle, it is sometimes difficult to do. The interest costs you pay are a function of the interest rate, the loan balance, and the loan term period.

When people refinance, they tend to focus solely on the loan interest rate. But they often don’t pay as much attention to the loan term or the loan balance.

When you use refinancing—even refinancing at a lower interest rate—to increase your borrowing or to extend the time over which you borrow, you often aren’t saving money.


Rule 2: Trade Expensive Money for Cheap Money

For refinancing to make economic sense, however, you do need to swap higher interest rate debt for lower interest rate debt. This calculation, however, is tricky. To make an apples-to-apples comparison, you must look at the annual percentage rate that will be charged on your new loan—this is the best measure of the new loan’s interest rate cost—and then compare this to the loan interest rate on your old loan.

You don’t want to compare interest rates on the two loans nor do you want to compare annual percentage rates on the two loans. Again, just to make this perfectly clear: You want to compare the loan interest rate on the old loan to the annual percentage rate on the new loan.

When the annual percentage rate on the new loan is lower than the loan interest rate on the old loan, then you are truly paying a lower interest rate.

Comparing annual percentage rates with loan interest rates seems confusing at first. But note that you would pay only interest on your old or current loan, so that’s all you need to look at in terms of its costs. With a new loan, however, you would pay both interest and any origination or closing cost fees. The annual percentage rate wraps the interest rate charges and setup charges, origination charges, and closing cost fees into one interest rate-like number.


Rule 3: Don’t Lengthen the Repayment Period

Be careful that you don’t extend the length of time you borrow by continually refinancing. For example, one common rule of thumb states that every time interest rates drop by two percentage points, you should refinance your mortgage. However, there have been times in recent history when following this rule would have had you refinancing your mortgage every few years. This could mean that you would never get your mortgage paid off. If you refinanced every few years, you would suddenly find yourself still 30 years away from having your mortgage paid.

by: Stephen L. Nelson, CPA

Mortgage Refinance: 4 Ways To Know Its Time to Refinance Your House

You may want to refinance your home for several reasons.


1)Mortgage Rates might be lower now. The biggest reason that people refinance their mortgages is to save money. No matter what has happened to you, there is always a good reason to start saving money. A lower rate on your mortgage can help you stretch out the payments so that every month you are paying less to live in your house than the previous month. When interest rates are low and you had previously locked your mortgage into a higher price, it might be a good idea to shop your rate around to see how low you can get it. The early 2000's have been an environment of very low mortgage rates which make it a good idea to shop around to see if you can refinance your mortgage.


2)You need money and need to stretch out your payments. Maybe you've recently filed for bankruptcy and therefore need more money to get back on your feet. Maybe you've switched jobs and therefore need to refinance your mortgage in order to make your monthly payments lower. No matter what people say, it's always a good idea to have more money in your pocket than less, isn't it? Refinancing your mortgage might be a good idea in this situation.


3)There may be better deals out there than you think there are. Finding a new mortgage company or bank to refinance your mortgage might be a good idea just to kick the tires of the industry and see if you could get a better deal. If you've been spending a lot of money and paying off the balances on your credit card on a monthly basis there is a significant chance that your credit score has increase recently. An overall better credit score is better for everyone including your lenders. If a new lender sees that your credit score has increased recently, she might be in a much better position to give you a better deal on your mortgage than you think. She could refinance your mortgage by shopping the deal around at more banks and finding the best one for you. Shop your refinancing around, it can't hurt.


4)Mortgage refinancing as a sound business decision. If you own a small business of any sort and need a capital infusion, then investigating mortgage refinancing might be a very smart thing to do. If your business is truly small and you run it out of your house, then the line between your personal and business expenses might be thinner than you are reasonably comfortable with. Clearing up a little extra capital, through refinancing your home, every month might be the difference between investing in some new small equipment and not investing. Everything that is an expense should be lowered if possible. Refinancing a mortgage might be a fantastic idea to increase capital reserves and to plan for future investments. Many business owners who work out of their homes constantly try to decrease their monthly payments so that when it comes time to pay their business bills, they have a little extra capital. Always check with a CPA or attorney to determine what is deductible and what isn't. But, more money is more money, even if you are lending it from yourself to your business.


About the author:
Find more great articles at http://www.marriedfinances.coma great online source for finance information.

Mortgage Tips from Me to You

At some point in your adult life, you are likely to purchase a house of your own. Whether you are sick of renting, or you have decided to settle down and start a family, purchasing your first home can be an exhilarating and nerve-wracking adventure. In researching the best practices for new home buying, we decided to give you three of the most important tips.

Our first suggestion is to save, save, and save some more. The idea behind this is to enable you to make the largest initial down payment on your new home as possible. We know how difficult it can be to save, but this could save you thousands of dollars in the long run. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to save thousands of dollars to use for your own ends, instead of paying it to some faceless bank in interest payments?

Secondly, try to educate yourself about the types of financing available. Shop around, or speak with a mortgage broker who can act on your behalf. In my opinion, your best bet is to lock into a fixed rate mortgage. A new home is very expensive, and you are likely to be short of cash for the first couple years. A fixed rate mortgage will provide you with the peace of mind that comes with knowing exactly what your mortgage payments will be each month. Remember, you can always renegotiate the terms of your mortgage at a later date. Ensure you have the stability you need to get off on the right start.

Lastly, be sure you have a proper home inspection done before you complete the transaction. If you feel the price of the house you are about to purchase is too good to pass up, it is probably is too good to be true. It is worth taking the time to ensure things are done properly. If you have to move fast for fear of missing out, make an offer, but ensure that your offer is conditional on upon a successful home inspection. Far too many first time home buyers have gone broke fixing repairs that should have taken care of by the previous owner. And, please, do yourself a favor and find an independent home inspector that doesn’t have a relationship with the real estate agent!


About the author:
Seymore Hennigan has worked in finance for many years. When he is not crunching numbers or advising his family and friends on investments, he writes freelance articles for mortgageguide101.com – an independent mortgage guide filled with extensive information about

Saxon Mortgage - http://www.mortgageguide101.com/saxon-mortgage.aspx/,

Second Mortgages - http://www.mortgageguide101.com/second-mortgages.aspx/

Mortgages - http://www.mortgageguide101.com/ and more ...

Mortgage after Bankruptcy - Bankruptcy Discharged Yesterday? Purchase a Home Today!

So you have been through a bankruptcy and surely have been told to wait at least two years before applying for a home loan. Waiting two long years without any guarantee of being approved for a mortgage after bankruptcy can be disheartening. Fortunately, this advice no longer holds true.

Today, there is a growing realization of the need to offer home loan products that are specifically designed for borrowers with an imperfect credit or financial history. Mortgage programs have been created especially for borrowers who have gone through a bankruptcy. In fact, those with a bankruptcy discharged for even one day may apply for a home loan. That's right, if your bankruptcy was discharged yesterday, you can qualify for a mortgage today!

Now you are probably thinking that although you are eligible, it will be difficult to qualify. The truth is that qualifying is much easier than you think. The fact that you have been through bankruptcy is not even considered in the evaluation of your credit. Any liens, collections or judgments that appear on your credit report will also not be used in the evaluation of credit and will not need to be paid off.

What is important and what will be looked at is your credit score. Now here is the good news: with a minimum FICO score of 500, you are qualified to purchase a home with a 20% down payment. Having a credit score between 550 and 579 will allow you to borrow up to 95% of the purchase price; and with any score above 580, you are qualified for 100% financing.

With the competitive rates that are available on mortgage after bankruptcy programs, you are able to realize the dream of homeownership with a mortgage payment that is affordable and fits easily within your budget. Along with the traditional benefits of owning a home, such as equity building and tax benefits, you will most importantly be rebuilding your credit profile. Additionally, you may also benefit from the current strong housing market and its appreciating home values.

So now you know the following: that you can qualify for a home loan today, what the credit requirements for a mortgage are, and that you can rebuild your credit and financial life through homeownership. Gone forever are the days of waiting two years and living with the dim prospect of obtaining a mortgage after bankruptcy. You have worked hard to discharge your bankruptcy and have the fresh start that you were looking for.

There is empowerment that comes with the knowledge that you can purchase a home today even if your bankruptcy was discharged yesterday. So get qualified for a home loan, start searching for a home and begin packing those boxes!


About the author:
Find more great articles at http://www.marriedfinances.coma great online source for finance information.

Is There Any Such Thing As Affordable Life Insurance?

Do you need affordable term life insurance? This seems to be the million-dollar question. When you want to purchase life insurance you often do not know how much you need or if there is such a thing as having too much life insurance. What constitutes affordable life insurance and how much you need is totally dependant upon your own situation.

Don't be fooled into determining the amount of insurance you should have to what your best friend or neighbour has. Remember, every situation is unique and your needs will be unique. Your need will be determined by what you wish to see happen in the event of your death. You do have to look at the life insurance cost of the premiums and decide how much you can afford from your monthly budget. There is affordable life insurance available at very low premiums and that will help your family out in the event of your death.

When considering what affordable life insurance is needed in a family situation, you need to do a life insurance comparison. This will help you get the most affordable rates and there are countless life insurance companies able to help you in this regard.

In order to determine how much life insurance you should have, a number of factors need to be considered. For a person with family needs, these may include such things as:
· Do you have dependants? If so, how long will they be dependant upon you?
· Do you have children? If so, how old are they?
· Do you want to insure your children have a post secondary education?
· Will your household income be greatly reduced upon your death? If so, how much income do you need to replace so your family maintains their standard of living?
· How long will you need to replace your household income?
· What taxes may be incurred upon your death?
· Do you need to cover debt obligations such as loans or a mortgage?

When you try to determine whether or not you can afford life insurance, think about whether or not your family can afford to be without affordable life insurance.

You can find affordable term life insurance, but you need to establish exactly what you need first.


About the author:
For a website totally devoted to Life Insurance visit Peter's Website Life Insurance Answers at http://www.life-insurance-answers.com/and find out about Life Insurance as well as Cheap Life Insurance at http://www.life-insurance-answers.com/cheap-life-insurance.html and more, including Online Life Insurance, Term Life Insurance and Life Insurance Agents.

Life insurance – wise investment in personal finance or excessive caution?

Life insurance is typically taken out to offer valuable financial protection for your family in the event of your death, upon which a payment is made to your financial beneficiaries, heirs or family members. The extent of this payment will depend on your insured sum and earnings. Life insurance and life assurance may be interlinked in advertisements, though bear in mind the two policies are different. Life assurance is a form of financial protection which is also an investment, as you should always get a pay-out at the end of the term of the policy. Life insurance on the other hand is simply financial protection for your family, avoiding the issue of debt in the event of your death.


According to an article by the Fair Investment Company, the British life insurance industry shrank to almost half the size of the pensions industry last year and according to the Association of British Insurers, less than 50% of UK households hold a life insurance policy.


In their most recent newsletter about this issue, the Association of British Insurers found that 25% of mortgage holders had insufficient life insurance to cover their debt. The ratio of new life insurance policies to new mortgage loans was apparently 68% in 1994, but by 2004 this had dropped by half to 33%.


The absence of mortgage life coverage poses a serious risk for the dependants of homeowners. If banks were to embark on wide scale repossessions as a result of this absence of life insurance, this would impose a risk on their loan books and reputations. The Association of British Insurers also state that one of the main reasons behind the increased gap between mortgage loans and insurance is the emergence of people remortgaging their property to take advantage of equity release through a rise in value, without insuring their borrowing. In their report it was stated that around 63% of new mortgage loans were remortgages or further advances, compared to 34% in 1994. Egg reported at around the same time, that three out of four of these new loan homeowners had no intention of insuring this additional debt. This is particularly worrying if couples are remortgaging their property later in life – towards retirement, given that should anything happen to the breadwinner, the partner would be left with significant debts without the capability of paying the loan back.


Reasons for the downward trend in life insurance take-up include:

* Relaxation in lending policy – increased competition in the mortgage market means that lenders are not forcing life insurance policies on their customers

* High house prices have stretched homebuyers, in particular first time home-buyers, in terms of their mortgage repayments, that the additional costs of a life insurance policy are deemed too expensive

* There are more households with no dependents


If you’re interested in researching a life insurance policy, make sure you shop around. UK websites such as moneynet ( http://www.moneynet.co.uk ) provide life insurance and life assurance information guides, as well as providing price comparison research for the different products. In the states, the website LowerMyBills.com also offers a similar service.


Because of the various factors listed above, people have also become less familiar with the term life insurance and without the awareness there is little recognition of the importance of this type of insurance. However as speculation increases that UK households are not coping with their debt, so should the awareness of life insurance as an essential product in the personal finance portfolio.



About the author:
About Rachel:

Rachel writes for the personal finance blog Cashzilla:

http://www.cashzilla.co.uk

Rachel is a disillusioned, disaffected and broke graduate, exploiting new media for financial therapy. ;-)

E-mail: rachel@positiveinterest.com
Phone: 0131 561 2251