Down below by the hour glass is a blog I wrote back in October of 2009 Talking about the Adjustable Rate Mortgage discussing the philosophy of when to consider refinancing out of your current ARM loan And moving to a  fixed rate loan. I am Andrew Hahn and as  a Refinance Specialist located in Commerce City Licensed in the state of Colorado its time to up date that old post and point out that NOW is more than likely that time to make the move to the fixed rate loan. For those of you who have ARM loans you need to know your Index and your Margin; this is the information you need to be able to calculate what your interest rate is going to be. There are two main index’s that are used, either the LIBOR (could be 6 month or 1 year) or the 1 year treasuries CMT, It makes a big difference you need to know this information. If you don’t know you can search through your old closing documents or to make it easy on yourself and call your loan servicer and ask them for this information, OR you can always contact me Andrew Hahn and I’ll help you; you need to write it down and keep where you can check it from time to time, ALTHOUGH NOW IS THE TIME TO KNOW THIS INFORMATION. Ask them what your index is; ask them what the margin is (you add the margin plus the index to figure out what your interest rate well be) another important bit of information is ask them in what month do they calculate your interest rate. Generally its one month before your ARM is set to adjust. So if your loan is set to adjust in December they well use the index from November and your January payment would be the 1st month of your newly adjusted interest rate.  Although now what you need to consider is that those index’s are not moving up as fast as the mortgage interest rates so your loan could adjust down yet another time or two. You need to think that if your true intention is to lock in the lowest fixed rate that time would by all indication be now and that the absolute best rates might be behind us now. So in order to not lose any more ground regarding catching those fixed rates I feel now is the time. I don’t think we are going to see the 30 fixed rate below 5% again or at least for anytime in the foreseeable future. In fact the prediction is to see interest rates in the low to mid 6% by the end of this year. Since the end of December rates have been creeping up; a loan that I could have locked before Christmas at 4.875% would now be at 5.25%. One of the most important thought here is that if your looking to stay in your real estate and want the better rates NOW IS THE TIME in the long run Mortgage interest rates could go way back up due to inflation that is bound to happen from all the bailout money that has been printed over the past year. If you have any question or want to talk to me about your refinance strategy give me a call or write me a comment or email  me which ever works best but don’t just sit there and think rates are going back down I don’t think that is going to happen.Visit my business website all my information is there CapitalAdvantageMortgage.com or my personal website Andrew-Hahn.com

Refinance Philosophy for those with ARM loans

In today’s chase for the best rate, for those who have a *conforming Adjustable Rate Mortgage or to be more specific a loan owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac the chances are your ARMs interest rate has been going down and is lower than today’s fixed interest rate loans. If you want to get out of the uncertainty of an ARM and want a fixed rate loan have you a decision to make. More than likely to make the move to a fixed rate loan your rate is more than likely going to be higher and therefore your payment is going to go up. Now the challenging aspect is going to be timing. You want to take advantage of your lower rate as long as possible yet when you make the move to a fixed rate loan you want to lock in at the lowest rate you can. Timing the market is always a tough call and trying to guess when the 30 year fixed rates are going to reach their lows is even more difficult given the challenges in the markets today. Unless there is another sizable drop in the market we might have seen the all time lows and rates are starting the trend back up. Now could be the time to start watching the rates to try to catch them on a dip and get locked in, in the upper 4%’s to low 5% range, at this time 4.75% or lower doesn’t appear to be in the stars; unless you buy the rate down (not usually money well spent unless paid by some else). So what I recommend is that we start crunching the numbers now to determine a strategy and to be at the ready when rates get to your sweet spot. To sign up for my rate quote click here.

* Non conforming loans such as subprime loans or portfolio loans (some institutions keep their loans) are probably seeing their rates go up and are not eligible for loan programs created by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Don’t waste this opportunity to get in to that fixed rate loan; Contact Andrew Hahn your refinance expert located in Commerce City Licensed in Colorado Mortgage refinance in Denver and the entire State of Colorado.

CapitalAdvantageMortgage.com and for an interest rate quote Click Here

For those who still have equity in your home and are thinking about consolidating dept here are some points to consider when paying off those credit cards and or fixed term loans such as a car loan or unsecured loan.  What ever you consolidate into the new loan is going to paid off in the loan term of the new loan, so if you had a car with 3 years left on the term and you refinanced to a new 30 year term that balance just got spread out over that same 30 years.  Now on the other hand your payment went down considerably and the the interest on the car payment that probably wasn’t tax deductible you might find yourself deducting it now with your mortgage interest deduction ( not accounting advise you need to talk to your accountant to determine how it would affect your tax situation).  Now when considering consolidating credit cards again there are points again to consider like the car the balance you consolidate into a new loan are again spread out over the term of the new loan.  Some big differences are that the fixed term on a loan being paid off is done paid in full, now with a credit you pay it off and you can use it again and again potentially running the balance up again with the unintended consequence of not helping but putting you even further in dept.  The only cure for this is SELF CONTROL, easy to say hard to do but if followed through  can put you back to the road to prosperity.  Another option of closing the account sounds good but can be bad for your credit score.  When you close a credit card account it hurts your credit score, a factor in determining the credit score is how much credit you have (credit limit) vs. how much credit you’ve used ( credit balance).  I’m not sure where the line falls some say when you get over 50 to 60% of used credit it can start to have a adverse impact on your score.  It’s hard to determine but it’s like this if you have credit cards that you have close to maxed out that’s not good and well hurt your score.  I think that if you can refinance out of a high interest rate to a lower rate you can’t lose, why pay 18%, 21%  or more in an interest rate when you can pay 5% .  I feel the goal should be to take some of the amount of money you would be saving because of the lower payment and start powering down on the saving account.  Here is a great tool for you to use to help determine how long it would take you to payoff a credit card CLICK HERE to go to this website.  For those of you who’s interest rate is over 21% it starts to get pretty scary on how long it would take you to payoff a credit card and the amount of interest you would the credit card company.

Now feel free to contact me if you would like an interest rate quote or CLICK HERE to go to my website and fill out a secure online loan application.  If you have more questions feel free to contact me and I’ll go over your situation to help you find the best solution for you goals.

Andrew Hahn Capital Advantage LLC a mortgage lending company

I am an independent mortgage broker with over 18 years experience in the mortgage industry.

This is not a website that’s a lead generating website that sells your information to other mortgage companies.

I have in some of my past Blogs pointed out the value of MAKING HOME AFFORDABLE PROGRAM. Here is yet another reason why I like it. For those of you with Rental Properties this program well allow you to refinance you rentals up to 105% of the value of the property and like with your primary residence it must be a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac owned loan. One of the differences between your primary residence vs. your investment properties you cannot have secondary loans on the property. So if you have a second mortgage on the property you are not going to be eligible for this program.  Now if your current loan does not have mortgage insurance then you are not required to obtain MI and if you do have MI on the property you are only required to maintain the same level of MI that you currently have. NOT BAD. If you would like to find out more about this program CLICK HERE to access on online loan application or you can feel free to call or email CLICK HERE for my contact information

 I can’t stress enough that it is a great time to refinance.

The Home Affordable Program helps those who have a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac owned loan. This program will help those who owe more than their home well appraise for refinance at todays low rates. If your not sure if your loan is owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, it’s time to give me a call or CLICK HERE and I’ll help you.

This program actually helps a lot of people, even if you have a second mortgage you still could qualify, you need to check it out. If your current rate is at 6% or above you could potentially save a pretty good amount of money. The higher the loan amount the more you can save; the reason being that certain costs are fixed and on the lower loan amount the longer it is going to take to repay that cost vs. when your loan amount is greater than the savings is more that intern shortens the pay back time of the closing cost insuring value when you consider a refinance. The best way to calculate your savings is to get a Good Faith Estimate and find out what your monthly savings could be and what the time span would be to payoff the closing costs. CLICK HERE to obtain your free interest rate quote and free evaluation to determine if refinancing is right for you. Right now rates are remaining pretty low so nows still a good time to consider a refinance. Another factor to consider when refinancing is what is your time frame in which you plan on living in your property.  If you are considering at some point in turning your primary residence into a rental again something to consider is it is a great idea to refinance locking in a long term low rate; now with that though in mind when you refinance your primary residence your really cannot turn that property into a rental property for 12 months.  If you where to buy a new property they are going to want to cross reference information to determine this fact, so keep this in mind for future planning. Please leave any comments or questions you may have I’d be glad to address them. If your a Colorado residence and our considering a refinance please give me a call or email me I’d be glad to give you a free mortgage consultation to determine if refinancing makes sense for your situation. Andrew Hahn your Denver refinance professional; located in Commerce City Colorado serving Denver and the Metro area.

Andrew Hahn Mortgage professional for over 18 years, helping refinance in Denver and the Front Range; licensed in the State of Colorado.

A guest post from Sandy T

Is it possible to get a mortgage without any down payment?

Nowadays, you can get a mortgage without making a down payment. These mortgages are also commonly known as 100% mortgages or 100% loans. No or low down payment loans need small or no cash from the borrowers at the time of closing.
About 20 years back, the average down payment for a home loan was 20%. At present, people can qualify for mortgages even by making a down payment of as low as 4%. To be precise, a 0% or no down payment mortgage is a loan for which you don’t need to make any down payment at the time of buying a home. In today’s mortgage market, getting a no down payment home loan might be quite hard unless you have an excellent credit score. If you’re a veteran, you can qualify for a VA (Veterans Administration) loan with a somewhat lower credit score.  Mortgage rates for these loans are usually higher than other types of conventional loans.
No down payment loans for veterans are always a secure option for both borrowers and lenders.
Should you go for a 0% down loan only since you can?
Not essentially. Given below are reasons that should be taken into consideration prior to taking out a 0% down loan:
    You’re more probable to lose your home.
    No down payment signifies a smaller home.
    You need to make higher monthly payments.
    It’s difficult to qualify for these loans.
    Very few lenders offer these loans.
    No money down loans require you to buy private mortgage insurance (PMI).

Underwriting prerequisites for 0% down loans

Usually, the underwriting prerequisites for these loans include the following:

    All borrowers should live in the property
    A minimum credit score of 660 with no late payments mentioned in the past 12 months.
    Maximum amount of loan is $417,000, though many lenders are providing 0% down jumbo mortgage products
    Only 1-2 unit primary residence. Includes sanctioned PUDs (Planned Unit Developments) and condominiums. Investment property is not allowed for 0% down payment loans.
    No foreclosure or bankruptcy within 7 years of closing.
    Your debt to income ratios must not surpass 45% of your income.
    You don’t have to be a first-time home buyer.

You should go for a 0% down loan only if you have good credit and you’re confident about repaying the loan on time.

I would like to thank Sandy for her contribution to my blog Keep up the good work

Guidelines you need to know about for those who have Residential Investment Properties in Colorado.

For those who want to take advantage of today’s Real Estate Market and turn your current primary residence into a rental and take advantage of the $6,500.00 tax credit while purchasing a new home  DO YOU QUALIFY Housing Tax credit There are some interesting rules for existing home owners.  Mainly you need to have lived in your current residence for 5 years or more and if your married that needs to be the both of you.  One of the new guidelines that can be a determining factor is, is that for the example of converting your primary residence and buying a new home is you are going to need to qualify with both payments. The way the lenders are looking at rental property is that they need to be reported on your schedule E of your tax return in order to use rental income (or loss) and they are going to use actual figures off your tax returns and there is the chance they could ask for 2 years tax returns and the they are going to average the 2 years income from those properties to determine the income or loss from that calculations. The number of years tax returns needed well be determined when the loan is underwritten through the Fannie Mae’s or Freddie Mac’s automated underwriting programs. Also another change is that they are going to want to see 6 months reserves for each property you have financed; example if you have 2 properties and each has a $1,200. dollar payment which includes PITI then you are going to 2 x 12oo x 6 = your going to need assets of at least 14,400. now if one of the properties has an HOA fee of 150.00 you are going to need to ad that to the amount of reserves, so keep that in mind as well.  But it’s all worth it to be able to tale advantage of today’s low rates. If you would like to apply go to my business website Capital Advantage Mortgage to apply or to contact me to see if your eligible for the program.

APPLY HERE

One area I haven’t seen much on is the refinancing of investment properties.

For everyone who has investment properties you need to know; The making home affordable program works for you too. Even if your underwater and your property value is less than what you owe you can still refinance up to 105% and in some cases up to 125%. Please visit my business website CapitalAdvantageMortgage.com or leave me Andrew Hahn a comment so we can determine what you qualify for. This is a great opportunity to take advantage of these low interest rates. I’m Andrew Hahn and My company is Capital Advantage LLC. a Mortgage Lending Company. I have over 18 years experience in the mortgage industry. When looking to Refinance your properties located in Denver and the front range Give me a call 303-331-8040 or you can go to my business website and fill out a secure loan application. This program for investment properties is very similar to the program for primary residences, although there are a bit more hoops to go through and the documentation is more cumbersome it well worth it in looking to lock up long term money at these interest rates on income property. A must look at for all those with rental properties.

From Andrew Hahn its free to ask and could save you 100′s call me

Denver refinancing expert Andrew Hahn helping people take advantage of the government programs that can help people save money and take advantage of today’s low rates.

       Andrew Hahn President of Capital Advantage LLC. a Mortgage Lending Company located in Commerce City Colorado Serving Colorado and the Denver Metro area.

THIS IS A PROGRAM EVERYONE NEEDS TO CHECK INTO

As I pointed out in my earlier Blog about the Home Affordable Refinance program. There is another major positive aspect about this program that make it one of the few programs the government has put out there for people to take advantage of.  As I stated before this program allows you to refinance even if your loan is up to 105% of the value of you property and when you refinance with this program your Mortgage Insurance remains at the same level it was before the refinance. This means that if your current loan doesn’t have mortgage insurance that if you go over 80% you do not need to obtain mortgage insurance on the new loan. This is huge because the mortgage insurance always adds so much to the payment in some cases when you add mortgage insurance it negates the savings. If you have mortgage insurance now you would be required to obtain the same level of mortgage insurance that you currently have, so if your MI premium was at 85% your premium would be the same, its like your paying it now so your used to paying it but could refinance at the lower rate and still realize the saving created from the new refinance (they were thinking right when they made this program) real help and real savings. You all need to check into to this program, there are many who don’t understand or think that there is actually  a program that can help them out.  If your not sure; you need to ask.  You can always call and ask.  Andrew Hahn: president Capital Advantage LLC. Mortgage lending. Or visit my business website at Capitaladvantagemortgage.com.

I never hurts to ask and that’s free. If you are eligible for the program you could realize 30 years or so of savings

APPLY HERE

Andrew Hahn here President of Capital Advantage LLC.a Colorado Mortgage Lending Company since 1991. I want to urge all those who obtained a conventional mortgage  18 months ago or older that you may qualify for for the Government HARP Program which stands for HOME AFFORDABLE REFINANCE PROGRAM. this is really one of the best programs out there that helps home owners. As I am a licensed Mortgage Broker in the state of Colorado I provide my services to home owners located in Colorado and the Denver Metro Area. The information I provide regarding HARP includes all, as this is a national program.  First of all this program is aimed at those people that have conventional loans through Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. Your loan can be an ARM or an interest only loan and you can still refinance to a fixed rate loan; it’s a great deal, now is the time to roll out of that loan with the uncertainty of there futures into a loan that can get you through the next 30 years if need be. Now if your not sure if Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac owns your loan you can go to their website and input your address and it well tell you if they own your loan; this works most of the time but there are some instances where it doesn’t work.  The best and easiest way to find out who owns your loan is to call the loan servicer who has to tell you.  Once you have found this out you now know if this program well work for you.  If you want you can contact me Andrew Hahnand I’ll be glad to help.  The best part of this loan is it allows you to take advantage of today’s low rates even if your property is worth less than what you owe ( as though as that sounds, I think we all want to keep our homes). Most lenders now when refinancing the first mortgage well go up to 105% some well go up to 125% under certain circumstances. Get ahold of me and I’ll help you determine which Loan to Value you qualify for.  Now we are only talking about the first mortgage, remember up to 105%, now if you also have a second mortgage you still qualify for the refinance but if you have a second mortgage they well need to step behind the new mortgage this is called a subordination. At first second mortgage companies were not helping out here but after some time most have come to their senses and are allowing the new first (since it is lowering your total payments what took so long for them to figure this out). Usually the second mortgage is going to want a copy of your loan application, an appraisal and a few other documents so they can make a decision if they well subordinate or not and as the way it goes the generally want some money upfront to process the request. USAA is free and subordinates most of the time. I have seen the fee anywhere from $50.00 to $300.00 (it depends on your lender). And again this is something I can help you with. If you are considering refinancing and live in the Denver Metro area please give me a call and we can set up an appointment so I can go over your options and give you an interest rate quote.

From Andrew Hahn at Capital Advantage have a great day and don’t miss this opportunity to take advantage of a good government program that allows you to take advantage of these low rates. Don’t wait to long the consensus is is that rates are on the way up.

CLICK HERE to go to my secure online application

Denver Mortgage Lending is a Blog that’s been created by Andrew Hahn President of Capital Advantage LLC. A residential mortgage lending company located in Commerce City Colorado which is on the North Metro side of Denver Colorado. Capital Advantage LLC. mortgage is proud to announce that we are now working with business associate Steve Kal, President of Capitol Financial who is located in Denver Colorado offering Commercial Real Estate Lending.  Steve Kal has over 26 years in Commercial Real Estate Financing. Capitol Financial Center (CFC) is a premier arranger of debt, equity and joint venture capital for commercial real estate developers, owners and investors. As an experienced, proven and independent intermediary, we partner with a broad and deep network of mezzanine lenders, equity investors, life insurance companies, savings and loans, pension and trust funds, banks and private investors.  This is a welcome edition allowing Capital Advantage to offer Commercial Real Estate Finance. Andrew Hahn feels this is a valuable addition with Steve Kal’s many years of experience and proven track record in Commercial Real Estate Finance.

As a Residential Mortgage Lender Andrew Hahn works with first time home buyers as well as investors looking to take advantage of today’s current real estate market. Helping to educate today’s borrowers as to all the new changes that are continually taking place in today’s challenging market place. Whether looking to purchase or refinance Andrew Hahn Provides superior Customer serve combined with the lowest rates the market has to offer. If you live in the Denver metro area and are considering Refinancing Capital Advantage mortgage will provide fast and reliable service.  Consider Andrew Hahn your best source for all your Real Estate Financing needs  and now providing both Residential and Commercial Financing. Colorado’s  Best choice for Real Estate Finance.

Capital Advantage LLC. a mortgage lending Company Capitaladvantagemortgage.com

Andrew Hahn with over 18 years experience in residential mortgage finance