Saturday, April 18, 2009

How To Compare Offset Mortgage Loan Offers

By Chris Channing

Offset mortgage loans are relatively new to the financial industry, so not many consumers are aware of the many aspects they need to compare in order to get the best deal. Offset mortgages, as it turns out, are much like your normal mortgage when it comes to comparing and contrasting.

The property you are looking at and how expensive it is will dictate what type of deposit you will put down, but so too do the policies of the lender. Some lenders allow for a small percentage of the property value to be given as a deposit upfront, while others may decide to charge as much as 40% or more. Most lenders will be somewhat lenient if you have steady income to speak of.

Finding a low interest rate is always a good idea, but not always is it so with the initial interest rate. The initial interest rate is the amount to be paid for a specific amount of time- until a second often higher interest rate takes its place. It depends on when this change occurs, but most often it isn't long before you are paying the higher portion, meaning you didn't necessarily get a great deal.

If you would like to bypass the advertising schemes, you can look at the average APR that the lender is proposing. This rate is the average of the initial and resulting interest rates, and is a much better way to judge the overall price that your mortgage loan is going to cost. The annual percentage rate is but one more aspect to consider, however, and shouldn't be a deciding factor.

There will almost always be a signing fee. This is how lenders hide fees if they have a lower interest rate than competitors, so do be aware of this tactic. Signing fees can be anywhere from $100 to well into the thousands of dollars. Some lenders may let you get by without paying for this fee, but you will have to have great credit and a good track record of being dependable. This may also warrant that you shop around more than normal.

There are many online calculators and reference websites to look at if you are having trouble judging lenders. You may also talk to a professional mortgage broker if you think you don't have the time to study up on financial topics. Even better is the fact that some websites offer unbiased comparisons to top lenders by using given information and making a quote with several lenders at once.

Final Thoughts

Comparing lenders is important, and we can see that there are many factors to grade them on. If you feel a little out of the loop, there are plenty of books and magazines that cover such topics that you may want to take a look at; most able to be found in local bookstores.

About the Author:

No comments:

Post a Comment