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| Preface | |
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| Mortgage Fundamentals | |
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| Introduction to Mortgages | |
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| What's the difference between buying and renting? | |
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| How do I know if it's better to buy a home or continue renting? | |
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| How should I search for a house? | |
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| When is a good time to buy a home? | |
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| What's the difference between being prequalified and preapproved? | |
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| What is the preapproval process? | |
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| What are loan conditions? | |
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| What are Automated Underwriting Systems? | |
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| Who uses Automated Underwriting Systems? | |
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| If an Automated Underwriting System approves me, does that mean I get the loan? | |
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| What are the benefits of getting preapproved? | |
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| What are all these terms? | |
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| Who are the key people in a typical loan approval process? | |
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| What is the 1003? | |
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| What are the ten sections of the 1003? | |
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| What happens if the information you put on your application is wrong? | |
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| What happens after I fill out the 1003? | |
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| Are online applications the same as the five-page 1003? | |
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| Is an online application safe? Can someone steal my identity? | |
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| What happens after I make an offer for a house? | |
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| How to Know How Much Home to Buy | |
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| How do I know how much I can borrow? | |
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| What are debt ratios? | |
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| How do I calculate my debt ratios? | |
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| How much do debt ratios affect how much I can borrow? | |
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| How can lenders approve people with high debt ratios? | |
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| Why do lenders use monthly tax and insurance payments in debt ratios? | |
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| Why is escrow a requirement for loans with less than 20 percent down? | |
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| If I have a choice, are escrows right for me? | |
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| Getting Your Finances Together | |
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| What will the lender look for when looking at my assets? | |
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| How do I document my assets? | |
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| How do I document my income? | |
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| If I just got my first job, how can I provide a W-2 from last year? | |
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| What do you mean by how you're paid? | |
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| Why do lenders ask for the most recent 30-day paycheck stubs? | |
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| If I get paid in cash, how do I document that? | |
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| How do I calculate hourly wages? | |
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| How do I calculate overtime? | |
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| How are bonuses used to figure my income? | |
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| How do I figure my income if it is based solely on commissions? | |
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| How do I calculate my pay if I have both a salary and a bonus or a commission? | |
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| If I can deduct a lot of expenses from my income taxes, does that help gross monthly income? | |
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| How do I show expenses on my loan application? | |
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| How do I calculate my dividends and interest income? | |
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| How do I calculate my income if I own my own business? | |
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| Down Payments and How They Impact Your Mortgage | |
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| What exactly is a down payment? | |
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| What are the risk elements? | |
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| How do I know how much to improve another risk element? | |
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| What kinds of accounts can I use to fund the down payment? | |
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| Can I borrow against my retirement account? | |
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| Can my family help me out with a down payment? | |
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| What do I do if I don't have a down payment saved? | |
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| What is a seller assisted DPAP? | |
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| How do I know if I qualify for a down payment assistance program? | |
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| Is there an ideal amount I should put down on a home? | |
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| How much is a mortgage insurance policy? | |
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| Can I deduct mortgage insurance from my income taxes? | |
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| Can I borrow my mortgage insurance? | |
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| Will PMI come off of my mortgage automatically? | |
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| What about zero money down loans? | |
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| What is the My Community Mortgage? | |
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| How do I buy a house if I need to sell my house for my down payment? | |
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| Will I have to qualify with two mortgages? | |
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| Getting Your Credit Together | |
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| What exactly is credit? | |
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| How were credit bureaus established? | |
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| What's in my credit report? | |
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| What's not in my credit report? | |
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| What's the difference between a Chapter 7 and a Chapter 13? | |
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| Do lenders view a Chapter 7 or a Chapter 13 more favorably when reviewing a mortgage application? | |
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| What's the difference between good and bad credit? | |
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| How do I establish good credit? | |
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| I've got great credit. How do I keep it that way? | |
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| I cosigned on my brother's car, but he's making the payments. Will this affect my credit? | |
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| What should I do first to improve my credit? | |
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| What happens if you find a mistake on your report? | |
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| Can't I write a letter explaining my side of the story to the credit bureaus? | |
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| Can my lender help fix mistakes in my credit history? | |
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| What do I need in order to prove something is a mistake on my credit report? | |
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| What about mortgage companies that advertise bad credit, no credit okay? | |
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| What about a cosigner? | |
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| Can a seller ask for a copy of my credit report? | |
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| What is alternate credit? | |
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| I have bad credit and was contacted by a credit counseling company that wants to help reestablish my credit. Can they do that? | |
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| Can I erase my old credit report completely and start all over again? | |
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| I have great credit, but my spouse has terrible credit. What do I do? | |
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| My ex has screwed up my credit. What do I do? | |
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| How will lenders view our credit report if we're not married? | |
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| How long do I have to wait in order to get approved for a mortgage if I declared bankruptcy in the past? | |
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| I filed a Chapter 13 bankruptcy and I'm still making the payments. Can I get a mortgage now? | |
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| Credit Scores: What They Are, How They Work, and How to Improve Them | |
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| What are credit scores? | |
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| What makes up a score? | |
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| What things in my payment history affect my credit score? | |
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| What about my amounts owed? What is most important? | |
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| How do I find out what my score is? | |
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| How do I get a credit score? | |
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| What is the minimum credit score I need to qualify for a mortgage loan? | |
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| What if my lender told me I couldn't qualify because my credit score was too low? | |
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| How do I know how much to charge and how much to pay off? | |
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| What else affects my credit score? | |
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| How can I increase my available credit without opening up new accounts? | |
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| I've applied at more than one mortgage company. Will all those credit inquiries hurt my score? | |
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| How do I fix scores that are artificially low due to mistakes? | |
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| If there are several mistakes on my report, do I get them all corrected? How do I know which ones to correct? | |
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| I'm a single parent and a minority. Does this status help or hurt my credit score? | |
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| How do lenders choose which credit scores to use? | |
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| I have great credit scores, but my spouse has low credit scores. What happens? | |
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| The Right Mortgage | |
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| Finding Your Home Loan | |
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| What kinds of loans are there? | |
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| When would I want a fixed rate? | |
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| When would I want an adjustable rate? | |
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| How do adjustable rate mortgages work? | |
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| Are ARMs only helpful in the very near term? | |
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| What exactly is a hybrid loan? | |
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| What's a balloon mortgage? | |
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| What is a buydown? | |
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| Apart from choosing fixed or adjustable rates, what types of loan programs should I consider? | |
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| How are limits on conventional loans set? | |
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| Who or what are Fannie and Freddie? | |
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| What are special commitments? | |
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| What exactly is a jumbo mortgage? | |
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| Can I prepay my mortgage or pay it off early? | |
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| What are prepayment penalties? | |
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| Why do lenders have prepayment penalties on some of their loans? | |
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| What are VA loans? How do you get them? | |
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| Who's eligible for a VA loan? | |
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| What is a VA entitlement? | |
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| How often can I use my VA eligibility? | |
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| What is a VA streamline refinance? | |
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| Do states have VA loan programs, too? | |
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| What about FHA loans? | |
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| Who sets FHA loan limits and how much are they? | |
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| Is FHA only for first-time home buyers? | |
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| When do I choose an FHA loan instead of any other? | |
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| Can I use a coborrower to help me qualify for an FHA loans? | |
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| Does FHA help me save money on closing costs? | |
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| What about first-time home buyer loans? | |
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| What does portfolio lending mean? | |
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| What's the difference between second homes and rental property? | |
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| How does the lender know that a property is a second home and not a rental unit? | |
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| Can I use rental income to qualify for a mortgage? | |
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| Are loan limits for rental properties the same as for primary residences? | |
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| What is an interest-only loan? | |
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| What is a negative amortization loan? | |
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| What is a payment option ARM? | |
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| What about seller financing? | |
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| How can I rent-to-own or use a lease-purchase to buy a house? | |
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| What's a wraparound mortgage? | |
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| What is a biweekly loan program? | |
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| What is alternative or Alt lending? | |
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| Loans for Good to Great Credit | |
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| What should I look for in a mortgage loan? | |
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| So everyone should first try for a conventional loan? | |
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| What if my loan isn't a Fannie loan? What if it's a jumbo or a portfolio? | |
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| Then how do I manage to find the loan that's right for me? | |
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| Should I always try to put as much down as I can? | |
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| Do I have a choice in my loan term? | |
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| Why are payments higher on a 15-year loan even though the rate is lower? | |
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| Won't my loan officer help me find the right mortgage? | |
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| What if I can't provide parts of the documentation for the loan? | |
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| Why wouldn't I just apply for a NINA with no job and forget about all the other hassles of pay stubs and W-2s? | |
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| Why would I ever want to apply for any of those loans? | |
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| Does the type of property affect the kind of loan I can have? | |
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| What types of property can I expect problems with? | |
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| Loans for People with Impaired or Damaged Credit | |
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| My credit's not so good. Where do I get a mortgage for my situation? | |
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| Do I have to put more down with a subprime loan? | |
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| What's the matter with subprime loans? | |
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| What kind of interest rates can I expect from a subprime loan? | |
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| What about prepayment penalties on subprime loans? | |
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| How can a hybrid adjust after two years? | |
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| Aren't subprime loans more expensive? | |
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| Should I just wait until my credit gets better and apply later? | |
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| What if the rates are higher when I go to refinance a subprime loan? | |
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| What is a predatory loan? | |
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| Don't some lenders make a loan hoping they can foreclose on it? | |
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| What's the difference between subprime and predatory? | |
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| Are subprime loans harder to qualify for now because of past problems in the industry? | |
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| Refinancing and Home Equity Loans | |
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| Why would I want to refinance my mortgage? | |
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| Should I wait until the interest rate is 2 percent lower than my current one to refinance? | |
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| What is my rescission period? | |
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| How long should I wait to recover closing costs? | |
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| Do I have to close my loan within thirty days, or can I wait to see if rates drop further? | |
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| Why are there fees on a refinance? | |
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| Should I pay points for a refinance? | |
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| What about reducing my interest rate and also reducing my loan term? | |
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| Why not just pay extra each month instead of refinancing? | |
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| What's a cash-out mortgage? | |
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| How do I get money out of my property without refinancing? | |
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| How do I refinance if I have both a first and a second mortgage? | |
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| Which is better, a cash-out refinance or a HELOC? | |
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| Why is my loan payoff higher than my principal balance? | |
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| My credit has been damaged since I bought the house. Will that hurt me? | |
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| How do I get a note modification? | |
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| What is a recast of my mortgage? | |
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| I've heard of a modifiable mortgage. What's that? | |
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| What happens when my loan is sold? | |
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| What's a reverse mortgage? | |
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| Who qualifies for a reverse mortgage? | |
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| How much can I get with a reverse mortgage? | |
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| Why not do a cash-out refinance instead of a reverse mortgage? | |
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| Are the closing costs the same for a reverse mortgage as with a regular mortgage? | |
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| What are the rates for reverse mortgages? | |
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| I have a current mortgage on my house. Do I get to keep that? | |
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| How do I know if a reverse mortgage is right for me? | |
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| Construction and Home Improvement Loans | |
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| Why would I want to build a home? Why can't I just go out and buy one? | |
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| How do construction loans work? | |
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| Do I buy a home from a developer, or is it better to start from scratch? | |
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| How do I get approved for a construction loan? | |
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| How much do I need for a construction loan? | |
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| Does the lender approve my builder? | |
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| How does the mortgage lender know what the house is worth before it's built? | |
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| What if I already own the land? Do I still include that amount in the construction loan? | |
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| But what if I don't want a permanent mortgage, but just a construction loan? | |
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| What choices do I have for construction loans? | |
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| Is a one-time close better than a two-time close? | |
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| What if rates drop during my one-time close loan? | |
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| What if my builder is financing the construction? | |
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| Do I have to use the builder's mortgage company? | |
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| What are my options if I just want to build onto my current house? | |
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| How can I borrow enough to make major improvements on my home? | |
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| What is an FHA 203(k) loan? | |
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| The Right Lender and Rate | |
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| Finding the Best Lender | |
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| I've decided on my loan. Now what? | |
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| How do I find the best lender? | |
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| But where do I get the names of all these lenders in the first place? | |
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| How do I know if I can trust these lenders? | |
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| Should I use my real estate agent's mortgage company? | |
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| I thought all money came from the bank. Doesn't it? | |
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| What is a mortgage broker? | |
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| Are mortgage brokers more expensive? | |
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| Why do mortgage companies use mortgage brokers? | |
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| How do mortgage brokers get paid? | |
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| How many lenders do mortgage brokers use? | |
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| Will the broker keep my lender a secret? | |
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| Is a mortgage broker my best choice? | |
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| Should I choose a broker or a banker? | |
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| What happens if I want to change lenders in the middle of my loan process? | |
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| Finding the Best Loan Officer | |
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| How do I find the best loan officer? | |
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| How do I know if the loan officers my real estate agent suggests are any good? | |
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| What if my agent is not a heavy hitter? | |
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| Do the best loan officers work with the biggest lenders? | |
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| What questions should I ask a potential loan officer? | |
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| How do loan officers get trained? | |
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| What training or courses do loan officers take? | |
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| How do loan officers get paid? | |
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| What are market gains? | |
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| Are market gains legal? | |
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| Do all loan officers charge one percent on every loan? | |
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| My loan officer isn't any good. Can I change loan officers? | |
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| Where do I complain about my loan officer? | |
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| Finding the Best Interest Rate | |
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| Who sets mortgage rates? | |
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| How does my loan officer quote rates? | |
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| But doesn't the Fed set interest rates? | |
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| Are mortgage rates tied to the 30-year treasury and the 10-year treasury? | |
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| Who invests in bonds? | |
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| Where are rates headed? | |
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| What types of economic reports should I pay attention to? | |
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| Do I follow all of the economic reports? | |
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| When is the best time to get a rate quote? | |
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| Can I trust the interest rates in the newspaper? | |
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| Why are some lenders so much lower than everyone else? | |
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| How do I get a good rate quote from all my competing lenders? | |
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| What do I do with my two best quotes? | |
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| How do I lock in my mortgage rate? | |
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| Does my lock mean I'm approved? | |
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| What happens if my rate lock expires and I still haven't closed my loan? | |
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| What happens if I lock and rates go down? | |
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| Will lenders drag their feet to make a lock expire? | |
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| Closing Costs and How to Save on Them | |
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| What types of closing costs can I expect? | |
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| Why are there so many charges? | |
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| Why do lenders charge fees? | |
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| On which closing costs can I save and which ones can I forget about? | |
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| Are fees for purchases and refinances the same? | |
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| How can I save on my appraisal fees? | |
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| How can I save on my credit report? | |
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| How can I save on title insurance? | |
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| What exactly is the good faith estimate? | |
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| How do I use a good faith estimate to compare lenders? | |
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| What is APR, and does it really work? | |
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| How can I get the seller to pay for my closing costs? | |
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| What's a one-fee closing cost? | |
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| Can a lender pay all my fees? | |
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| The Internet and Mortgages | |
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| How has the Internet helped mortgage lending? | |
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| Should I apply for a mortgage online or meet with a loan officer? | |
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| How can I use the Internet to find the best mortgage rate? | |
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| What about online companies that advertise they will have lenders bid on my mortgage loan? | |
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| What happens if I choose an online lender but the closing papers are all wrong? | |
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| Should I avoid online lenders? | |
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| I keep getting e-mails from companies with some very competitive offers. Shouldn't I at least explore them? | |
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| Can I get my loan approval online? | |
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| Is there any way I can check on rates without contacting a lender? | |
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| Can I track my loan approval online? | |
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| What are some good Web sites consumers can use to help them? | |
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| Appendix: Monthly Payment Schedules | |
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| Glossary | |
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| Index | |