The bank says you don’t have the borrowing power; Why?

Qualifying for a home loan is not as easy as it used it be. Before, almost everyone got approved. Now, banks are a little more careful about whom they lend money to. They want to make sure the borrower can actually payback the money according to the terms of the loan. They do that by determining your borrowing power. When the bank says you don’t have the borrowing power – wait, you don’t have to go to the bank to know this, just check out a mortgage calculator.

This easy to find online tool can help you determine whether you have enough borrowing power to afford to buy a home before you go to the bank. Borrowing power figures heavily in your credit-worthiness. It’s based on your income and financial commitments. Your income, debts, monthly bills, dependants and credit limit are compared to give you an estimate as to how much you can borrow. Your credit limit, income and past defaults are all factors. A bank may also consider a person with the option to go into more debt a higher risk. It’s important to understand that lending criteria can vary by institution and may also consider living expenses and your saving habits.   

Once you’ve used our borrowing power calculator, be honest with yourself. Bring all your financial skeletons out of the closet, even the scary ones. It’s better to take care of any potential hindrances before you go to the bank. Some fixes are easy, others may require years. You can start with pairing down your credit cards, especially high interest department store cards. Less debt in general equals more money available to pay on the loan you’re applying for.

Considering the wide availability of these tools online, there’s no reason for an applicant to endure this rejection. Know your borrowing power before you go to the bank.

Finding the Right Mortgage Broker or Lender

Finding a good Mortgage Broker to work with your specific needs can be a task, but you must take every part of buying a home seriously. Getting the wrong mortgage broker, real estate agent or home inspector could cost you thousands and thousands of dollars.

Picking out your bank, lender or mortgage broker will be the first of many items to check off your list of buying a home. A mortgage broker finds the best interest rates and packages from a pool of banks and lenders in your state. There’s NO cost to you for using a broker rather than going direct to a bank. The bank or lender gives the broker a commission style payment for finding and processing the loan. They can find you very good deals but you need to trust who you’re working with.

At The Free Mortgage Calculator we’re in the process of finding them for our visitors. Along with all the free information we’re going to start qualifying mortgage brokers for each state so that you can click on your state and find a great broker that will help you individually. This is currently set to launch on November 1st of this year.

You may not get that personal feeling when dealing with a bank or private lender directly because banks have many other programs they’re involved in such as retirment funds, savings and checking accounts, CD’s and much more. A mortgage broker is soley in business to help you get the loan that you want and their staff is trained accordingly.

When you first start looking for a mortgage broker to see what you can afford for a home you should talk to at least 5 so that you can feel out who you trust the most. Even if you don’t know ANYTHING about baseball but you talk 10 sports writers in a row you’ll be able to tell the smart ones apart from the “full of bull” ones.

Sometimes I hear people going through the buying process and they say that everything’s going smooth except we hate our real estate agent, or we hate our mortgage broker. So why didn’t you drop them and find someone else? You don’t pay them anything until they follow through with whatever YOU want them to. Tell them what you want, be assertive but you don’t have to be rude. Just drop them when you feel they aren’t doing enough for you.

If you continue to ask for homes under $200,000 and your agent continues to bring you to homes over your budget let them know the problem or just go find another agent. Taking your time in this economy is the best option because the longer you wait the better chances you have of catching a cheap foreclosure or short sale.

Use a mortgage calculator to see what the mortgage payment will be on the amount that you get approved for by the different brokers. If you get approved for $180,000 then use the calculator to see what the payment is and make sure to add in the monthly taxes. This way you can see if you can really afford the price range they gave you. If you can’t then back off a little bit.

If a car sales man told you that you could afford $65,000 for a car is that what you’d start looking for? Or would you start looking at a more reasonably priced car around $30,000. You don’t want to spend every last monthly dollar you make on your mortgage or you’ll never be able to save money or have extra spending money at the end of each month.

Remember that a good mortgage broker will work for you to find you the best interest rate, loan program and lowest closing costs from the many different banks and lenders out there. Talk to 4-5 brokers before choosing one and make sure you have a good rapport before working together.

Knowledge Will Save You Thousands
The Free Mortgage Calculator

How Much of a Home Equity Loan Can I Get?

In 2011 most banks and mortgage lenders are giving 80% loan to value worth of a home equity loan pending your credit approval. If your home is paid off completely then you’ll have to get an appraisal to see how much it’s worth and you can get a home equity loan for 80% of that number.

Why 80% instead if 100%?

In a declining real estate market mortgage lenders need to protect themselves and the people from losing money. The way things are going right now if your home is worth $200,000 then in a year it might be worth $180,000. If you ended up getting a home equity loan for $200,000 it would be very hard for you to sell the home because you’re up side down on the mortgage.

If you owe $200,000 and you need to sell your home worth $180,000 then you’ll owe the bank a check for $20,000 at closing. That doesn’t even include the closing costs it will cost you to sell it. You’re much better off keeping it as long as you can afford the montly payment.

That’s the reason for only giving out 80% of the homes value. I swear if a bank allowed everyone to take out a $250,000 home equity loan on a $150,000 home they would. I hear people complain about only being able to get 80% all the time.

About 5 years ago when real estate was rising banks were loaning out 110% of the homes equity. They figured since real estate was going up so fast they wouldn’t lose. Then it hit them like a ton of bricks.

Try to forget about “what you’re allowed to get” and start thinking about what you can afford. Do you really want to take on your entire mortgage again? How long will it take you to pay it off? Did you use a mortgage calculator to check the monthly mortgage payment? Usually a home equity loan is only over 15-20 years instead of 30 years as well. Make sure you change that if you’re using the interest calculators on my website because they all default to 30 years.

Only need a small home equity loan?

The same rules apply but if you don’t have your mortgage paid off you need to subtract it first. If you appraise your home at $200,000 then you can get $160,000 minus the amount you still owe on the mortgage. If you owe $140,000 then you can get an equity loan for $20,000 assuming you have the monthly borrowing power and credit approval to get the loan.

Banks typically get this process done very fast because all they have to do is make sure you have the income to support it and good enough credit. Then they get the appraisal done to check the current worth of your home, subtract 20% and send you the money. It can usually get done within a week or two.

Remember that the bank doesn’t know how you spend your money so use a mortgage calculator and make sure you can afford it instead of just assuming you can handle whatever the bank wants to give you.

Knowledge Will Save You Thousands
The Free Mortgage Calculator

Refinance Your Mortgage With a 4% Current Interest Rate

In 2011 banks and mortgage companies are offering a 30 year fixed rate mortgage for about 4% and a refinance interest rate of 3.5% which means everyone could probably benefit from these low interest rates. Most people hear rumors from friends and family that “if you lower your interest rate by 0.50% you’ll save a lot of money on your mortgage”.

That’s true, but how do you know exactly how much you’d save? There’s a mortgage calculator on this website that’s very easy to use and will show you, in seconds, exactly how much money you’ll save in many different scenarios.

First plug in all of your current information such as, $150,000 over 30 years at 6% interest. If that’s what you started with then you should see your monthly mortgage payment amount. Your current mortgage payment probably includes your monthly taxes so the number might seem lower that you see in the calculator.

Then simply change the interest rate to 4% and watch the bottom “Interest Paid” box lower. The amount that it lowers is the amount that you’d save on your particular mortgage. Going from 6% to 4% in this situation you’ll save $70,000 over the life of the mortgage.

Then I want you to add money to the “extra monthly principal” box to see how much interest you’d save by adding $50 per month to your mortgage payment. Adding $50 per month at 6% interest will save you $30,000 over the life of the mortgage.

Learning how to use a mortgage calculator is so easy and you’ll end up saving thousands and thousands of dollars on your current mortgage and possibly more in the future. Paying interest on the same money for 30 years will cost you more than double the price of the home in the first place.

If You’re Refinancing

If you plan to refinance your home after using the interest calculator then you should remember to only get the loan over the amount of years you have left rather than a new 30 year mortgage. You already spent 5 years paying down your mortgage so make sure you don’t start over at 30 years again. I’ve even lowered it to 20 years because I’m saving so much on the monthly amount that I can technically afford more…

150,000, 30 years at 6% – $900/mo
          Paid down – $10,500

Refinance 139,500 20 years at 4% – $845/mo

So instead of refinancing to save about $150/mo and keep paying it down in 25 years you’ll pay the same monthly amount to pay off your mortgage in 20 years. If you can continue to pay the same amount each month this is the best option for you when refinancing your mortgage.

If you really want that extra $150 per month then please write down what you’re going to use it for. I do understand that people are in tough situations in this 2011 economy so if you really need the money just write down what you’re using it for. Otherwise you’ll probably just waste it and forget you’re even getting it after a few months.

You’re better off keeping the mortgage payment close to the same and paying it off 5 years faster. This will save you the most money on your mortgage, pay it down faster and make it very easy to sell down the road because you’ll have more equity in it to make a profit. A lot of people are up side down on their mortgage right now making it very hard to sell because they’ll owe the bank money if they sell it. Being “up side down” is owing $150,000 while your home is worth $130,000.

Learn and use a mortgage calculator if you have a mortgage or are thinking about getting one. It will save you money.

Knowledge Will Save You Thousands
The Free Mortgage Calculator

Real Estate Buying Tips In This Bad 2011 Economy

The housing market, though very uncertain, still may yield some exciting opportunities for a few well-informed and patient buyers. Real estate tips during this economy are abundant, be careful, advice and tips should be taken with a grain of salt and researched well before acting. Here are a few time-tested tips to help you get started.

Work with a pro. This is good advice no matter the economy. There are a lot of people out there who call themselves real estate professionals. Try a Realtor. Realtors are professionals who hold themselves to a high ethical standard. They also work with other pros like inspectors and contractors who do the same. Realtors also are knowledgeable about market trends in your area.

Make sure you look good to the banks. Banks have raised their lending standards in the wake of rising mortgage defaults. They want borrowers to have great credit, a down payment and verifiable income. You can check on your credit worthiness before you go to the bank by using a borrowing power and a mortgage calculator. You assess your borrowing power by inputting your income and financial obligations. If your debts are minimal and you have a lot of extra money available, then you could be viewed as a better risk. A mortgage calculator allows you to input mortgage terms for you to gauge what your monthly payment may be.

Don’t be afraid of foreclosures. Bad things are happening to good people because of the housing collapse. You may find a real gem and help a family out of a sticky situation. A local real estate pro could help you in finding decent prospects. You could save thousands or get a little more home for your buck by considering foreclosures.

Lending may be stricter, but this is still a buyers market. Be careful and research all tips carefully.

Knowledge Will Save You Thousands
The Free Mortgage Calculator

How Long Will It Take To Pay Off My Mortgage – Interest Calculators

Most people want to use my mortgage interest calculators before buying a home to figure out the monthly mortgage payment and to see how much principal they’ll be paying each month. However, using a mortgage calculator when you already have a mortgage is still very useful to figure things out about your finances.

I hear a lot of questions like: How long will it take to pay off my mortgage if I start adding extra prinicpal now? How much do I need to add to my mortgage to pay it off in 15 years?

The interest calculators on this website will show you everything you might have questions about. The basic calculator on my home page will tell you to plug in your mortgage details, interest rate and amount of years you started the loan with. Then there’s a spot to add extra principal per month. It will show you how much interest you’ll save and how many years you’ll save by adding the extra money.

If you’ve already been paying your mortgage for 5 years you should plug in the amount of years you have left (say 25 years) and the amount left on your mortgage after the principal you’ve already paid. The easiest way to do that is to plug in 25 years, your interest rate and keep lowering your mortgage amount until you get your exact monthly mortgage payment. That will be the amount you still owe to this day.

The reason for doing that is that you’re only adding extra principal for 25 years of the mortgage. So you can’t calculate it using the 30 year term because you’ve already missed out on 5 years of adding the extra principal.

That’s just the basic calculator. If you want to get more in depth about your payment and loan then you can use the more informative calculators to help you with your questions. There are borrowing power calculators, debt ratio and mortgage comparison calculators to help you with any piece of your mortgage payment you can think of.

If you want to figure out how many years it will take you to pay off your mortgage then it’s very easy. You can plug in the amount you currently owe on your mortgage and change the years to the desired amount which will change your monthly payment. That will be the new monthly payment you need to start making (which will add the difference to principal) and you’ll pay your mortgage off in that time period.

To check your math you can simply keep adding money to the “added monthly principal” part of the calculator until it tells you that you’ll pay it off in that many years. The sum of you current mortgage payment and the added principal should equal the same number as just changing the years from 30 down to your desired amount.

You don’t have to start using the interest calculators with a specific plan of attack. Just play around with them to see how much money you’ll save if you add a certain amount of money. Even adding $50 per month will have a very big impact on how quickly you pay off your mortgage and how much interest you’ll save over the years.

Knowledge Will Save You Thousands
The Free Mortgage Calculator

Buying a Home and Renting a Room to Your Friend

A lot of people think about buying a home and then pass it off for a few years until they have enough for a down payment or enough saved up to afford the monthly payment. Well, buying a home and renting one of the bedrooms to a friend is a great option for both parties.

The first thing you need to do is talk to the bank about what you can afford without the help of your friend’s rent money. Banks and mortgage lenders only count rental money as income when you’ve had it recorded for over a year. Even then they only accept about 75% of it as income towards your debt to income ratio.

So if the bank says you can afford about $150,000 for a home then you can start looking for 2 bedroom condos or homes that you and your friend like. Obviously you have the stronger opinion of the home because it will be yours for the long run. A mortgage calculator will help you see how much you can save by finding a better interest rate or lower taxes.

Your friend should NOT be paying any of the down payment or the fees associated with closing on the home. This is your home and your investment and the rental income is the benefit you’ll get when owning the home. All you have to do is sign the papers as you would if you were buying the home for yourself only.

Once you buy the home you like you should absolutely sign a lease with your friend for a couple reasons. First of all, using cash each month to avoid paying taxes on it will only hurt the owner so the tenant should have no problem with it. Either way you’re charging them the same amount.

What do you charge your friend for rent?

This is always difficult and here’s the best way to figure it out. Look online at 2 bedrooms apartments that are for rent and figure out one that you two would’ve rented if you weren’t buying the home. So if you find one for $1,000 then your friend was obviously able to pay $500 plus half of the  utilities. As long as you buy a home of equal value then you can charge them something in that area.

Then you want to sign a lease. It can be something as simple as a typed up paragraph saying the terms of your lease. This is NOT just so that you can take them to court with it later, although it would help to have that signed paper if you two end up on Judge Judy. It’s so that your income increases by $500 per month which will help you get another loan later on whether it’s for a car or a 2nd home that you want to rent to someone else.

If you got approved for a $150,000 home then use a mortgage calculator to figure out that the bank says you can afford about $1,000 per month. Well, 6 months later you have documents showing an income of an additional $500 per month. Banks will accept 75% of that which means you have $375 per month available borrowing power based on just that rent.

At the end of the year the rent will count as income that you didn’t pay taxes on so when you file your taxes you may owe money on it. However, don’t forget about the tax write of for owning a home. You’ll get about 20% of all the interest and taxes paid on the home. Usually the rent is about the same as the amount of interest and taxes so it’s a wash at tax time.

Savings on your mortgage loan

So you got a $150,000 mortgage and now you’re getting $500 per month from your friend as rental income. If you use the mortgage calculator at the bottom of this page you’ll see that the extra $500 per month would save you $86,000 on your mortgage if you added it to the principal each month.

Adding money to the principal each month DOES NOT alter your borrowing power. If you were approved to spend $1,200 per month and your mortgage was for $1,000 then you’ll still have $200 extra for a personal loan or auto loan even if you’re adding $500 to the principal each month.

Buying a home and renting a room or two to a friend is a great idea to either make extra money per month or to help with the mortgage payment and save on interest. The interest calculators on this site will help you figure out everything you need to know about your mortgage payment.

Knowledge Will Save You Thousands
The Free Mortgage Calculator

I Bought A Short Sale and Closed Today!

I’m starting to live the real estate investing life that I explain to everyone else! I’m closing on my 3rd condo today and I’m going to explain the process to let everyone know how easy it can actually be for you too.

First of all, a short sale is one that the seller owes more on the mortgage than they’re selling it for. I’m buying a condo for $35,000 and the owner owed $110,000 on it so it’s a “Short Sale”. I had to negotiate a price with the seller which was accepted at $33,000 and then the bank started negotiating with me too and got it up to $35,000. However, I knew it was still a good deal because my real estate agent checked out the last 4 condos in that complex to sell and they were still all above $35,000.

It’s a 2 bedroom condo in SC and I live in NH. I had the real estate agent take pictures of the inside because he said it probably needs to be painted. Including the closing costs I’ve paid about $38,000 and plan on painting it for less than $1,000 to rent it out for about $700 per month.

So I have a power of attorney signing the papers for me today in SC. Then she’s going to send the keys to Southern State Management which is a property management group. They handle everything for me starting with hiring the painter. I signed an agreement with them already to rent out the condo at $700 per month which will cost me $300 up front and then 9% of the rent each month.

Which that money they handle all phone calls with problems, fixing the problems, writing up a legal lease agreement, collecting the money, adding late fees when needed and sending me the check each month. They’ll also take the neccessary actions to evict the tenant if they aren’t paying their rent.

So I used a mortgage calculator to see what my monthly payment would be for a $35,000 mortgage. However, you’ll need 20% for a down payment and I didn’t have anything. I got a personal loan for $10,000 which was for the $7,000 down payment and $3,000 in closing costs. My interest calculator says it’s $225 over 5 years at 13%. Then there’s $28,000 left for a mortgage over 30 years which is $170 per month.

New Monthly Bills

Personal Loan – $225
Mortgage Payment – $170
Taxes – $100
Condo Fee – $150

Total – $645
Rent – $700 – 9% = $630

So I’ll be basically breaking even month to month and buying a condo for $15 per month. I’m also paying principal which is savings and I’ll get a tax deduction at the end of the year for my taxes and interest paid on the mortgage. That’s about $140 per month in interest and $1,200 for the taxes. So a deduction of $2,880 adds about 20% of that number to your tax refund!

Buying my 4th condo!

I have my SC real estate agent looking for a good condo deal for me all the time even though it will take me a few months to buy another one. I like to keep an eye on everything going on because if another condo sells in my new complex for $30,000 if gives me a lot of information to my next purchase.

Before I bought this condo I was approved to spend $1,000 per month worth of borrowing power. That means my new personal loan, mortgage payment and taxes can’t be higher than $1,000. Now I’ve already spent $645 worth of it so how will I buy another one?

Now that I’m renting it out the rent is income! $630 per month as income but the bank only accepts 75% of that number because they figure in 5 years you’ll be out about 25% of the months total.

Total – $1,000 + 470 (630 x .75) = 1470

First Cond0 – 645
New Condo – 645

Total $1,290

That means I can get another personal loan for $10,000 for the down payment and closing costs and another mortgage for $35,000. Then I’ll rent it out and do it all over again. I’ll keep buying homes unitl the bank doesn’t let me anymore because I KNOW real estate will go up eventually. A standard 2 bedroom condo sells for over $100,000 in most areas and was selling for $150,000 in this complex 5 years ago. So I have high hopes for the area I’m buying in right now.

Then I just have to break even month to month until it goes back up to the price it was 5 years ago. I have plenty of time to wait and plan on using real estate as my retirement plan. That will probably be the best option for me.

Use my mortgage calculator to see how much you can afford each month and only look at foreclosures and short sales so that the mortgage and monthly payments stay very low. Take your time, I’ve only bought 2 now over the course of 2 years because I’m looking for the perfect deal each time and don’t want to get myself in financial trouble.

Knowledge Will Save You Thousands
The Free Mortgage Calculator

How To Get Approved For A Home Equity Loan

Getting approved for a home equity loan in this tough 2011 economy can be very difficult because home values have dropped so much. It will help you understand if I explain the process of getting the loan.

About 5 years ago a home equity loan was simple to understand because mortgage lenders were much more easy going about the loans due to the strong economy. They were giving out a home equity loan based on the exact value of your home. So if your home was worth $100,000 and you owed $80,000 on your mortgage then you could get a loan for $20,000. Simple as that.

In 2011 home values are dropping month to month so the mortgage lenders want some room to play with in case they need to try to get their money back in a few months. They’re giving about 80% of your homes value in this current 2011 economy. So if your home is worth $100,000 and you owe $80,000 you can’t get anything for a home equity loan. This doesn’t mean you don’t have the monthly borrowing power to afford the loan you requested, it means the bank just isn’t loaning any more than 80% of you’r homes value.

Getting a Personal Loan Instead

If you know you have the monthly borrowing power because you’ve checked the payment using a mortgage calculator then you might approve for a personal loan. I recommend taking this approach if the money is needed for something. A personal loan has a high interest rate but it’s only over 5 years time so the amount of total interest isn’t that much. Personal loan interest rates in 2011 are at about 10-11% and if you use the calculator below then you’ll see the total amount of interest paid in 5 years. Remember that most mortgage lenders don’t give out much more than $15,000-$20,000 worth of a personal loan.

A home equity loan can be as high as 80% of the homes value because the bank has something to sell if you don’t make the monthly payments. They will be allowed to foreclose on the property and sell it to get their money back if you don’t make the monthly payments. I know it may be discouraging to find out that banks changed their percentage amount on a home equity loan but remember that they’ve been blamed and pointed at as the ones who ruined this economy due to giving out loans people couldn’t afford. I also believe that falls on the person asking for the loan that they know they can’t afford but blame isn’t the road we should take. Fixing the economy is what we need to be doing!

Make sure you use a mortgage calculator to figure out exactly what you can afford so that it doesn’t happen to you. The calculators will show you the monthly mortgage payment on any loan with any interest rate so use it and make sure you can afford it! Add up your income and add up your monthly bills to figure out what you can afford before getting into a mortgage payment that you can’t.

Knowledge Will Save You Thousands
The Free Mortgage Calculator 

Can You Get A 25 Year Mortgage Loan?

When you look at most bank websites or talk to a mortgage lender you’ll see that the average mortgage loan terms are 10, 15, 20 and 30 years. Some people wonder if they can get a 25 year loan or even a 22 year loan so that they can pay it off faster because they may not be able to afford the 20 year mortgage.

The answer is yes, you can get a 25 year mortgage. You can get any loan term you’d like from most mortgage lenders. You should use a mortgage calculator to see the monthly payment you feel most comfortable with and go with that amount of years.

The bank approves you based on the amount of monthly income you have after paying all of your bills. If you can afford the mortgage payment over the amount of years you chose then you should get approved pending your credit score.

If your mortgage lender won’t allow it for some reason and you have your heart set on using them then you still have another option. Figure out your mortgage payment with an interest calculator over 30 years. Then add money as additional principal payments into the calculator until you get down to 20 years.

When you add money per month the amount of years will keep getting lower because you’re paying it off sooner. So you could get the 30 year mortgage and start adding that amount of money to your mortgage each month to be sure you’ll pay it off in 20 years. The good thing about doing that is you can choose to skip a month if times are tough and you need the money for something else.

Maybe in a year or two you’ll get a raise and you can pretend that you didn’t so that you can add it to your mortgage payment as well to pay it off even sooner.

When you add principal make sure to look at the amount of interest you’re saving as well. It will show the amount you’ll pay in 30 years and the adjusted amount you’d pay if you continue to add that amount of principal each month for the life of the loan.

A mortgage calculator can be very helpful to use before talking to a mortgage company about getting a loan. It will give you a good idea of what you can afford each month. Remember to add in the monthly taxes and a condo fee if you’re buying a condo. The bank will add those into the amount you can borrow per month so you should too.

Getting any mortgage loan for less than 30 years is a great idea if you can afford the higher monthly payment. If you can’t it could be very scary if/when times get tough. If you’re paying your mortgage down in 20 years you’ll far less likey to ever be upside down on your mortgage. Being upside down means you owe more than your home is worth if you sold it. So if you’re paying it down faster with a 20 year mortgage then you’ll always be ahead and be able to sell your home if you need to.

There are a lot of people out there right now upside down on their mortgage because of interest only loans, 40 year mortgages and getting home equity loans that bring them back to square one.

An interest only loan is exactly what it sounds like. You don’t pay ANY principal for the first 5 years of the mortgage which means those people are VERY far in debt right now (2011). As long as they can afford the monthly payment they’ll be alright, but if they have to sell for any reason it will put them thousands and thousands of dollars in debt, if not bankrupt.

A 40 year mortgage pays down very little principal because the loan is over 40 YEARS! Even a 30 year mortgage is too slow in my mind because it doesn’t keep up with the rate homes are decreasing right now.

A home equity loan is a loan that you can get based on the amount your home is worth. 5 years ago when things were good and banks were fighting for every loan possible they were giving out loans up to 100% of your homes value. If your home was worth $100,000 and you owed $80,000 you could get a loan for $20,000 over 10-15 years.

The problem is when the market started going down and people immedietly owed more than their home was worth. Even if your home was still worth $100,000 then you’d owe real estate fees and transfer fees to sell it which means you’d need close to $10,000 to pay the bank when you close.

A 25 year mortgage is a great idea! I highly recommend it as long as you can afford it. If you’re slightly skeptical then use the mortgage calculator as I explained to pay extra principal each month. Good Luck!

Knowledge Will Save You Thousands
The Free Mortgage Calculator