MHQ - Mortgage HeadQuarters

If you're currently renting and want to buy your own home, you'll need to start thinking about how you'll cover a down payment. Saving for a down payment to buy a house can seem overwhelming, but with a couple of savings hacks, you might be able to save enough to afford a home sooner than you expected. Here are some tips to help you start saving for a down payment as quickly as possible: 1. Reduce Your Credit Card Debt High interest rates on credit cards can seriously limit your ability to save. Pay off your high interest rate credit cards. Start with your highest interest rate card. When you've paid the entire balance, close the card, and proceed to pay off the next. At a minimum, transfer your credit card balances to the card with the lowest interest rate. 2. Auto Deposit Funds into Savings Every Paycheck Set up an automatic direct deposit into a savings account. Commit to never use these savings for any purpose other than your down payment. You might choose

Anyone who's ever purchased a home at the Lake of the Ozarks knows that the mortgage lending process can be a complicated and overwhelming experience if you're not familiar with how it all works. That's why this week, MHQ Mortgage HeadQuarters has decided to lay out the typical steps of the mortgage loan process so you know what to expect for your next home purchase at the Lake of the Ozarks. Take a look: PRE-APPROVAL One of the very first things you should do when you decide to purchase a home, is to get a loan pre-approval . This will help to determine an estimated loan amount that your lender is willing to loan to you. Not only will this help give you a budget baseline to work with, but it'll prevent you from looking at homes outside of what you can afford. Pre-approvals also let sellers know you're a serious buyer and not just window shopping. Remember: A pre-approval and a pre-qualification are NOT the same thing! While a pre-qualification may give you

Your credit score, as well as the information on your credit report, are key ingredients in determining whether you’ll be able to get a mortgage, and the rate you’ll pay. When you apply for a mortgage loan , your lender will pull your credit report to determine your creditworthiness and your debt-to-income ratio to see if you are financially responsible. This also helps them to determine what loan amount you can afford and at what rate of interest to approve you at. The better credit you have, the higher loan amount you'll likely qualify for, and at a lower interest rate. Lender Scoring Methods While different lenders will use different qualifications and scoring methods to determine your creditworthiness, some variation of the standard FICO score is often used as a base. FICO takes different variables on your credit report from the three major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion) to compile your score. Those range from 300 – 850. From this information, they typi

With the New Year kicking off, many people are beginning to think about tax season. If you've recently bought or are considering buying a new home at the Lake of the Ozarks , you may have some questions about what kind of tax benefits are available to you when you purchase a home. So, this week, we wanted to share with you some tax deductions that every homeowner should know about! Mortgage Interest Deduction Homeowners who itemize deductions may reduce their taxable income by deducting any interest paid on a home mortgage. The deduction is limited to interest paid on up to $750,000 of debt incurred to purchase or substantially rehabilitate a home. While previously, homeowners were able to deduct interest paid on up to $100,000 of home equity debt, regardless of how they use the borrowed funds, in 2018, home mortgage interest from home equity loans will no longer be deductible. Property Tax Deduction Homeowners who itemize deductions may also reduce their taxable income by