The Dot Com Miner

Monthly Archive

October 2008

October 30, 2008

What is a Self-Certification Mortgage?

Filed under: Uncategorized — @ 3:50 am

A Self-Certification mortgage is a mortgage designed for people who are unable to provide proof of income. This type of mortgage was originally designed for the self employed who historically experienced difficulty obtaining a loan with ‘high street’ lenders due to not having audited accounts available.

If you are unable to show your earnings due to being self-employed, a seasonal wage earner, or anyone with irregular earnings such as a contract worker or commission-based employee, or in salaried employment with a supplementary source of income, an unsalaried company director, or varying other reasons - a Self-Certification mortgage could be the best option for you.

Self-certification mortgages allow borrowers to certify their own earnings without having to supply documentation, such as payslips. With a self-certification mortgage you declare what your income is but generally you do not need to provide any proof. You can apply if you are employed or self employed.

Self-Certification mortgages have also found favour with salespeople and other workers who receive a high proportion of their income as commission or bonus. Even though you may have achieved high earnings this way for years, commission or bonus may still not be considered in calculations by high street lenders.

Self-certification can also be suitable for professionals who often start on a low salary, but whose incomes can rise rapidly.

Self-certification mortgages are suitable for applicants whose income is not easily verifiable, like the self-employed or those that receive commissions. If you’re self-employed, a contractor, have irregular income or multiple jobs, you are probably one of many who know you can afford a mortgage but have difficulty proving your income.

Self-certification mortgages are also quite good for people just starting out in a new career with good steady income and a fair amount of deposit behind them.

Self-certification mortgages are ideal for self employed people who perhaps have not been in business for the required three years or cannot produce accounts for a three year period but can demonstrate usually through an accountant’s reference that they can meet the mortgage payments.

When applying for a self-certification mortgage you will be required to state your expected annual earnings. The mortgage will be offered on the basis of your likely income rather than you having to provide any documentary evidence.

Self-certification mortgages used to require a higher deposit of up to 25%, but now some lenders can offer up to 90% loan to value. Self-Certification mortgage lenders will usually lend up to three and a half times declared income or two and three quarter times joint income. However, with a deposit of 25% or more a Self-Certification mortgage can usually offer up to five times your declared earnings.

Self-Certification mortgages carry a higher rate than standard mortgages because statistics show most businesses fail within the first two years of trading. So if you were to be left with heavy debt there is a possibility you could lose your home. However, some self-certification mortgages are better than others, and, if cash flow is a problem, it’s worth checking out those that offer payment holidays and the facility to pay more when you can.

Fortunately there are a number of competitive self-certification mortgage products available, depending on your circumstances and individual requirements. Self-Certification mortgages are now supported by an ever increasing number of mortgage lenders, including mainstream as well as specialist lenders. Interest rates charged are now far more attractive.

Self-Certification mortgages have become increasingly popular in recent years. However, you should always remember that you will be asked your income on the application. Just because you are in a self certification situation, you should only put down your actual income. To do anything else would not only be fraud, but could also mean that you are unable to afford your mortgage repayments, especially if mortgage rates rise in the future.

You may freely reprint this article provided the author’s biography remains intact:

About The Author

John Mussi is the founder of Direct Online Loans who help UK homeowners find the best available loans via the http://www.directonlineloans.co.uk website.

October 28, 2008

Bad Credit Home Loans - Pre-Approval is Still Possible With Adverse Credit History

Filed under: Uncategorized — @ 11:37 pm

If you are among the millions with less than perfect credit, there are many sources available to you in obtaining a mortgage. Lenders that specialize in mortgages for those with bad credit are competing for your business. The lender will analyze your credit report, credit score, debt-to-income ratio, and your employment history. You may also be asked to provide statements from your utility companies and other creditors to help form a complete picture of how you manage your finances. The lender will then inform you of how much you can afford to spend on a mortgage and the terms of the proposed home loan.

A bad credit home loan will naturally be made with a higher rate of interest than for those with good credit. Keep in mind that your home will still appreciate in value and after maintaining a good payment history for a period of time, you may be able to refinance your mortgage at a lower interest rate and lower your monthly payments. Along with making you monthly mortgage payments in a timely manner, you can also help improve your credit rating by lowering your current debts, avoid applying for more new credit, and keeping your credit card balances low.

In applying for a bad credit mortgage, ask your lender about the costs involved in obtaining the loan, the length and interest rate of your loan, and the ability to refinance at a lower rate down the road. Mortgages for people with poor credit are available through many lenders and with a variety of terms and conditions. Bad credit home loans can include a 2/28 home loan or a 3/27 home loan. The interest rate for a 2/28 loan is fixed for two years and fixed for three years in a 3/27 loan. This means that there will be a prepayment penalty during the first two or three years of the mortgage and that the home loan cannot be refinanced prior to that time.

Sub prime lenders will work with any credit score and income level to help you finance the home of your dreams at the lowest possible cost. Contact several lenders that specialize in mortgages for those with bad credit. There are numerous variations in the interest rates and terms offered by these types of lenders. Shopping around for a mortgage lender can save you thousands over the length of your home loan, even if your credit is less than perfect.

To view our list of recommended subprime or bad credit mortgage lenders, visit this page: Recommended Bad Credit Mortgage Lenders.

Carrie Reeder is the owner of ABC Loan Guide. ABC Loan guide is an informational website about various types of loans. The site has informative articles and the latest finance news.

The Thriving Trans National Property Market Place — Facilitated by Property Index Online

Filed under: Info Broker — @ 5:23 pm

Overseas property specialists Property Index sell a range of properties such as apartments and villas.

Though the Property Index service must be rated a new kid on the block company, (they were set up in March 2007), they have fast advanced to expert status. In actuality they are a extremely hassle free company and focus on offering experienced guidance to every customer proposing to let, sell etc. estate all over the world. Their promise: to lend you a hand to pinpoint squarely what’s required swiftly and, too, easily. Estate is anywhere in the world in our times, one of the hippest areas being property for sale in Spain. It should be easy to list a slew of the superb real estate on the market in Spain, one reason for opting for real estate here being the houses and apartments you can purchase and the opportunity of spending your life together with such a bouncing and keen populace.

It is one of the truly popular markets in our times, and with the beauty and sunshine that surrounds you night and day, how could you conceivably go wrong! Estate in Spain is rich in history, this area of the world has been and still is home to quite a few civilizations. Some 30 years back there’d be merely a dribble of British people keen on real estate in Spain. Ask any one person who has chosen to move to Spain and they’ll corroborate it. Quite a few people would are wont to call it a passing craze and others are wont to call it a near to an obsession… Patrons that are looking to remove to this region will range from young urban professionals in search of some new life perspective to pensioners who are looking to enjoy themselves and slow down.

There might well be problems when attempting to acquire real estate abroad - as is to be expected, there will be a hundred heterogeneous, not always very logical, procedures be it when strategizing, visiting or signing the documents. If you only miss but a single minor procedure this is sure to well give rise to sweeping problems not to forget, even more importantly, loss in financial terms. Naturally, as is to be presumed with this sought after area, real estate might well be high-priced in this place which is solely a consequence of the increasing market pressure. Nevertheless the real estate buyer is doubtlessly hard to please in a part of the world blessed by sunshiny land and scenery. It’s presently got the whole thing you could possibly relish, and plenty more.

October 27, 2008

Reducing Fraudulent Transations - 5 Simple Ways To Protect Yourself

Filed under: The Security Trail — @ 10:57 am

The money being spent online is steadily growing. With billions of dollars being spent each year online, the opportunity to make money on the internet has never been bigger. Unfortunately, with that opportunity come people who want to make money in less than honest ways. We’re going to look at some concrete ways you can identify fraudulent transactions and save yourself a lot of chargeback fees, money and grief.

Get more information from prospective customers.

The more information you have to work with, the better your chances are that you will be able to positively identify fraudulent transactions. At the very least, you need to make sure you get a customer’s name, credit card billing address, phone number and the IP address of the computer currently accessing the order form. You should also get a valid email address. This email address should not be one that comes from a free email service.

Fraudulent transactions occur more frequently from certain countries.

The first thing you should know is that certain countries are more prone to fraudulent transactions than others. If you get an order originating from one of the following countries, you should be suspicious and do more digging. Some of these countries include: Ukraine, Indonesia, Yugoslavia, Lithuania, Egypt, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Morocco, Vietnam, Russia, Pakistan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Israel, Iran, Cameroon, Gambia, and Ghana. This doesn’t mean that every transaction from any of these countries is definitely fraudulent. But you should be very suspicious.

Confirm the address of the customer.

The first thing I do when I get an online order is to check the phone number of the customer against a reverse phone number directory. The majority of my orders come from the United States and Canada. Phone numbers from these countries can usually be entered into reverse directories to find out the address that phone number belongs to. If I can’t get a match for the phone number it servers as a red flag and warrants more investigation.

Lookup the customer’s country and city of origin

I’ve already outlined a long list of countries that should be suspicous to you. How do you determine if your customer placed the order from within one of these banned countries? Simple. You cross reference their IP address with an IP lookup database that can tell you what country they are in. The city they are from and sometimes even ISP they use! If you handle only a few orders a day, you can use an excellent free service at IP2Location.com. If you do handle more volume, IP2Location.com also offers subscription packages at various prices.

Once you determine the country of origin, if it doesn’t match the country the customer listed with their billing information be very careful. Yes, it is possible that your customer could be travelling away from home. It is much more likely that their credit card information has been stolen and it is being used fraudulently. A mismatch between the country reported by IP and the billing address is a big red flag.

Don’t let customers use free email addresses.

A free email address is so easy to setup at most free email services. The odds of your being able to track down the person that registered that free email address are next to none. If at all possible, block all known free email services. The most common include Hotmail, Yahoo, Mail.com, and Gmail. If you can’t block free email addresses in advance, consider a free email address a red flag. A utility you can use to determine if an email address is a known free email is dnsstuff.com. Look towards the bottom left of the page that comes up.

Don’t ship a product until you are sure.

If two or more red flags go up, beware. If you ship a product from a fraudulent transaction, you will very likely be slapped with a chargeback from your credit card company and lose the money from the good. Be skeptical of all orders until everything checks out to your satisfaction. If in doubt, refund the purchase. Too many chargebacks will result in the cancellation of your merchant account. Who needs that?

A little diligence can go a long way to helping you prevent loses from fraudulent transactions. With a little knowledge, you can greatly reduce lost profits due to fraud.

EzineArticles Expert Author Joe Duchesne

This article was written by Joe Duchesne, president of http://www.yowling.com/, Yowling offers free ecommerce shopping carts with their web hosting plans. Copyright 2005 Yowling. Reprint Freely as long as you provide a clickable link back to my website from this resource box.

October 26, 2008

Uncover Life Coaching to See Unbelievable Results

Filed under: Health Issues — @ 2:32 am

Life Coaching is a type of therapy that has become incredibly familiar over the last seven years. The term life coaching first became trendy in the United States where, together with NLP aka Neuro Linguistic Programming, it became part of a new astonishing wave of exceedingly proactive therapy models. Use Easily Achieve to gain success with a life coach.

In many ways both Performance Coaching and Neuro Linguistic Programming are a reaction against certain aspects of the human-centred therapy movement, in particular Humanistic and Person Centred Counselling. A criticism of the humanistic approach is that it is astonishingly reactive and not awfully proactive. Although this works wonderful with some folk, with other folk long periods of no exit in sight or low return for time and effort occur. Performance coaching and Neuro Linguistic Programming are both humanistic in stance, spending effort on improving a person?s happiness rather than looking into the depths of childhood, like traditional therapy. Their emphasis is, however, deliberately proactive and problem solving.

Success coaching is not about preaching to the customer what to do. This is a common misconception. Some lifestyle coaches are justifiably successful in their business careers and then make the cross over to success coaching, thinking that they will at most be required to divulge their pearls of spectacular success and wisdom with the client. Sharing pearls of wisdom is more like mentoring an apprentice in a specific environment. Coaching is instead about life as a holistic view.

October 25, 2008

Kings Bay Saint Marys & Kingsland Georgia - Affordable Home Mortgages

Filed under: Uncategorized — @ 2:01 am

Buying a home is usually the largest purchase any of us will make in a life time. When choosing a home, you want to find one that suits your families needs best. Take the same steps when choosing a mortgage company!

When you are looking for a mortgage company, do your homework! Interview the loan officer and ask him what he or she has to offer you in terms of savings, interest rates and mortgage loan products.

Ask for a Good Faith Estimate of Settlement charges. Ask the lender if there is a lock fee and for how long?

A good lender should discuss with you the different programs that they offer. Most lenders offer VA, FHA and Conventional mortgage financing. You should discuss with the lender your future plans, such as how long you plan to live in the home. This will help them determine if a fixed rate or an adjustable rate mortgage works best for you.

With interest rates still at record low, most homebuyers are taking a fixed rate mortgage if they plan on living in the home more than 3 years. Adjustable rate mortgages have many different terms that the rate is fixed, 1, 3, 5 and 7 years are the normal terms that are offered. Fixed rates assure you that the rate is fixed for the entire term of the loan. Loan terms offered are usually 15 or 30 years, however 10, 20 and 25 years are also available.

Choosing the right mortgage company will help you make an intelligent decision and make the transaction go a lot smoother.

Choosing the wrong mortgage company can result in higher rates, terms that you didn’t understand and overall stressful experience.

If you would like to know more, please visit my website. My website contains loan payment tools and calculators to help you understand more about what you can afford. You can also apply online. My contact information is on my website. Please feel free to visit us at www.thebestmortgageguy.com

Glenn Keller is a veteran in the mortgage industry and is associated with Affordable Home Funding at 1204 Hospitality Ave. Kingsland, Georgia 31548. For contact information, please visit our website at http://www.thebestmortgageguy.com

October 24, 2008

“How Much Interest is Your Home Equity Earning?”

Filed under: Uncategorized — @ 2:57 pm

How much interest are you earning on your home equity? If you answered nothing, zero, zilch, zip you are correct. What would you do if you could get triple compounding on your equity? Would you take action and build a fortune that would allow you to pay off the mortgage and create a retirement fund?

We use a strategy called Early Mortgage Pay Off System or EMPOS. The strategy involves using common knowledge that is applied uncommonly. In other words, we have been told for years that a fixed mortgage is the way to the American Dream of having our homes paid off free and clear. But is that really a dream, when all along the way you struggle to make those large payments? What if you could reduce your monthly mortgage payments and increase your cash flow?

By using the right mortgage product you can keep your monthly payments low and redirect some of that cash back to yourself in an investment that gets triple compounding because it is tax deferred.

First, you examine to see if a Pick-a-payment Mortgage is applicable to your situation. This type of mortgage product allows you to choose between four options each month. The options are a 30-year payment, a 15-year payment, interest only or minimum monthly payment, which has a low start rate (currently 1.95% to 4.95% depending on the investor’s, credit, income and other market factors). You can match your loan payments to your variable or seasonal income and begin using the saved income to create wealth.

This mortgage product uses a monthly Adjustable Rate concept to determine the actual rate of interest charged. The loan is linked to one of various indexes like the Cost of Funds Index (COFI), the Monthly Treasury Average (MTA), Certificate of Deposit Index (CODI), Cost of Savings Index (COSI) or the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). A loan consultant can determine the index and program that best fits your individual financial situation. Fixed percentage points (the “Margin”) are added to the index and establishes your effective interest rate and monthly payment

Many of the super elite and very wealthy use this type of mortgage on their homes when they could afford to pay their mortgages off today. Why? Because they leverage their mortgage as a tool to create wealth. Even Alan Greenspan has an ARM mortgage on his home when he could afford to pay it off. History shows the ARM mortgage consistently outperforms a fixed rate.

What do I do with all my monthly savings you ask? We like to see it go into an environment where the money can earn triple compounding. Triple compounding is where you earn interest on your principal, interest on the interest and interest on the amount that would have gone to taxes. One of the best places to get tax deferral that creates a triple compound is with life insurance. In addition, there are equity indexed life insurance products that allow you to participate in the stock market while it is up and lock in the gains when the market falters. It is the best of both worlds because it earns at better than traditional fixed and is safer than a variable insurance product.

You may have sold yourself on life insurance being a useless product. Well, consider the following example of life insurance compared to a ROTH IRA.

The IRA offers no creditor protection if you get sued, the equity in your home is always on the table for a creditor to take. Additionally, your contributions to an IRA are limited, there is no death benefit if you prematurely pass away, and there is no disability aspect among other features.

After the Tax Reform Act of 1986, the Wall Street Journal had an article that said there were only five tax-advantaged investments left:

• Your personal mortgage

• Qualified retirement plans (i.e., EP, 401K, IRA, Pension, Profit Sharing, etc.)

• Tax Free Bonds

• Live Insurance

• Annuities.

The reason that life insurance was listed is because life insurance offers you the opportunity to have tax-deferred growth/compounding on your money as well as access on a tax advantaged basis.

What if we took the power of tax-deductible borrowing and invested the money tax-free? This is done by refinancing or using a Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC). A client could take out money and fund the maximum in their equity-indexed universal life product to the extent they do not violate tax law and create a Modified Endowment Contract (MEC). Too, the client who is 59 could place some proceeds into an single premium immediate annuity (SPIA) and fund the life insurance over the next couple of years directly. If the client were at least 55 years of age their situation could be appraised under the substantially equal payment exclusion to the 10% excise tax penalty on distributions prior to 59 . There are other planning opportunities and the client would have the proceeds to invest, assuming their financials line up with the requirements of the lender.

Like any type of investing, there are pros and cons. The pro is that you can create significant wealth and is safer than playing the stock market. The con is that you would tap out equity from your home and by using one of many strategies; you might not pay your home off under the thirty years unless you choose to. However, you would likely build enough to pay off the mortgage in a lump sum if you cared to, or continue to use the mortgage interest deductions when you need them - as a retiree. Also, the amount of estate tax can be reduced since you only pay estate tax on what you own. There are numerous pros that outweigh the cons and you can find a savant on either side of the pro and con. Ultimately, a person must make up their own mind and begin to think outside of the box or join the masses that play it safe and will have to sweep floors in a retail store during their retirement years.

In closing, remember, equity can only be tapped two ways (1) selling the property or (2) an equity loan, but when you need it most the loan is not always that easy to get. If you want to create a significant amount of wealth and have a few years to still pay on your mortgage, you might want to examine to see if utilizing your equity to provide for your future is appropriate.

James Burns

Law Office of James Burns

18662 MacArthur Blvd, 2nd Floor

Irvine, CA. 92612

(949) 440-3243

© James Burns, Esq.

James Burns is an attorney with two law degrees and helps individuals and small businesses with Life Planning Solutions, a trademark concept he created.

October 23, 2008

How Homeowner Can Save Their Home From Foreclosure

Filed under: Uncategorized — @ 9:59 pm

Drive around and see how many signs you see that says House for Sale. How many lease purchases do you see? How many abandon houses are on your street? Our country is up against the wall with delinquence mortgages. FHA mortgage lenders are filing claims in the millions from HUD. How do I know? I counsel homeowners every month concerning their mortgage and what they need to do to protect their property and communicate with their mortgage lender.

What is the cause of all these delinquence? There could be several reasons: Lost of a job, health issues, divorce, business failure & income reducing. Before the homeowner even tries to save his/her home, they move out or better yet file bankruptcy. If they only knew what options were available to them, they stood a better chance of saving their homes.

Some homeowners try to make an attempt to talk to their mortgage lender for a possible workout but here is the problem. They are taking to the wrong people and they do not have a plan. I know some mortgage lenders can make it very difficult to be reach and consider you for a workout. Some will tell you that all communication will be handle by their attorney. The only thing their attorney wants to know is whether or not you can reinstate the mortgage and if not, it goes to foreclosure.

Some homeowners even got to the right department to discuss a workout only to find out the lender denied their case. I am here to tell you that your home can be save from foreclosure.

There are some facts you need to know before you abandon your home or file bankruptcy.

Fact number one: Stay away from so-called investors. Why are you going to give your equity away when you can save your home yourself? Yes you can do it. Do not quit - claim your home, sale or sign any papers until you talk to your attorney.

Fact number two: If your home is FHA or VA insured, your mortgage lender must consider a workout before they can file a claim. If FHA or VA discovers you were not given the opportunity for a workout, then FHA or VA may deny the mortgage lender claim, they don’t want that.

Fact number three: To be considered for a workout, you must have some money. At a minimum you must have the attorney & foreclosure fees payable to the mortgage company before the sale date. Reason: Your mortgage lender cannot put the attorney & foreclosure fees back into the loan. Their insurer will not permit it.

Note: If you don’t have any money to pay attorney & foreclosure fees, get the money, have a yard sale, borrow from your 401K, life insurance cash values, mutual funds or stock holding; church and family, try getting an advance from your employer, refinance if you have enough equity.

Start getting busy!

Fact number four: The rules change if your loan is a conventional, because these loans are not FHA or VA insured and they normally do not have a loss mitigation department, you will need haft of the amount of your reinstatement to be considered for a workout.

These are investors type loans and it will take me more time to explain what it all means than I have room for in this article.

Early I mention you are probably talking to the wrong person when you contact your mortgage lender, you need to request the name & number of the representative in the loss mitigation or foreclosure department who is assign to your case. Do not talk to the collection department or you will surely lose your home.

When making the call, be aggressive until you get the right person, if you sound like a whimp and don’t know what you are taking about, they will only react slow and put your case at the bottom of the pile. Note: Be tactful.

Request a loan workout package, complete and return the forms as instructed.

Secret: When completing the financial statement after all expenses are subtracted from the net, you must show at lease haft of your mortgage payment as a residual to qualify for a workout.

Secret: When giving your hardship statement, do not tell your mortgage lender that you mismanage your money, that is a sure case you will be deny.

Do not contact your lender’s attorney, they work for your lender not you, they can’t help you.

Tip: Give your lender all require documents. If any information is missing, it will only delay your case and their response is, why bother, if you don’t care, why should I.

You have been given some value information here that will help your save your home from foreclosure. Before you move or file bankruptcy, use these strategies first and you will be surprised that you can save your home. Until your workout is approved, start saving your money.

About The Author

Bobby Johnson is a comprehensive financial planner who speaks on the topic”How to Eliminate Debt and Build Wealth” and the author of “How to Save Your Home From Foreclosure and Not Lose Your Mind” http://foreclosurmanual.ieasysite.com/. For information on hiring Bobby to speak for your company, corporation, church or event, call 770-210-8797 or e-mailing bjohn54928@aol.com

Mortgage-Refinance Loan Can Put Cash in Your Pocket

Filed under: Uncategorized — @ 4:26 pm

Do you need cash? Here’s a mortgage for you. If you are not in a good position to take an equity line of credit on your home, because you have not built enough equity or a poor credit situation is making bankers steer clear of you, altogether, there is another option — the cashout refinance.
This loan does what the equity line does in most cases, but it is not an interest-only loan, and it has conventional mortgage terms. The advantage for people without enough equity and less than perfect credit is you can get at what little equity you do have by refinancing to a new conventional mortgage, taking cash out at the close of the loan.

Here’s how it works.

Let’s assume you have a home valued at $110,000. You owe $86,000, and you would like to get $8,000 in cash to pay off two small credit cards with high interest and to do some minor rehab work on you home. With your B credit rating, banks won’t give you 100 percent of your equity or even 95 percent, so an equity line won’t work.

However, you will qualify for a 90 percent cashout refinance loan. In order to keep your costs down, you combine this strategy with another one, an adjustable rate mortgage, and this helps you maintain a low monthly payment.

You need about $4,000 to close the loan (remember it’s a conventional mortgage with all the closing costs — equity loans can be closed with no costs at all). The closing costs, though, will be financed into your new loan, so you don’t have to come out of pocket with any money.

So, you get a new mortgage for $99,000, which pays off your old fixed rate mortgage loan, covers the closing costs and, best of all, leaves you with $9,000 in cash — $1,000 more than you actually need.

The ARM rate is probably one percent less than your old fixed rate, so your payment will stay close to what it was. Plus, you eliminate monthly credit debt, so you have created even more cash! This is just an overview of a very powerful loan.

EzineArticles Expert Author Mark Barnes

Mark Barnes is the author of the new novel, The League, the first work of fiction, based on fantasy football. He is also an investment real estate and home loan finance expert. Learn more about his suspense thriller at http://www.sportsnovels.com Get his free mortgage finance course at http://www.winningthemortgagegame.com

October 21, 2008

Reverse Mortgages - Funding Retirement

Filed under: Uncategorized — @ 1:00 am

With people living longer and longer, funding retirement can become a stressful situation. Reverse mortgages can help home owners avoid worries about cash flow.

Reverse Mortgages

Reverse mortgages are essentially a method for turning the equity in your home into cash. Although there are various options, a typical reverse mortgage will provide you with a lump sum, monthly payments or a credit line based on the equity in your home. The mortgage will have a term of a certain number of years. Instead of making payments on the loan, the bank will become the owner of the percentage of your equity applied for the loan at the end of the term.

Reverse mortgages are only available to older applicants. Every person listed on the deed of the home must be 62 years of age or older. You must also use the home as your primary residence.

The decision to pursue a reverse mortgage can be a tricky one. The biggest issue is an emotional one. We are all mentally trained to buy a home and try to build equity over the years. With a reverse mortgage, we are making the mental leap to actually reduce the equity in our homes. While this may sound like a sensible method for using the nest egg equity, it makes you, me and everyone very nervous.

For some seniors, the reverse mortgage decision makes sense while it doesn’t for others. To limit the potential for problems and scams, banks are required to have senior applicants meet with unbiased third parties to determine the benefits and downside of using reverse mortgages.

If you or your parents have reached retirement age and are facing cash flow problems, you need to become flexible in dealing with finances. Reverse mortgages may be one flexible option that makes sense for your particular situation. After all, you can’t take the equity in a home with you.

Dan Lewis is with www.gwhomeloans.com - a San Diego mortgage brokers providing San Diego home loans. Visit www.gwhomeloans.com/services.html to learn more about options on San Diego mortgages from a San Diego mortgage broker company.

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