Friday, April 18, 2008

Homeowner Debt - Worst Cities in America

Homeowner Debt - Worst Cities in America. In america homeowners with subprime loans (Subprime means loans that do not meet Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac guidelines and usually have compromised credit histories) are getting hit quite hard these days.

This kind of homeowner debt is especially bad in cities like Sacramento Califoria, San Diego, Washington DC, and Colorado Springs Colo. adding up to some of the countries highest concentrations of homeowner debt. Also to make matters these cities also have dropping prices on homes, making it extremely difficult for homeowners to refinance their homes as banks and lending companies are reluctant to take on any risks.

A recent study used US Census data to determine which cities in america's 150 housing markets had the highest percentage of outstanding home equity loans and second loans or second chance lending, making it risky for lenders and homeowners combined with housing price trends taken from the National Association of Realtors was used to figure out which markets had the steepest drops in housing prices. Homeowners in these cities may experience the hardest time refinancing their mortgages or avoiding foreclosures.

The end result could mean an inability to refinance their loans or mortgages and fall into foreclosure with properties having negative equity situations more easily. Subprime lending is risky for both lenders and banks and homeowners due to the combination of high interest rates and allegedly poor credit histories.

Read more on this topic here...

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Bush helps homeowners meet mortgage payments

Today George W. Bush proposed a program to help homeowners meet their mortgage payments. He improved a plan that would insure mortgage loans for homeowners who may have not been able to make their payments, or were looking at higher interest payments and for those whose homes have lost value in their property. The plan would help approximately 500,000 homeowners by the end of this year.

The proposed plan comes at a time when the US economy is on the brink of a recession. Failed mortgage loans and foreclosures are largely responsible for the current market turmoil that has cost billions.

The proposed plan is supposed to prevent another wave of foreclosures potentially driving millions of americans out of their homes as rising interest rates and dropping home values wipe out hundreds of billioins of dollars in home equity.

Click here to read more on this breaking story.

Home Equity Loans - What can they be used for?

Home Equity Loans- What can they be used for? - Home equity loans are among the cheapest sources for financing any homeowner can get today. That is why home equity loans are popular and used to pay off debts or upgrade or repair your home and in turn maintaing your homes value.

HOME IMPROVEMENT AND REMODELING UPGRADES

Anyone who owns an older home regularly needs to do repairs to exterior of their buildings or renovations to their interiors of their homes and in most cases you will need extra funding to pay for those improvements. Today you can go online and get a quote for a home equity loan for your property in minutes at a very competitive interest rate as more and more banks and lenders offer these kinds of loans at very low interest rates, all tax deductible.

PAY OFF BAD DEBT OR CONSOLIDATE YOUR DEBT

If you have had accrued some bad debts in the past such as credit card debt, you can use a home equity loan to consolidate all your bad debts at much lower rates than any credit card interest payments you may have. By consolidating your debt you can reduce your overall monthly payments into one easy to manage payment that you can afford to pay and pay off those bad debts you may have accrued over time.

PURCHASE OF OTHER PROPERTIES

You can also use a home equity loan to purchase additional properties especially if you have a reasonable down payment again giving you access to a loan with low interest payments.

Saturday, April 5, 2008

What is Home Equity Loan

What is Home equity loan are 2nd mortgages that can be used for consolidating debt, financing a new home or improving and remodeling your primary place of residence. Home equity loans are similar to traditional bank loans. What makes them different is that the collateral for your home equity loan is your home and property itself, so it is your home that ultimately protects your loans. For homeowners, interest rates on home equity loans are below credit-card rates. For lenders, the delinquency rate and fraud losses are higher with credit cards than they presently are with home equity loans.

Closed-end home equity loans are very similar to your home mortgage: a specific amount of money is loaned to you and you’re required to make scheduled monthly repayments of principal and interest. These loans are often thought of as traditional second mortgages. The rates on home equity loans are fixed rates that are slightly higher than fixed rates on first mortgages.

Home equity loans are used when you want to borrow a specific dollar amount against the equity (current value)of your home. With so many homeowners gaining considerable amounts of equity and increased value in their homes over the past few years, home equity loans are a great way to help reduce overall debt and monthly loan payments. Applying for a home equity loan now, while interest rates are still reasonably low, can help to save thousands of dollars compared to other forms of credit such as credit cards, with rates around 13 and 14 percent. Home equity loans are loans that let you borrow against the equity of your home, which is used as collateral. Equity is the amount of money you have invested in your house so far.

Since home equity loans tend to have low interest rates, they are a good option for paying off high-interest debt. In addition, the interest rate you get for a cash-out refinancing is generally (but not always) lower than your home equity loan interest rate. Also, when you refinance your loan, you have to pay closing costs whereas with a home equity loan, you do not.