Video Summary

Does it cost money to refinance my home?  The answer is yes it usually does.  You usually have to go through the entire underwriting process and have to pay various fees.  There are some programs such as a streamline FHA or a VA program where the costs are minimal.  At one time there was a program involving mortgages that were not in default for a period of two years which is the making homes affordable wherein there were not any costs to refinance your property or modify your mortgage.  But by in large, you have to go through the underwriting and pay the fees.  They may not be quite as much as what they were when you initially got your mortgage but yes, you will have to pay to have your mortgage on your home refinanced.

One of the savings you can have is if you have your owner’s title insurance policy, if you contact me I will be glad to give you a credit towards your refinancing and when you do apply for refinancing. And you can designate who you wish to have at closing and who would be your title agent and assist you with the paperwork.

My phone number is 727-847-2288.  Thank you.

Video Summary

How is an FHA mortgage funded?  Well an FHA mortgage is funded the same way as any other conventional loan.  The only difference between an FHA mortgage and a conventional mortgage is the FHA provides insurance to who the lender is.  And so there’s extra paperwork.  So the money still comes from whatever lender wishes to lend you the money.  And in this day and age of high finance, once you get a mortgage from let’s say Bank of America, SunTrust, Wells Fargo, Regions or any of the other large lending institutions, they usually will sell the loan to the secondary market which is called Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. And they only retain the servicing rights so that when you make your payment you’re paying Bank of America and that’s fine, however, they really don’t own the loan.  They’re merely servicing it for the secondary market, which is Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, which sells bonds so that they can fund these mortgages which is high financing done in the billions of dollars and that’s what keeps the money available for our mortgage market.  But FHA mortgages are funded the same way as any other ones are.  They just have insurance and you have to pay a little bit extra for the mortgage insurance since you’re getting a high percentage loan to value.

So if you have any questions about your mortgage, FHA mortgage or otherwise, give me a call at 727-847-2288.

Video Summary

Should I invest in a vacation rental property?  Well these are usually timeshares and my experience over the years with timeshares are is that you use them maybe once or twice and after that you get very tired of paying for the dues that are required or the yearly assessments.  And I will tell you that there is a very, very limited resale market for timeshares.  They’re very difficult to get rid of.  Sometimes I tell folks that ask me about it; it’s sort of like having the plague, you can’t get rid of them.  Also the value of timeshares or what you pay for timeshares, a very, very high percentage of that purchase price has to go into marketing and that the actual value of the timeshare is not that much and that they have to spend a lot of money to market the timeshares.

Now recently I don’t know if this question that was posed to me was not directed to timeshares but I think that to finish up on timeshares is that think long and hard before you buy a timeshare.  And you need to be sure that you want to use it.  You can trade them if you are ready to travel and I think that there’s any number of ones now where you get points so you don’t necessarily have a fixed time period.  So if you use it I think it’s great but don’t call it an investment because I don’t think you’re gonna get your money out of it.  You’ve got to use it or it’s of no use and they’re very difficult to get rid of.

Now I was about to talk about vacation rental properties and that there is a new phenomena or use of property now.  In some communities they don’t have any restrictions on single-family homes and you rent them out on a weekly basis.  Now in Pasco County they do have a restriction and you have to get particular land use for zoning for a property to be able to use them as a vacation rental property.  So if you’re an investor and wanting to buy that type of property, well I think it’s a good investment but you’re running a hotel and it’s high maintenance as far as managing the property.  So investing in a vacation time rental, particularly if it’s a timeshare, think long and hard before you do it because once you buy it, you’re not gonna get your money back and it’s very hard to get rid of.  So if you have any questions about them you can give me a call.  Not that I have too many answers.  My phone number is 727-847-2288.  Thank you.

Video Summary

What is FHA mortgage insurance?  FHA mortgage insurance is a program that’s backed by the federal government wherein they insure the higher percentage portion of your mortgage to whatever lender happens to give you the loan.  So the FHA insurance ensures that the lender will not suffer loss for monies that they lend and I believe it’s above 80 percent of the loan to value.  So if you have $100,000 piece of property and that you got an FHA loan for $100,000, the FHA insurance would insure the first $20,000 of the loan.  So if you went into default and you owed $90,000, FHA insurance would then pay the lender $10,000 of the outstanding debt if they foreclosed and had to take back the property or up to $10,000 of the loss of the lender.

Now FHA mortgage insurance is not for the benefit of the borrower.  It’s for the benefit of the lender.  That’s who it insures.  The only benefit that the borrower has is they can borrow 97 to 100 percent of whatever the purchase price is or the appraised price of the property that they’re purchasing.

So if you have any questions about getting an FHA loan, well give me a call at 727-847-2288.