The Down Payment: Everything You Need to Know About Your Down Payment on a New Home

Whether you're just starting to shop for a new home or you've found the perfect house and are crafting your offer, if you're taking out a mortgage to help cover your real estate purchase you've likely given some thought to your down payment. In today's blog post we'll explore the topic of down payments and share how the amount you put down on your home will affect your mortgage. How Your Down Payment Affects Your Mortgage As you know, your mortgage is essentially a large long-term loan that is paid back with interest over a set time period. If you…
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Refinancing Your Mortgage: Understanding the Various Types of Refinancing

Whether you've been thinking about ways that you can draw on your home equity to fund a renovation project or you want to take advantage of low interest rates before they rise again, refinancing your mortgage is an excellent option. In today's blog post we'll introduce mortgage refinancing and discuss a few of the ways that you can use this tool to help accomplish your financial goals. Cash-In and Cash-Out Refinancing Many homeowners refinance their mortgage in order to take some of the home equity out for other purposes. In a "cash-out" refinancing, you take out a new mortgage loan…
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How to Use a Mortgage Calculator to Determine Your Monthly Payments, Interest and More

Are you thinking about using a mortgage to buy a new home? Buying your own piece of local real estate is a major financial investment and one that can require some pretty complex math to fully understand. In this blog post we'll discuss mortgage calculators and how to use one of these tools to determine your monthly mortgage payments, interest charges, amortization periods and more. Determining Your Principal and Down Payment Amounts To get started with a mortgage calculator you'll need to know how the price of the home and how much you intend to contribute as a down payment.…
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Did You Know That Your FICO Score Can Drastically Affect Your Mortgage? Here’s Why

Are you about to apply for a mortgage loan in order to buy a home? If so, you may be curious about your credit score and how this might impact your financing. Let's take a quick look at how FICO credit scores can affect your mortgage and share a couple of ways that you can boost your score to ensure your application is approved. What is a FICO Score? The Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO) is the country's leading producer of credit scoring information and is the primary source that most lenders will check to assess how much risk you present.…
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