BUSINESS
January 3, 1999
Dear Mr. Azrael:During the spring, I was sent information about refinancing [a second mortgage].[The mortgage company] told me they received a list of requirements from [my first mortgage holder].The requirement that I had to fulfill was to send in a check for $150. They needed to receive the money before the subordination agreement would be prepared. I did as instructed.In September, I received the settlement package in the mail. I noticed that lender services was charging an additional $100 for the work performed by [my first mortgage holder]
BUSINESS
August 29, 1999
Several readers have been asking when they can cancel their private mortgage insurance.When a homebuyer's down payment is less than 20 percent of the purchase price, the lender often requires the homebuyer to purchase private mortgage insurance, or PMI. PMI protects the lender against a deficiency in case the borrower defaults and the home does not bring enough money at a foreclosure sale to pay the lender in full.PMI is expensive -- $25 to $65 a month on a $100,000 loan. The cost of PMI is added into the homebuyer's monthly mortgage payment.
BUSINESS
September 6, 1998
Dear Mr. Azrael:I'd like to know if there's any way that I can purchase a house using my own home as equity without having to make any significant down payment. I presently owe about $13,000 on a $160,000 home. Thank you.Curt GlobalFallstonDear Mr. Global:Your home has substantial equity. Equity is the difference between the value of your home and the amount owed on it. Assuming you have good credit, you easily should be able to borrow 60 percent to 80 percent of the equity in your home. This borrowing power could be used to provide a down payment for purchasing a second home or investment property.
BUSINESS
By JANE BRYANT QUINN | March 16, 1998
IF YOU'RE buying or refinancing a house, and putting less than 20 percent down, the bank requires you to buy mortgage insurance. This guarantees that the lender won't take a major loss if you default.But banks are getting more aggressive. They'd like to lay hands on the money you're paying to the insurer.So in place of mortgage insurance, many are offering something called a piggyback loan. You pay a higher interest rate on asmall part of the money you borrow. That higher rate helps offset the bank's losses from defaults.
BUSINESS
By Kenneth R. Harney | December 28, 1997
TWO OF THE country's largest sources of mortgage money have created an unusual financing package for 1998 -- a loan for cash-strapped homebuyers that exceeds the cost of the house they purchase.The extra money in the loan package -- up to 3 percent beyond the property's market value -- must be used for closing costs and escrows.The package concept, which is being introduced by mega-investor Freddie Mac and Irvine, Calif.-based WMC Mortgage Corp., goes by the name "103 combo."It is designed for buyers with at least moderately good credit histories who haven't been able to accumulate enough cash to pay for both a home down payment and the closing costs.
BUSINESS
By Kenneth R. Harney | September 28, 1997
A NATIONWIDE price war has broken out among lenders, homebuilders and mortgage insurers for the business of TC once-neglected group of consumers: homebuyers who can afford no more than a 10 percent down payment, but who also don't like the idea of making monthly mortgage insurance payments. If you fit the description, you might be able to cash in.Traditionally, buyers who can't come up with a 20 percent down payment have been forced to purchase private mortgage insurance (PMI) to cover the lender's heightened risk of loss in the event of default or foreclosure.
BUSINESS
By Lorraine Mirabella | August 2, 1996
Dozens of home-sale deals across the state threatened to fall apart yesterday, as title agents, borrowers and sellers learned that Columbia-based Consumer First Mortgage Inc. had failed to deliver on some 60 loans and abruptly shut down Wednesday.The mortgage company's failure to fund loans for houses set to change hands at the end of July set off a panic among title companies handling those property settlements, raising questions about who owned the houses or held the loans.Some companies -- believing mortgage money had been wired to their accounts -- conducted property transfers, paying off sellers, real estate agents and other expenses, only to find Consumer First had sent no money.
BUSINESS
By Lorraine Mirabella | August 24, 1996
Consumer First Mortgage Inc. has been taken over by four lenders who stepped in after the Columbia-based mortgage broker abruptly shut its doors with nearly 650 home loans in the pipeline, Maryland's bank commissioner said yesterday.The 648 mortgages that Consumer First failed to bring to settlement before its shutdown at the end of July have been distributed among Virginia First Mortgage, a division of Virginia First Savings Bank; Carroll County Bank and Trust Co.; MNC Mortgage Corp.; and Mortgage Edge Corp.
BUSINESS
By Lorraine Mirabella | August 6, 1996
The mortgage division of a Virginia-based savings bank took over four branches of the defunct Columbia-based Consumer First Mortgage Inc., which abruptly shut down last week with more than 600 home loans in the pipeline.Branches in Columbia, Timonium, Bel Air and Frederick -- along with their employees and home loan business -- became part of Virginia First Mortgage yesterday in a deal arranged over the weekend by the two lenders' officers, said Gary Martin, chief executive officer of Virginia First.
BUSINESS
By Michael Gisriel | March 13, 1994
Q: My husband and I are renting a house in Westminster with the option to purchase it. The owner of the house has offered to take back a second mortgage for part of the purchase price if we exercise our option and buy the house. How will this help us get a first mortgage to purchase the house?K. Houck, WestminsterA: The seller's offer to take back a second mortgage for part of the purchase price will help you get a first mortgage for the house you are now renting.Homebuyers need to borrow from 90 percent to 95 percent of the purchase price of a house in the form of a first mortgage from a lender in order to buy a home.