At the peak of the Great Recession, a quarter of U.S. homeowners were underwater on their mortgage. By 2020, Attom Data Solutions reported that only 6.2% of homeowners with a mortgage were seriously underwater. But that still comes to 3.4 million homes, and Attom only classifies homes as “seriously underwater” when home values drop 25% below … Read more
For real estate investors, juggling multiple property deals and loans can get complicated. Blanket loans often help simplify matters. Borrowers take out a single loan to cover multiple properties. Even so, blanket loans come with their own quirks and have their pros and cons. Before entering into a blanket loan as an investor, make sure … Read more
It’s all too easy to feel alone and ashamed when you fall behind on your mortgage. You don’t tell anyone, you don’t ask for help, and you don’t know what to do. Yet the truth is nearly 1 in every 17 Americans was behind on their mortgage in December 2020, per data from CoreLogic. And … Read more
Just because you have bad credit doesn’t mean you don’t dream of owning your own home. You can absolutely buy a house, even with bad credit. But the worse your credit, the more challenges you’ll face in buying a home. As you start exploring the path to homeownership, watch out for these credit-related pitfalls along the way, … Read more
Sometimes, home sellers find a buyer eager to purchase but unable to finance the property with traditional mortgage financing. Sellers then have a choice: lose the buyer, or lend the mortgage to the buyer themselves. If you want to sell a property you own free and clear, with no mortgage, you can theoretically finance a … Read more
The last place you want to find yourself is forced to relocate but unable to sell your house. Carrying two housing payments at once is a surefire recipe for financial stress. If you can’t sell your house, you can always opt to keep it as a rental property. But being a landlord comes with its … Read more
Depending on who you ask, hard money loans are either the easiest and best source of funding for real estate investors or nightmare loans of last resort. Who’s right? Hard money loans are neither inherently good nor evil; they’re merely one financing tool among many in a real estate investor’s toolkit. Here’s what aspiring real … Read more
If you see a line for “PMI” on your monthly mortgage statement, you’re paying for private mortgage insurance. But what is it actually for? Who has to pay for it, and who doesn’t? Most importantly, how can you avoid it moving forward? To save yourself between $50 and $250 each month, here’s everything you need … Read more
Shopping for a mortgage feels like learning an entirely new language of terms and acronyms. From LTVs to DTIs (front end and back end), cash reserves to credit scoring models, it’s overwhelming. So when your loan officer asks if you’d prefer a fixed interest loan or an ARM, how do you respond? Read on to … Read more
Buying your first home, and not sure what all the lender lingo means? Keep a glossary handy when you shop for a mortgage because the terminology gets confusing quickly. And that starts with a basic distinction: whether you want a conforming mortgage or a nonconforming loan. When you sit down with your loan officer to … Read more
