Choose the Right Mortgage Advisor and Save Thousands

If you are in the market for a home mortgage, it's time to start doing your homework. If you don't already know it, things have changed in the last couple of years and the days of easy home mortgages are gone.

When house prices were steadily rising just a few short months ago, it was easy to get mortgage money. But now that things have been cooling off and the steady increase in prices has virtually come to a halt, banks and mortgage lending institutions have made borrowing more difficult.

The most important change is that interest rates have been on the rise for several months. If you are new to the house buying market this may not seem all that significant. But the truth is, on a large home mortgage even a small change in the interest rate can make a very big difference to your payment.

In most cases the interest rate can even make the difference between being accepted or rejected for a home mortgage. That's because in order to qualify for a home mortgage your ability to afford the payment is one of the most important criteria for getting approval. And a higher interest rate could easily put the payment out of reach.

**Find a home mortgage advisor**

Before making home mortgage decisions you should find a professional advisor who has a lot of experience in the home mortgage business. Often the best advisor is a mortgage broker not directly affiliated with any one lending institution. The best advisor has in-depth experience and current knowledge of real estate and mortgage trends. This kind of mortgage advisor also can make use of many different sources of mortgage funds.

Your regular banker is often not your best choice. Banks typically recommend their own products and they are not very interested in suggesting other products outside of their own offerings, even if they are a better deal for you.

Think about it this way - if your credit rating is good and you have a good steady income there are lots of lenders out there eager to give you a home mortgage. So you can probably get a better deal than the one your bank is offering. On the other hand, if you don't have a particularly good credit rating or have cash flow problems you may need some creative suggestions. But your bank is not likely to give them to you. They want you to follow their rules and mee their requirements.

In other words, a bank is fine if you don't care about getting a better deal. However, if you want lower cost or more flexible alternatives or you need creative suggestions you're better to go somewhere other than your bank.

But where can you go? You should look for a home mortgage advisor who specializes in personalized service - someone who knows the market from the inside and who has access to many different sources of mortgage funds.

**Good news in hard times**

Even when credit gets tighter there are ways to get a good deal on a home mortgage. These good deals sometimes involve government backed loans such as FHA loans. Loans like this help people with very bad credit to borrow as much as 97 percent of the value of their home. The biggest requirement is that they have the necessary income to make regular payments - in other words, a steady job.

Home mortgages like these make home ownership possible for many people who might not otherwise qualify. So they are very good deals for many people. But many traditional lenders will not recommend them because there is not enough profit in it for them. Some traditional lenders are not even aware these alternatives exist.

Even most mortgage brokers will not do these loans because they involve a bit of extra work. But from the borrower's point of view it is well worth finding a mortgage broker who will go out of his or her way to put together the best deal for you. You could save literally thousands of dollars with the right home mortgage package.

**An ARM can be a good short term solution**

There is also another type of loan available called the "option adustable rate loan", commonly referred to as an ARM. This kind of home mortgage allows a person with very good credit to pay as little as 1% interest against a "real" rate of about 7.25%.

But beware. The unpaid interest is added to the principal of your loan, so the amount owed actually goes up over time. That means an ARM loan must be used very cautiously because a home owner can end up owing more than they can afford to pay.

But this approach does give a borrower the option of making drastically reduced payments for a short period of time. It is used most often when a person has serious short term cash flow problems, or when they forsee their financial situation significantly improving a year or two in the future.

**Make the right mortgage choices**

While it is more difficult than ever to get a very low rate on a home mortgage there are still money saving deals available if you know where to look. That's why it is crucial to deal with an experienced professional advisor you can trust. Look for someone who has intimate knowledge of the current home mortgage situation and who is experienced in dealing with your type of situation.

The best advisor is a broker with years of experience and hundreds of different lenders to draw on. That kind of broker can find an affordable mortgage for almost everyone.

Article Source: http://www.articlemonk.com

Dean Weber has more than 20 years experience as a home mortgage advisor, arranging commercial mortgages and all kinds of loans. Read these mortgage client testimonials to see how much actual clients like Mortgages-Mall.com
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