Looking for a mortgage is a big financial step. If you have authorized and proceeded with purchasing a home with the loan funds, you will obligate to pay your lender thousands of dollars for decades to come.
You’ll want to secure the most acceptable deal on a house loan possible, as well as optimize your chances of being accepted by several lenders. Hence, you can shop around for the best mortgage rates.
This is when evaluating loan possibilities and obtaining an affordable mortgage. Therefore, before looking for FHA loan mortgage companies, let’s begin! There are three figures you should know to be as prepared as possible.
Interest Rate
The money you will spend on the loan has determined by the interest rate. It has stated as a percentage, such as 3%. You will pay interest on the loan sum each year until it is paid off.
Before you file a formal loan application, most lenders will offer you an estimate of your interest rate. Many people can do this without a complex credit query. It’ll be on the credit record for two years and may reduce your score significantly.
Obtaining this estimate in advance allows you to decide whether one loan is more expensive than another, allowing you to apply solely for the cheapest loan.
Closing Costs
Closing expenses are one-time fees that you must pay when you close your loan. They cover the appraisal, mortgage origination charge, credit check, transfer tax, and title insurance. If you must spend points, they will add to your closing expenses.
Points are costs you might pay to lower your loan’s interest rate. For example, you may pay a point, which costs 1% of your loan amount and reduces your interest rate by 25 basis points.
Early in the application process, lenders should offer an estimate of your closing expenses. If one lender’s closing expenses are significantly higher than another’s, you may go with the lender with the lowest closing charges.
Loan-To-Value Ratio
Lastly, you must understand the loan’s worth about the market value of your house. For example, if you borrow $300,000 to purchase a $350,000 property, your loan-to-value ratio will be roughly 86 percent.
Ideally, your loan-to-value ratio would be 80 percent or below, implying a 20 percent down payment. If you do this, you will avoid paying an additional cost for private mortgage refinance companies or mortgage insurance (PMI). If you have a small down payment, these lenders need you to purchase to protect them from losses.
The Bottom Line
Some lenders will accept a higher loan-to-value ratio when you cannot make such a hefty down payment. In fact, with a down payment as low as 3%, it’s common to find lenders giving loans with a loan-to-value ratio of 97 percent.
However, you will have fewer lenders to choose from and may expect a higher interest rate and additional PMI expenses. Thus, before applying for a loan, you should understand the loan-to-value ratio. So you can determine which lenders are likely to accept you and what a reasonable interest rate is.
