Are there any fees or penalties with getting pre-approved for a home loan if you don't take out the loan?  Are you free to get pre-approved by several lenders?
216201
A pre-approval entails a lender going through and verifying your information (underwriting your income, assets and credit).\n\nYou would then get a pre-approval letter.  Yes, there is typically a charge for this.  There is applcation fees (3rd party) which they'd collect in the form of an application fee.\n\nSure you can get pre-approved with any and every lender you'd like to go to... might hurt your credit though (even though it's not supposed to).\n\nYou are not commited to go with the lender that pre-approves you.  But, you should confirm this via their paperwork.  A company that does not charge an application fee will most likely have an application fee that is waived upon initiation of a mortgage.\n\nPre-approvals are a lot of work, and take time... use the lender that you want to use.  We all have basically the same loan products anyway.
253327
Check your CC&Rs (Conditions, Covenants and Restrictions) which sets out the rules for condo residents.  It should set out specifically what consequences there may be for unpaid fees to the HOA.  But I agree, why don't you just pay it?
282230
You can always refinance.  If your current loan has a pre-payment penalty, that may apply however.
648157
The PMI charge on most loans can be eliminated if you have 20% equity. Some of the closing costs like origination fees can usually be negociated down a bit.
306296
It is true, but you have to meet certain income levels.  If you don't measure up, they will offer you less.  They don't charge you interest, they charge a flat fee.  If you chose not to repay the loan on your next pay peroid, they will charge the flat fee over and over again until you tell them to repay the loan plus the flat fee.  If you can, find a better way.
346597
This really depends on the structure of your loan. The higher the risk, the higher the cost and/or rate, regardless of whether they are a broker or a lender. Broker's are like middle-men, they work with several banks to secure your financing, which only saves you the leg work of getting quotes from 5 different banks. If you go directly to the lender, you can avoid the middle-man, along with the fees they charge to secure your loan. However, there is usually not a big difference in costs or rate between the two, since brokers get their loans from the lenders at wholesale level, and then charge whatever the going rate is. They will then get paid for whatever up front fees as well as "YSP" which is the amount that a certain interest rate pays the broker. This will all be disclosed on the final settlement statement, under "Broker YSP". This shows you how much the broker was paid to originate your loan.
394387
The time is now! I started on October 4th hopping by December 4th When my lease is up i was already out. Well Today is November 20th and I still haven't found my home, the good thing is my loan is already approved, the only thing missing is the house and the long wait between negotiations  and appressal. \n\nMy advise is, get pre-approved or approved FIRST, then start house hunting. The most important thing is to get approved for the best loan before the hunt, which is the easiest part. \n\nMy third application took 30-minutes over the phone with my bank and within 4-business days I was sort of pre-approved.  My original loan amount was for $300,000 which got decline by the underwritter, so I had to talk to him and settle for a $260,000 loan., But a week later, it was finally approved.   \n\n\nSince my original loan amount was decline, I had to look for homes withing that price range in another part of the state. Where I currently live, Homes start at $300,000 and they tend to be small, and needing a lot of work.\n\nMy bank  was my third and last lender, after trying with Credit Suisse which gave me 100% financing at 5.375% then change the terms to 7. 850% for 3-years fixed and 27-years variable without notifying me. \n\nThe second attend was with Quicken Loans, which was a complete waste of time. BTW, if you valued your sanity, AVOID Quicken Loans!\n\nA fixed interest mortgage is the best to go, you don't want to go for one of those "Interest Only" you hear so much about. Thouse will lead you to a foreclosure within 3-year.\n\nFor a 100% financing loan your mortage payments will start the first day of the month 2-months later, mine is set for February 1st. 2007. The monthly payments will  include Principal, Interest, Taxes and Insurance.
95519
you might get approved through  a new lender
636037
My dad discovered some small print a few years back where they couldn't charge the redemption fee if you're remortgaging with the same company (not sure if it applies to all companies however) - it pays to read the terms and conditions very thoroughly for any loopholes there are because these firms never advertise anything that will lose them money... it may even take 3 or 4 nuisance phone calls to make them change their minds.. persistence is the key!  Keep complaining and you'll get anything just so they can get rid of you!
656565
Call a local mortgage broker (check your local yellow pages) and ask for a consultation, they are usually free or may charge a small fee (< $25)  for pulling your credit report..  Do not call a bank.  Mortgage brokers have many more programs available than banks and are more experienced in dealing with folks with troubled credit.  Anyway, they can pull up your credit and see how it looks.  It may not be as bad as you think.  If it is, there are programs such as FHA that are not credit score driven.  It always helps to have money saved up for a down payment, and while 100% loans can be obtained, you will most likely need a minimum of 3% down.  If you do not have the 3%, it can be in the form of a gift from family or friends.  There are 3rd party non-profit companies that you can get the donwpayment from, although FHA has been looking down on them lately.  Mainly b/c the 3% gets financed back into the loan....sort of...but I can't say that...LOL\n\nA good mortgage broker will have all of this information.  He/she should also be able to direct you on what to do if your credit needs a little repair.  If you are not ready to buy now, they can coach on what to do to be ready in 6 months or so.  Good luck with your dream of owning a home.
44762
With your situation you're working with an investment property and will take a hit on rate because it's not your primary residence.  But the rates that are available to you depend on your credit score, how much equity you have, mortgage payment history, and how much debt compared to income that you have.  \n\nI work for a company called MYLOAN and our rates are very competitive and service is top notch.  If you'd like a free no obligation consultation you can fill out an application on my website, email me, or give me a call.  I wish you luck in your search for financing.
67260
Im not sure if you happen to live in the baystate (massachusetts or even New hampshire or RI) but baystatelending.com is awesome- put in your info regardless of whether or not your from the area and they will probably refer your information to another lender who could get you a loan
642568
I bought my first house with the help of a first time buyer program.  I had to take one 2 hour course (free, all I had to do was show up & listen), and the county paid my down payment.  It showed as a silent second mortgage.  As long as I lived in the house, and did not refinance, I did not owe any money to the county.  When I did refinance I had the option of paying that money back or making payments just like any other loan.  I was able to close on that house for $300 out of pocket because of that program.  As another poster said, there are many programs out there.  Some will even offer very low interest loans to make improvements to your home after you move in.  Your Realtor or mortgage broker should be able to steer you in the right direction as far as what programs you qualify for that are available in the area you are buying in.
4121
Well, if you do not want to pay points (by this I am guessing the origination fee) you would get a much higher interest rate.  The origination fee is how Mortgage Brokers get paid.  The higher interest rate given, the more money the broker makes, which is why you would get the higher rate without paying points.  My recommendation: pay the points, and get the lower rate if you will be in it long term.  If it is short term 2 years or less, you might consider the higher rate with no points.  Email me for more questions: http://www.mikepolk.com
186204
several things could be happening here\n\nyour lender could be including private mortage insurance if you don't have 20% down and the lender requires it\n\nalso, the lender may be including fees and closing costs into the loan, which could run into thousands of dollars\n\nbe very wary of any loan where all costs are not disclosed to you in a truth-in lending statement, and if a lender or broker makes promises to you or tells you to disregard any truth-in -lending statement you do get
125239
it's not a bad deal for people who might have trouble qualifying for a conventional loan.  It's usually an owner who owns the house outright and wants to have that interest on the sale (like what the bank would normally get).  That owner will have a lien on the house the way a bank that did your mortgage would.
472115
It's not entirely impossible. How's your credit? Have you or your spouse been working at a job for 2 years or more? With paying rent, can you provide rental verification? Have you ever claimed bankruptcy, if so how long ago? There are a lot of houses for sale with the owner offering to pay towards closing costs. And if you have good enough credit, you may be able to come into the loan without a down payment and also have the luxury of the seller contributions. Depending on the house you're interested in. There are a lot of questions behind that question, you just have to get started on the pre-qual process and then find out from there.