A mortgage loan, or a home loan, can come in many different forms. A 30-year fixed rate, a 15-year fixed rate, an adjustable rate mortgage, a jumbo loan. And what about prepayment or foreclosure? The articles, blog posts, videos and radio shows on this page will answer all your mortgage loan questions and help you find the right mortgage loan for you.
Gift Tax On Cash Given To Kids To Pay Mortgage, Buy Home
Parents who want to sell their home to a child are better off giving their kids cash toward the down payment for the home or the mortgage. The IRS allows you to give $11,000 as a cash gift tax-free each year, which the kids could use to pay the mortgage when buying the home. Giving your child enough cash to miss the gift tax will help them get their mortgage loan and buy the home.
Selling Your Home With Mortgage Prepayment Penalty
When you sell your home you may face a mortgage prepayment penalty if you still have a mortgage loan. In addition you may have to pay taxes on the profit from the sale. To determine the best way to structure a real estate sale when you have a mortgage loan with a prepayment penalty you should contact a real estate attorney and accountant.
Owing More Than Market Value Of Home
Owe more than your house is worth? When home debt exceeds home equity, it's a big problem. Economists have predicted this might happen more when consumer start tapping their home equity at the same time home appreciation tapers off or even stops. The best way to get on top of the loan is to spend a year or two making extra loan payments.
Pay Off Mortgage In Full
Homeowners receive a monthly statement from their lender indicating what they owe on their loan, and how much interest they're paying. They think that if they pay the balance due, they will pay off the loan. But the payoff is usually more than what is indicated on the statement. The lender's monthly statement does not typically include interest owed from the last payment date. You will need to order a "demand letter" or a "payoff letter" from your lender to calculate the exact amount needed to pay off the loan in full.
Renting A Home Versus Buying A Home
The question of renting a home versus buying a home is common. You may be unsure if you can take on a mortgage loan, especially if you already have credit card debt. You have to take many factors into consideration when buying a home, including increasing home values and whether renting can save you money in the long run.
Making Extra Mortgage Payments
Is there any advantage of sending half of the mortgage in early every month? Is the mortgage company required to accept the bi-weekly payments? The solution is to send an extra 1/12 payment every month to pay down your mortgage in less time.
Refinance If You Can Recoup Closing Costs Quickly
The old rule of thumb for refinancing was to wait until you could lower your mortgage loan interest rate by at least 2 percent. That refinance rule no longer holds true. The new way to determine whether the time is right to refinance is if you can recoup your closing costs within six months of the refinancing the mortgage loan.
Cut Mortgage Length By Consolidating On Your Own
Is it a good idea to refinance and consolidate two loans into one? A bi-weekly loan can save you in the long run if you can afford it, but you can also avoid refinancing and still get the same results.
Home Equity Loan After Divorce
Sometimes, when couples divorce, one ex-spouse continues to make payments on a mortgage loan for the other. But in order to get someone's name on a first mortgage loan or home equity loan, the person's name has to be on the home's title. To remove one's name from a home mortgage loan or home equity loan you have to refinance the loan. At some point the ex-spouse who is no longer living in the home may decide he or she no longer wants to make payments on the home equity loan. How can the two former partners come to an agreement?
Mortgage Transfer to Relatives Before Giving Home
If you give your home as a gift to relatives without checking to see if the mortgage loan is assumable, as the former homeowner, you are still responsible for the mortgage. The situation is worse if mortgage is still in your name but the deed is in the name of your relatives. As the former home owner, you are responsible for all the mortgage payments, and need to either refinance the mortgage in your relatives' names, or transfer ownership back to yourself.