Mortgages…if you are planning to purchase or refinance your home you should be very careful about the home loan you select. There are many gimmick loans on the market today like “interest only loans” and “negative amortization loans” which help people buy over priced property by the skin of their teeth. Having been a loan officer for a number of years in the past, I have often wondered why people just don’t stick to the traditional “30-year mortgage” and buy (or refinance) what they can afford. If you plan on buying or refinancing a home consider the following… In my mind, a 30-year fixed rate loan is better than a 15-fixed rate loan and here’s why… you have a lower monthly payment with a 30-year loan than a 15-year loan. What if something happens to your income?

Sure, you can pay a 15-year mortgage off faster but you have a higher house payment strapped to your back and if ANYTHING causes a reduction in your income you may find yourself hard pressed to make the house payment. Few people realize that you can pay off a 30-year loan in about 15-years by making 1 or 2 “principal only payments” on a 30-year loan each year. The key is that you decide whether you can afford to make those additional principal payments rather than being obligated to higher monthly payments under a 15-year loan. You may pay a slightly higher rate on a 30-year loan but the comfort level and flexibility of a 30-year loan may be worth it. Adjustable rate loans (ARM’S) are risky business and tend to “adjust up” over time. They say “whatever goes up must come down” and with interest rate you can pretty much bet that “whatever goes down must go up”. Here are a few tips for people who are planning on buying or refinancing a home:

1. Thinking about refinancing? You typically want to see a 2% improvement from your current interest rate and the proposed “new rate”. When you add up the costs of refinancing as well as the time and hassle associated with the process, you may find a refinancing doesn’t make a lot of economic sense with a spread lower then 2%.

2. Find your break-even point by taking the total costs of refinancing (divided by) the projected monthly savings under the new rate. Doing so will tell you how many months it will take to get your money back!

3. How long you plan to own the property is important. Rule of thumb: If you plan on owning the property for less then 5 years, a refinancing may or may not make sense. Only you and the numbers can tell!

A “Discount point” is 1% of the amount of money you are borrowing and is paid to a lender to secure a lower interest rate on a mortgage. Many people want to pay “points” to get a lower rate. But, are you really getting a lower rate? When you pay discount points you are basically pre-paying the lender interest 15 or 30 years in advance! You are handing over “real dollars” for an intangible “interest rate” that will result in a lower monthly payment…the more important question is will you live in the property for 15 or 30 years? If not, why prepay the interest? Hint: Zero point home loans often make the most sense.

Another cool tip if you have equity in your home and need to purchase a large ticket item like a car… it may make sense to refinance the house and roll the car purchase up in the new mortgage. In this way you spread the cost of your car over the life of the loan, avoid the high interest car loan with whatever tax advantages you may have resulting from your mortgage deductions.

Copyright © 2006
James W. Hart, IV
All Rights reserved

James W. Hart, IV, a consumer advocate and CEO of Smart Books Publishing http://www.smart67.com has been involved in the field of residential and commercial real estate mortgage financing since 1987. Hart, previously licensed to engage in the sale of real estate in the state of Ohio, has been directly involved in the origination of residential and commercial mortgage financing and has worked with residential and commercial mortgage lenders, large commercial mortgage banking firms and life insurance companies for financing. Hart is an honorably discharged veteran of the U.S. Army, graduate of the University of Toledo and graduate of the Cleveland Institute of electronics. He is a member of the National Panel of Consumer Arbitrators and the Council of Better Business Bureaus, Inc. During 1992/93 Mr. Hart appeared on a number of radio and TV stations throughout the U.S. including WJR-AM, WWWE-AM, WHUR-FM, WRC-AM, WLW-AM, WTVN-AM, WSPD-AM, KDKA-AM, KBGS-AM and CNBC-TV and many others…