Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Be Aware When Shopping for a California Mortgage Online

By Lindsay Kaplan

According to California based mortgage consultants, residents of the state need to keep a close eye when trying to use the internet to do the heavy lifting for them.

A spokes person for Home Loan 2Day, said, “Sometimes, these Internet services might work fairly well for certain people, but the one-size-fits-all approach they offer is going to leave a lot of people with loans that aren’t the best for them, or even worse, they may be shut out of the process altogether.”

“The problem with these services is that they never really get to know anything about your financial situation other than your credit history and income level so basically what winds up happening is that you’re reduced to a number to them. And if they don’t like whatever that number is, you’re out of luck,” he added.

Here are the three things that one should look out for when shopping for a California mortgage online:

* Most of the mortgage websites do not have the physical manpower to work with every individual borrower. This means you would not receive the attention you’d need for your unique situation. You would basically wind up with a bad loan since there was no one available online to check and see if they could have gotten you a better deal.

* If you have special financial circumstances, such as being self-employed or damaged credit, most of these sites would not want to work with you unless you meet their rigid criteria.

* It’s also important to know if these websites provide advice when choosing between loan products. You don’t want a website that is only gathering offers and throwing advertisements at you, making you feel pressured.

Here the solution:

Use the internet to educate yourself on the mortgage industry, and then work with a real human, or a well respected website where there is always someone to speak to.

Lindsay Kaplan has over 5 years writing experience in the California mortgage market. She covers various mortgage topics nationwide including mortgage refinancing and debt consolidation.

California Mortgage Defaults Hit 3-year High

By Martin Lukac

Mortgage defaults in California are at a three-year high, according to a report released on Wednesday.

Defaults were up more than 67% in the second quarter of 2006 when compared to the second quarter of 2005. There were over 20,000 default notices mailed to homeowners between April and June, a 10.5% increase over the first three months of the year, according to a DataQuick Information Systems report.

Santa Clara County led the state with 530 notices of default in the quarter. There was a 14.5% increase from the same quarter one year earlier.

San Mateo County had 222 notices, an increase of 51% for the year, while Montery County saw a 62% increase, with 128 notices. Santa Cruz County had 73 -- the same amount as last year.

In total, 23 counties posted an increase of over 50% in the number of default notices for the second quarter. Riverside, Sacramento, Placer, Stanislaus and Sutter counties saw their notices more than double.

Defaults remain below historically normal levels. On average, lenders have filed 32,762 notices of default in the state for each quarter over the past 14 years. The first quarter total of 20,752 was the highest since the first quarter of 2003.

"This is an important trend to watch, but it doesn't strike us as ominous," said Marshall Prentice, DataQuick's president. "The increase was a statistical certainty because the number of defaults had fallen to such extreme lows. We would have to see defaults roughly double from today's level before they would begin to impact home values."

There are a variety of factors that contribute to higher default levels, including the amount of equity in homes, the types of mortgages in place and how long the mortgage has been held.

"We hear a lot of talk about rising payments on adjustable-rate loans triggering borrower distress. While there's no doubt some of that is going on, as far as we can tell the spike in defaults is mainly the result of slowing price appreciation. It makes it harder for people behind on their mortgage to sell their homes and pay off the lender."

DataQuick is a subsidiary of MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates. The firm monitors real estate activity nationwide.

Martin Lukac represents http://www.RateEmpire.com and http://www.1AmericanFinancial.com, a finance web-company specializing in real estate and mortgage rates. We specialize in daily updates, mortgage news, rate predictions, mortgage rates and more. Find low home loan mortgage interest rates from hundreds of mortgage companies!

California Mortgage - Assistance In Times Of Need

By James Arther

Today mortgages are common in the real estates and home owning procedures. There are various legal entities in mortgages. Mainly people like to purchase houses and properties and the money is aided by mortgages. It is much more beneficial to people when they are purchasing areas, homes, and lands when they do not have sufficient money. On making a part payment they can purchase the required property as the rest is subsidized by mortgages.

California mortgage

There are various types of mortgages for different states and countries with their respective conditions. The California mortgage is only applicable for the inhabitants of California. The conditions for California mortgage are devised in such a way so that the business organizations as well as individuals can go for mortgages in order to repay debts or to obtain loans.

It has made suitable arrangements for procuring mortgage loan. These loans come in great use by the consumers and other business clients to make purchases. They can be debt consolidation loans as well as home equity loans. The California mortgage loan needs insurance in case of occurrence of foods, tornadoes or other natural calamities. This is the chief feature of the California mortgage and also the main point of difference with any other state mortgages.

It is an apposite suggestion for those who want to apply for the mortgages of California is to go to a registered bank. This saves the clients from facing a large number of liabilities. Moreover the loans are available from the private lenders and also the bank at attractive rates. Special assistance services are also available for the first-time and also the regular customers.

There are some mortgage providers who offer loans and other services based upon the specific requirements of the clients. This is done to avoid unnecessary problems. You can search for the other mortgage providers and lenders also.

Washington Mortgage in comparison with the two State mortgages revealed above seems to be more beneficial and less unwieldy. It is only available to the residents of Washington as also to the other people migrating here to stay ceaselessly. Mortgage loans can be easily acquired by production of necessary documents and other evidences.

Home equity loans, debt consolidation loans for buying homes or mortgages are available on production of income tax returns, residential proofs. The local banks and other reputed lenders are there to assist in times of need.

Debtips is a resourceful channel to make you finance literate and helps you in managing your personal finances. A Mortgage is a method of using property as security for the payment of a debt. Most mortgage lenders offer a variety of formats. Check out the California Mortgage Loan options.

California Mortgage Refinancing - Beware Markup of Your Mortgage Interest Rate

By Louie Latour

If you are in the process of refinancing your California mortgage and are not familiar with Yield Spread Premium, you risk overpaying thousands in unnecessary mortgage interest every year. Learning how mortgage companies and brokers make their money will help you avoid paying too much for your new California mortgage loan. Here is an introduction to Yield Spread Premium and several tips to help you avoid paying it when refinancing your mortgage.

Did you know that the HUD Secretary recently stated that American homeowners overpay $16 billion dollars of unnecessary mortgage interest every year? The reason this is happening is the little known markup of retail mortgage interest rates called Yield Spread Premium.

What is Yield Spread Premium? Simply put, it is the markup of your mortgage interest rate by your loan originator. Mortgage companies and brokers do this to line their pockets at your expense. When you refinance your California mortgage loan you’re already paying the mortgage company or broker an origination fee for their services; however, like used car salesman these people try and squeeze every penny they can out of you. I’m not here to throw stones at mortgage brokers, and I’m not saying every loan representative out there would swindle your mother out of her Social Security check, but most would.

Here’s how Yield Spread Premium on your California mortgage works. When your application for mortgage refinancing is approved by a wholesale lender, you qualify for a specific mortgage rate. Your Mortgage Company or broker receives a guarantee of that mortgage rate from the wholesale lender. What your loan representative isn’t telling you is that they receive a bonus from the wholesale mortgage lender for every .25% that they get you to overpay.

Suppose you qualify for a 6.5% mortgage on a $300,000 California mortgage loan. Your loan representative charges you 1.5% of the loan amount for the origination fee which you think is reasonable. This means you have to pay $4,500 to the Mortgage Company or broker at closing for their part in arranging your loan. What your loan representative didn’t tell you is that you really qualified for a 6.0 percent mortgage and they marked it up because the wholesale lender pays them 1% of your loan amount for each additional .25% you agreed to overpay.

Your loan originator walks away from the deal with the $4,500 you paid in origination fees plus a $6,000 bonus from the wholesale lender for lying to you. This markup of your California mortgage interest rate is called Yield Spread Premium and if you agree to it, you’ll pay thousands of dollars in unnecessary mortgage interest every year. How do you avoid paying Yield Spread Premium when refinancing your California mortgage loan? You can learn this and other costly mortgage mistakes to avoid with a free mortgage tutorial.

To get your FREE six-part Mortgage Refinancing Tutorial, visit RefiAdvisor.com using the link below.

Louie Latour specializes in showing homeowners how to avoid costly mortgage mistakes and predatory lenders. To get your hands on this free video tutorial: "Mortgage Refinancing - What You Need to Know," which teaches strategies for finding the best mortgage and saving thousands of dollars in the process, visit Refiadvisor.com.

Claim your free mortgage refinancing tutorial today at: http://www.refiadvisor.com

California Mortgage Refinancing

California Mortgage - What to Expect When Buying a Home in California

By Jessica Elliott

Maybe you are buying your first home in California, or perhaps you’re relocating to California from another state. Either way, it’s important that you educate yourself on California home loans before shopping for a home and mortgage. This article explains what you will need to know before buying a home in California:

The median price of a home in California is $211,500. Recently, homes in California have been appreciating at rates well above the national average. As a result, income levels in many parts of California are too low to purchase a median-priced home with a conventional loan. Although average interest rates in California are below the national average, California has one of the lowest levels of home affordability in the nation.

California’s Civil Code Provision of the Real Estate Act regulates the issuance of variable interest rates for the purchase of real estate. Therefore, borrowers who are issued large mortgage amounts are guaranteed a fixed rate mortgage. California law also prohibits the charging of interest more than one day prior to the recording of the mortgage even if the borrower received the loan prior to that time.

Jessica Elliott recommends that you visit Mortgage Lenders Plus.com for more information about California Mortgage Rates and Loans.