Tuesday, 3 January 2012

Mortgage Information and Tips

By Roger Frost


Economic news and downturns in key areas can affect the money banks pay in both Canada and the There are many variables that can influence the rates on long-term debt instruments, but an understanding of key economic indicators can provide clues to the future direction of interest rates in both Canada and the US.

A higher-than-expected CPI or increasing trend is considered inflationary, and can cause bond prices to fall and yields and interest rates to rise. Likewise, a lower-than-expected CPI cause yields and interest rates to fall. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a fixed market basket of consumer goods and services. The CPI is considered the most important measure of inflation.

The Producer Price Index (PPI) is a family of indexes that measures the average change over time in the selling prices received by domestic producers of goods and services. PPI's measure price change from the perspective of the seller. This contrasts with other measures, such as the Consumer Price Index (CPI), that measure price change from the purchaser's perspective. The PPI can be volatile. It is best to use the six-month to one-year moving average. A lower-than-expected unemployment rate or declining trend is considered inflationary, and can cause bond prices to fall and yields and interest rates to rise.

After you have filed for bankruptcy protection or liquidation, you will wait four years before a traditional mortgage lender will qualify you for a home loan with market interest rates. And that will happen then only if you have taken steps to improve your credit and are in a good enough financial position to handle the loan.

Want to strengthen your bargaining position? Get prequalified. Want your offer to stand out in a case of multiple offers for the same house? Get prequalified. Look at it from the seller's perspective. If you had 2 offers on the table for your house, one from a fully prequalified buyer and the other from an "I'll get around to that soon" buyer--to which offer would you devote the most attention? Even if the prequalified buyer's offer was $1000 less, would you take the chance on the buyer that perhaps may not be qualified? When it comes to a seller evaluating offers, "a bird in the hand..." definitely applies.

The "magic in the bi-weekly mortgage" is paying half the monthly payment every 2 weeks, which results in an extra monthly payment every year. (Twenty-six payments, each one for half of one monthly payment, is the equivalent of 13 monthly payments rather than 12). This extra payment is the magic that pays off a biweekly mortgage early, but you need not pay anyone to do the trick for you.




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