Understanding Home Equity Loans And How Pursuing One Can Assist September 1, 2008
Posted by janey in : equity home loans , comments closedWhile cash-strapped homeowners seek home ownership related tips as they struggle to make ends meet, our real estate has seemingly morphed into the local bank. We can tap into our home equity for everything from cars to vacations to college funds. Though tapping into your home’s value is one of the smartest ways to borrow money, there are still drawbacks.
Leaning on Your Home Equity
Drawing on your home’s equity is often suggested by financial advisers who show that the tax-free interest you pay on a home loan is much lower than what you’d pay on mounting credit card or consumer debt. However, it’s possible to overdo it.
While there’s no law that says you have to pay off your mortgage before your retirement, it’s not always pleasant being left with home equity debt once you’ve stopped working. On the other hand, if you retire with a healthy nest egg and lots of home equity, you’ll limit your major expenses and have cash to fall back on.
Planning Your Strategy
The best way to access home loan financing while still retaining your retirement savings is to time the loan appropriately. Basically, you want to tailor the loan’s end date to coincide with your expected retirement. You can shorten a loan’s length significantly simply by adding $100 or $200 to your monthly payments.
Extra payments can also mean major returns. For example, let’s say you take out a home equity loan with a 7 percent interest rate and you’re in the 27 percent income-tax bracket. After you figure in your mortgage-tax deduction, you’ll still bring in a 5.11 percent return just by making extra principal payments.
On top of added returns and despite rising interest rates and retirement risks, home equity loans are still more advantageous than other forms of credit. They offer quick access to funds at a cost that’s at least 5 percent less than a traditional low-interest credit card. In addition, that interest is often tax-deductible.
Give Your Home Enough Time
Before you commit to a home equity loan, you ideally want to have owned your home long enough to build up equity, not be planning to move soon, have a stable employment situation and actually need the money that a home equity loan can give you. You definitely do not want to add more financial stress to your life with unwise moves and consequently increase your risk of foreclosure.
If you’re using the funds to pay off credit card debt, don’t let your consumer debt run back up during the ten or so years it will take you to pay back your equity loan.
Finally, make sure you can afford the monthly payments. Any borrowing, especially on a home, needs to be part of a total household plan and worked within your family’s budget.
Mortgage Rate Predictions Still Going Just One Way August 24, 2008
Posted by janey in : equity home loans , comments closedMortgage rates predictions have headed steadily upward over the past year, because a number of important factors which influence interest rate predictions are pulling in the same direction at this time. Rising inflation always increases mortgage rate predictions, as does a credit squeeze like the current one, and of course the rising risk of foreclosurea and subsequent write-downs of house values.
The falling US dollar will also put more upward pressure on mortgage rates predictions. This will happen directly, as the government seeks to encourage investment capital to remain in the US, and indirectly, as the rising cost of imported goods feeds into inflation. Higher inflation rates increase mortgage rates predictions because inflation is passed on to borrowers. Lenders won’t carry that loss of value in their cash.
July’s figures have highlighted the impact of the current housing crisis on mortgage rates predictions. Whlie it began as a sub-prime mortgage crisis, it has now spread to the wider economy. Even responsible mortgages with a 20% down payment have turned upside down, as house prices in some parts of the country drop 30% or more, virtually overnight.
More than 77,000 repossessions were carried out in July 2008. Foreclosure filings were 50% higher than in the same month in 2007. More than 272,000 homes received at least one foreclosure-related notice in July - that is one in every 464 US households, or more than half a percent of all homes.
Having a large number of homes around in foreclosure and pre-foreclosure makes it increasingly difficult to sell homes for their full appraised value. Many buyers know there are bargains to be had, and simply don’t make offers on homes at full price.
Bargain-hunting behavior, while understandable, further destabilises the market and increases the security risk across all loans. If sales are not happening at appraised valuations, then all property offered as security is potentially worth far less than its book value, at lesat for now.
This situation makes the risk managers in lending organisations twitch with anxiety, and they will be advising higher interest rates for mortgages across the board until the real estate market stabilises. Therefore, mortgage rates predictions are headed upward even further.
Mortgage rates predictions can be complex, because many different economic factors influence interest rates predictions. Right now, though, all the conflicting economic factors influencing mortgage rates predictions are aligned. We can confidently say that mortgage rates predictions are heading upward for the next few months, and possibly even the next few years.
