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Can Refinancing Your Mortgage Get You Out of Debt?

Mortgage refinancing may be an option to help you get out of debt. You have to approach this choice carefully, though, to make sure that it is the right solution to fit your current needs. Refinancing is simply the practice of replacing your current mortgage with a new one. Most people refinance their mortgage in order to get a lower rate on their interest and lower monthly payments. Cash-out refinancing is a mortgage that allows you to borrow more than you owe in order to have extra money to pay down credit card or other bills or to improve your … Continue reading →

Insurance Blog Week in Review – June 3-9, 2012

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Every week, the Insurance Blog Week in Review gives you a quick and easy way to “ketchup” on all the blogs that appeared here in the past week. There can be anywhere between twelve and fourteen blogs that go up. What did you miss? What You Could Lose if the Supreme Court Overturns ACA The Supreme Court is going to reveal its ruling regarding the court case about the Affordable Care Act. Here is a quick list of some of the things you will lose if the Supreme Court overturns the ACA. The Insurance Podcast Roundup went up on June … Continue reading →

Should You Refinance Your Home?

When interest rates go down, it can be very tempting to refinance. Sometimes this is a good idea, and sometimes it isn’t. Here is what you need to know to figure out if refinancing your home is in your best interests. The first thing you need to do is to calculate how much you would save by refinancing. What would your new mortgage payment be? You can start with this number, because you can use it to figure out the rest of the numbers. Let us say that in refinancing you will save $300 a month. That seems great, doesn’t … Continue reading →

Don’t Pay Off Your House!

I had the most interesting conversation with a lawyer last night. He was telling me and my husband some ways to improve our credit scores and how to prepare for home ownership, and he said something that made both my eyebrows go up. He said that we shouldn’t be in too big of a hurry to pay off a house once we get it. Pretend there are two families, and they each buy a home for $200,000. Family A makes the regular monthly payment, and Family B puts every penny into paying it down faster. Some time goes by, and … Continue reading →

Cancel Your PMI to Save Hundreds

We received an awesome late Christmas gift in the mail today. It was a letter informing us that our PMI (Private Mortgage Insurance) has been canceled. PMI insurance is insurance on the mortgage that is for the good of only the bank. It covers them in the case you default on your loan. If you are not putting 20% down on your home when you purchase it, you will need to pay this insurance that amounts an average of $67 per $100,000.00. We are still not sure as to why the bank spontaneously canceled our PMI as this is rare. … Continue reading →

Quick Ways to Boost the Value of Your Home

The news for reselling a home is pretty depressing. Sales of existing homes are at their lowest point since the 1996, and home values are dropping faster than ever. But sometimes you just need to sell your home, and there is nothing else to do. If you are in this situation, or if you just want to boost your home’s value for a possible refinance, there are some smart moves that you can make. While redoing the kitchens and bathrooms are always a plus, they are expensive and time consuming. Instead focus on some quick tips that will pay off. … Continue reading →

Paying off your Mortgage Early

Have you ever considered whether you should try and pay off your mortgage early? Many people have. But, a mortgage is different kind of debt than most… so it is good to evaluate all the advantages and disadvantages before you make that leap. The first consideration is other debt. In almost every case, before you ever consider making extra payments on your mortgage you should first focus on all your other debt. In almost every instance, whether it be a credit card, student loan or car, that debt is costing you more to keep in interest than a mortgage. What … Continue reading →

Keep Up With Insurance Payments After Refinancing

Are you among the many people who refinanced your mortgage when the economy tanked? Make sure that you keep up with the payments on your homeowners insurance, as well as your property taxes. Failing to pay those bills can lead to all sorts of easily avoidable problems. It might be called a “refinanced mortgage”, or a “reverse mortgage”, or a “home equity conversion mortgage” (HECM). No matter what name you choose, it basically means the same thing. It indicates that you had a mortgage on your home at some point in the past, and then, later, you took out a … Continue reading →

Around the House Ways to Save Money

If you want to save money, there is no need for elaborate schemes and calculations. Instead, practice some simple strategies around your home, and you’ll start coming out ahead at the end of the month. In the Laundry Room Today’s washing machines and detergents are super powerful. You can use a lot less of them then you might be used to. I usually measure out a small load of detergent when I am doing a super sized load. For every day laundry (meaning no one went wallowing in the mud), that is all it takes to keep everything clean and … Continue reading →

Courthouse Research Companies: Sunlark Research, Part Four

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This is a continuation of an interview I had with Lark of Sunlark Research. If you missed the beginning of the interview, please check it out here. Me: Are there any other research opportunities at Sunlark, other than the standard pulling of mortgages/deeds of trusts? Lark: We do collect all new mortgages except commercial. This includes refinances, home equity loans, and 2nd mortgages, as well as new purchases. In addition to mortgages/deeds of trust, we collect several other types of court data. This includes tax liens, civil cases, probate files, and several others that I prefer not to elaborate publicly … Continue reading →