Home Purchase Basics

When you want to apply for a mortgage, you’ll find a variety of home loan options to choose from. You should figure out the right one that can make it easy for your loan consultant to help customize and tailor a loan program for your specific needs and goals.

There are variety of mortgage provider that offer Government, Conventional, Jumbo and Super Jumbo Mortgages. And like most lenders, there are a variety of fixed-rate and adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) to choose from. You can find a lot of specialty loan programs, such as:

- FHA
- VA
- USDA
- Interest-only loans *
- Special documentation loans

How to get started:

- Apply online to obtain a free, no–obligation loan consolidation.
- This is an important first step to understand how much you qualify for.
- Determine the loan program that is right for you.

After the lender receive your online application, a Senior Loan Consultant will contact you to review your loan options — including interest rates and payment options.

Get your approval letter and start home shopping!

Once you’ve selected and have been conditionally approved for a loan program, you’ll be sent an approval letter. This letter will outline any conditions associated with your approval. It will also be an important tool for you in your home shopping process.

The Mortgage Concepts Advantage

- Direct Lender
- Government Loan Financing is easy to get approved
- Special documentation options

Another mortgage option that you can check it out is:
http://www.warreninfinance.com/2074/costco-mortgage-loans-and-rates-review/

UK Lettings on The Increase

There is no doubt at all that private lettings in the United Kingdom has grown considerably. In the mid-90s only 7 percent of houses were in the private rented sector, and in 2001 it went up 10.76 percent. That is a considerable increase in just under five years. Now fast forward to 2012, and though we haven’t had the official consensus yet it is estimated to be just over 16% which is an astounding figure when you look back to the mid-90s.

 

image courtesy of: monkeybanjo

Conservative estimates actually put the rate of private rentals at around 20 to 25% over the next five years as less and less people are able to afford a mortgage or an outright payment. These are big figures, so why has that happened?

Well to be fair it seems to be a big multitude of reasons, but mainly;

The large amount of council houses were sold off in the 80s which means if you didn’t buy your house you would go and rent one from the council but if the council had sold off all their houses you wouldn’t able to buy one.  Those that were lucky to buy their council houses obviously got a bargain but those days are long gone and far behind us.

We used to have great buy to let mortgages in United Kingdom, so we had new buy to let properties being bought by new landlords. So a combination of all those together with a changing attitude towards renting has meant that renting has really gone through the roof. But one of the biggest downsides to this though is because of the boom, a lot of letting agents have set up business at the same time so who do you choose?

You should really try to choose a letting agent which will guide you through the entire process, will stay with you, and perhaps most importantly, be able to give you an honest opinion. The best letting agents come from recommendations from friends if possible, otherwise try to meet them and have a chat with them first.

If you’re unable to get a personal recommendation from a friend when you’re only viable alternative is to look online for information. As well as Google there are also some very good property review websites, you should be able to find you the right tenant for your property or at least be able to advise to competently whatever your plans may be.

Don't Let Home Ownership Lure You into Crisis

Recent figures suggest that mortgage lending is still only half of what it was before the economic crisis struck back in 2007. Obtaining a mortgage is becoming increasingly difficult as banks balk at the prospect of risky lending, and in this day and age even the slightest blemish on your credit record can scupper you chances of getting a foot in the door of the property market, especially if you’re a first time buyer.



What's Holding Up UK Housing Market
Of course mortgage rationing isn’t the only thing that’s holding up the housing market in the UK, which is influenced by a whole range of economic factors, but it’s often one of the most frustrating obstacles in the way of a buyer. By the time the banks have even begun to recover from the aftershock of the economic downturn it is likely that we will see even tighter lending regulation introduced by the Financial Services Authority (FSA), the UK mortgage regulator.
Tighter regulations aren’t all bad news though. They will in effect provide a lending safeguard preventing consumers from borrowing on the unsustainable level seen a decade ago. It could perhaps also teach us all a valuable lesson about debt management.

The largely unregulated lending seen before the crisis was bound to end in tears for all concerned. Mortgages of up to 125% of the value of a property were being handed out to some buyers with few background credit checks made and little assessment of whether the buyer would actually be able to pay the mortgage off. The recession brought with it plummeting house prices and poor job security which only exacerbated the problem.

Repayment

The simple truth is that we were borrowing beyond any means to repay, and the banks seemed more than happy to lend, so there was nothing to stand in the way of buying a home way out of our price range only later to find that we just couldn’t cope. The boom and bust left many homeowners with hefty negative equity debts, sometimes unable to keep up repayments on excessive loans and many even faced repossession.

As a result of the irresponsible lending of the past the FSA have announced plans to implement a new “common sense” led set of regulations that could come into play early in 2013 to help avoid borrowing beyond the ability to repay in the mortgage market. According to the new rules lenders will have to assess affordability more thoroughly.

It’s only human to aspire to a standard of living beyond our means and it’s all too easy to stretch that much further than you can manage when it comes to choosing a new home, but in order to borrow more safely we need to take a step back and colour our aspirations with a sense of what is realistic. Tighter regulations and rules on lending may come as a frustration to buyers but maybe it will make us think twice about matching our expectations with our means, not just in the mortgage sector but across the board.