Another Reason to Own A Home

In case you need another reason to purchase a home for you and your family; Here is an article I just read in the National Mortgage Professional Magazine, “Study Concludes Homeownership Tied to Positive Outcomes for Children“.  According to a new study by professors Richard K. Green and Gary D. Painter at the University of Southern California and Michelle J. White at the University of San Diego, “Homeownership is associated with lower high school dropout rates and lower teen birth rates.”  To read more about these findings, go to NMPM: Study Concludes Homeownership Tied to Positive Outcomes for Children and view the study results at Measuring the Benefits of Homeowning: Effects on Children Redux.  Let me know what you think about this information.  Do you agree or disagree?

For more information about home financing or the economy, please contact me at 978-327-3227  or Bill@billnickerson.com

6 Things to Know About Credit Scores

By Jessica L. Anderson | Kiplinger – Thu, Jul 12, 2012

FICO isn’t the only number in town. The score that counts is the one your lender uses.

1. There is no single number. The compilers of the widely accepted FICO credit score allow lenders to customize their system, so different lenders produce different scores. Plus, each of the credit bureaus—Experian, Equifax and TransUnion—has a proprietary scoring model. As if that weren’t enough, the credit bureaus together invented VantageScore a few years ago to compete with FICO.

2. Different scales, different scores. FICO scores range from 300 to 850. You’ll need about 760 or better for the best mortgage rates, but a score of 720 should be sufficient to get you the best deal on an auto loan. About 10% of lenders now use VantageScore, which ranges from 501 to 990 and has corresponding letter grades from A to F. The best rates go to borrowers with scores in the A range (above 900). If you are denied a loan or given less than the best rate, a lender must tell you the score it used, along with the corresponding range and factors that adversely affected your score.

3. Do a credit checkup. You can monitor your credit yourself by requesting a free report once a year from each of the credit bureaus through http://www.annualcreditreport.com. But the free report won’t include your credit score; you’ll pay about $8 to get the credit bureau’s proprietary number. The majority of lenders (especially mortgage lenders) use FICO scores, however, so if you’re in the market for a loan, that is the one you want. At http://www.myfico.com, you can get your credit report and a FICO score from Equifax or TransUnion (but not Experian) for $20.

4. Free doesn’t always mean free. If you are just looking for a ballpark estimate of how you’re doing, go to http://www.credit.com. You’ll get free estimates of your FICO score and VantageScore along with Experian’s own PLUS score. Sites such as http://www.freecreditscore.com and http://www.creditreport.com, however, will give you a free PLUS score, but only if you sign up for a free trial subscription to a credit-monitoring service; if you don’t cancel in seven days, the service costs $15 to $20 a month. Likewise, at MyFICO.com, you can get your FICO score free, but only if you accept a trial subscription to the com­pany’s Score Watch system.

5. Maintain credit health. All of the scores measure the same factors from the information in your credit file, and they all indicate the same thing: creditworthiness. Try to keep your credit-utilization ratio low—that is, be aware of the amount of debt you have compared with the amount of available credit you have. A history of paying your bills on time helps. Having a variety of loans—for example, a revolving line of credit (such as a credit card), a car payment and a mortgage—will boost your score, too.

6. It’s a moving target. The information in your credit files at the bureaus is continually changing—and so will your score. If you’re about to apply for a loan, check your reports for mistakes that could impact your score.  Pay down balances as much as possible. And if you’re not applying for a credit card or making a big-ticket purchase anytime soon, says Jason Alderman, a senior director at Visa, “it doesn’t matter what your score is tomorrow.”

This is great general information about FICO scores.  For more information about your credit score and how it affects your financing a home, please contact me either by email or phone.

Bill Nickerson NMLS #4194

Merrimack Mortgage Company  179 Great Road Acton MA 01720

What is a Rate Lock?

Essentially a rate lock/lock-in is a commitment issued by a lender to a borrower or other mortgage originator guaranteeing a specified interest rate for a specified period of time. 

Here is how rate locks work; Although lenders can differ in how they handle their own rate lock basics, a typical locking in of a rate involves a lender agreeing to hold a specific mortgage rate for a guaranteed amount of time. Rates are locked in from 15 days up to 180 days.  Depending upon the rate lock period, the actual mortgage rate may vary; the longer your rate lock period, the higher the rate can be.  Most lenders will collect a rate lock fee or deposit as a way to secure your rate/business.  It is not an additional fee as it is credited back to you at closing.   By locking in your interest rate, you have secured the rate no matter what goes on in the market.  It will not go lower or higher during the processing of your loan.

Lenders may offer different options in establishing the interest rate and points that you will be charged, such as:
	Locked-In Interest Rate–Locked-In Points. Under this option, the lender lets you lock in both the interest rate and points quoted to you. This option may be considered to be a true lock-in because your mortgage terms should not increase above the interest rate and points that you’ve agreed upon even if market conditions change.
	Locked-In Interest Rate–Floating Points. Under this option, the lender lets you lock in the interest rate, while permit­ting or requiring the points to rise and fall (float) with changes in market conditions. If market interest rates drop during the lock-in period, the points may also fall. If they rise, the points may increase. Even if you float your points, your lender may allow you to lock-in the points at some time before settlement at whatever level is then current. (For instance, say you’ve locked in a 10½ percent interest rate, but not the 3 points that went with that rate. A month later, the market interest rate remains the same, but the points the lender charges for that rate have dropped to 2½. With your lender’s agreement, you could then lock in the lower 2½ points.) If you float your points and market interest rates increase by the time of settlement, the lender may charge a greater number of points for a loan at the rate you’ve locked in. In this case, the benefit you might have had by locking in your rate may be lost because you’ll have to pay more in up-front costs.
	Floating Interest Rate–Floating Points. Under this option, the lender lets you lock in the interest rate and the points at some time after application but before settlement. If you think that rates will remain level or even go down, you may want to wait on locking in a particular rate and points. If rates go up, you should expect to be charged the higher rate.

For more information about rate locks/lock-ins, please read this article written by the Federal Reserve Board.  A Consumer’s Guide to Mortgage Lock-Ins

Please contact me for information about rate locks or refinancing.

Bill@billnickerson.com    978-273-3227

What is a Business Cycle?

The “Books” say an average business cycle is 44.4 months and we have lived through many of them. Some longer than that and some as short as a season in New England.  A business cycle is like the exhibit from our youth…“What makes an ocean wave, wave” at the New England Aquarium.  In the exhibit, you get to move the wave with a lever and if you move the lever too much you have to pull it back as the wave comes crashing down…and again, you go too far the other way and the wave crashes in the other direction.  It’s impossible to control an ocean wave.  So here we are now in the middle of a business cycle “The Ocean Wave”. 

As Americans we do the same thing.  When we feel confident and wealthy, we tend to spend a little too much; perhaps buy a car that has all the bells and whistles or buy the  house we all dreamed of or even dined at the newest expensive restaurant we’ve never been to… building up that ocean wave.  We did this as a nation and created a very large wave.  We are in the “Trough” of the business cycle which is like a dead calm in the sea.  Nothing moves.  We are paralyzed by our own actions and cannot find a direction to get back…there is just no wind for our sails.  As individuals, we are going through our own personal process of what will get us back on track.  In some cases, we cancel our vacations, limit the activities our children participate in at school or even bring lunch every day.  By drastically cutting our spending, we have moved the “wave” too far in the other direction thus hurting the economy even further.  Not only have we given up those fancy dinners…we are not even going to the local diner for the blue plate special.

Consumer confidence is measured at an all-time low today and we are letting our emotions and fear govern our decisions and actions.  The News Media has the ability to heighten this fear by focusing on the negative and over emphasizing the issues at hand.   As FDR said, “The only thing we have to fear is Fear itself”.  This speech was given in 1933 in the middle of one of the biggest bank panics of the century which followed the Stock Market Crash of 1929.  There was a “RUN” on the banks where consumers wanted to withdraw all of the cash they had in the banks for fear it would be gone.  The banks had lent this money out for loans, mortgages etc. and the banks quickly ran out of cash.  FDR implemented the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation “FDIC” that to this day insures our deposits up to $250,000.  This speech did spark a generation as well as the economy, and it was backed by a plan of how to get us moving as a country.  Today, we do not look up to our leaders.   And as of this moment, we do not have a plan of how to get out of the economic turmoil we are in.  So as a strong country, we must take matters in our own hands and move ahead…full steam ahead.

We are in a very unique situation in the economy: Mortgage rates are creating new historical lows every day, house prices are nearing levels of value we have not seen since 2004.  As we always do, we will look back on this day and say, “I wish I had bought that home, or vacation house or even that investment property”.  Trust me; it happens every time we go through these business cycles.  As I mentioned earlier, we are letting our emotions govern our business decisions.  That is not allowed in business.  It’s business and there is no crying in business!!  Remember the saying “Buy Low and Sell High”.  This is not just some catch phrase.  It is a sound business decision that should be followed regardless of your emotional ties. 

So what do we do now? 

·         Keep spending but in a healthy way.  Make sound buying decisions based on needs versus wants.  By putting some money back into the economy, we will slowly recover.

·         Look to your advisers!!  Not your friends or family, but your financial advisers.  This would be the person that handles your investments, your banking, and your estate.  These are professionals that do this time and time again all day every day. 

·         Be patient.  Throughout history we have experienced turbulent times in the business cycle.  And we have pulled out of it.  In the words of Warren Buffett, “Americans are in a cycle of fear which leads to people not wanting to spend and not wanting to make investments, and that leads to more fear. We’ll break out of it. It takes time.”

For information regarding home financing or the economy, please contact me at     Bill@billnickerson.com   or    978-273-3227