This week, investors and traders are saying that the economy won’t gain as much momentum as they had previously estimated.  So for now, low short term finance rates are expected to continue!

The Economic Agenda for this Week:

            Tuesday

                8:30 - Nov Trade Deficit (-$34.5B frm -$32.9B in Oct)

                1:00 - $40B 3 yr note auction

           Wednesday

                7:00 - weekly MBA mortgage applications

                1:00 - $21B 10 yr note auction

                2:00 - Fed’s Beige Book—report on the economy

           Thursday

                8:30 - Weekly jobless claims (-1K to 433K, continuing claims -2K)

                       Dec retail sales (+0.5%, ex auto sales +0.3%)

                       Dec export and import prices (N/A)

               10:00 - Nov Business Inventories (+0.2%)

               1:00 - $13B 30 yr bond auction

           Friday

               8:30 - Dec CPI (+0.2%, ex food and energy +0.1%)

                      Jan NY Empire State manufacturing index (11.25 frm 2.55; any read over zero is expansion)

               9:15 - Dec industrial production (+0.6%)

                      Dec capacity utilization (71.8% frm 71.3% in Nov)

               9:55 – U. of Michigan mid-month consumer sentiment index (73.8 frm 72.5 at the end of Dec)

One Additional Mortgage Payment a Year

There’s a simple trick to significantly reduce the length of your mortgage and save you thousands of dollars. The trick is to make one extra mortgage payment a year and apply that payment toward your loan’s principal.

This is the method being used by “Bi-Weekly Mortgage Reduction Services” and “Bi-Weekly Mortgage Savings Programs“. Only, when you do it yourself, you don’t pay a third party unnecessary set-up costs and fees!

Example: $100,000 loan, 30-year mortgage, 6.5% fixed interest rate

One-time Payment

It may not be possible for you to increase your monthly mortgage payment. Keep in mind that most mortgages will permit you to make additional payments to your principal at anytime. Perhaps, five-years after moving into your home you receive a larger than expected tax return, or an inheritance or a non-taxable cash gift.  You could apply this money toward your loan’s principal, resulting in significant savings and a shorter loan period.

Example:

With a $100,000, 30-year, 6.5% fixed interest rate mortgage loan, the borrower will pay a total of $227,542.98 to pay back the loan in 30 years. That equals $127,542.98 in interest payments.

If the same borrower makes a one-time $5,000 payment the first day of year 6, he/she will pay a total of $204,710.75 and pay off the loan in 27 years (324 months). That’s a savings of $22,832.23 in interest.

If the last time you looked at your mortgage was when you closed on your loan, it’s time to take it out for an annual once over. New loan programs and opportunities to leverage your home equity can bring you lower mortgage payments and new investment opportunities.

Is a fixed rate mortgage the best choice for you?

Many of us opt for the certainty of a 20 year or 30 year fixed rate mortgage when we get our first mortgage. If you anticipate selling your home within the next 10 years, one of our new hybrid loans may be a better financial fit for you. Hybrid loans typically have a lower fixed rate than a traditional 20 or 30 year mortgage. The savings you receive can well be worth switching to a hybrid loan.

Are you paying for Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI)?

There are a lot of new loan programs available that can help you eliminate PMI, even if you have less than 20% equity in your home. The monthly savings adds up quickly.  This money can be put to better use to help you achieve other short-term and long-term financial goals.

Are your taxes and insurance up to date?

Even though your mortgage servicer is responsible for paying your taxes and insurance out of your escrow account, it just makes sense to periodically check to see that these payments are being made properly. While you’re at it, you’ll want to review your homeowner’s insurance policy. It’s a good idea to review your policy every two to three years to make sure it covers recent home improvements, replacement costs for the contents of your home, and that its reconstruction coverage is keeping pace with inflation.

Do you have a Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) for emergencies?

Many homeowners are making the proactive choice to secure a Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) for emergencies.  A HELOC is a revolving line of credit that only charges interest when you actually draw money from the line of credit. As you repay the balance of the draw, the credit becomes available again. Securing a HELOC in advance can be a great help if you’re ever laid off or have an unexpected medical or other emergency.

How’s your credit report?

The information in your credit report has a huge impact on whether or not you will again qualify for a mortgage loan.  That’s why it’s important to periodically check your credit report.

Now it’s even easy to do so. A recent amendment to the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) mandates that each credit reporting company provide you with a free copy of your credit report, at your request, once a year. To request your free credit report, visit http://www.annualcreditreport.com.  (Free reports are being phased in over a nine-month period, rolling from the west coast to the east beginning December 1, 2004.  By September 1, 2005, free reports will be accessible to all consumers.)

Are you making the most of your home’s equity?

With rising home prices, you may have more equity in your home than you realize.  Taking out a home equity loan to payoff credit card debt, car loans and other higher interest debts makes good financial sense.

Is it time to refinance?

The timing might be right to refinance your mortgage loan.  New rates may help you significantly lower your monthly payment. Or you might want to “cash out” some of the built-up equity in your home, which you can use to consolidate debt, improve your home, take a vacation – whatever! Perhaps by refinancing you can even pay off your mortgage sooner! 

We’ll work with you to determine if the timing is right to change your loan program, considering your cash on hand, how likely you are to sell your home in the near future, and what effect refinancing might have on your future plans.

Today homebuyers are in a unique position to combine the benefits of a fixed rate mortgage with the savings opportunities of an adjustable rate mortgage. With a hybrid loan (also called a fixed-period ARM or hybrid ARM) you get the best of both worlds.

A hybrid loan gives you a fixed rate term, usually three, five, seven or ten years, with adjustable rates thereafter. These loans are typically expressed as a 3/1, 5/1, 7/1 or 10/1 ARM. The first number represents the number of years the rates are fixed. The second number indicates the adjustment interval (how often the interest rate will change). For a 7/1 loan, the fixed period is seven years with annual interest rate adjustments thereafter.

The advantage of a hybrid loan is that it gives you a lower fixed rate mortgage than you’ll typically receive with a 30 year mortgage. This is often an attractive loan choice for borrowers who expect to be selling their home within the first 10 years. You’ll get the advantage of a lower fixed rate while you’re living in the home. And if your plans remain steady, the adjustable rate wouldn’t be due until after you plan to move.

Hybrid loans are also an attractive loan choice for borrowers who want an ARM, but feel the need for added interest rate protection during their first years in the home. 

Whether you plan to move within 10 years or you’d like the added rate protection a hybrid loan affords, we’ll be glad to help you find the best loan program to meet your needs.  We look forward to helping you!

With a fixed-rate loan, your monthly payment of principal and interest never change for the life of your loan. Your property taxes may go up (we almost said down, too!), and so might your homeowner’s insurance premium part of your monthly payment, but generally with a fixed-rate loan your payment will be very stable.

Fixed-rate loans are available in all sorts of shapes and sizes: 30-year, 20-year, 15-year, even 10-year. Some fixed-rate mortgages are called “biweekly” mortgages and shorten the life of your loan. You pay every two weeks, a total of 26 payments a year — which adds up to an “extra” monthly payment every year.

During the early amortization period of a fixed-rate loan, a large percentage of your monthly payment goes toward interest, and a much smaller part toward principal. That gradually reverses itself as the loan ages.

You might choose a fixed-rate loan if you want to lock in a low rate. If you have an Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM) now, refinancing with a fixed-rate loan can give you more monthly payment stability.

Adjustable Rate Mortgages — ARMs, as we called them above — come in even more varieties. Generally, ARMs determine what you must pay based on an outside index, perhaps the 6-month Certificate of Deposit (CD) rate, the one-year Treasury Security rate, the Federal Home Loan Bank’s 11th District Cost of Funds Index (COFI), or others. They may adjust every six months or once a year.

Most programs have a “cap” that protects you from your monthly payment going up too much at once. There may be a cap on how much your interest rate can go up in one period — say, no more than two percent per year, even if the underlying index goes up by more than two percent. You may have a “payment cap,” that instead of capping the interest rate directly caps the amount your monthly payment can go up in one period. In addition, almost all ARM programs have a “lifetime cap” — your interest rate can never exceed that cap amount, no matter what.

ARMs often have their lowest, most attractive rates at the beginning of the loan, and can guarantee that rate for anywhere from a month to ten years. You may hear people talking about or you may read about loans that are called “3/1 ARMs” or “5/1 ARMs” or the like. That means that the introductory rate is set for three or five years, and then adjusts according to an index every year thereafter for the life of the loan. Loans like this are often best for people who anticipate moving — and therefore selling the house to be mortgaged — within three or five years, depending on how long the lower rate will be in effect.

You might choose an ARM to take advantage of a lower introductory rate and count on either moving, refinancing again or simply absorbing the higher rate after the introductory rate goes up. With ARMs, you do risk your rate going up, but you also take advantage when rates go down by pocketing more money each month that would otherwise have gone toward your mortgage payment.