Mortgage Calculator

A mortgage calculator is very useful for gaining an insight into just how much a mortgage loan amount will cost per month with different interest rates. It is really important before you ever start looking at homes to know just how much home you can actually afford. There is very little point in looking at $500K homes when all you can afford is a $250K home. This is where a mortgage calculator comes into play. By inserting variable figures for the loan amount and the interest rate into the mortgage calculator you will come to know just how much a mortgage is going to cost you. Armed with this information you can safety go out searching homes.

Mortgage Calculator-Types of Mortgage Calculator

Mortgage calculators come in various types to fit the needs of different types of mortgage seekers. Below is a list of the most popular types of mortgage calculator:

• Refinance Calculator: A refinance mortgage calculator will tell you if you will save money by refinancing.
• Home Affordability Calculator: A home affordability calculator will tell you just how much home you can afford.
• Pre Qualification Calculator: A pre qualification mortgage calculator will help you know how much mortgage loan you will be approved for.
• Amortization Calculator: An Amortization mortgage calculator will give you your monthly mortgage payment and the total amount you will repay including the interest you will be charged.
• Early Pay Off Calculator: An early pay off mortgage calculator will tell you how much you will need to add to your monthly mortgage payment in extra principle payment to pay off your mortgage early.
• Loan Comparison Calculator: A loan comparison calculator will tell you which loan you have been offered is best.
• Interest Only Mortgage Calculator: An interest only payment mortgage calculator will tell you how much lower your monthly mortgage payment will be if you are paying interest only repayments. It should be remembered that when you are paying interest only that you will still owe the principle or price of the home less any down payment.
• APR Calculator: An APR mortgage calculator will combine all your costs and tell you the actual interest rate you will be paying.
• Closing Costs Calculator: A closing costs mortgage calculator will guesstimate the cash you will need on hand to meet your closing costs.

Mortgage Calculator-Mortgage Calculator

The mortgage calculator included below will perform all the above mortgage calculation tasks making your home loan search easy to understand. Please note that this calculator only works with internet explorer:

Distressed Real Estate

There seems to be some great bargains in the housing market at the moment as a consequence of the sub prime melt down and the high jobless rate which in turn have caused so many home foreclosures, distressed real estate is available in large quantities. Bank owned homes dominate the MLS listings and are driving down home prices in most neighborhoods. However before you set out to nab a great bargain there are some things you should be aware of regarding distressed real estate.

Distressed Real Estate-Foreclosures

The first thing everyone thinks when distressed real estateis mentioned is foreclosures. There are two types of foreclosure laws within the USA, namely judicial and non judicial. In non judicial states there is no legal proceedings relating to the foreclosure with the exception of the service member relief act which is to protect the homes of service members on active duty overseas. If you are considering persuing distressed real estate in the foreclosure field you should find out what process your State uses.

So within non judicial States such as Massachusetts, California and Texas when the home owner falls behind on their mortgage payments the bank merely places some advertisements in the newspaper and holds an auction. Before bidding at a foreclosure auction in a non judicial state you should be aware that if you are the winning bidder you will receive a clear title after approx 30 days.

Remember that if you by distressed real estate in the form of a foreclosure you might also receive a home with the old owner still intact and it will be your responsibility to remove them from the house.

Distressed Real Estate-Bank Owned Homes

Because in most cases it will not be possible to view the inside of a piece of distressed real estate before the foreclosure auction, coupled with the fact the you will most certainly inherit the foreclosed owner as a tenant most homes in non judicial States are not bid on and are therefore purchased by the foreclosing lender at the auction. These homes become what is known as REO’s or real estate owned which is a banking term for bank owned homes.

If you are considering making an offer on a piece of distressed real estate that is bank owned, your offer should stipulate that the offer is contingent on a walk through on the morning of the closing and that any changes in condition will negate the contract to purchase.

Bank owned homes are invariably vacant distressed real estate and are routinely left unlocked by careless Realtors and are prone to vandalism especially the theft of copper piping. They are also very prone to pipe freeze and subsequent water damage in cold States.

Distressed Real Estate-Getting a Great Home Bargain

Very little has changed in real estate over the years with the exception of prices. The best deals are always in good neighborhoods with good school systems. However there are likely to be less distressed homes in these neighborhoods o it will be more difficult to locate a bargain.

The best advice is to find a local real estate agent who has been working the area of your choice for many years. Don’t tie yourself to an agent who proudly proclaims to cover the whole state, great real estate agents focus on an area of expertise and know it inside out.

So if a quality home that is distressed real estate becomes available at a knockdown price the agent who specializes in the area will know about it first. In most cases distressed real estate in the form of a quality homes are under agreement before agents unfamiliar with the area even become aware that they where on the market.

Bad Credit Home Loan

If your credit rating has gone down and you are considering refinancing or taking out a home equity loan but are worried about getting turned down there is some good news for you.  If you have equity in you home there are many lenders who will be willing to make you a bad credit home loan or bad credit refinance based on your current homes value and the equity position you have in it.

It will be worth your while to shop around and even consider using the services of a mortgage broker as you will find that the rates offered to you for a bad credit home loan will vary significantly from bad credit lender to bad credit lender.

It is also advisable that before you decide to apply for your bad credit home loan that you get a copy of your credit report and check it for errors and for small items that you could pay off. This could have the effect of raising your credit score significantly and save you a lot of money in costs and also get you a much lower interest rate for the term of your bad credit home loan.

Bad Credit Home Loan-Debt Consolidation

If you are currently in collections and are experiencing harassing phone calls it might be advisable to consult with a debt consolidation company. They will be able to refinance your current home loan and also any other loans such as auto loans and roll your liabilities into one manageable monthly payment. They would also allocate some funds from your new loan to pay off credit cards and other revolving debts. This would stop the harassing collection calls and restore some sanity into your life. This is a very good alternative to only taking out a bad credit home loan.

Because all your debts will be refinanced and rolled into the debt consolidation package you will find that the one monthly payment will be far less than the total you are now struggling with.

Also after a few months of paying regulary and on time your credit score will start ot  increase and you will gradually get back into good standing with the credit reporting agencies.

Bad Credit Home Loan-Options

If you find yourself in a bad credit situation the worst thing to do is nothing. It is always best to consider all options available to you and if a bad credit home loan is one of those options then it might be the best choice available to you to get both your life and your credit history back on track.

Unfortunately most people who are suffering financial difficulties tend to give up. This can be disastrous as you could lose your home. It is far better to be proactive with your finances and talk to a mortgage company about  bad credit home loan.

Credit Repair Tips

If you have decided that you want to buy a home in the near future it is very important that you get a copy of your credit report and review it for errors before you apply for a home loan. The sad reality of modern banking is that your ability to apply for and get a mortgage is very dependant on your credit score. If your credit score is low you’re financing options will be limited to mortgage for poor credit. Use these credit repair tips to hep you improve your credit score

It is relative easy to get a copy of your current credit report from each of the three major credit reporting agencies, Equifax, Trans Union and Experian. Simply by going to AnnualCreditReport.com and requesting your credit report it will be made available to you to view online for a 30 day period. They will try to up sell you but keep clicking to free option and you will get your credit report for free. If you also want your credit score you will have to pay a fee of less than $10. When you have your credit report you can use your credit repair tips to understand how a credit report works.

For the purposes of examining your credit report in advance of applying for a mortgage your credit score is not important. The credit score is a number that is computed based on the information contained in the credit report. Lots of negative information equals a lwo credit score which is called bad credit. Your credit repair tips will help you to repair your credit score.

Credit Repair Tips-Bad Credit

Credit Repair Tips

When you get your credit report look for items that are negative and review them to ensure that they are correct, if you find items that are incorrect on your credit history you can dispute them and if the credit bureau cannot prove the correctness of the disputed item they must remove it.

Check for late payments and call your or write to the lender associated with the late payment asking them to remove the late report from your credit report. It is essential that your account is in good standing and current if you are making this kind of request. Write a polite letter explaining that you sent the payment on time but that a postal delay out of your control caused the payment to arrive late and now that you are applying for a mortgage it would be really great if they could review your account and how it is reported to the credit bureau.

Check for charge offs and judgments. It is possible that something forgotten like an old cell phone bill for a few hundred dollars is having a dramatic effect on your credit score. If you find items like this arrange to have them paid off and as part of the payment negotiate the removal of the negative entry from your credit report. This one is one of the best credit repair tips.

Credit Repair Tips-Credit Cards

A really great way to enhance your credit score is to ensure that none of your credit cards are maxed out. Even a credit card with a $500 limit that is running a $450 balance will have a really bad affect on your credit score. A basic of the credit repair tips is that if you max out your credit cards your credit will suffer. You are better off having a few extra credit cards with low balances that just one or two with high balances.

Try to keep your credit to debt ratio less than 50%. It is far better to have a card with a $2500 limit running a $450 balance than a care with $500 limit running a $450 balance.

Keep you total credit card balance at less than 50% of your total available credit. Make sure that your balances are spread around your credit cards so that no individual credit card is running a balance of more than 50%.

If you are running large balances arrange to pay them down before applying fro a mortgage. Merely by paying down your outstanding credit card balances to less than 50% of the credit limit you will improve your credit score by up to 50 points. This could be the difference between you getting a great interest rate or having to settle for a mortgage for poor credit. If you utilize these credit repair tips in tandem with your credit report you should be able to improve your credit score.

Mortgages For Poor Credit

Contrary to popular belief it is possible to become a homeowner if your credit is poor or even bad. Depend on your credit score it may be necessary to make a sizeable down payment but mortgages for poor credit are available.

However in most cases people with poor or bad credit also don’t have the finances to make a sizeable down payment. A home loan application using mortgages for poor credit ad the financing option in a scenario where the home buyer is not  a position to make a large down payment are very dependent on the actual credit score of the applicants for the mortgages for poor credit.

With a credit score of 580-619 though low it is very possible to get a home loan by means of mortgages for poor credit application. Mortgage brokers love this kind on credit as it allows them to make some extra money.

Mortgages for Poor Credit-Credit Score

The problem for the borrower in the 580-619 credit score range is fees. Any mortgage using say a 580 score will come with extra upfront points and most probably a higher interest rate than a person with good to excellent credit would get. This is going to hurt the borrowers pocket book but the chance of an extra point which could be anywhere from $2K to $10K will ensure that you find a broker to work with you.

Remember that if you don’t get a mortgage then the broker doesn’t get paid so you can rest assured that the broker will be working his/her tail off on your behalf to ensure that your mortgages for poor credit application is approved.

Another thing to consider is, is it really in your best interest to take out a home loan when your credit is poor. Keeping in mind that mortgages for poor credit come with hefty upfront fees in the form of points and are back ended with high interest rates that will be significantly raise your monthly mortgage payments.

It might be a better strategy to rent a nice home and save up the difference between the monthly rental and what you would be paying out for a mortgage for poor credit. This could be a sizable amount and within a few years you could have the down payment necessary to buy a home with a large down payment.

You could also use this year or two rental period to improve your credit score. Chances are that you could improve your credit score just by paying down your credit cards.

Mortgages for Poor Credit-Credit Report

It is also recommended that you get a copy of your credit report just to ascertain exactly why your credit score is so bad. There might be charge off there for things like old cell phone bills that you could clear for a few hundred dollars. You won’t know the scope of the issues on your credit report until you look.

I would recommend that before you commit to a mortgage for poor credit that you get a copy of your credit report and see just why your credit is poor.

Mortgages for Poor Credit-Costs

Get a realistic up front estimate of what the typical closing costs are for mortgages for poor credit.

Get a realistic estimate of what your monthly payments including escrow for taxes and insurance are going to be.

Then weigh up the benefits of buying a home with a mortgages for poor credit strategy against renting a similar home.