MHQ - Mortgage HeadQuarters

If you’ve taken part in a real estate transaction, you may have received a settlement statement, also known as a HUD-1 from your closing agent or creditor. You may find yourself asking, what exactly is a HUD-1 Settlement Statement and how do I read it? MHQ - Mortgage Headquarters of Missouri is here to help you through all of your finance questions about buying or selling a home. Today we are going to discuss what a HUD-1 Settlement Statement is and how to read it. What Is It? A HUD-1 Settlement Statement was created to be used by your closing agent or creditor when taking part in a real estate transaction. HUD stands for Housing and Urban Development and you may have heard this document as being referred to as a closing statement or a settlement sheet. This document itemizes all charges between a borrower and a seller. The borrower would be the person who is purchasing the real estate and borrowing money in the form of a mortgage from a bank or a mortgage broker. The seller wou...

How much do you know about Adjustable Rate Mortgages ? The truth is ARMs are not all the same and can have great value. Home buyers often focus on obtaining the lowest possible rate on a 30-year loan, but most mortgage loans are used for only three. Cash out transactions for improvements, additions, repairs, weddings, tuition and major purchases occur with great frequency. That being said, Adjustable Rate Mortgages are often misaligned, dismissed outright and completely misunderstood. If you think you might refinance for any reason anytime in the next seven years, read on for more information about ARMs , the benefits and the risks. Lower Rates, Flexible Terms Today, most ARMs are "hybrids." They start out at a fixed rate for the first 3, 5, 7 or even 10 years. During this time, you save on interest cost, and even though your payment is less, you still pay more toward principal. Inside Information Lenders give you a discounted rate up front because they know the rate...

Borrowing for a home is expensive. In fact, it's pretty likely that your mortgage payment is your largest monthly expense. But there are ways you can decrease your monthly payment and pay off your loan faster. The  best mortgage company at the Lake of the Ozarks  is here to offer you some simple  tips for saving money on your mortgage  that will also knock some years off your loan term. Check it out: 1. Make Additional Payments Here's a simple trick to reduce the repayment period of your mortgage and save thousands over the course of your loan: Make additional payments which go toward the principal. People pay extra in a few different ways. Paying one additional full payment one time a year may be the easiest to track. If you can't afford to pay an extra whole payment all at once, you can split that large amount into 12 smaller payments and write a check for that additional amount monthly. Finally, you can pay half of your mortgage payment every other week. Eac...

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. Check out exactly how your credit score matters when it comes to applying for a mortgage. 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 typically compile a score based on the following factors: Credit History - How lon...

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...

Mortgage lending can be a complicated and overwhelming experience if you're not familiar with how it all works. So this week,  MHQ Mortgage HeadQuarters  is sharing with you 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 an idea of what a lender may loan to you, it is a very general estimate and does not hold any weight...

Whether you're  buying your first home  or needing to  refinance your current mortgage  to make some much needed upgrades to your home, there's probably going to be a time when you're going to have to consider mortgage lending options. Make no mistake, there's a lot involved when you get a mortgage. You wouldn't be looking up loan information if it were possible to get a loan in a single day with a simple application. But  Mortgage Headquarters of Missouri, Inc  does the heavy lifting so you can concentrate on your life rather than the mortgage loan. Take a look at the mortgage services we offer at MHQ! First Time Homebuyer Lending As a first time homebuyer, there may be several factors to getting a loan that you may not be aware of. There are some important steps to getting a mortgage loan: deciding on a maximum loan amount, pre-qualifying for a loan, applying for the loan, and getting funded. Because lender guidelines are fairly standard, we can g...