Should You Pay Off Your Car Prior to Applying for a Mortgage?
Calculating and managing your debt-to-income ratio is crucial when applying for a mortgage. To calculate your DTI, add up all your monthly debt payments, including rent or mortgage, car payments, credit card bills, student loans, and any other recurring debt, and divide that number by your gross monthly income. Your DTI measures how much of […]
The Most Common Mistakes When Shopping for a Mortgage
When searching for a mortgage, it can take time to find the right one, but it’s worth the effort. Before you start, it’s essential to be aware of the most common mistakes people make when mortgage shopping. The first mistake to avoid is overestimating how much you can afford. Before starting your search, you should […]
Reasons Why You Should Re-finance Mortgage Rates Above 5%
Although some may not agree, there are still opportunities to refinance, and ultimately, anyone with a mortgage should consider it. An excellent time to re-finance is negotiating a new rate (minimum 0.75%) as soon as a drop in interest rates occurs. Most mortgage professionals advise this since the overall savings exceed the refinance costs. Mortgage […]
How to Handle Rising Mortgage Rates
Mortgage interest rates have risen rapidly in early 2022, with 30-year fixed rates going from an average of 3.22% in January to 5.1% by late April. While that’s still relatively low historically speaking – the average rate reached an all-time high of 18.63% in 1981 – it still has a significant impact on monthly housing […]
Customize Your Mortgage Rate for a Better Deal
SAN FRANCISCO — Mortgage interest rates are going up, but there are some moves homebuyers can make to bring their personal mortgage interest rates down. Mortgage rates are not one size fits all. Homebuyers need to compare rates from different financial institutions. When comparing rates, they are looking for the lender who is giving the […]
30 Year Fixed Rate Jumps
The average rate on 30-year mortgages climbed to 4.4 percent this week from 4.14 percent the previous week, the highest level since roughly the same time in 2019, according to Bankrate’s national survey of large lenders. The step-up comes as the Federal Reserve moved to raise rates, its first increase since 2018. That decision impacts […]
