Being a first-time home buyer is about more than just becoming a home owner for the first time. Qualified first-time buyers may be eligible for conventional low down payment loans such as the Fannie Mae HomeReady and Freddie Mac Home Possible loan programs, government-backed low down payment loans such as the FHA loan, and zero down payment loans such as the VA loan for veterans and service people.

More than 25 million VA loans have been issued since the program was established in 1944. If you’re a service member, veteran, or surviving spouse who meets the VA’s eligibility rules, then the VA loan program could be the mortgage for you. A VA loan requires no down payment and no private mortgage insurance, giving it a clear advantage over alternatives like conventional loans and FHA loans.

For many homeowners, a major incentive of refinancing is the potential to lower the interest rate and monthly payments on their mortgage.

A home equity loan is a fixed-rate, closed-end loan where the borrower uses their home equity as collateral. The loan is paid to the borrower in a lump sum and the borrower must pay back that sum, plus a fixed annual interest rate, within the pre-agreed repayment term. The usual repayment term for a home equity loan is 5-15 years, although some lenders have been known to offer terms of up to 30 years.

Lenders take numerous factors into account when assessing mortgage applications, but the most important factor of all is personal credit scores. Your credit score is an indicator of your ability to pay back your loan, hence why lenders look at it closely before deciding whether to approve or reject you and whether to offer you a low or high-interest rate.

Searching for a mortgage is like searching for a home – they come in all shapes and sizes. When buying a home, people usually think about which area they want to buy and how much they’re willing to spend before approaching real estate agents. The same goes for mortgages: first, you need to know which type of mortgage you prefer before going shopping for a mortgage lender.

When applying for a mortgage, there are few important decisions you’ll need to make, one such decision is your repayment term. A repayment term, also known as loan term or loan duration, determines how long you have to pay off the loan. Mortgage repayment terms generally range from 10-30 years, and the most common are 15-year mortgages and 30-year mortgages.

If you've turned on the news in the past months, you've probably seen finance experts discuss inflation-driven mortgage rate rises. Some of these stories warn of interest rates of 15%+, while others estimate modest increases that will only slightly tighten the purse strings of homeowners. Nevertheless, banks are indeed increasing their mortgage rates. On May 4th, 2022, the Federal Reserve voted to raise the bedrock interest rate to 0.9%. This change went into effect on May 5th, and as a result, many banks increased their mortgage rates. It was the second increase this year—after a 0.25% increase back in March. Further increases took place in June with a rate increase of 0.75% and July and it seems this trend will continue. Below, we'll cover why mortgage rates have increased and how you can expect these increases to impact you as someone looking to buy a home, refinance, or take out a home equity loan.

Finding the funds can be a challenge if you’re facing a major expense such as home renovations, paying off debts, or contributing to your children’s tuition. Unfortunately, recent events in the global economy may have caused you to dip into your savings, which can make it even more difficult to get your hands on extra cash when you need it.

They say a house is the biggest purchase you’ll ever make, but the truth is you don’t actually need much money to buy one. That’s all thanks to low down payment mortgages, which allow most people to qualify for a mortgage with as little as 3% down payment (and zero down payment in some cases).

Buying your first home can be an exciting but daunting process. After years of renting or living in the family home, you’re finally ready to become a homeowner. But where do you start? Read on for our checklist of the seven key steps to buying and financing your first home purchase.