Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Save Big by Paying Your Mortgage Biweekly

Mortgage Questions Answered


Mortgage-Questions-Victorian-Style-House
Over the lifetime of your mortgage a huge chunk of your payments goes towards interest. Here is a quick tip on how to save a significant amount of those interest and fees. If your not already doing so, simply set up your mortgage payments on a biweekly basis. Most banks will offer this payment option and it will help you save thousands of dollars in interest plus pay off your mortgage early.

How it works is they just divide your monthly mortgage payment in half and you make your payments every other week. There are 52 weeks in the year, so by paying every other week you are making 26 half payments which is equivalent to 13 full payments. You will barely feel the difference because it is spread out over the year and this extra annual payment will save you quite a bit over the lifetime of your mortgage. For example, if you have a $200,000, 30 year mortgage at 5% you would save $33,000 and pay of the loan 5 years early.

If you are interested in doing this just contact your mortgage lender and see if they have a program. Just be sure to check if they charge a fee for it. Most don't if you set up automatic withdraw from your account. If you have any other mortgage questions or your own tips please leave a comment. There are lot's of tips and tricks to help people save money.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Top 5 States With The Highest Closing Costs

Top 5 States With The Highest Closing Costs


A recent survey was conducted by Bankrate.com tin the largest city of each state to determine which states had the highest fees for loan origination fees, appraisals, title and insurance in 2012. They came up with the following findings, so if you're in one of these states and you’re wondering how much house I can afford, be sure to check around for the best deal:

States-With-Highest-Closing-Costs-Mortgage-Questions
  1. New York - $5,435
  2. Texas - $4,619
  3. Pennsylvania - $4,467
  4. Florida $4,395
  5. Oklahoma - $4,352


All fees were based on a $200,000 mortgage and the national average was calculated at $3,754. Just remember, there are still programs out there to help you if you are low on cash or have bad credit, just click on this link that shows you exactly how to buy a house with no money down even if you have terrible credit. To see exactly how just click here!