Loan Products
The following are examples of common financing programs:
Fixed Rate Mortgage
Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM)
Jumbo Mortgages
Construction
Option Arm
Fixed Rate Mortgage
With a fixed rate mortgage, you know exactly what your principal and interest payment will be each month for the life of your loan. It won’t change because your interest rate doesn’t change. Your taxes and insurance component of your payment towards escrow can change (and probably will) if your taxes and insurance change. Unfortunately, there’s no way to lock those in. If interest rates go up, you’re protected with a fixed rate mortgage. But, you won’t benefit if rates go down. You can always take advantage of falling rates by refinancing.
Fixed rate mortgages might be right for you if:
- Want the security of a fixed principal and interest payment.
- Think that interest rates will go up.
- Are on a fixed or limited budget.
Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM)
Compared to fixed rate mortgages, Adjustable Rate Mortgages (ARMs) offer a lower interest rate to start, so your monthly payments are generally lower. But, the interest rate moves up and down with the market based on an "index". Some of the more common indices include U. S. Treasury Bills, Cost of Funds Index (COFI) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). Most ARMs have an initial fixed rate period where the interest rate doesn’t change followed by the rest of the loan’s lifetime period where the rate is adjusted at predetermined intervals. Many ARMs have caps that limit how much your interest rate can change per period as well as for the life of the loan.
Also be aware that there are some very low rates ARMs that start out with "discounted" rates. These discounted rates are below the market rate and will definitely go up at the first adjustment period.
Adjustable rate mortgages might be right for you if:
· You want more property than you can qualify for now with a fixed rate.
· You are confident your income will increase or rates will not go up much.
· You plan on selling or refinancing within seven years of buying your home.
Jumbo Mortgages
Jumbo Mortgages or nonconforming loans exceed the loan limits set by the two publicly chartered corporations (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) that buy mortgage loans from lenders. The 2006 single family loan limit is $417,000. If you need to borrow more than that amount, you need a jumbo mortgage. These jumbo mortgages typically have a higher interest rate than conforming mortgages. An option to avoid a Jumbo mortgage is to split your loan to 2 loans. Since conforming loans are offeredat lower rate, some times the blended rate (normalized rate of both the 1st and 2nd mortgage) will be lower than a single Jumbo one.
Construction
Construction loans are used to finance the building of a new home or renovation of an existing home. They are usually variable-rate loans that have interest only payments during the construction phase. Draws are scheduled based on the stages of construction to pay the builders.
Many construction loans are construction-to-permanent which means that when construction is complete, the loan is converted to a normal mortgage. This has the advantage of a single loan with one closing.
Option Arm
This loan program is an adjustable rate mortgage with added flexibility of making one of several possible payments on your mortgage every month, in order to better manage your monthly cash flow.
It's low introductory start rate allows you to make very low initial mortgage payments and low qualifying rates enable you to qualify for more home.
The minimum payment option can help keep your monthly payments affordable. If the minimum monthly payment is not sufficient to pay the monthly interest due, you can always avoid deferred interest by choosing the interest-only payment option.
With the Option ARM, you generally have at least two fully amortized payment choices, leading to a quicker loan payoff. If you prefer to pay off your loan on schedule, you can make the fully amortized payment based on a 30-year loan, or you can choose the 15-year payment option for the fastest equity build-up.
In most cases, you can also make additional principal payments which reduce the amount you need to pay in later months.
Option ARM loan programs are right for you if you'd like to own your property only for a short time, and prefer affordability and flexibility in your monthly payment. However, if you select the minimum payment option in the early years, you should be prepared for possible sudden increases in your monthly payments thereafter.
Option ARM loans have four major types of payment options:
- Minimum Payment
With the minimum payment option, your monthly payment is set for 12 months at your initial interest rate. After that, the payment changes annually, and a payment cap limits how much it can increase or decrease each year.
If you make the minimum payment after the end of your initial interest rate period, which holds only for the first month, it may not be enough to pay all of the interest charged on your loan for the previous month and the unpaid interest will be added to the principal balance you owe (will be deferred).
- Interest-Only Payment
With the interest-only payment option, you can avoid deferred interest, when the minimum payment is not enough to pay the monthly interest due. The interest-only payment option, however, is not available if the interest-only payment would be less than the minimum payment. Please note, that this payment option does not result in your principal reduction.
The interest-only payment may change every month based on changes in the ARM index used to determine your fully indexed rate.
- Fully Amortizing 30-Year Payment
With fully amortizing payments, you pay both principal and interest and keep your loan on schedule. Your payment is calculated each month based on the prior month's fully indexed rate, loan balance and remaining loan term.
- Fully Amortizing 15-Year Payment
If you prefer to put your loan on an accelerated schedule and can afford higher monthly payments, the 15-year payment option allows you to repay your loan twice as faster and save more than half the total interest costs of a 30-year loan.
Please note, that this payment option is offered only on the 30-year (or 40-year) term. It will cease to be an option when the loan has been paid to its 16th year.
These options should be clearly marked on your loan statement, so it is very easy to figure out how much you should pay each month. Just enter the correct amount in the payment coupon section of your statement.
Option ARM loan programs are becoming more and more popular today, and there are many variations of this innovative home financing product on the market: Pay Option ARM, Pick-A-Payment Loan, 1 Month Option ARM, CashFlow Option Loan, LIBOR (or 12-MAT) Pay Option Loan, etc. If you are thinking about applying for an option ARM, it is important to shop carefully and investigate several loan products, to find the one best for you.
Option ARM loan programs may vary in the initial rate, negative amortization and lifetime caps, ARM index, or optional features, however, when comparing one option ARM with another, pay close attention to the margin and the fully indexed rate. Keep in mind that the initial interest rate holds only for the 1st month.
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