When a Cash-Out Refinance Really Works

By: Sarah Scrafford (Guest Writer)

It’s easy to borrow money today, especially if you own a home and have a decent credit history. Lenders are more than willing to offer you money based on the value of your home. A cash-out refinance involves you taking a loan that’s an amount more than the mortgage on your home – if your mortgage is $80,000 on a house that’s worth $175,000, and you need $20,000 for some reason, you could cash-out refinance for $100,000; your creditor refinances your mortgage and pays you $20,000.

Though this sounds similar to a home equity loan, there are basic differences between the two:

· A cash-out refinance is a replacement of your mortgage while a home equity loan is separate loan borrowed additional to your mortgage. The similarity is that both loans are secured against your home.

· The interest rates for both are different, with cash-out refinances possessing lower interest rates.

· Closing costs associated with the deal are higher for cash-out refinancing than for home equity loans.

· Cash-out refinances get you between 75 to 80 percent of your equity while a home equity loan fetches 85 percent.

Knowing when to settle for a home equity loan and when to go for a cash-out refinance can make a whole lot of difference to your debt situation.

· If the interest rates on your cash-out refinance are higher than your those on your current mortgage, it makes more sense to go for a home equity loan.

· Also, since closing and other associated costs are higher with cash-out refinances, check if you can get all these amounts included in the loan itself. Then compare the cost of interest with a home equity loan before you make your decision.

· If you’re comfortable making repayments on just one loan instead of juggling around many, a cash-out refinance will work for you.

· If you borrow more than 80 percent of your equity in a cash-out refinance, you’re obliged to pay for a private mortgage insurance or shell out a higher interest rate.

· Cash-out refinances are good when interest rates fall and you want to lock in on the new rates rather than continue to pay the higher, old rates.

· They’re also suitable options when you want to spread out your payments over a longer period of time to bring down your monthly dues.

· Both cash-out refinances and home equity loans are tax deductible, so if you’re looking for some money to pay off a debt that’s not tax deductible, either option will do.

· Cash-out refinances hit you where it hurts the most when the real estate market falls and the value of your home drops suddenly and you find yourself in a predicament if you decide to sell.

· Check around to see if a home equity line of credit (HELOC) loan will work better than a cash-out refinance - HELOCs are advantageous because although you borrow a lump sum of money, you pay interest only on what you use. Also, you can access the money like you would your bank account, drawing what you want at your convenience. A HELOC does not charge interest if you repay what you withdraw before the grace period, similar to running up charges on your credit card.

· A cash-out refinance is good when the extra money is spent on an asset (or expense) that has a long-term value or an equally long life as the loan. Improvements to your home or the purchase of a second home are perfect uses for cash-out refinance money.

Cash-out refinance or home equity loan – there’s a common thread that binds the two, the fact that you could lose the roof over your head if you’re not careful about your repayments. Use both loans wisely since they’re secured with your most valuable financial asset - your home.

By-line:

This article is contributed by Sarah Scrafford, who regularly writes on the topic of Best business practices. She invites your questions and writing job opportunities at her personal email address: sarah.scrafford25@gmail.com.

Chease Home Equity Loan for Home Improvement

Reasons to Consider a Home Equity Loan

By: Andrew Obidowsk

If you are a homeowner and are in need of some extra cash, you may want to consider getting a home equity loan. Equity is the amount of value you have paid off on your property. For instance, if your home mortgage is worth $150,000 and you have paid off $50,000 of your mortgage, you have $50,000 in equity on your home. With this equity you have in your home, you can take out a home equity loan on this money.

There are two types of home equity loans available; Standard Home Equity Loans and Home Equity Lines of credit. With a Standard Home Equity Loan, your loan is assured by the amount of equity you have in your home. This is the type of loan option you should choose if you are in need of a very large loan. A Home Equity Line of Credit is akin to a credit card. With this option, you can withdraw money from an equity account that has been set up with your equity amount. This is a better option for you if you are not needing a large amount of money.

A Standard Home Equity loan generally is a little more difficult to obtain, only because it has a more complex process. These loans generally have a fixed term to them, meaning you will have a pre-determined number of payments over a set period of time. They generally will also have a fixed interest rate and fixed monthly payment. The amount of the loan you receive will be provided to you in one lump sum.

With a Home Equity Line of Credit, an account is set up for the money to be placed into. You can then make withdraws on the money as you need it, and then make payments back into the account. These types of loans generally have a fluctuating rate of interest, however you will only have to pay this interest if you have a balance on your account from the money you have borrowed.

There are many reasons why a person may choose to take out a Home Equity Loan. Many people take out these kinds of loans if their home is in need of repair or reconstruction. If there are large changes they want to make, such as a new heating and cooling unit or new windows, they will take out a home equity loan to pay for them. Others will use a home equity loan as a means to get out of other debts. They will use their Home Equity loan as a form of debt consolidation, to pay off some of their other debts and only have to make one monthly payment. And still others may take out a loan to pay for a new car, or even a large family vacation.

There are countless reasons why a person may choose a home equity loan. Once you get the money, it's up to you what you choose to do with it. Just keep in mind that this is a loan you will have to pay back, and if you fail to do so, it could very well cost you your home and all of your equity.

Resolve your Debt Issues With Home Equity

By: Cornie Herring

Research result shows that credit card debt is the main debt problem for most of debtors. Credit card carries high interest rate, if you continue delay your credit card payment or continue to pay only the minimum due amount, it will quickly roll up the total debt and drag you into a serious debt trap. Hence, credit card debt must be resolved fast to avoid making your debt situation worse. If you have build up your home equity, you are at a good position to get your debt issue resolve by consolidating your credit card debt and other high interest debt with your home equity.

Why consolidate debt using your home equity?

There are at least 3 good reasons to consolidate all your debt with home equity:

1. Lower interest rate. As compare to other loan, home equity loan is comparatively much lower that other loans, which make it easier to be paid off. If you continue repay the same amount you pay now and the interest rate has been lower, meaning that you pay more toward the principal and making your debt to be paid off faster.

2. The interest of your home equity loan is tax-deductible; you save on interest pay for home equity loan from the tax-deduction.

3. Lower monthly payment. If you find hardship repaying your current debt repayment, then selecting longer repayment term with a home equity loan will help to lower the monthly payment so a level that is affordable by your current financial situation. Be aware that by taking long period of loan term, you will be paying more in total interest.

Consolidation Debt Using Home Equity

There are three ways to consolidation debt using home equity: Cash-out Refinance, Home Equity Loan and Home Equity Line Of Credit.

Cash-out Refinance

In this method, you are getting a new mortgage with the amount high than your current mortgage and use it to pay off your current mortgage and have enough balance to clear your credit card debt. For example, your existing mortgage still remains $100,000 and you owe credit card debt of $12,000; you will need to refinance your existing mortgage to get $112,000 of new loan to pay off your existing mortgage plus the credit card debt.

Home Equity Loan

Home equity loan is a second mortgage which you use you home equity to pledge for a loan. For example, your home market value is $150,000 and you still owe for a mortgage of $100,000; this means you have a home equity equal to $50,000. You can apply for a home equity loan up to the value of home equity, in this case is $50,000. But normally, lenders will only approve a home equity loan up to 80-85% of your home equity.

Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC)

Credit card has credit limit so do the home equity line of credit, the difference between these two is home equity line of credit use your home equity as the revolving line of credit. Based on your home equity, lenders will pre-approves you with a credit limit where you can withdraw the amount up to that credit limit. . In the home equity line of credit, interest only count on the amount being draws out.

What You Should Not Do With Your Home Equity

Although home equity is a good option to resolve your debt issue, but you will put your home at risk if you default the home equity loan repayment. Hence, don't get the loan up to the maximum value of you home equity can provide you because you are adding more debt into your account by doing that. Use your home equity to apply for loan that enough to repay your consolidated debt. And remember to repay the home equity loan on time so that you won't lose you home because of foreclosure.

In Summary

You can always convert home equity to pay off your consolidated high interest debts and save with lower interest and lower monthly repayment. But be aware for the risk of losing your home if you fail to make repayment. Hence, you need to put your repayment plan in place to ensure you won't miss any repayment schedule of your home equity loan.

California Dream House With a Balloon Loan

By: Amanda Hash

Leaving Beverly Hills out of the picture, how about a town home in Hacienda Heights or Anaheim? California is a very “personal” state with a life of its own, on a different level from the rest of the country. Californian climate makes life worth while living and enjoying and so do conditions for purchasing a home.

The Ideal Place

California landscape is among the most beautiful in the country. Likewise, homes in California can not be “off-key” with the post-card scenery. It is true that prices are also different from the rest of the country, but to compensate that, our wise lenders have made it so much easier to obtain mortgage loans with which to purchase them.

A Typical Balloon Loan

Just to tune in, we will say that a balloon mortgage is a two-step mortgage divided into two sections of 5 and 25 years or 7 and 23 years. The first part has a low monthly payment and after this period is finished, you must pay the remainder in full. In many cases there will be an option to refinance for the remaining period until the 30 years are covered, with higher installments and a slightly higher interest rate.

So, What Are The Expenses Of A Balloon Loan?

A balloon loan has an interest rate and fees, like any other loan throughout the country. What I mentioned as making things easier in California is in the way of interest rates to begin with. On average, you will find a difference of up to 1% on the rates, which is not chicken-feed. Apply this to the amount of the mortgage and you have a difference of a few thousand dollars a year.

A comfortable 2-bedroom home in Hacienda Heights will cost around $500,000 and if the loan is for 90% of that, then you will be saving 1% of $450,000, right? It is a nice sum of $4,500 a year. Enough to buy lovely Christmas presents for all the family as well as taking a short winter holiday.

Fees, Blessed Fees

Now, you are in for a surprise: There are no administration or application fees and no points. Fees like underwriting and processing are kept reasonably low, and credit report and document preparation are very low or even non-existent. That is all. This means that the APR will be very similar to the interest rate, having less than one tenth of a point difference.

Since 2003

The Federal Reserve rates have been low since 2003. Some experts say they are bound to stay as they are for quite some time to come. Others say that nobody really knows where they will go to and when.

My personal opinion is that they can not go very much lower than they are now, so probably it is a good moment for a 7/23 balloon mortgage, with the second step financed on a fixed rate normal mortgage loan basis. The savings on interest rates will amply compensate the fees at the time of changing over to the second step of the balloon.

Californians, Take Advantage

Typically, Californian homeownership is around 56%, according to a 2006 survey, against nearly 70% of the rest of the country. Would not it be super to take advantage of the current low interest rates, before they have a chance to leave us behind?