Mortgage Rate Instability

There is a lot happening in the mortgage industry today. This week U.S. mortgage rates edged slightly higher, veering away from all time lows that have held precedent lately. Total Mortgage Services wrote a great article on the rising mortgage rates and the article proves to be a great read for anyone interested in the mortgage industry. At the same time, Europe faces a large amount of economic instability, causing the mortgage industry to take a step back and be more cautious about writing loans. Bloomberg's report on the U.K. mortgage economy describes what is happening very well.
To sum up the two articles, mortgage rates in the united states are beginning to see an increase from their all time lows recently experience. Rates are increasing as lenders begin to see a recovery in the housing market. This recovery has been stimulated vigorously by low mortgage rates, as well as a loss of confidence in the stock market due to European woes. People are flocking to houses as an investment as opposed to keeping their money locked up on the stock market. This is a great sign for the mortgage and housing industry as it signals a return in confidence not seen since the crash of the housing market in 2008. But with rates increasing and still more economic distress to come, what is the best move to make?
Clearly in England for the banks the best move to make involves cutting the number of mortgage loans written. In the article by Bloomberg, the number of approved mortgage loans fell by 18% this past month. That number is staggering and comes on the tails of weak economic numbers and an overall negative outlook of the Eurozone economy. Clearly lenders in Europe foresee some turmoil in the housing market and have decreased their risk by writing less mortgage loans.
As for an individual living in the United States, rates are extremely low, housing prices still have not recovered fully, and the stock market is volatile. If you have the ability to invest in housing, now is the time to do it before the credit markets tighten up and the rates increase. There are many types of mortgage loans out their to satisfy any investment needs so really consider giving a housing investment a thorough look right now. I will inform you in another daily post if the situation changes.

Remember to visit Swirv Facebook and Swirv Google+

Blog Directory

Flipping A House

Flipping a house is the process by which an investor purchases a house with the money obtained from a low interest mortgage loan, then subsequently sells the house quickly for a profit and repays the mortgage loan before taxes and interest accumulate. Flipping houses caused the mortgage failure of 2007 through 2008 due to the high number of mortgage loans being written to unqualified investors in hopes that they could make profits flipping houses.
Basically mortgage companies got greedy. Instead of writing safe stable loans to people interested in buying homes for the purpose of living in them and paying down the mortgage, they came up with all types of fancy loan modifications so that no money was needed as a down payment on the house. This caused a flurry of investment into houses, driving up the housing prices and generating a large amount of money for everyone involved. The problem came when the only people that were buying houses were people investing money into house flipping. This drove the price up so much it wasn't worth it for people to purchase homes to live in because they were overpriced. When millions of mortgage loans by investors were defaulted on, the mortgage industry collapsed. And thus the mortgage meltdown.
Now is flipping a house entirely bad? No. There is money to be made in the real estate market and right about now with the impending stock market crash due to the European crisis, right now might be the perfect time to invest your money in houses. With the economy slowing down there will be more demand for rental residences and the concurrent receding of the housing market and the stock market will not be equal. The housing market will decline much less than the stock market, strictly because it was already battered so heavily and has not recovered like the stock market has. So my advice to you? Use all your money to buy up cheap houses and convert them into rentals for a couple of years to pay off the mortgage payments, then flip them for some real money in a year or two. It will definitely be worth it.

Mortgage Lenders - Banks and Brokers

To understand fully the system of obtaining a mortgage loan we must look at the two sources in which mortgage loans are originated. The two ways in which a perspective home buyer can borrow money come either from a bank, where naturally money is stored and doled out in a secure manner, or a mortgage broker, whom specialize in providing loans designed to use houses as collateral for the money being loaned. Both are viable options for people considering the purchase of a home, they both have positives and negatives which will be described below.

Taking out a mortgage loan from a bank for generations has been a great way to finance the purchase of your new house. Banks have large amounts of funds to dip into when you go to them seeking a home loan. They are regulated by the government and most likely can give you a lower interest rate on the money that you need to borrow. The problem with banks is that their intense network of financial transactions means that your mortgage to the bank is just another number on their balance sheets. Although smaller banks will provide a higher level of service than mega-banks, their commitment to you as a customer is relatively based solely on bills and payments. This can play a problem when a financial problem arises and you need highly knowledgeable and caring support to help you maintain the ability to repay the loan and keep your house. So although the rate might be lower the level of service most likely will also be lower.

Getting that same mortgage from a licensed mortgage broker has its own benefits and drawbacks. A mortgage broker needs to gain funds from investors or banks for each individual loan it writes. This means that the rate they can loan you the money at will be based on the rate at which they have the money loaned to them. Although the rates aren't too much higher, they probably will not be as low as if you originated the mortgage directly from the bank. The huge benefit that comes from taking out a mortgage with a licensed broker comes from the much higher level of service they will provide throughout the duration of the loan as well as the incentives they will give you in order to entice you to do business with them which often includes lower closing fees and no penalties for paying down the principle early. Also in a time of financial woes a mortgage broker would be much more willing to work with you as a customer in order to help you continue to repay the loan and interest on that loan. If you default on your loan it is much more of a burden to a mortgage broker because they need to repay the loans they took out to finance your loan. So basically a mortgage broker provides more service than a bank and is more willing to work with you in order to prevent foreclosure, but the interest rate on the loan will be slightly higher.

Overall both banks and brokers are good sources of mortgages, it really depends on your individual situation, financial security, and future plans. For example if you have a very secure job which pays well and have a decent nest egg to make sure if anything goes wrong you have a back up plan then using a bank to secure a mortgage loan would probably be the better decision. If you have some misgivings about your job security and don't have too much leeway with your savings then finding a mortgage broker to guide you through how much money you can borrow and how easily you can repay that loan would be a better idea. The best option always when making a huge financial decision such as purchasing a new home involves shopping around and learning as much as possible in order to make the most educated choice.