Mint.com is Closing: Here are the best Mint alternatives.
In the past couple of years, Millennials have gone from being gun-shy about buying homes to becoming the largest segment of home purchasers. A recent Zillow poll showed that half of all home buyers are under the age of 36, which puts them solidly in the Millennial age bracket. Many of these buyers fit into…
You’re probably already aware that your credit score plays an important role in your ability to apply for a mortgage. But what you may not realize is that it even limits the types of loans and loan programs that you are eligible to apply for. Here are the minimum credit score requirements for the three…
Both mortgage broker and mortgage lender help with the ultimate goal of homeownership. What Is the Difference Between a Mortgage Broker and a Mortgage Lender? The most significant difference between the two is that a mortgage broker works to help those seeking mortgages find the best lenders. The lender is a bank or other financial…
A reader named Brian asks whether it’s a sound move to use a home equity line of credit as an emergency fund: Well, that is a fantastic question. What Brian is proposing does buck the trend. It’s not the traditional advice, which is to keep your emergency fund cash in a savings account like he’s…
My sister recently purchased a home. She was able to get a low mortgage rate and a great deal on the home such that her mortgage payment is less than the rent she was paying. And the home loan was an FHA mortgage. So I thought it would be a good time to cover FHA…
Today’s low interest rates make buying a home incredibly tempting, especially if you’re being hit with annual increases in rent. But finding money for a down payment can be tough, especially if you don’t have much wiggle room in your budget. One option is to tap your retirement savings. This approach has plenty of pros…
There’s no one way to calculate the true savings from refinancing a mortgage. You can – and should – crunch the numbers to make sure that the refinance will actually save you money (it doesn’t always). But you also have to take non-monetary factors into consideration. Let’s take a look at several methods to calculate…
When people are making the own-vs-rent analysis, they typically compare the monthly payment involved in owning a home principal, interest, taxes, and insurance, or “PITI” next to what it would cost to rent the same home. But what that analysis ignores is that it’s not all about monthly payment. In fact, it isn’t even about…
Is renting or buying a home better? How do you determine which is right for you? Is there a basic rule of thumb you can use to make this decision? A reader named Joe recently wrote in asking if it’s better for him to rent or buy. This is a timely question, and it’s one…