06 Jan 2015
By Mark Feder

FICO Scores: How Does Your FICO Score Impact Your Mortgage? Let’s Take a Look

Home Mortgage Tips
Homeowner's insurance is an incredibly valuable and beneficial policy for homeowners to have, but it is necessary to understand what traditional policies do and do not cover. Once you familiarize yourself with the intricacies of various plans you will be better educated to make the proper decision when selecting your desired level of coverage. What's Covered In Homeowner's Insurance? The majority of homeowner's insurance plans will cover dwelling and other structure protection, personal property protection, natural disaster protection, and bodily injury liability protection. Dwelling and other structure protection plans cover damage to your home and other structures that are directly…
Read More
30 Dec 2014
By Mark Feder

You Ask, We Answer: What is Private Mortgage Insurance or ‘PMI’ and How Does It Work?

Home Mortgage Tips
For many homeowners, their mortgage payment contains more than just principal and interest. A little something called PMI could be representing a significant portion of that payment, and it's important for home buyers to understand this cost. What Is PMI? PMI stands for private mortgage insurance, or sometimes just mortgage insurance. However, it isn't intended to mitigate risk for the homeowner, but rather the bank. Statistics show that when a home buyer puts less than 20% down on a home, he/she is much more likely to default. So, requiring these buyers to carry PMI helps the bank hedge their losses…
Read More
23 Dec 2014
By Mark Feder

Are You Applying for a Reverse Mortgage? Here Are 3 Considerations You’ll Need to Make

Home Mortgage Tips
If you're a homeowner who is looking to tap in to the home equity that you've spent years building you may be interested in a "reverse mortgage" or "home equity conversion mortgage". While these unique financial tools aren't for everyone, if you qualify for a reverse mortgage you'll find that this might be the perfect financial solution which allows you to pay off your existing mortgage, or for some other regular expenses that you have. Let's take a closer look at how reverse mortgages work, including how to qualify, what happens to your existing mortgage and what a reverse mortgage…
Read More
09 Dec 2014
By Mark Feder

Understanding Mortgage Insurance and the Difference Between FHA, VA and USDA Mortgages

Home Mortgage Tips
Are you thinking about using mortgage financing to buy a new home? If so, you've likely heard about mortgage insurance policies requirements and you may be wondering how they will affect you. In today's blog post we'll explore mortgage insurance and explain the difference between conventional, FHA, VA and USDA mortgage insurance policies. How Does Private Mortgage Insurance or "PMI" Work? While there are a number of reasons that your lender may require mortgage insurance, in general you'll be required to purchase a conventional PMI policy if you are putting less than 20 percent of the home's value in as…
Read More