Loan Process

Where should I start?

It is hard to know where to begin when starting the loan process! There are so many options that it can be very confusing to find the right type of loan. You must first ask yourself many questions. Some of these are:

• How much can I afford to pay each month?
• Do I plan on keeping this house for only a few years or for a long period of time?
• Is a small payment a higher priority than paying the loan down quickly?

• Am I able to make a down payment?
• Over how many years do I want to pay a mortgage?
• Am I trying to find a mortgage or refinance an existing mortgage?

The answer to these questions will help you know which loan will be best for you. There are a wide variety of loan options, so it will be useful to know some of the basic tendencies. In general:

• The larger the down payment, the better your options are for payment size, interest rate, and length of time to pay back the loan.
• A fixed-interest rate will tend to be higher than an adjustable rate.
• The longer the term of payback, the smaller the payment.
• The smaller your payment, the larger the amount that is going to interest.
• The more that you pay to interest, the slower that you are building equity.