Housing prices continue to be on average down 20% from the height of the housing bubble several years ago. These lower prices have caused many homeowners to have a negative equity in their homes. They are faced with the difficult decision of walking away from their home and suffering the consequences of a bank foreclosure. Here is some advice on what to do if you are faced with that decision. Foreclosing your home will have a severe impact on your credit score and your ability to access credit, either for a new home or any other type of loan. Over...

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An FHA mortgage is one of the most popular ways to purchase a home. And if you’re looking to purchase a home, it’s important to understand what FHA mortgages are so you can evaluate your options. The FHA stands for Federal Housing Administration and it was developed after the great depression when the banking system was restructured. The purpose was to regulate the mortgage industry, including the terms and interest rates people are charged. In general, they make it easier for people to obtain a home loan. An FHA loan or mortgage is a loan that’s insured against default by...

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Those in the process of purchasing a new home are all too familiar with loans through mortgage lenders. However, if you’ve had a mortgage for a while and have fallen on hard times, you may want to know about loan modification options. Loan modification options are a means by which one or more of the terms of a mortgage loan are permanently changed. This allows the loan to be adapted to enable the borrower to maintain their loan and make payments they can afford. Some home lending and financial experts consider loan modifications to be a win-win situation. This is particularly true...

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With mortgage rates dropping these days due to the variety of stimulus programs you need to know about the different types of mortgages that are available. Here is a quick summary of mortgage types. 1. Fixed rate mortgage - This is a mortgage where monthly payments remain the same throughout the entire term of the loan. Note that there are many types of fixed rate mortgages: ten year, fifteen year and thirty year. Generally the longer term that the mortgage is i.e. thirty years, the lower the monthly payment will be. Fifteen year mortgages, on the other hand, help...

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With the recession in full swing and unemployment rising, unscrupulous predatory lenders are taking advantage of seniors. One of the areas in which they are particularly insidious is selling reverse mortgages. There are a host of reverse mortgage scams that are plaguing our senior citizens and steps are being taken to stop it. According to HUD, deceptive practices and allegations of high-pressure sales tactics are being directed at senior citizens under the guise of a helpful and legitimate reverse mortgage. Borrowers also run the risk of being steered into inappropriate loans and annuities by sales agents and...

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