An important decision many homebuyers face is how much money to save for a down payment on their new home. This Largely depends on the mortgage product that you intend on getting, and how much of a mortgage payment you can afford. This is where a mortgage loan officer is...
People always ask what documentation they should have available to start the mortgage process. It’s a great question because most of the time once the process gets started borrowers are scrambling to get documents together and it can be intimidating. The type of documentation you will need will largely depend...
DTI stands for Debt-to-Income and is a ratio that shows what your debts are relative to your income. It is a very common reason why some mortgages do not get approved. The first step in calculating DTI is adding up all of your monthly debts that are reported on your...
This is a very common question people often ask. How much of a house can I afford? It’s an important one because it is easily one of the most important questions you can ask in terms of your budget. For many people, their housing costs are typically their highest cost....
Real Estate an escrow account is a third-party bank account created to hold funds for a particular transaction. When purchasing a home, the escrow is where the Earnest Money Deposit (EMD) is stored throughout the duration of the transaction until the loan closes. After closing, the deposit will then be...
The most common question I get asked is probably: “What is the APR and what does it mean?” The annual percentage rate, otherwise known as APR, is a calculation that is required to be quoted to you any time you are given an interest rate on a mortgage. This is...
LTV is an initialism for Loan-to-Value. This describes the relationship between the amount that is financed and the value of a property. If you have a house that is worth $250,000 and you have a loan on the house for $180,000, you would take the amount owed on the property...
Most borrowers know what their mortgage payment is. They also know when it is due. What most don’t know is actually what is comprised of the mortgage payment. What exactly is in my mortgage payment? The initialism that you will commonly hear is PITI. PITI stands for Principal, Interest, Taxes,...
Sweat equity is a term that is commonly heard amongst real estate investors with their rental properties. It is a very simple concept. Sweat equity is forcing appreciation of your home value, thereby increasing the equity, through your manual labor, or sweat. My wife and I did this with our...
