Posts Tagged ‘real estate’
Considering a Mortgage Refinance
If you are looking for a mortgage refinance, it never hurts to shop around for the best rate and deal. Shopping around could mean the difference between paying or saving thousands of dollars in closing costs, and interest fees’.
If time happens to be on your side, and you don’t need to refinance your mortgage immediately, take some time to educate yourself about the mortgage industry.
By educating yourself about the mortgage industry, you are essentially putting yourself into the driver’s seat.
There is so much mortgage jargon, terms, and definitions that will be thrown at you when considering a mortgage refinance, that it is impossible for any one person to understand everything.
It is not necessary to become an expert in the mortgage industry. You just need to have somewhat of an understanding. This way, while you are shopping around for a mortgage refinance, your decision on which lender you want to work with, will be all the more educated.
The mortgage industry is a very competitive one, so by shopping around, and making it clear that you are shopping around to the lenders or brokers you are dealing with, they will be forced to come back at you with the best deal possible. They know that they are competing with other mortgage companies, and they will not want anyone else to get your business, so they will offer you the best rate available to them in order to keep your business.
Keep in mind when a loan officer or broker offers you a deal that sounds too good to be true, it just may be, so be careful. You don’t want to get to the closing table only to find out you are not getting what you thought you were getting.
Remember, before you commit to a lender, ask for everything they told you to be sent to you in writing, this way you won’t have any surprises at the table.
This is why it is so important to educate yourself about the mortgage industry.
With just a fair amount of knowledge, you will have a general understanding of what you are being offered, and you will be able to determine whether or not the deal is reasonable.
My suggestion to you would be to allow for up to four loan officers or brokers to assess your situation. Whichever one comes back with the best, and most reasonable deal, should be the one for you to consider.
An Introduction to a Home Repair Grant
What is a Home Repair Grant?
Home Loan Lenders In Australia
In Australia there are now many different types of home lenders, each with different interest rates, terms, conditions and lending criteria. The most common types of lenders are:
• Mortgage Brokers
Not to be confused with mortgage managers, mortgage brokers are responsible for introducing borrowers to lenders – they act as an intermediary offering prospective borrowers information on various lending institutions and their products.
• Mortgage Managers
Mortgage managers are lending specialists who arrange funding for home and investment loans. Unlike banks, building societies and credit unions, mortgage managers do not have a base of customer deposits with which to fund their loans instead they source their funds via a process known as securitisation. This is a process whereby assets with an income stream are pooled and converted into saleable securities.
The mortgage managers job is to set up the loan and perform a liaison role with all parties involved, namely originators, trustees, credit assessors and borrowers. They provide the customer service role and are there to manage your loan throughout its term.
• Credit Unions
A credit union is a cooperative that is owned and controlled by the people who use its services. Each member is both a customer and a shareholder in the credit union.
Deposits from members are used to fund loans to other members, with the credit union business structure facilitating the process. Credit unions serve people who share a mutual interest, such as where they work, live, or go to church.
Credit unions are non profit organisations, and because there are no external shareholders there is no pressure to earn profits at the expense of customers.
Like banks, they offer a wide variety of banking facilities such as loans, deposits and financial planning. Credit unions main function is to serve members needs rather than make a profit. They therefore put a great deal of emphasis on customer service and meeting the needs of members.
• Building Societies
Building societies operate in the same manner as banks and obtain their funding primarily through customer deposits. As with credit unions, customers are members. In a sense they own the society, which is why they are often referred to as mutual societies.
• Banks
Australian banks are regulated by the Reserve Bank. Banks are the original lending institutions and for the most part they source their funds through customers term deposits and savings deposits via their branch networks.
Customers are paid interest on deposited funds and these funds are then available to lend to borrowers. In turn, these borrowers pay interest to the bank on the sum lent. The margin between interest paid on deposits and interest received from loans provides banks with their major source of revenue.