How Should You Make Biweekly Payments?

One tactic that we highly recommend for your mortgage is making biweekly payments. That’s what we are going to discuss today, and hopefully we will provide you with some insight as to why it’s such a good idea.
 
As soon as you put your mortgage in place, whether it’s for a new home or a refinance, you are going to get solicitation immediately from 3rd party companies asking you to set up a bi-weekly mortgage payment program. It is a great idea to do this, but there are some things I don’t like about some of the requests out there. 

If you only take one thing away from this post, it should be this: Do not pay any type of fee to set up biweekly payments. Whether it’s an up-front fee or a per-payment fee, paying $3 or $4 for each transaction is not a good deal.

If a lender contacts you and says they will collect your payment every  2 weeks and apply it towards your principle, that is a good program (as long as there are no fees involved).
 
Another way to accomplish this is by taking your monthly payment, dividing it by 12, and adding 1/12 of that monthly payment to each regular monthly payment, and you will substantially reduce your mortgage. You will be able to pay it off 6 years sooner by utilizing this technique.

These aren’t the only ways to achieve mortgage acceleration. If you want to know some more about how you can pay off your mortgage quicker, check out these links 

If you have any other questions for us, feel free to give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you!

How the New TRID Guidance Will Affect You

TRID Frequently Asked Questions

TRID - The Closing Disclosure (CD)

TRID - The Loan Estimate (LE)

Today we'll talk about some new guidelines that will impact the mortgage and real estate industries: TRID and KBYO. TRID stands for Tila-Respa Integrated Disclosure. KBYO stands for Know Before You Owe. These new guidelines were put in place by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to help the consumer be more informed when you're doing a mortgage and real estate transaction.

TRID will be effective for applications beginning after October 3, 2015. The first big change will be with the paperwork. The good faith estimate and the truth in lending document will be combined in one document called the loan estimate. Not only does combining the documents keep the buyer more informed, but it also simplifies the process by creating less paperwork for the buyer to keep track of.

The next big piece of TRID is that you, the buyer, have to receive the final figures three full days before closing. If the figures are mailed to you, you have six days; three days for the mail, and three days for review. Right now, a lot of transactions come right down to the last minute. With TRID, there's no more last minute. You have three days to look over everything.
 
Lastly, when you get to the closing table, you will no longer get a HUD statement. Instead, you will receive a closing disclosure. The HUD settlement statement documents all the transaction figures: what the seller receives, what the buyer's costs are, and so on. The closing disclosure still informs the buyer, but it's easier to understand.

There's a lot of changes up ahead, and I'm sure you have some questions. Please feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I'd be happy to help you.

TRID Frequently Asked Questions

TRID - The Closing Disclosure (CD)

TRID - The Loan Estimate (LE)

The Next Big Digital Revolution

I've talked about it in past videos, but I can't stress it enough: the digital mortgage revolution is here!

Over at GuaranteedRate.com, my lender is now doing a 100% digital mortgage. The only part that is not digital is the closing of the loan. You'll receive $250 to apply online, a transfer-safe folder to upload all your documents, and regular status updates on your loan. Additionally, you can maintain communication with title companies and Realtors!

The entire mortgage process is now digital, making it more convenient than ever to get a loan! If you have any questions about it, or about mortgages in general, give me a call or shoot me an email. I would love to hear from you!