Thursday, August 16, 2012
First time home buyers?
Take a moment and go to our site and do some checking on the left on first time home buyers and do the course.See the about us tab and see the links on the left.
What happens is that the home buying process is so complex and a lot of our clients find out like in the little picture of our little gal Meriah it is not only good to have the knowledge, but someone covering your back.
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Backlinking add a reminder in you Outlook once a week just so you remember.
Are You Backlinking? Earlier from Manta
Appear higher in an online search by creating quality backlinks. One way to create backlinks is to include your website link on all of your online social profiles. Search engines investigate the number and quality of your backlinks and rank your website accordingly. This can potentially increase your chances of appearing higher in a search listing.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Is it time to consider Refinancing
From one of my Banker buddys News letter something to ponder:
Is It Time to Refinance?
Three Questions to Consider
Leonard Baron, MBA, CPA, and author of Real Estate Ownership, Investment and Due Diligence 101
So you've read that interest rates are near historic lows and you want to figure out if you can refinance. Financing has become significantly harder to do and more expensive in the past few years, thanks to the financial crisis. But refinancing is still possible and may make financial sense.
In this article, we will run through some of the basic issues you should contemplate to help give you a framework for deciding whether to refinance. The best person to help you sort through this framework and help you reach a final decision about when to refinance is your mortgage lending professional. But doing a little homework beforehand will help you ask your mortgage professional the right questions.
Here are three questions to consider when you are thinking about refinancing:
Planning on moving? The first item to consider is whether you're going to own the house in question for at least two to four more years–the longer the better. If you're not planning on owning for at least a couple years, refinancing may not be a net benefit to you. HOWEVER: The bigger the mortgage, and the bigger the differential between your current mortgage interest rate and the rate you might get by refinancing, the more refinancing might make sense even on a shorter term basis like two years. So rather than dismiss the idea, this is a good topic to discuss with your mortgage professional in terms of your unique situation.
Can you even qualify for a refinance? It can be tough to refinance these days. If your loan-to-home-value ratio is too high–meaning that your property doesn't appraise at a high enough value in comparison to the amount that is still outstanding on your loan–it may be harder to refinance. The bank may also consider you to be a higher risk if you're self-employed, have a high debt-to-income ratio, or if you have credit issues. But the only way to know for sure is to check with your mortgage lender to examine your options.
What are the costs versus the reduction in interest rate? If you are qualified for financing, your lender will also let you know what interest rate you can secure and how much it will cost you to refinance. You can then do a rate versus loan fee comparison to see if refinancing makes sense. For example, if you refinance a $300,000 loan it might cost $6,500 once you add up points, escrow, title, appraisal, etc. If your loan is dropping by one-half of a percentage point you will save $1,500 per year, which is about $1,000 after taxes. So if you are paying $6,500 to save $1,000 per year, it will take you 6.5 years to earn your money back. That may or may not be a good deal for you, depending on how long you are planning to stay in your home. The bottom line is add up all the costs you will incur by refinancing (remember to exclude items like prepaid interest, taxes and HOA fees that you pay whether you refinance or not) and compare these to your cost savings. This will help you determine whether now is the time to refinance.
Generally speaking, it can be time consuming and challenging to properly dissect the costs versus benefits of refinancing a property. That's why it's a good idea to talk to your trusted lending professional, who understands the right questions to ask and can help you work through the details to make an informed decision.
If you have any questions about your personal situation, contact the professional who supplied you with this month's issue of YOU Magazine. Take action now, so you are protected when you need it most.
Leonard P. Baron, MBA, CPA, is a San Diego State University Real Estate Lecturer, a long-term real estate owner, author of Real Estate Ownership, Investment and Due Diligence 101 and loves kicking the tires of a good piece of dirt! At ProfessorBaron.com you can download his free "Real Estate Buying Due Diligence Checklist" under Chapter 1: Due Diligence. No sign up or registration needed–just download it!
Contributing author Wendy Mihm is the founder of FinancialRx.com, for women who are busy, competent and have it all together–except for maybe one thing: their family's finances. See more information on the website to get your financial house in order.
Is It Time to Refinance?
Three Questions to Consider
Leonard Baron, MBA, CPA, and author of Real Estate Ownership, Investment and Due Diligence 101
So you've read that interest rates are near historic lows and you want to figure out if you can refinance. Financing has become significantly harder to do and more expensive in the past few years, thanks to the financial crisis. But refinancing is still possible and may make financial sense.
In this article, we will run through some of the basic issues you should contemplate to help give you a framework for deciding whether to refinance. The best person to help you sort through this framework and help you reach a final decision about when to refinance is your mortgage lending professional. But doing a little homework beforehand will help you ask your mortgage professional the right questions.
Here are three questions to consider when you are thinking about refinancing:
Planning on moving? The first item to consider is whether you're going to own the house in question for at least two to four more years–the longer the better. If you're not planning on owning for at least a couple years, refinancing may not be a net benefit to you. HOWEVER: The bigger the mortgage, and the bigger the differential between your current mortgage interest rate and the rate you might get by refinancing, the more refinancing might make sense even on a shorter term basis like two years. So rather than dismiss the idea, this is a good topic to discuss with your mortgage professional in terms of your unique situation.
Can you even qualify for a refinance? It can be tough to refinance these days. If your loan-to-home-value ratio is too high–meaning that your property doesn't appraise at a high enough value in comparison to the amount that is still outstanding on your loan–it may be harder to refinance. The bank may also consider you to be a higher risk if you're self-employed, have a high debt-to-income ratio, or if you have credit issues. But the only way to know for sure is to check with your mortgage lender to examine your options.
What are the costs versus the reduction in interest rate? If you are qualified for financing, your lender will also let you know what interest rate you can secure and how much it will cost you to refinance. You can then do a rate versus loan fee comparison to see if refinancing makes sense. For example, if you refinance a $300,000 loan it might cost $6,500 once you add up points, escrow, title, appraisal, etc. If your loan is dropping by one-half of a percentage point you will save $1,500 per year, which is about $1,000 after taxes. So if you are paying $6,500 to save $1,000 per year, it will take you 6.5 years to earn your money back. That may or may not be a good deal for you, depending on how long you are planning to stay in your home. The bottom line is add up all the costs you will incur by refinancing (remember to exclude items like prepaid interest, taxes and HOA fees that you pay whether you refinance or not) and compare these to your cost savings. This will help you determine whether now is the time to refinance.
Generally speaking, it can be time consuming and challenging to properly dissect the costs versus benefits of refinancing a property. That's why it's a good idea to talk to your trusted lending professional, who understands the right questions to ask and can help you work through the details to make an informed decision.
If you have any questions about your personal situation, contact the professional who supplied you with this month's issue of YOU Magazine. Take action now, so you are protected when you need it most.
Leonard P. Baron, MBA, CPA, is a San Diego State University Real Estate Lecturer, a long-term real estate owner, author of Real Estate Ownership, Investment and Due Diligence 101 and loves kicking the tires of a good piece of dirt! At ProfessorBaron.com you can download his free "Real Estate Buying Due Diligence Checklist" under Chapter 1: Due Diligence. No sign up or registration needed–just download it!
Contributing author Wendy Mihm is the founder of FinancialRx.com, for women who are busy, competent and have it all together–except for maybe one thing: their family's finances. See more information on the website to get your financial house in order.
Friday, September 2, 2011
Monday, May 30, 2011
Not Just Dinner O' the Day: Officially Homesick
Not Just Dinner O' the Day: Officially Homesick: "Memorial Day has made me homesick...that begs the question can I be homesick for somewhere that I was not born and raised? I was raise..."
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Paying off Collections read on From Ty Crandall
Pay off a collection and lower your scores
Paying off a collection DOES lower your credit scores. Many people are surprised to hear this, but it is completely true.
Negative credit items on your reports cause less damage the older they are. This is because the older the bad item is the less risk you are to a debtor.
The credit score monitors the date-of-last-activity to "date" the account on your report. The older it is, the less impact it has on your score.
When you pay ANY payment to a collection or debt company, you automatically update that date-of-last-activity to TODAY.
As the account was getting older and older, your scores were suffering less and starting to increase. But when you make a payment on the account and update the date-of-last-activity, you update the account to TODAY and the scores go down.
Here is where many of our clients think that paying off the debt helps the credit scores. Well, that is not what happens at all.
The credit score is a mathematical calculation to determine your risk of going 90 days late on an account within the next 2 years.
When you default on an account, it is listed as a "9" status on your credit reports.
This is the worst status you can have and has the greatest adverse effect to your scores because if you default on that account your risk is very high of defaulting on another account within the next 2 years.
When you pay down or pay off a collection, your status is still "9" on that account and you still face the exact same risk of defaulting on another account within the next 2 years.
The balance might be paid to 0, but it is not an active balance. This means your high credit and available credit don't affect the scores as it is in a collection status.
Paying off collections WILL lower your credit scores, the only way to help the scores are to have them DELETED
Paying off a collection DOES lower your credit scores. Many people are surprised to hear this, but it is completely true.
Negative credit items on your reports cause less damage the older they are. This is because the older the bad item is the less risk you are to a debtor.
The credit score monitors the date-of-last-activity to "date" the account on your report. The older it is, the less impact it has on your score.
When you pay ANY payment to a collection or debt company, you automatically update that date-of-last-activity to TODAY.
As the account was getting older and older, your scores were suffering less and starting to increase. But when you make a payment on the account and update the date-of-last-activity, you update the account to TODAY and the scores go down.
Here is where many of our clients think that paying off the debt helps the credit scores. Well, that is not what happens at all.
The credit score is a mathematical calculation to determine your risk of going 90 days late on an account within the next 2 years.
When you default on an account, it is listed as a "9" status on your credit reports.
This is the worst status you can have and has the greatest adverse effect to your scores because if you default on that account your risk is very high of defaulting on another account within the next 2 years.
When you pay down or pay off a collection, your status is still "9" on that account and you still face the exact same risk of defaulting on another account within the next 2 years.
The balance might be paid to 0, but it is not an active balance. This means your high credit and available credit don't affect the scores as it is in a collection status.
Paying off collections WILL lower your credit scores, the only way to help the scores are to have them DELETED
Sunday, March 27, 2011
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