Tag: mortgage

After living as renters for the first seven years of their marriage, Geoff and Kristi decided it was time to purchase their first house.

They chose to pass on making a purchase earlier in their lives for reasons ranging from unstable job security to high mortgage rates. Whether justified or not, Geoff and Kristi kept making excuses for not pulling the trigger on a new-home purchase. They had no idea of the opportunity they were missing to start building their personal wealth through home ownership.

When the stock market is crumbling, people get scared. They are reminded of the terrible economic times of the 2008 Great Recession.  There are fears that the one headed our way could be even worse. With that in mind, we must examine what we learned from that Great Recession in 2008 and ask if we should put those lessons to use right now, keeping in mind that the well-being of our family depends often on the house we own and live in.

Quite often amongst wedding vows you hear the words "for better or for worse," and we mean it when we say it. As a couple you have already shared so many good times, and you know how to do that quite easily, that’s what brought you together. However, when it comes to a crisis, you may need a whole new set of tools that you have never used before. Believe it or not, it’s the hard times that really define you as a couple and strengthen your relationship in a measure that is invaluable, thereby making the worst of times some of your best moments. The moments that count when you need each other the most.

Nearly 8 in 10 (78%) of U.S. adults lose sleep over daily stresses like work, relationships, and more, according to a new report. More than half (56%) of Americans, ages 18 and older, toss and turn over at least one money issue. The biggest money stressor: everyday expenses, which nearly 1 in 3 (32%) say they occasionally lose sleep over.

Other than everyday expenses, the most popular financial insomnia contributors include saving enough money for retirement (24%), health care or insurance bills (22%), the ability to pay credit card debt (18%), mortgage or rent payments (18%), educational expenses (11%) and stock market volatility (5%). Those who are losing sleep over money include:

Buying a home is a priority for many couples, but bad credit scores often thwart the plans of prospective home buyers. If you have a credit score below 700 with a high debt-to-income ratio (above 30 percent) and you’re applying for a loan worth more than 78 percent of the value of your desired home, your chances of getting a mortgage are only 68 percent, according to an Urban Institute study. This means that your odds of being turned down are nearly one in three.

Now that the housing market is robust again in most geographies, it’s time to revisit the facts about mortgage fraud to help you be more aware as you consider the purchase of your next home. The FBI defines mortgage fraud as "a material misstatement, misrepresentation, or omission relied upon by an underwriter or lender to fund, purchase, or insure a loan."

Some kinds of debt, such as home mortgages and education loans, are linked to better child well-being while unsecured debt like credit card balances and overdue medical bills are tied to increasing behavior problems, according to a U.S. study.

"Our findings underscore that debt can be both positive and negative, depending on what it is being used for and the price or cost at which it is borrowed, in terms of interest rates, fees, and the like," said lead author Lawrence M. Berger of the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.