discount mortgage, NC North Carolina

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Adjustable-Rate Mortgages (ARMs) What goes up, must come down. And thats basically the principal of ARMs. The interest rate you pay is adjusted from time to time to keep it in line with changing market rates. This means when interest rates go up, your monthly home loan payments may go up. And, when interest rates go down, your monthly home loan payments may go down.

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Capped Rate Mortgage A capped rate mortgage is very similar to a fixed except that if the variable rate drops below the capped rate, the borrower will make payments based on the lower variable rate. However should rates increase the payments will be ‘capped’ and will not rise over the capped rate. So as a rough ‘rule of thumb’ a capped rate is better to have than a fixed if all other factors are equal. Again, as with fixed rates, up-front charges and ‘lock-ins’ are common.

Lease-purchase gives a buyer time to save for a down payment or to clean up a credit history.

Some ARMs offer a conversion feature that allows you to convert to a fixed rate loan at certain times during your loan.

Where to Shop: Your first stop should definitely be a mortgage banker such as Countrywide Funding. Unlike mortgage brokers, with which these outfits are sometimes confused, mortgage bankers are not intermediaries between you and a lender; they are lenders. Mortgage bankers dont write a lot of adjustable-rate loans, because its harder to package those for sale to organizations, such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Thus, because mortgage bankers make their money on fixed rates, their prices tend to be the most aggressive around.