Posts Tagged ‘home;improvement’

Mortgage Life Insurance In Alberta: Have You Been Offered Discount Points for Your Mortgage?

Wednesday, July 29th, 2009
by Harry M. Rather

There are many home buyers who get confused when they are quoted home loan rates with points. The basic explanation of paying discount points is that you are paying part of your interest to the bank in the beginning in order to lower your mortgage payments later on, during the course of the loan. When the rate is lowered, so will the monthly loan payment.

One point equals 1% of the loan, and it is remitted to the bank at the closing of the mortgage. If you are obtaining a $200,000 loan, one point would cost you $2,000 at closing. A borrower has the choice of paying one or more points on the loan.

Your mortgage loan rate is calculated primarily by your credit worthiness, but whatever the rate on the loan, paying points will make it lower. If you are quoted 6% on your $200,000 mortgage, you may receive another quote for your loan if you were paying points. Each bank has its own way of figuring this, but they fall within the same limits, and the norm is that 1 point lowers a fixed rate mortgage by .25% and an adjustable rate mortgage by .375%. If we use the $200,000 loan in the above paragraph, and we pay one point, we can reduce the rate to 5.75% on a fixed rate and 5.625% on an adjustable rate loan.

If you inquire about a loan rate, you will most likely see the rate quoted along with points. For example, the lender may list the rate as 6%, no points, 5.75%, one point, 5.5%, two points, etc. Then the table would show 7% with the relevant reductions. This is why it is necessary to know your original rate and then calculate the reduction for points.

Obviously, your mortgage payment is going to be lower on a loan with 5.75% or 5.625% than it will be on a loan with a 6% rate. This sounds like it would always be a good investment, but you must keep in mind that you are really paying interest up front. If you only held onto the mortgage for a short while, after you sell the house or negotiate a new mortgage, you will have paid this interest for a loan you no longer have. In other words, you have to amortize the payment amount for the points over how long you plan to have the loan.

Since a home buyer is going to have a lower mortgage payment, this usually means that he can afford to pay more for a home. For this reason, sellers frequently offer to give points as a sales pitch. But keep in mind that this may raise the price of the house by the amount of the points.

There is no obligation on the part of the buyer to pay points. It is merely his decision to reduce the interest rate of the loan.

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Thank you for your interest in our article.For more information, visit: alberta best mortgage rates. You can also save on assurance hypothecaire

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Finding a Quality Family Home: Pre-owned Manufactured Homes for Sale

Monday, July 27th, 2009
by Shenita Dovel

The great thing about buying a used manufactured home is that, unlike a traditional home, it can be moved wherever you need it.

Used manufactured homes can be found in many places. Websites like Craigslist, as well as classified ads in your local paper are both good places to start.

Another great website to investigate is Ebay or specific websites pertaining to the sale of used manufactured homes. Mobile home companies often also sell used manufactured homes and new homes, so browse your area’s yellow pages.

Looking for your used manufactured home is only one aspect of the process. You need to be certain that you’re buying a quality used manufactured home.

Determine the value of the mobile home of your choice. The value of a manufactured home goes down swiftly, therefore, the asking price may not be the value of the home.

Use your local library’s reference center and ask for Kelley’s Blue Book, which lists vehicle values by brand, year and style; if they don’t have the Blue Book, they can obtain the information from another library also. This information can sometimes be found at your local manufactured home dealership, or at the local bank.

The value of each used manufactured home can be raised by features like added-on garages, decks and additional rooms. Check with the local county appraisers offer to find out how the manufactured home property has been appraised for tax purposes.

You must carefully look into the overall structure of the home. Older manufactured homes are not immune to the same where and tear of conventional homes such as electrical wiring and plumbing.

Hire an appraiser who knows about manufactured homes to determine the condition and value of the home you want. To find an appraiser, inquire at your bank or yellow pages.

If the manufactured home you want is in an area that you wish to be in, you will need to be pre-approved by the park managers in order to stay. This is a step that must be done before acquiring the manufactured home or you might be required to move the home elsewhere. More importantly, be sure to investigate the mobile park thoroughly, as it might not be the dream location you thought it would be.

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If you would like to read more about mobile home mortgage lenders, please click the link provided. Also, you can read more resources on manufactured home loan at http://manufacturedhomeloan.org/

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Mortgage Insurance Quote Canada: Interest Rates in the New World of Mortgages

Wednesday, July 8th, 2009
by Amber E. Schaller

Things have changed drastically in the world of home loans because of recent occurances. What will happen? It is important to make an intelligent guess about how interest rates will go.

Tight conditions in the lending world should normally lead to lower rates, since lenders would have to lower rates in order to attract customers with good credit ratings. However, the banks are doing the reverse, and raising rates in an attempt to build revenue.

This seems like a poor business decision; normally a business will lower prices when business is bad in order to get whatever business they can. But it seems that in today’s topsy-turvy financial world, the old choices do not apply and banks are getting their cue from credit card companies to raise instead of lower rates.

In prior times, a slower economy normally meant lower interest rates which would bring in more customers. Today, however, the financial industry is so disrupted that things that were considered normal before are no longer.

So what is the solution for a potential homebuyer with the right credit score to borrow? Take a wait and see approach and hope that the situation will return to normal, with lower interest rates, or take advantage of any credit that can be obtained, no matter what the rate?

Some economists are not only forecasting a recession, but even a depression, accompanied by deflation instead of inflation. Normally, deflation will in turn lead to lower interest rates, so this indicates a wait and see attitude is the best to take right now.

Some lenders are still actively soliciting borrowers. Many small lenders never had the capital to delve into the massive home loan programs that many of the larger banks did. This was because a lot of them were too small to expand into this highflying arena of subprime loans.

Another argument for waiting is that home prices are also most likely not at the bottom and may fall an additional 10% over the 25% drop seen over the last year. The Case-Schiller study that came out in November of 2008 reported year on year decreases of 17% nationally, with 25% in some locales. If the scenario is set not only for lower rates, but also for lower home prices, it would seem wise to wait until more of the credit crisis fallout can be judged.

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Thank you for your interest in our article.For more information, visit: alberta best mortgage rates or assurance hypothecaire

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A Quick Review of Some Home Security Products

Wednesday, July 1st, 2009
by Lorraine Craymer

Our cities are becoming more frightening and we need to devote more attention to basic security. Common sense protects more than your home and home security is also about keeping people safe. Good home security is about how you think. Do you ever forget to lock up? Do you usually forget to lock the garage? Does your house offer lots of hiding places like shrubs, beside doorways and lower windows? When you’re away, does your house seem deserted? Do trusted family members know where to locate you if necessary? Once you can master these simple basics, you can look at different products.

Home security alarms have been around for a long time and have they’ve become surprisingly sophisticated. You can choose between systems with or without monitoring services or systems that call up to five different phone numbers. The newest have wireless connectivity they can go where you need them and when you need them there and they’re easy enough to install yourself.

Security lights for you home are invaluable to the homeowner and I can’t imagine why anyone would choose to do without them. What vandal or thief will want to lurk around a brightly lit home? They’re your premier line of defense. And when you’re coming home late at night a good set of motion sensitive lights will reveal threats in darkened corners and prevent you (and your invited guests) from breaking your neck on less sinister threats- like a bicycle lying across the path.

It’s no surprise to see the abundant commitment to solar powered security products. So we can be green and reduce our electric bills at the same time. Add to that the affordable pricing, and fast and easy set up. There is no reason not to do the environmentally correct thing.

The new remote controlled home security cameras take your home to a better place. You’ll be resting happily and safely in the den and casually monitoring cameras located about your property you’ll see it all. Cameras for the nursery with conveniently small monitors and remotely controlled cameras mean you’ll always be in control. A few of the remote controlled cameras and recorders can be watched though the internet. So, worried parents of normal teens can keep an eye on the party.

Do you recall the original nursery monitors? Nursery systems are much better now. They cover the ground from the basic audio monitors to very complex hidden cameras. Everyone has heard of options like the Nanny Cams, but you’d be quite surprised at all the places they might be hidden.

Hidden cameras have evolved considerably from the original boxy versions that were wildly expensive and took terrible images on top of that. Today’s hidden cameras are small and have lots of different features. You can have hard wired or wireless, colored or black & white and a growing number can even pick out an image in almost total darkness. What you won’t find audio recording- that’s illegal.

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Check out a home security store offering home alarm systems

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Mitigate Vandalism to Your Outdoor Security Camera

Sunday, June 28th, 2009
by John Wolfe

The purpose of an outdoor security camera is to monitor an area that is prone to criminal activity or otherwise undesired activity. For this reason the camera itself is put at risk of physical destruction from the very vandals we are protecting ourselves from. There are, however, a few things we can control to minimize the risks.

We must take into consideration the design of the camera or the housing the camera will be encased in. Then how the camera is mounted, where it is mounted, and the very placement of the camera are factors that will determine the amount of risk the camera is in. We can also use intelligent video alarms to deter vandals.

When it comes to the physical toughness of the camera or housing, something made of metal can offer much stronger protection than something made of plastic. Also, a traditional fixed camera that sticks out of a wall or ceiling is more prone to physical destruction than a dome PTZ camera or a dome shaped housing. Also, how it is hidden amongst its environment has a lot to do with whether it is a target for vandalism.

How the camera is mounted also will determine the level of protection from physical abuse. Mounting the camera or housing flush with a wall or ceiling is much more effective than simply mounting it on the wall or ceiling. If most of the camera is mounted inside with only the transparent part showing, it is much better protected from different angles. We also want the cables to be pulled directly through the wall or ceiling but if that can’t be then at least run the cables through a metal conduit tube to protect the cables.

Camera placement is also an important factor in deterring vandalism. By placing a camera out of reach on high walls or in the ceiling, many spur-of-the-moment attacks can be prevented. The downside may be the angle of view, which to some extent can be compensated by selecting a different lens.

Active tampering alarms can detect if a camera is being tampered with and alert the control center or operators. Especially for large systems with many cameras, it is useful as a way of monitoring each camera and making sure they are all working properly. When there is no person to monitor the surveillance live, it is a useful way to notify operators if there is any tampering to the camera.

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Visit Outdoor Security Camera Resource for more information on outdoor security cameras, network cameras, home security cameras, entire security camera systems and more.

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