Interest Rates and Float Down Options

Mortgage Interest rates are steady right now with an ever so slight downward trend. I don't see significant movement in either direction for the foreseable future but I have a foolproof way of allowing you to benefit if they do go lower. It's called a float down and it's something I highly reccomend to everyone doing a rate and term refinance. Here is how it works. You pay a .5% (one half point) of the loan amount, which is 100% refundable at closing regardless of if you float down or not, and this gives you a one time interest rate float down to the current 60 day market interest rates plus .125%. Once your loan is approved and ready to close if the rates have gone down you get a better rate if they go up you keep the original locked in rate and you get you upfront fee back either way. We can increase the opportunity for you to can get a better rate by getting your loan approved for closing as fast as possible so we can sit for a week or two and watch the market with the hopes of catching a down day for rates and executing the float down.

I provide mortgage refinance loans and purchase money mortgages around the entire country but primarily focus on Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. If you live in Bethesda, Rockville, Gaithersburg or Montgomery County, MD and you need expert advice on financing your home mortgage and would like great interest rates with straight forward honest advice then please give me a call.

Thanks fo reading,
Peirce

Lowest rate and lowest monthly payment

One of my clients recently asked me for a loan with the best interest rate and the lowest monthly payment. Well this is a trick question because those two things are often wrongly associated with each other. Most people want to lower their mortgage payment and they wrongly assume that this equates to the lowest interest rate available. While the interest rate on your mortgage loan is extremely important equally important are the terms under which you are required to pay back your mortgage. One of the most important but often misunderstood and overlooked terms is the amortization term. This determines whether you pay principal and interest, interest only, or maybe even defer interest with negative amortization. This sigle apect, the term of your mortgage loan, is the greatest factor influencing the amount of your monthly payments. So it would make sense to have control over this right? Well there are loans avaiable that give you a choice each month regarding under which term you will pay. Now these loans may come with a slightly higer rate, which is the price you pay for flexibility, but think of the consequences if you run on difficult times. With a standard 30 year fixed rate mortgage for $400,000 at 6.5% you are obligated to make a monthly payment of $2514.65 each and every month regardless of any circumstances that life might toss at you. What if you considered some sound financial advice and looked at a loan that still had a 30 year fixed rate but came with payment options each month. What premium in interest rate would you pay for the option to be allowed to only have to pay $1714.44 a month for that same $400,000 loan? That is over $800 a month lower than the standard 30 year fixed rate. Would you pay an extra .7% or $2800 per year to have this option? If you have doubts about the timing or amount of your future income or want to keep your family safe in the event of a financial emergency then this is a loan program for you to consider. Or maybe you want to invest your money in other places to grow your net worth. These are the types of forward thinking questions you need to ask yourself when considering the type of mortgage loan that is best for you and your family. If you would like an analysis of your unique financial needs please send me an e-mail or drop me a line.

My First Post and reasons why

So I've heard of a blog, I've even read a few and then I met someone who couldn't say enough about the absolute power of this great tool that he uses to communicate with is current, past and future clients even his friends and family. When he started to tell me all the great things his blog allowed him to do I was absolutely stunned because the challenges it helped him overcome were exactly the same challenges that I often see everyday. I thought to myself how could this blog thing be better than a great website or maybe a piece of marketing software but then it hit me. While reading his blog (http://drodio.typepad.com) I realized that this was exactly the tool I had been missing for so many years because it can allow someone to easily put their thoughts and the knowledge they have developed into a usable accessible format. Things like answering the same question over and over again for different clients is something in my business that I do almost everyday so from now on I will post my answers to each client on my blog so that the next time the question comes up I can send them to my blog post instead of spending valuable time answering the same question again and again.

Well I made it a goal for 2008 to start a blog of my own so I'm a few days early. I guess that's better than a few days late. So a new goal will be to grow the content of my blog so that it becomes a usable resource of the thousands of people who surely wish they had honest and expert advice surrounding the mortgage financing of their most valuable asset, their home. Oh and I'll also add some personal Peirce Cook info and thoughts just to keep things interesting.

Thanks for reading,
Peirce