Home Loan and Mortgage Information

Income Requirements to Buy a Home A good credit score is crucial for receiving a good interest rate, but banks will also look at your income and debt when deciding whether you qualify. They rely on two ratios, often called the "front-end" ratio and the "back-end" ratio which are the key to Income Requirements to Buy a Home. What is a Neg Am Loan? Amortization vs. Negative Amorization. For generations, all home loans amortized debt, (paid it off fully), over the course of the loan. Recently, the Negative Amortized (NegAm) loans have become popular loans that allow you to lower your monthly payment by in effect, borrowing more money each month from your built up equity or your original downpayment. Piggyback Loans vs Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) For decades, standard practice had bankers requiring a 20% downpayment for mortgage loans. Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) was then created as a form of insurance for those borrowers who could not come up with the 20% down. What is a Credit Score and Why Should You Care? Three agencies control your credit reports and create a score based on what credit providers give them. You can access your credit information free of charge. How To Get Your Credit Report and Credit Score Your Credit Score (also called FICO Score, after the Fair Isaac Corporation which created the software to calculate the score) is calculated by 3 credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. How To Improve Your Credit Score Improving your credit takes time and diligent effort. Here’s how to improve that little number that controls so much of your life. Prequalify for a Home Loan Before You Start Shopping. Three reasons why this may save you a small fortune. Why and When You Should Refinace Even though rates have been rising in the last few years, homeowners still have many reasons to refinance their home loans. The main reason is debt consolidation, whether you are combining credit card debts with your home mortgage or if you have more than one home loan. You can also refinance to a lower rate if your credit score improves. Consolidating Debts through Refinancing your Home Mortgage The true goal when you refinance is to reduce the amount of interest you pay for the total sum of your debt. Understanding Home Appraisals Any home purchase or home loan refinance will require a property appraisal. A lender needs to find out how much your home is worth to determine how much they will loan you. Mortgage Calculators Twenty one different calculators to help answer your mortgage questions including Rent vs. Buy, Affordability, Standard vs Bi-Weekly, Principal, Length and many others.

The Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in housing based on color, race, religion, national origin, sex, familial status, or disability. Information Deemed Reliable But Not Guaranteed.

RE/MAX Realty Affiliates participates in Northern Nevada Regional MLS' BROKER RECIPROCITY program, allowing us to display other broker's listings on our site. However, we display only condominium and townhouse listings on this website. We do offer real estate services for the entire Reno/Lake Tahoe market.

The MLS Data is updated frequently. Some properties which appear for sale on this web site may subsequently have sold and may no longer be available. Last Updated: 2008-05-12

The information being provided is for consumer's personal, non-commercial use and may not be used for any purpose other than to identify prospective properties consumers may be interested in purchasing.