A mortgage is a way to purchase a home without having to pay cash up-front. You are also given a set amount of time to pay back the loan with interest. Until then, you don’t fully own your home. Meanwhile, refinancing a mortgage is a whole different thing. It is the act of rolling over your current mortgage into a new home loan.
The benefits of a mortgage refinance vary from borrower to borrower, but it usually serves the purpose of shortening the mortgage’s term or lowering the payment. After assessing factors such as credit, tax, and return history, the mortgage lender presents you with several options to lower your monthly dues. That alone should already convince you to refinance your mortgage. Here are more key reasons:
To Secure a Lower Interest Rate
Technically, refinancing is a good idea because it can reduce your interest rate. While lenders would often say 2% is ideal, 1% can also make a big difference. This serves a dual purpose: it helps you save money and lessen the size of your monthly payment.
To Shorten the Loan’s Term
Once interest rates fall, homeowners have the opportunity to refinance an existing loan with another one. While the change in the monthly payment isn’t evident, you can have a significantly shorter term, which means you can settle your payments earlier.
To Prevent Monthly Payments From Increasing
If you currently have an adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM), it’s possible to refinance to a fixed rate loan to lock in your rate for the rest of the mortgage. This means you don’t have to worry about sudden spikes in monthly payments during your term.
To Borrow Money in a Cost-Efficient Way
Mortgage interest rates tend to be lesser in scale compared to other types of loans. They’re also tax deductible, which makes them one of the practical options for borrowing money. For example, cash-out refinance allows you to borrow against your home equity to obtain funds for any purpose. You’ll get a check at closing with the amount added to the mortgage principal you owe.
To Get a Better Mortgage Rate
This is perhaps the most common reason why people consider refinancing. One thing to remember is that mortgage rates are never the same between borrowers. It depends on the lender and can either be fixed or fluctuating with a benchmark interest rate. Mortgage rates also depend on the credit profile of borrowers.
Mortgage rates have the tendency to rise and fall and can affect the homebuyer’s market. If the rates have fallen significantly since taking the loan, it’s possible to save money by refinancing your mortgage into a new home loan at the current rates.
Get Credit at a Fair and Reasonable Rate From Experts Who Care
If you’re looking for friendly and personalized credit services, then consider applying for a 1st CCU mortgage loan. It could be the best financial decision you’ll ever make. Contact 1st Community Credit Union for more information.
For a lot of people, buying a house is the ultimate dream that they hope will come true someday. After all, it’s nice to have a whole place for ourselves.
However, the reality of buying a house is the fact that it’s exorbitantly expensive. In fact, the real estate company Zillow has currently reported that the median home listing price this 2021 is $272,446, and that figure is expected to rise by 11.4% in 2022.
As a result, even though 80% of millennials would love to purchase their own houses, only a few of them are actually able to afford the costs, according to the data from Apartment List.
Despite the daunting statistics, your dream of buying real estate is achievable if you are financially savvy. To aid you in this matter, here are some words of financial advice for you.
- Be Realistic When You’re Looking at Houses
When you’re looking through the possible houses you might buy, you need to be realistic before getting attached to a gorgeous house that you can’t afford.
This means that you need to check your income and calculate the possible costs to determine what price range of houses you can handle. You can continue your research on houses once you know your price range. - Continue to Pay Off Debt
As mentioned earlier, owning a house is really expensive, and if you’re not careful enough, you’ll be drowning in a lot of debt. It is important to continue to pay off your debt as you can afford it, while also being able to make your mortgage payments on time. - Save for Down Payment and Closing Costs
After paying off all your debt, the next thing you have to do is to save for down payment. Some home loan options require a down payment of 20% or more so that you don’t have to pay for private mortgage insurance, which is an added expense for your monthly mortgage payment. Luckily there are also options for Zero-Down, 3% Down and 5% Down Payments available to qualified borrowers. Consult a 1st CCU Mortgage Loan Expert to find out which mortgage loan option is best for you and your budget. Aside from the down payment, you should also save some money for closing costs. Usually, it costs about 3–4% of the purchase price to close on a house, and these costs pay for the next crucial steps in the home buying process, such as appraisal, credit report, and home inspection. - Get Pre-Qualified for a Loan
Once you’ve already saved up for the closing costs and the 20% down payment, the next step you have to take is to talk to a mortgage lender and get pre-approved for a loan.
Getting pre-approved for a loan and getting a pre-approval letter will show home sellers that you’re serious, and that can get you ahead in the competitive real estate market.
Buying a house doesn’t come cheap. As a result, you need to be financially prepared first, and the tips above can help you achieve that particular goal. For further advice and information on buying your first home, give the team at 1st Community Credit Union a call at 888-706-1228.