Today's Mortgage Rates

Sometimes changes in life could force you to sell your home.  The loss of a job, illness, disability, divorce, or other factors could make it impossible to keep your home.  The FHA has various suggestions for how to sell your home in the case that you need to sell quickly because you can no longer afford you monthly mortgage payment.

These suggestions include:

•    A normal sale.  You can list your home for sale by owner or have a real estate agent sell it for you.  There are fees involved with a real estate agent, but the home could see faster this way.

•    A short sale (also known as a pre-foreclosure sale) is when you sell your home for less than what you owe.  If the real estate market declined in your area or you borrowed so much in equity on your home and now it is worth less that what you owe on it, then your lender may be willing to take less than what you owe.  You must have been trying to sell your home with no offers, be behind on payments and unable to catch up or make current payments, and an appraisal shows that your home is worth less that the loan payoff.

•    You can give back the house to the lender.  The lender may allow you to be clear of your mortgage loan debt if you give up your rights to the home and turn over the deed in full to the lender.

•    Mortgage assumption. This is when a buyer takes over the mortgage and assumes payment.  This buyer will now own the home and you will no longer be responsible for mortgage payments.

All of these are the ways in which the FHA suggests that people who need to sell their home do so in order to avoid foreclosure.  It may be difficult to sell, but if there is no other choice it is better to make arrangements so that foreclosure can be avoided and your credit can be preserved for the future.

If you run into unexpected hardships and are unable to make a mortgage payment, the first thing you should do is to contact your lender.  They want to help you get caught up with your loan payments and have various programs to help.

Some of the ways in which you can make up back mortgage payments include:

•    Forbearance- this is when your lender is willing to let you have a little time off from payments in order to get caught up financially.  This is usually a good option if you lost a job and need time to start working at another place where you will have to wait for your first paycheck while catching up on other bills as well.  Once you get back on track you can make your back payments or make a payment plan to bring your loan current.

•    Payment plan- this is when your lender allows you to pay a little extra each month until the missed payments are paid.  You have to set this up directly with the lender.

•    Reinstatement- this is when you agree to pay back the entire amount that you own at a specific time.  This works well if you are able to make your current payments, and are expecting a lump sum of money in the near future like a commission bonus from work or a large tax return.

•    Insurance- if you have insurance on the loan that covers you in the case of loss of employment, illness, or death, then make a claim.

•    The FHA has a partial claim service.  This allows borrowers to take a one time loan without interest that will repay their missed mortgage payments.  This loan will not have to be repaid for years, and that gives the borrower time to save the money and increase their work wages over time so that they can afford to pay back the loan.

•    Change the terms of the loan.  Sometimes lenders are willing to lower interest rates, or extend the time of the loan in order to give the borrower the extra money they need to afford their monthly payment.

All of these are ways in which a borrower can keep their home, get out of default, avoid foreclosure, and repay their back mortgage payments.  For more information on the FHA and help avoiding foreclosure talk to us.

When you are in the market for a home loan it is exciting to see an offer for a $200,000 mortgage for only $700 per month!  The problem is that these rates don’t last for long.  Many people have been lured into taking out a mortgage to purchase a home because of teaser rates like these.  With these types of offers the mortgage company or broker will offer you a great rate to begin, but the catch is that the rate increases after a specified period of time.  Like adjustable rate mortgages, the interest rate starts out low, and then skyrockets to the point where the homeowner could be paying close to double their original mortgage payment amount every month.  This has caused many foreclosures.
In order to help homeowners who are stuck into these types of bait and switch mortgage contracts, the FHA has a new loan program called FHASecure.  This program offers current homeowners the chance to refinance their high interest loans into lower more affordable mortgages.  The FHA has always worked towards lowering foreclosure rates to help Americans keep their homes in times of crisis and now they are offering these secure loans to offer Americans relief from predatory lending practices.
The following is a list of requirements the FHA has for people to qualify for a FHASecure mortgage refinance loan:
•    You must make enough money to qualify for the refinance and make the mortgage payment based on FHA income standards.
•    You must have a history of steady employment.
•    You are currently delinquent on your mortgage payments.
•    You must currently have an adjustable rate mortgage where the initial low interest rate has expired and is currently increasing or could increase in the future.
•    You must have a credit history that shows that your payments were on time before the interest rate began to increase to unaffordable levels.
When considering your application for an FHASecure mortgage refinance, you must also qualify for the loan based on the FHA lender requirements with the exception of late mortgage payments after the interest rate became adjustable.
For more information on FHASecure loans contact Mortgage Loan Place today.