Archive for Mortgages
Saving with a 15-Year Mortgage on Your Chicago New Home
Low interest rates are a must when looking to finance a home, and one way to guarantee lower rates is choosing to enact a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage. However, this type of mortgage also comes with the burden of an increased monthly payment amount. So, how do you decide which option is right for you? By [Read More]
NAHB Urging Congress to Keep Homeownership Affordable
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) is urging Congress to maintain its support for vital housing tax incentives, including the Low Income Housing Tax Credit, the mortgage interest deduction and real estate tax deductions, to meet the nation’s growing need for affordable rental housing and homeownership opportunities. U.S. Census data shows that more than [Read More]
NAHB Urging Congress to Ensure Access to Affordable Home Loans
The National Association of Home Builders is urging lawmakers to proceed with caution on Federal Housing Administration (FHA) reform to avoid any disruptions to the nation’s housing finance system. With tight mortgage lending standards in Chicago and across the nation preventing well-qualified home buyers from obtaining home loans and impeding the housing and economic recovery, [Read More]
Factors that Go Into How Much Mortgage You Can Afford
A new Equifax Finance blog article, “What Kind of Mortgage Can You Afford?” encourages Chicago real estate buyers to evaluate how much a home they can afford, not just in terms of mortgage, but total housing costs, and with quality of life taken into consideration. Buyers can easily fall into the “drive-‘til-you-qualify” trap, where they [Read More]
HARP Extended Through 2015
The Federal Housing Finance Agency has news for anyone with real estate in Chicago that is underwater – the government’s Home Affordable Refinance Program, or HARP, is being extended from the end of 2013 to the end of 2015. The program, which had a rocky start and stringent entrance requirements, has become wildly popular with homeowners. [Read More]
The Impact of a Late Payment on Your Credit
You’ve been busier than normal. That credit card bill has been sitting on your kitchen table for weeks now probably. You see it every morning and tell yourself you’ll pay it tonight. But night after night, you forget. You get caught up in everything else and then one day you finally decide to pay it. [Read More]
