Tag Archives: mortgage advice

09.18.13
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Buying a Home? Using a Mortgage Calculator can be very helpful!

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If you are thinking about selling, buying or possibly refinancing your home, you have probably been doing a little research into current home mortgage rates. While finding the best rate is extremely important it is also just as important to make sure the monthly payment fits into your price range. Mortgage rates vary based on loan programs, down payments & credit scores. But there is great tool that is available to borrowers to help them get an idea of what there future payments would look like before they start applying for mortgages. 

Here is a brief description of how mortgage calculators work: 

A mortgage calculator is a simple way to determine how much the monthly payments would be, thereby providing a base leading to the fulfillment of dreams. However, there is a word of caution here. Mortgage calculators follow the standard ratio of total debt to income; which means that debt can be taken only up to 32 percent of the income. Lenders like ZFG Mortgage allow borrowers to go up to 55% total debt to income on some of there products, so it is always important to check with the your lender after you use a mortgage calculator on there max debt to income ratio guidelines.

Also, there are a variety of mortgage calculators available. Basic mortgage calculators determine how much your payment will be. In such calculators, a number is received by inputting the amount of the loan, the term and the interest rate. Mortgage calculators can also calculate how much you can afford for a home. In return for supplying data of your income and any other additional payments that you may have to incur, the mortgage calculator helps you ascertain the amount of money you need to take out. However, this type of mortgage calculator does not take into account the amount of down payment that is being made. Mortgage calculators of higher utility take into consideration the amount of earning needed, and allows the input of all that information in addition to the amount of savings being made for the down payment.

Best of all many mortgage websites offer potential borrowers to use there mortgage calculator tools for FREE!. One excellent online resource is http://www.zfgmortgage.com Their website has an electronic mortgage calculator that not only gives you an estimation of your monthly payment based on current mortgage rates and loan amounts, but offers a total of six different ways to make this determination. Based on how you would like to pay your loan, you can calculate what the payment will be based on points, percentage rates and length of the loan. You can alter any of those numbers to get different estimations and ultimately, a really good idea of what to expect in terms of financing options. By utilizing the Monthly Payment calculator, you can enter information about your property such as value, taxes and insurance requirements to receive an even more accurate estimation of what your payment might be.

Take advantage of mortgage calculators. They are a free and easy way to get a good idea of what you can expect to pay for your new home or business property. Getting this information in advance might be one way to cut down on the stress of trying to figure out the best way to finance, and give you a little peace of mind knowing, up front, what you can or cannot afford to pay.

 If you are interested in applying for a mortgage or using one of our many mortgage calculators, log onto our website calculators page below:

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 http://www.zfgmortgage.com/calculators.php

06.20.13
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Worst 2-Days Increase in Mortgage Rates in the Last 4 Years

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Mortgage rates are revisiting the past trauma, now matching the scope of the late 2010 sell-off, with the past two days matching the scope of Black Wednesday’s sell-off.  “Selling” in this case, refers to the Mortgage-Backed-Securities (MBS) that most directly affect rates.  As MBS prices fall, rates rise.  The faster this happens, the worse it is for mortgage lenders rate sheets, and despite the month and a half of selling, the past two days have been surprisingly abrupt for lenders.  Rate sheets have taken the most profound hits we’ve seen on back to back days (past examples were more concentrated on one of the two days).  Conventional 30yr Fixed best-execution is quickly up to a staggering 4.375%-4.5%, though we’d note that there’s even more variation between lenders as volatility magnifies the effects of different pricing strategies.  

Today’s economic data had precious little effect on trading levels, adding to the sense that it’s going to take official employment data on July 5th, a change in tone from the Fed, or an unexpected tape-bomb style headline to convince markets that the Fed won’t begin curtailing asset purchases in September.  While that continues to be the case, interest rate movements continue to be a risk.  We’d like to say “we’ve moved high enough, fast enough that we’ll probably be able to dig in and hold some ground here,” but that’s not safe yet.  Market participants themselves, let alone mortgage lenders, are still feeling out the post-Fed-Announcement environment.  There’s no reason rates can’t go even higher just because they’ve moved so high, so fast.

Mortgage Loan Originator Perspectives 

“The recent events leave me speechless. In my 10 years in the industry I have never seen a meltdown this quickly and dramatically. We cannot control the market, but we can control our emotions. Closing within 30 days should be locked up. 30-60 days should consider locking as well. Any technical or fundamental basis for floating has been diminished. Is there a saving grace? Perhaps if we continue to see liquidations in commodities & stocks (domestic & foreign) we may benefit from a quick trade, but again, the table has been st for higher rates. Soup, salad, & appetizers are served, main course on it’s way….question is how is your digestive system?” 

“Our jumbos didn’t rise as quickly since the agency MBS selloff yesterday, so there have been some locking opportunities for loans above $417,000, but loans up to $417,000 are up definitively.” 

Today’s Best-Execution ZFG Mortgage Rates

  • 30YR FIXED – 4.0%
  • FHA/VA – 3.75% 
  • 15 YEAR FIXED –  3.25%
  • 5 YEAR ARMS –  2.25-3.25% depending on the lender

Ongoing Lock/Float Considerations

  • After rising consistently from all-time lows in September and October 2012, rates challenged the long term trend higher, but failed to sustain a breakout
  • Uncertainty over the Fed’s bond-buying plans is causing immense volatility in rates markets and generally leading rates quickly higher 
  • Fears about the Fed’s bond-buying intentions were proven well-founded on May 22nd when rates rose to 1yr highs after the Fed indicated their intention to taper bond buying programs sooner vs later
  • The June 19th FOMC Statement and Press Conference confirmed the suspicions.  Although tapering wasn’t announced, the Fed made no move to counter the notion that they will decrease bond buying soon if the economic trajectory continues
  • (As always, please keep in mind that our Best-Execution rate always pertains to a completely ideal scenario.  There are many reasons a quoted rate may differ from our average rates, and in those cases, assuming you’re following along on a day to day basis, simply use the Best-Ex levels we quote as a baseline to track potential movement in your quoted rate).

We Offer A Free Pre-Approval & Consultation!

Call:1-877-205-7266 or http://www.zfgmortgage.com

Click Here To Go Directly To Our Secure Online Application

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