How To Save Money On A Home Purchase

How to Buy a Home Cheap

The housing market is the one most affected by the economic downturn that caused savings of many Americans to dwindle down to nothing. The recession wiped out the asset values of existing home owners and also made finances extremely tight for prospective buyers through lay offs and drastic salary cuts.

The net result was that although home values were dropping like stones, there were not many hopeful buyers who could afford to make an investment. There was no way to predict where the housing market would bottom out so there was also no way for hopeful buyers to identify the right time to invest.

Much shoring from the government in the form of tax credits and easing of loan preconditions and returning confidence in the economy have now served to put the brakes on the falling housing segment prices. If owning a home is a dream of yours then this is the time to fulfill your dream with minimum outlay.

Improve Your Credit Score

Your credit score tells your lender how much of a credit risk you are. The interest rate on your loan rises when your credit score is low. Make sure you pay bills on time, keep unpaid balances on cards low and pay off long standing outstandings well before you apply for the home loan. These acts will boost your credit score so that the lender can see you are credit worthy.

Foreclosed Homes are a Bargain

During the recession, several home owners were unable to repay their mortgages and were forced to foreclose on their homes. Such homes will typically sell for prices that are much lower than prevailing market prices because both the lender and the home owner want to recover as much money as possible from the asset as quickly as possible.

You can simply take a walk through the neighborhood where you want to buy a home and look for homes with “Foreclosed” signs on the lawn. A local real estate agent should also have a list of foreclosed properties for you choose from.

Hire an Agent

Experienced real estate agents have a good number of links with agents and lenders in many locations. These links ensure that your agent will be aware of both sellers as well as home owners who cannot afford to fully pay off their home loans. Also, an agent will have a good idea of existing prices in different localities and he can negotiate the best rates for you.

Most home owners find that the money they save in their agent-enabled home purchase far exceeds what they pay to hire him/ her. Of course, making sure that you find an honest, experienced agent is a basic criterion for this.

How Filing for Foreclosure Will Affect Your Credit Rating

Foreclosing on your home can be an emotionally difficult experience. What makes it worse is that the foreclosure will also damage your credit rating. The event will influence future lenders strongly and can have a long lasting effect on your finances. [Read more…]

Government Programs to Prevent Foreclosure Rejected by Major Banks

During the economic boom, many banks had given mortgage loans without checking the ability of the borrowers to pay the loan back. As a result, many Americans are stuck with huge mortgage debts that they cannot pay and face the threat of foreclosure.

In order to help people deal with their underwater mortgages, the government has come up with many schemes such as buying mortgage backed securities and launching debt consolidation programs for mortgages. One such scheme is mortgage modification through reduction of the principal amount of mortgages. [Read more…]

When to Opt for a Voluntary Foreclosure

Earlier people used to do everything to save their house from being foreclosed by the banks. But with the recent collapse of the housing market, a lot has changed. Many people who had bought homes without paying any deposit of their own ended up having no equity in their house and their financial situation just keeps getting worse. In many such situations, people are left with no option, but to foreclose their house. [Read more…]

Is it Unethical to Walk Away from Your Mortgage?

Voluntary foreclosure, often referred to as walking away from the mortgage, has been called unethical and ruthless by some people in the financial industry. What the industry does not seem to realize is that most people who have to walk away from the mortgage do not have a choice as they are in severe financial distress. [Read more…]

HARP Government Programs for Saving Your House from Foreclosure

Many people are finding it hard to refinance their mortgage loans, as their mortgage balance is already significantly more than that of the property. If you land up in such a situation, then you can consider two government programs under the Making Home Affordable Scheme – HARP (Home Affordable Refinance Program) and HAMP (Home Affordable Modification Program). [Read more…]

Government Foreclosure Prevention Measures Changes Announced

In a bid to keep homeowners in their homes even if they are unable to meet repayments, the Obama government had unveiled foreclosure prevention measures a few months back. The expectation was that once the housing market is given a helping hand to stabilize, by preventing foreclosures and supporting homeowners, it would help the economy regain its footing too.

However, it appears as though the government’s foreclosure prevention measures will not achieve the targets originally set. [Read more…]

Bank of America Announces Loan Forgiveness Plan

Bank of America has announced that it will start forgiving some portion of home loans of borrowers who have underwater mortgages. The company said that the scheme would allow borrowers to save their home from going into foreclosure. [Read more…]

If You’re Facing Foreclosure Learn How to Use a Mortgage Audit to Reduce Debt

Borrowers facing foreclosure because of default on payments can use mortgage audit as a means of getting their mortgage terms softened. However, there are drastically differing views on whether this tactic will actually work. [Read more…]

170,000 Get Mortgage Modifications Under Foreclosure Prevention Program

Government’s foreclosure prevention program has been successful in providing permanent aid in the form of mortgage modifications to 170,000 distressed home owners. Another 91,800 homeowners’ permanent modification applications have been approved by lenders and will come in effect upon the borrower’s acceptance. This will up the tally of total number of people receiving permanent aids under the program to more than 250,000. [Read more…]

How To Stop a Foreclosure

Who wants to lose their home? I guess no one except maybe George Bush now that the White House is about to be occupied by some other guy from Illinois. After years of toil to realize the dream of living in one’s own home, it is my bet that one would do all practically possible to make sure they keep it. [Read more…]

Mortgage Foreclosure Help

Loan modification process is often sought by homeowners who wish to stop foreclosure of their mortgage loan. This has been common problem for many people who eagerly agreed to take up the loan, mortgaging their property. When they actually missed paying back the loans, the bank makes an intervention and decides to foreclose the loan by selling the property. [Read more…]

Mortgage Foreclosure Loan Modification

Troubled homeowners start thinking about stop foreclosure and loan modification when they are at the last stage where they have no more funds to repay the loan to the bank. Although the problem was quite expected, yet homeowners tend to ignore it at the earliest stage, instead of taking precautions and end up in an embarrassing situation. [Read more…]