Baltimore Home Loans

So you’ve decided to buy a home in Baltimore and now you’re shopping around for Baltimore home loans. Well you have come to the right place. The aim of this article is to help each and every person that wants to buy a new house in the Maryland area of Baltimore and how to go about getting Baltimore home loans. This blog is originally written for people in Baltimore but it is also written for people in general that want to know how to get a home loan. I want to get them better prices on their mortgages, I want to show them how to choose a broker or lender, I want to show them how to make a great decision which type of home loans, I want to make the whole process a lot easier. So its not just for Baltimore home loans, it’s for everyone. Do yourself a favour. Get a cup of coffee, sit down, and start reading.

First and foremost I want people to understand completely what they are getting into. A Home loan (also known as a mortgage) is a big commitment, Baltimore home loans are no different. It is likely you will be paying it off for a VERY long time. Do not take this decision lightly. You need to full comprehend what mortgage lenders and brokers are saying and what you are getting yourself into. This is the same for Baltimore home loans, refinancing you mortgage, getting your first home loan, etc, etc.

So to help you along the way I have created a short summary of this which should help you understand about your Baltimore home loan (and others). We will get into the nitty gritty for Baltimore home loans in due time. Just learn the basics first.
So here we go…

When you’re close to closing your mortgage you need to know about all the general associated fees that come extra with it. These extra fees that are written into the contact can add up to quite a large amount if you’re not careful. So when choosing your mortgage (Baltimore home loan, or any other) you need to understand about the various types of mortgage offers the will present you. AND you need to understand the different mortgages fees. The basics of these home loan fees can be broken up into a few different categories…

First of all Purchase Points.

These come by many different names; they are can also known as things like “buy downs” or even sometimes “discount points”. Basically this extra type of mortgagee fee, which is an added extra to your Baltimore home loans’ cost, which has to be paid up front to the lender this is done when closing a loan. They can be used to bring down the cost or “buy down” or “discount” the interest rate on the loan. You pay a fee, and that means in the end your interest rate you pay on your loan will be less over the full life of a loan.

So basically each time you purchase a purchase point it is equal to 1% of the entire amount of the loan. So if we were to use this in an example: So you have shopped around for Baltimore home loans and found one that is worth $100,000, one of the purchase points that you can buy on this loan is equal to $1,000. So you pay $1000 when closing the loan in order to get one percent of the interest rate knocked off for the full life of the loan. This can save money and get you a cheap home loan if you can afford it.

So should you buy purchase points? How many? This all depends on your expected time you will live in your house and also how much you are willing to pay in mortgage repayments, and how much you really want cheap mortgage repayments. The general idea is that if you live in a house for over 5 years then it is a great idea to buy purchase points. I’m saying this because if you live in the home for a longer time, you’ll get a cheap interest rate and save money on a loan in the loan run.

The second thing to consider is the interest rate.

The mortgage interest rate is seen as a fee that you need to pay to the lender. Now once again Baltimore home loans are just the same as regular loans, so this will apply universally. The home loan interest rate will have an influence on the cost of monthly payments. So in general, if a broker charges you a low interest rate, then you will get low monthly installments.

The tricky thing is these monthly payments can change all the time, sometimes even daily or hourly. So when you find a mortgage and you lender gives you a certain interest rate, it won’t necessarily be the same at the time you are closing a mortgage. This is unless you decide to get a locked-in interest rate with a broker. This means your Baltimore home loans are guaranteed that they will come with a pre-determined rate of interest. This time period that you can get a lock in interest rate varied from 15, 45 to 60 days depending on the bank or company you’re dealing with. But beware that the longer period s will incur a higher expense at the time of closing a loan.

The third part of a loan that needs breaking down is Fees.

There are usually always be some types of fees for getting a home loan. These cover thing like processing fees and underwriting a loan, charges for making sure the house is free and clear, land surveys, appraising a house (this means someone is getting an estimated value of a house), etc. When getting Baltimore home loans you will probably also encounter these types of fees.

All home loan lenders are different. Some broker fees are high, some are low. They all charge different amounts. The fees that a lender in Baltimore will give you when getting Baltimore home loans will be different to the fees and charges and different types of loans you get when you get a home loan in New York. To get customers in and close on a loan (maybe I should clarify on this, closing a loan means to finish up the loan approval process, everything is finished, you have chosen your mortgage lender and he will now go about getting you that money!) some brokers will charge low home loan fees (or to be more precise low closing fees) but then will charge you a higher rate of interest because of this. This means that you will pay more over the life of the loan. But it all depends on a person’s specific needs; some people will not be able to afford to pay the high closing fees so are more prepared to pay extra for the loan over the life of the loan.

When looking for home loans do your home work, shop around. Always remember that you need to understand the associated fees and ask lots of question if you are not sure what associated mortgage fees you broker is talking about mean.

Ok so now that we have gotten that out of the way I can talk more about the specifics of Baltimore home loans and mortgages…..

Well not just yet. Haha. But don’t get disillusioned. I’m going to let you in some great secrets for buying a home in any area, this includes Baltimore home loans! Trust me we will get to the topic of Baltimore home loans very soon. But these links I have here are very useful for every single person looking for a home loan or mortgage. This is because buying a Baltimore home loan is just like buying home loans in any other part of America.

In general you search for a house, make a down payment, find a home loan lender and compare. It’s that easy right? Your ready to get a new Baltimore home loan and your off on your way! If only everything in life was that easy. I’m going to give you some very important information here about selecting and shopping for home loans and other loans. These sites are a must:

Bankrate.com: This place is great, the site has some very useful features such as up to date home loan rates from across the nation (see I told you, you can use it for your Baltimore home loans!). You can narrow down your results for a local view on what the Baltimore home loan rates are. These home loan and mortgage rates are a very useful reference point when comparing your lenders mortgage rates.

Interest.com: Very similar to bankrate…

LendingTree.com: A VERY useful site. It lets you put in your information about what you want in a Baltimore home loan and it gets banks to compete for your business! This means you’ll get the best price possible. Its soo easy, convenient and best of all simple!

Quickenloans.com: This site claims to be Americas # 1 online lender. I haven’t used them personally but I hear they have some very great customer service and I check out their website which seems to have very competitive products when it comes to Baltimore home loans.

Lowermybills.com: This is another great one. Once you have decided on which of the Baltimore home loans you want, you can use this service to lower your bills. It’s free and you can also use it to search for debt consolidation and other mortgage types. Customers put in their details and then they find businesses that can match their needs.

What we have here is by no means a comprehensive list of thing that can help you out when looking for or deciding on home loans, but it’s a great start. You’ll probably find that while you’re searching for a home loan some of the smaller companies can be of better assistance when you have special circumstances (this can range from anything like bad credit, loss of income, no down payment, etc, etc). That is why I have created a list of lenders in the Baltimore area that can help you when shopping around for a Baltimore home loan. So here it is… the short list of lenders in Baltimore…

These are listed here because they show a range of options and not just the major choices in. They all know the area very well and are great choices when taking out a Baltimore home loan.

1st Mariner Bank: Address – 3301 Boston Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21224. Their website: www.1stmarinerbank.com.

They have great first home owner programs, various renovation mortgages; interest only mortgages loans and also many other very competitively priced products. A must clear choice when making my lenders hortlist!
Baltimore Community Lending: Address – 120 Baltimore St, Baltimore, MD 21232, 410 7227 8590. Web site: www.bclending.org

There are investor programs for investors & developers to use with the rehab of houses in maryland, which are then in turn used for the sale of individual homes to owners or residential rental in the area. So if the Baltimore home loans you’re looking for are related to rehabs then this is your choice.

BB&T Mortgage: Address: 200 Eastern Prat St, Baltimore, MD 21102. Their web site is www.bbt.com.
These guys offer some really great full-service products. They include offers for a large range of traditional  home loans.

Carrollton Mortgage Services: Address – 2300 York Road, Baltimore, MD 2109, 410 491 0200. Web Site: www.stuartepstein.com

These guys are a subsidiary of Carrollton Bank and because of this they have a very large amount of Baltimore home loans available. What’s also great is that they have been in business all over the Maryland area for over 100 years.

Countrywide Home Loan: Address – 22 Padonia Road Suite C44, Timonium, MD 21093
website: www.Countrywide.com

You can call Michael J. Ciresi on 410 952 4872 he is a US Navy Veteren and now a home loan & mortgage consultant who specialises in first home owner & REO.

MECU-Baltimore Credit Union: Address- 7 Redwood St, Baltimore, MD 21202, Website: www.mecu.com, Phone: 410 7528313 or try 800248MECU.

They usually pass the bulk of reserves on to its members as they are a credit union. MECU is a non-profit company that is owned only by its members, this will hopefully save you a bunch when deciding on your home loans!

M&T Bank: address: 25 Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21201, 18006243616, website: www.mtb.com

These guys have many first home buyers programs, some low or (or no) down payment home loan options, choices for people with a bad credit report, and FHA/VA mortgages.

National City Mortgage: address: 626 York Rd, Cockeysville, MD 21230, 4103833249, website: www.nationalcitymortgage.com

Here are some specialized services available for you; they have a HUD Officer for your use, an innovative new program called Selling City Owned Property Efficiently, and other various great investment options available for Baltimore home loans.

State of Maryland Mortgagee Program: phone: 4105147530: website: www.mmprogram.com: or try toll free on 800 648 7781 (Maryland residents Only).

This is an initiative of the Maryland Department and Housing & Community Development, and part of the Single Family Housing & Community Development. The entire area of Maryland is able to apply and you don’t have to be classified as a first time home owner. A great program and can get you a discounted price on your Baltimore home loans.

Ok so that’s it for now I guess. I try my best to add more and more information about getting Baltimore home loans when I find it.