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Getting a mortgage loan without any points and fees As a lender myself, we have not had a client pay point fees in many years, borrowers are smarter than that now. Are closing costs keeping you from refinancing a mortgage? If so, a no-closing-cost mortgage may be for you. With this type of mortgage, you won’t need to pay thousands of dollars in upfront fees. However, the trade-off for waiving those fees is a higher interest rate over the life of the loan. Which still should be considered, depending on what your existing rates are today. is still likely less expensive over five For example, you may be offered a years than what you would pay upfront mortgage at a rate of 3.75 percent and in closing costs. pay closing costs. Or, you can take a noYou have to look at the break-even closing-costs mortgage at a higher 4.125 point, which means how long you have percent rate. There’s two ways people to keep the loan to make up for the cost achieve no-closing-cost mortgages. The of the purchase or refinance loan you mortgage company will flat-out waive paid for. them, which doesn’t happen that often. “Say, for example, you had a loan for Or, they will present the rate (with) clos- a while at 6.5 percent and are only looking costs and if you don’t want to pay, ing at being in the house for another four you’ll take a slightly higher rate.” years. Then, you are probably a good When it pays off candidate. You don’t want to put money Closing costs include services such as down if you are going to be there for four the loan origination, appraisal and title years.” search fees and title insurance premiums. But more importantly now is to believe These costs vary from state to state, but that your rates now are on its way up, on average the costs have been rising. because if you refi to a current rate of say due to higher secondary marketing cost 4.25% and the rates drop to 3.75%, you to underwrite loans, the origination and might lose your closing cost fees if you third-party fees on a $200,000 mortgage were to refinance again. cost an average of $3,754. That’s a lot, but The refinance boom happened the it was a $301 decline from a year before. previous two years where in homeowners No-closing-cost mortgages are attrac- getting no cost loans where refinancing tive to borrowers who don’t have the cash multiple times a year due to mortgage to pay fees upfront. Waiving the closing rates declining. These homeowners costs may be the ticket to getting a mort- where refinancing loans 3.875% to 3.5% gage for a new home or a refinance. with absolutely no cost. Is it a smart If you don’t plan to stay in your home move, of course they did not pay any cost for more than five years, a no-closing- to get to 3.875% and when rates dipped cost mortgage also makes sense. With a again, they quickly refinance to 3.5% with traditional mortgage, it could take more again no cost. than five years to recoup the closing costs. That means they have no risk what so The slightly higher mortgage rate as- ever. As one of my client always say “ sociated with a no-closing-cost mortgage It’s a no Brainer”.
FREE educational seminar on Social Security and Medicare Benefits Healthy refreshments will be served. Venue (near Seafood City): Global Wealth/Covered CA 1559 E. Amar Road, Unit M West Covina, CA 91792 Date/Time: 10:00 am of Sat. Aug. 29, 2015 Space is Limited so RSVP. Call 1-855-955-1800. Look for Joseph Doratan (CA # 0F91214) or Annabelle Lim (CA # 0G76655).
Joseph Doratan CA # 0F91214
Global Wealth Insurance Services
Visit an approved Covered CA Storefront at 1559 E. Amar, Unit M, West Covina, CA 91792. We also speak Filipino.
Questions? Please call
(855) 955-1800
www.GlobalWealthInsuranceServices.com
Annabelle Lim CA # 0G76655
Paying a slightly higher interest rate to forgo closing costs may also make sense if you need the cash to do renovations on your home. When it doesn’t pay Do you plan to stay in your home more than five years? If so, a no-closing-cost loan likely will end up costing you more than a loan with closing costs. That’s true whether you’re taking out a mortgage for a new purchase or refinancing an existing loan. Typically, you’ll break even on your closing costs in a few years. Going with a no-closing-cost loan saddles you with a higher interest rate over the rest of the home loan. That could end up costing you a lot more than the upfront fees if you keep the mortgage for a long time. Take the hypothetical example of two choices for a $150,000 loan. One has a rate of 3.75 percent with $3,500 in closing costs; the other has a rate of 4.25 percent,
with no closing costs. Going with the higher-rate, no-closingcost option runs $43.24 a month more, or $15,567 more over 30 years. In this scenario, it takes six years and nine months to break even and recoup the closing costs via the lower monthly house payments. It’s not something that every lender will offer, but it doesn’t hurt to ask about that option. To me, I will go for the no cost loan even if I intend to stay long term. Now a days, more people are getting the option of a 5 or 7 year fixed rates for loans. Thanks for your inquiries, please call Ken Go of 1st Innovative Finance if you have any purchase or refinancing mortgage needs. Call Ken at 562-508-7048. Thanks, I am considering also writing about Reverse Mortgage, please email me at kennethgo@verizon.net or call me if this is a topic you would like information on.
US existing-home sales rise for third straight month Washington, United States | AFP | Thursday 8/20/2015 – Sales of existing homes in the United States rose for the third straight month in July, holding at the highest pace since 2007, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday. Sales of previously owned single-family homes rose 2.0 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.59 million, the strongest level since February 2007, about nine months before the US economy entered the Great Recession. Sales were up 10.3 percent from a year ago. Analysts had expected a slightly slower annual sales rate of 5.42 million units. “The creation of jobs added at a steady clip and the prospect of higher mortgage rates and home prices down the road is encouraging more households to buy now,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, in a statement.
Despite the solid growth in existinghome sales during the peak homebuying season, tight housing supplies and rising prices likely pushed the share of first-time buyers down to the lowest level since January, NAR said. First-time buyers, important for spurring momentum in the market, declined for the second month in a row, from 30 percent of all buyers in June to 28 percent. A year ago the share was 29 percent. Total inventory of single-family homes, condos and co-ops fell 0.4 percent to 2.24 million in July, and has shrunk 4.7 percent from a year ago. At the heated sales pace, the limited homes for sale represented a 4.8-month supply, a tick higher than in June and helping to push prices higher. The median existing-home price in July was $234,000, up 5.6 percent from a year ago.
Carson Fil-Am leader just can’t win a council seat By Abner Galino
After losing his bid for a seat in Carson City Council by a mere 18 votes, a FilipinoAmerican political leader also lost an opportunity to be appointed to the same body in a tense and emotional proceeding on Tuesday that drew his supporters to walk out of the session hall in protest. The controversial decision of the City Council to pick Donesia Gause, former City Clerk, over Filipino-American Alex Cainglet was seen by pundits as a wedge that aggravated the already sore political climate in the city. Gause lost to former Carson City Mayor Jim Dear during an elections for City Clerk last March. Cainglet lost to church pastor Jawane Hilton in an elections in June. Supporters of Gause and Cainglet pushed for their respective appointments to the council seat left by Alex Robles after he was elected mayor by his peers. There are still 17 months of unexpired term to the said post and the City Council had a choice of appointing someone to the post or hold another elections. Carson is politically divided along racial lines. Dear and his Filipino-American ally, City Council Mayor Pro Tempore Elito Santarina, are supported mostly by Filipino-Americans. Cainglet is part of this political alliance. On the other side of the political fence are Councilor Lula Davis-Holmes, Hilton and Gause who are all African-Americans. Mayor Robles, apparently of Latino
ancestry, was the crucial vote that sealed the fate of Cainglet. “Be careful what you wished for” The decision whether to appoint or to hold another elections to fill up the vacant post in the City Council was calendared as Agenda no. 5 on Tuesday night. Most of the residents who spoke about the agenda endorsed the appointment of someone to the post rather than go through a new elections which almost everyone agreed was “expensive for the city to undertake.” Four votes (by Mayor Robles, Holmes, Hilton and Santarina) unanimously approved a resolution to appoint a nominee to the vacant City Council seat. But the mood in the chamber suddenly became tensed when Holmes nominated Gause. A vote was called and it was tied at 2-2, with Hilton and Holmes in favor of Gause. Mayor Robles subsequently asked each of the three council members if they were still willing to change their votes. When no one budged, Robles changed his vote in favor of appointing Gause. Before that happened, Santarina warned his peers that “the tempest is on us.” “It’s going to be unbearable here in the city of Carson. Trust me. You know what’s going to happen. I don’t have to say it to you,” Santarina said before the votes were cast. Cainglet’s supporters walked out of the session hall in protest as soon as the votes appeared on the TV monitors.