Home Equity Loans The Best 2nd Mortgage for Financing Home Improvements

Tired of looking at those avocado green kitchen appliances?  The wood paneling and shag in your family room?  The worn fiberglass tub enclosure in the guest bath?  Home improvement is sweeping the country.  Approximately half of fixer-uppers are do-it-yourself, while the other half is contractor driven.
So how do you decide when to move or stay around, when a home remodel is a good idea or not?
“The American Homeowner Foundation estimates the total cost of moving to be at least 10 percent of your home's current value. In other words, if you can make things right with your home for less than 10 percent of what you could sell it for, it makes sense to stay put and fix it up.”
There’s a couple of ways for you to start the transformation of your home.  If you have enough equity built up for the total cost of the project, a traditional home equity loan might work for you.  Benefits of home equity loans often include a better interest rate.  You might even lower your mortgage payment while increasing the value of your home.
For the do-it-yourselfer working toward several small projects, a home equity line of credit allows flexibility.  The lender basically sets up a line of credit based upon the equity in your home.  The, issues you checks or a credit card to draw from the account as you need the cash.
Simply make sure refinancing your home makes financial sense says Lori Vella a senior banking executive.  "Improving your home is almost always a smart investment, especially in this rate environment. Just make sure you'll be in the home long enough to recoup the cost of refinancing," says Vella.
A 2004 survey by Remodeling Magazine compares construction costs to likely return on investment (ROI) at resale.  RM sent surveys to 20,000 appraisers, sales agents, and brokers.  Those industry insiders generating 356 responses (a 1.78% response rate). 
The RM survey shows minor kitchen remodels do the best, returning 92.9 percent of your investment, followed closely by new siding at 92.8 percent.  The survey also lists bathrooms, attic bedrooms, deck additions and family or sun room add-ons as lucrative investments.  Most of those remodels returned 80% to 90% for the home owners.
A home remodel is one of the best ways to improve the value of your home.  Financially speaking, a home-equity loan could allow you to lower your mortgage payment, lower your interest rate, and when the remodel is said and done add thousands of dollars to your net worth.
Don’t forget to check with your local utility company if you want to improve the energy efficiency of your home.  Most offer an energy efficient mortgage program.
If purchasing a fixer-upper is what you looking to do.  HUD has a 203(k) program designed to finance both the purchase of the home and the remodel costs in one easy mortgage.  Most mortgage lenders offer access to the HUD 203(k) program.

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Bridge Loans – From One Home to the Next

You’ve lived in your home for some time and circumstances such as an expanding family mean you need a new one. This brings up the subject of bridge loans.

From Here to There

You have two basic options when you are considering selling one home to move to another. The first option is to sell your home, make sure it closes and then find a new one. This is by far the safest option.

The second option is to buy and sell at the same time. Typically, you try to close on your sale around the time you close on the purchase. Theoretically, this allows you to move seamlessly from one home to the next. This is an option rife with potential problems. What happens if there are problems with the sale of your home such as escrow issues or the buyer failing to get a loan? Suddenly, you are looking at being the owner of two homes. Disaster has struck since you’re undoubtedly using proceeds from the sale of your old home to fund the new purchase. With no sale, you have no funds and sleepless nights follow.

Bridge loans are often touted as a solution for this problem. In theory, a lender will provide you with a loan to cover the gap in time between the sale and purchase of the two homes. While bridge loans do accomplish this, they should be considered a last resort for a few reasons.

First, bridge loans are obscenely expensive. You’re in a tight spot and the lender knows it. Points and interest rates are going to be shocking. The lender knows there is a higher chance you will default on the loan, so you can expect to pay for the risk up front.

The second problem with bridge loans concerns your old home. Inevitably, you will anticipate a fairly quick sale of your home, but what if it doesn’t happen? Suddenly, you are making payments on two homes. Few people can afford to make such payments and you can quickly run out of cash.

Financing a move from one home to a new one can be a tricky process. Make sure you put a lot of thought into it or you could be in for a very bad surprise.

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30 Year vs. 15 Year Mortgages

Discussions of mortgages often focus on interest rates, but there is a much more basic decision to make. Should you go with a 30 year mortgage term or a 15 year mortgage term?

30 Year vs. 15 Year Mortgages

Any discussion of mortgages tends to turn on two points. How can you qualify for the most money with the lowest payment? How can you get the lowest interest rate for the mortgage? While these are two important issues, there is an addition one that people fail to consider, resulting in significant wasted money.

The term of a mortgage is extremely critical for a couple of reason. First, it sets the length of the obligation you are undertaking. Second, it defines the amount of interest you are going to pay over the life of the loan. These are huge issues when it comes to building equity.

The longer the loan, the more total interest you are going to pay. The trade off, of course, is you are going to have smaller monthly payments the farther you stretch out the obligation. While this may sound like a good goal when you first get the mortgage, it can backfire on you in the long run.

Most people focus on interest rates as a way to save money on mortgages. This is a valid approach, but playing with the length of the loan is a better way to save money. If you can cut the payments in half by going with a shorter loan, you can save huge amounts on the total interest repaid to a lender.

The decision on the term of the loan is relatively simple, but entirely dependent upon your personal situation. There is no absolutely correct choice. First, you need to determine if you can comfortably afford the higher payments that come with a shorter term loan. In general, a 15 year mortgage will have payments 20 to 25 percent higher than a 30 year loan. Of course, you will pay the loan off faster, to wit, be building equity in the home quicker.

The modern mortgage industry has a variety of different term length products. When applying for a loan, take the time to evaluate the different terms to see if you can find a loan that is perfect for your situation.

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Tracker Mortgages Still An Attractive Choice

First time buyers are still being advised to seriously consider opting for a tracker mortgage, despite growing rumours of a rise in interest rates before the end of the year.

Although the Bank of England moved to hold interest rates at 4.5 per cent recently, speculation is mounting that a quarter point rise will be enacted before the start of 2007.

However, Moneysupermaket argues that those currently looking for mortgages should not automatically discount the idea of a tracker mortgage, where repayments are dependent on the interest rate, as rates have also risen in the fixed rate mortgage sector.

The cost of a fixed rate mortgage has already risen by an average of five per cent since August last year (2005), despite the bank freezing the underlying cost of borrowing. Moreover, wider influences in the financial market mean further increases are likely.

Assuming that the interest rate remains around 4.75 per cent for the next couple of years, Moneysupermarket argues that it would be silly for home buyers to automatically opt for a fixed rate mortgage, as better bargains can often be found in the tracker market.

It's not always as clear cut as fixed mortgage or tracker mortgage, Moneysupermarket's Louise Cuming was quoted as saying recently.

What people should be asking themselves is whether they are already at the top level of affordability when it comes to their monthly outgoings. If so, and if even a small rise in base rates would stretch this, then they would be wise to opt for a fixed rate mortgage, she recommended.

Ms Cuming continued to say: If they have some leeway available in their finances then they would be better off with a tracker mortgage because, ultimately, all the pointers indicate that rates are unlikely to rise significantly in the next two years.

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Mortgages – Points and Interest Rates Go Hand in Hand

When it comes to mortgages, many people tend to look at points and interest rates as to separate issues. In fact, they can almost always be used as leverage against each other.

Points and Interest Rates

Two critical components of a home loan are the interest rate and points charged at the outset. The interest rate is simply the cost of borrowing the money and applies to the total amount borrowed, to wit, six percent for example. The points on a home loan are an up-front fee that equates to a percentage of the loan. For instance, one point equates to an up-front fee equal to one percent of the total loan value. Paying one point on a $300,000 loan would equate to a fee of $3,000.

Many people jump to the conclusion that points are bad and should be avoided at all costs. While this may seem like common sense, it is not true in all situations. From the lender’s view point, points and interest rates work hand in hand. If you have a unique cash situation, you may be able to save a ton of interest over the life of a loan by paying increased points at the outset of the loan. Generally, the more you pay in points, the lower the interest rate on the loan.

If you intend to hold onto your property for a long time, paying maximum points on the mortgage makes sense if you have the cash. The reason for this is the money spent on the points will be easily recovered if you can reduce the interest rate by a full percentage point or more. Saving even one percent on an interest rate will save you tens of thousands of dollars in interest payments on a thirty year loan. In such a situation, it makes sense to pay $6,000 or so in point to save $30,000 or $40,000 in future interest payments. Of course, you have to have the cash available to do it.

If you intend to hold onto a home for a short period of time, the same issues need to be considered. In this case, however, you will not have time to recover any money paid in points because you intend to sell in a few years. As a result, you want to shop for a loan that requires no points be paid. Yes, you will have to accept a higher interest rate on the loan, but this should be somewhat immaterial if you are only buying for the short term.

The bigger point is points and interest rates should be viewed as connected parts of a mortgage. As a borrower, you can negotiate with lenders to raise or lower either one by tweaking the other.

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