home loan? How much

Mortgage Loan Calculators -Interest.com Compare Today's Rates | Mortgage Calculators | Mortgage Trends Mortgage Home Calculators Advertisement Mortgage Calculators What will be my Monthly Payment? Want to know how much your monthly payment is for your mortgage? Additional Payment Calculator How much do you save by paying more or making additional payments than your initial mortgage terms? How much do I have to make to afford the loan on a particular home? Not sure how much money you'll have to earn to afford your house payment and accompanying expenses? How much can I afford to borrow? Want to know how big of a loan you can take on? How much can I afford to borrow? (Alternate Version) Want to know how big of a loan you can take on if you already know how much of a monthly payment you can afford according to the 28/36 rule. Should I pay discount points when I get mortgage loan? Not sure if you should pay discount points on your mortgage loan? How long will it take to recoup the costs of refinancing my home loan? How much will you save by refinancing your loan? How much will I be able to deduct from my taxes? Want to know how much your home loan will save you in taxes? Biweekly payment for a loan and amortization schedule Want to know how much time and money you'll save paying off your loan on a bi-weekly payment plan? APR Calculator To find the annual percentage rate of your loan, enter the loan amount, interest rate, points, other costs and year-length term. ARM APR Calculator To find the annual percentage rate of your ARM loan, enter the loan amount, interest rate, index value, margin, points, other costs and year-length term. Interest-Only Loan Comparison Calculator and Amortization Schedule This tool figures your monthly savings from an interest-only payment plan as compared to a standard loan program for a similar loan. Interest-Only Monthly Payment and Savings Calculator This basic calculator finds your monthly savings if you use an interest-only payment plan. Want to know your Amortization Schedule. This automated amortization sheet covers 5 years (60 months). Change any number, and the entire spreadsheet will update itself! No need to recalculate and fill all the numbers, just edit the numbers and go. Additional Payment Calculator How much do you save by paying more or making additional payments than your initial mortgage terms? Another "What's my Monthly Payment" Calculator? A mortgage payment calculator that incorporates detailed data to calculate your monthly amount. Rent vs. Buy Calculator Is it less expensive to buy than to rent, and how much can you really save? Budget Calculator Want to know how much of your paycheck is left after you pay for your monthly expenses and financial obligations? 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Selling home on your

Alaska Journal of Commerce: Selling home on your own can prove costly 04/22/02 [an error occurred while processing this directive] [an error occurred while processing this directive] Home Focus In this Issue Calendar Bulletin Board Movers & Shakers Business History Archive Around the World Legals Viewpoint Profile Cartoons Contact Us Advertise with us Subscribe About Us Classified ADs Oil & Gas Special Sections Wealthbuilders Fish Factor Travel Insight Property Wise Tech Watch Law Page Philanthropy Health Book of Lists -5° 17° 9° 8° 27° 33° 35° 41° 44° 39° 35° Choose City Anchorage Barrow Bethel Cordova Deadhorse Denali Park Dillingham Dutch Harbor Fairbanks Galena Haines Homer Juneau Kenai Ketchikan Kodiak Kotzebue McGrath Nenana Paxson Petersburg Pribilof Islands Sitka Skagway Soldotna Talkeetna Valdez Wrangell Yakutat Email Newsletter Palm Pilot Delivery Letter to the editor Comments Locate a copy [an error occurred while processing this directive] [an error occurred while processing this directive] 042202 prop_wise 2 Alaska Journal of Commerce Late night television and local radio programming is rife with infomercials and advertisements touting how easy it is to buy and sell your houses, buildings and businesses all by yourself and save staggering amounts of money to boot. -- Web posted Monday, April 22, 2002 Selling home on your own can prove costly By Ken Jelinek For the Journal Late night television and local radio programming is rife with infomercials and advertisements touting how easy it is to buy and sell your houses, buildings and businesses all by yourself and save staggering amounts of money to boot. They can be rather insulting to those of us in the real estate industry because they attempt to make us sound unnecessary, unethical and expensive. But the fact is, you really can do it yourself successfully. Cynically speaking, however, you can also fix your own car, generate your own electricity, defend yourself in court, trade your own stocks and never visit a doctor. You could probably do your neighbor's job too. One day, when everything is perfectly computerized and digital, you probably won't need a real estate agent. But for now, for the rest of us, we need the help, and that help is going to cost us. So, before you go spiraling off in your declaration of independence, ask yourself, "If it's really so easy, then why aren't all real estate transactions conducted without an agent?" You might also ask yourself if you would want to eliminate the real estate agent and take on all of his or her responsibilities when you are already bogged down with your own life in general, and especially if you haven't done it enough to do it right or do it well? Then, listen closely to your answers because we professionals in the industry are often patching up real estate transactions gone sour behind the well-meaning do-it-yourselfers. Keep in mind that I'm referring to all professionals in the industry including agents, attorneys, loan originators, title officers, processors, surveyors, tax assessors, appraisers and inspectors. But I'm referring specifically to the agent because he or she is the center in this wheel. Nationally, only three to five of every 100 home sales consists of successful "For Sale by Owner" transactions. The vast majority of those that attempt it end up hiring an agent within the first 30 days after they have realized the true cost, time and demands required for marketing and showing a home. Locally, the statistics indicate 15-17 percent of FSBOs are successful. While there are a lot of reasons for this, one of the main ones is that we have a robust seller's market with relatively low inventory. This can be quite tempting for sellers to strike out on their own because it looks easier than it is. But even the owners that sell their own homes usually sell to a buyer who has an agent paid for by the seller. The truth is that the vast majority of all real estate transactions are completed with agents involved on at least one side of the sale, and for this reason, most transactions go very smoothly. But sometimes they don't. One recent seller took the advice of a local FSBO program on pricing his home. Several programs will give you limited service for a set fee. He put an ad in the paper and sold it within three days. When the appraisal report came back he learned that he priced his home too low but was still committed to that price. Sure, he might have saved 6 or 7 percent in brokerage fees but he lost a lot more than that to the happy buyer because his FSBO consultant didn't know the market well enough. In a similar incident, a very excited couple heard of a perfect home on the market For Sale By Owner in their neighborhood. The sellers told them that they didn't want to pay any brokerage fees and proceeded to negotiate down the asking price by $9,000, which made the buyers feel special. A market analysis revealed that the starting price was already about $10,000 too high. And yet, it's going to be sold at the same market price to the buyers whether or not they have an agent paid by the seller. Recently a buyer made an offer on a duplex that was accepted with a counteroffer to increase the earnest money. Both buyer and seller agreed verbally and the only thing lacking was the buyer's signature on that change. In the meantime, the seller sold the duplex to a second buyer to get a higher price and quicker closing. He now has two accepted offers on the same property at the same time. Which party in this potential lawsuit would you like to be? Not all sellers innocently try to save money on real estate commissions. Some choose to "overlook" disclosing pertinent and sometimes legally required information to buyers because doing so might lower the final sales price or prohibit a sale indefinitely because they can't afford to fix a deficiency. How would you protect yourself without the watchful eye of an expert? Agents usually take on quite a bit of risk in marketing your house for sale or driving you around looking at homes to buy. They pay for everything up front and often don't get paid until the day it is recorded, which makes him or her, actually, quite a bargain. On the other hand, you could do it yourself. Ken Jelinek is an associate broker with RE/MAX Properties in Anchorage. He can be reached at 907-257-0196. [an error occurred while processing this directive] © 2004 The Alaska Journal of Commerce and Morris Communications Corp.

Home Loan

Home Equity Scams: Borrowers Beware! Home Equity Loans : Borrowers Beware! D o you own your home? If so, it's likely to be your greatest single asset. Unfortunately, if you agree to a loan that's based on the equity you have in your home, you may be putting your most valuable asset at risk. Homeowners-particularly elderly, minority and those with low incomes or poor credit-should be careful when borrowing money based on their home equity. Why? Certain abusive or exploitative lenders target these borrowers, who unwittingly may be putting their home on the line. Abusive lending practices range from equity stripping and loan flipping to hiding loan terms and packing a loan with extra charges. The Federal Trade Commission urges you to be aware of these loan practices to avoid losing your home. The Practices Equity Stripping You need money. You don't have much income coming in each month. You have built up equity in your home. A lender tells you that you could get a loan, even though you know your income is just not enough to keep up with the monthly payments. The lender encourages you to "pad" your income on your application form to help get the loan approved. This lender may be out to steal the equity you have built up in your home. The lender doesn't care if you can't keep up with the monthly payments. As soon as you don't, the lender will foreclose-taking your home and stripping you of the equity you have spent years building. If you take out a loan but don't have enough income to make the monthly payments, you are being set up. You probably will lose your home. Hidden Loan Terms: The Balloon Payment You've fallen behind in your mortgage payments and may face foreclosure. Another lender offers to save you from foreclosure by refinancing your mortgage and lowering your monthly payments. Look carefully at the loan terms. The payments may be lower because the lender is offering a loan on which you repay only the interest each month. At the end of the loan term, the principal-that is, the entire amount that you borrowed-is due in one lump sum called a balloon payment. If you can't make the balloon payment or refinance, you face foreclosure and the loss of your home. Loan Flipping Suppose you've had your mortgage for years. The interest rate is low and the monthly payments fit nicely into your budget, but you could use some extra money. A lender calls to talk about refinancing, and using the availability of extra cash as bait, claims it's time the equity in your home started "working" for you. You agree to refinance your loan. After you've made a few payments on the loan, the lender calls to offer you a bigger loan for, say, a vacation. If you accept the offer, the lender refinances your original loan and then lends you additional money. In this practice-often called "flipping"-the lender charges you high points and fees each time you refinance, and may increase your interest rate as well. If the loan has a prepayment penalty, you will have to pay that penalty each time you take out a new loan. You now have some extra money and a lot more debt, stretched out over a longer time. The extra cash you receive may be less than the additional costs and fees you were charged for the refinancing. And what's worse, you are now paying interest on those extra fees charged in each refinancing. Long story short? With each refinancing, you've increased your debt and probably are paying a very high price for some extra cash. After a while, if you get in over your head and can't pay, you could lose your home. The "Home Improvement" Loan A contractor calls or knocks on your door and offers to install a new roof or remodel your kitchen at a price that sounds reasonable. You tell him you're interested, but can't afford it. He tells you it's no problem-he can arrange financing through a lender he knows. You agree to the project, and the contractor begins work. At some point after the contractor begins, you are asked to sign a lot of papers. The papers may be blank or the lender may rush you to sign before you have time to read what you've been given. The contractor threatens to leave the work on your house unfinished if you don't sign. You sign the papers. Only later, you realize that the papers you signed are a home equity loan. The interest rate, points and fees seem very high. To make matters worse, the work on your home isn't done right or hasn't been completed, and the contractor, who may have been paid by the lender, has little interest in completing the work to your satisfaction. Credit Insurance Packing You've just agreed to a mortgage on terms you think you can afford. At closing, the lender gives you papers to sign that include charges for credit insurance or other "benefits" that you did not ask for and do not want. The lender hopes you don't notice this, and that you just sign the loan papers where you are asked to sign. The lender doesn't explain exactly how much extra money this will cost you each month on your loan. If you do notice, you're afraid that if you ask questions or object, you might not get the loan. The lender may tell you that this insurance comes with the loan, making you think that it comes at no additional cost. Or, if you object, the lender may even tell you that if you want the loan without the insurance, the loan papers will have to be rewritten, that it could take several days, and that the manager may reconsider the loan altogether. If you agree to buy the insurance, you really are paying extra for the loan by buying a product you may not want or need. Mortgage Servicing Abuses After you get a mortgage, you receive a letter from your lender saying that your monthly payments will be higher than you expected. The lender says that your payments include escrow for taxes and insurance even though you arranged to pay those items yourself with the lender's okay. Later, a message from the lender says you are being charged late fees. But you know your payments were on time. Or, you may receive a message saying that you failed to maintain required property insurance and the lender is buying more costly insurance at your expense. Other charges that you don't understand-like legal fees-are added to the amount you owe, increasing your monthly payments or the amount you owe at the end of the loan term. The lender doesn't provide you with an accurate or complete account of these charges. You ask for a payoff statement to refinance with another lender and receive a statement that's inaccurate or incomplete. The lender's actions make it almost impossible to determine how much you've paid or how much you owe. You may pay more than you owe. Signing Over Your Deed If you are having trouble paying your mortgage and the lender has threatened to foreclose and take your home, you may feel desperate. Another "lender" may contact you with an offer to help you find new financing. Before he can help you, he asks you to deed your property to him, claiming that it's a temporary measure to prevent foreclosure. The promised refinancing that would let you save your home never comes through. Once the lender has the deed to your property, he starts to treat it as his own. He may borrow against it (for his benefit, not yours) or even sell it to someone else. Because you don't own the home any more, you won't get any money when the property is sold. The lender will treat you as a tenant and your mortgage payments as rent. If your "rent" payments are late, you can be evicted from your home. Protecting Yourself You can protect yourself against losing your home to inappropriate lending practices. Here's how: Don't: Agree to a home equity loan if you don't have enough income to make the monthly payments. Sign any document you haven't read or any document that has blank spaces to be filled in after you sign. Let anyone pressure you into signing any document. Agree to a loan that includes credit insurance or extra products you don't want. Let the promise of extra cash or lower monthly payments get in the way of your good judgment about whether the cost you will pay for the loan is really worth it. Deed your property to anyone. First consult an attorney, a knowledgeable family member, or someone else you trust. Do: Ask specifically if credit insurance is required as a condition of the loan. If it isn't, and a charge is included in your loan and you don't want the insurance, ask that the charge be removed from the loan documents. If you want the added security of credit insurance, shop around for the best rates. Keep careful records of what you've paid, including billing statements and canceled checks. Challenge any charge you think is inaccurate. Check contractors' references when it is time to have work done in your home. Get more than one estimate. Read all items carefully. If you need an explanation of any terms or conditions, talk to someone you can trust, such as a knowledgeable family member or an attorney. Consider all the costs of financing before you agree to a loan. For More Information The FTC works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive and unfair business practices in the marketplace and to provide information to help consumers spot, stop and avoid them. To file a complaint or to get free information on consumer issues , visit www.ftc.gov or call toll-free, 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357); TTY: 1-866-653-4261. The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity theft and other fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel , a secure, online database available to hundreds of civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad. FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION FOR THE CONSUMER 1-877-FTC-HELP www.ftc.gov April 1998

Home For Sale

Find Your Home Value, House Values and Prices on Yahoo! Real Estate Find Your Home Value, House Values and Prices Choose Location Home Homes for Sale Apartments for Rent Home Loans Moving & Insurance Tools My Real Estate Real Estate > Resources & Tools > Home Values and Prices Features Classifieds • Sell Your Home • Rent Your Apartment Home Search • Find Homes for Sale • Find Properties for Rent REALTORS • Find & Compare REALTORS Mortgages & Financing • Find a Lender • Today's Mortgage Rates • Loan Calculators • Credit Reports • Refinance Loans Resources • Moving Services • Foreclosure Center Neighborhood Research • What's My Home Worth? • School Profiles • Neighborhood Profiles Specialty Property • Foreclosures • New Homes • Commercial Real Estate • List Commercial Real Estate Home Improvement & Services • Home Services • Home Improvement Library • House Facts Get Home Values and Prices Sponsored by Get Home Values and Prices Access millions of public real estate records instantly! This comparable sales data helps you analyze the value of your home or other homes in seconds. Results include price, square footage, bedrooms, and year built (where available). You can also get a custom home valuation from a top-performing local REALTOR! Street Address: City & State or Zip: Sponsored Links Capital One Mortgages Lower payments an avg. of $400/mo*. A personal home loan consultant will work with you to find a loan that fits your needs. Apply online and receive a call back within 30 minutes. www.capitalone.com Mortgage Rate Lock in today's rate on a mortgage loan at Home Finance of America - your source for great rates, with quality customer support. See what you qualify for and what your payments will be. www.homefinanceofamerica.com Mortgage Rates - LendingTree.com Find out how much you can borrow for a mortgage and how much your mortgage payments will be. Receive up to four real loan offers within minutes. When banks compete, you win. www.lendingtree.com Great Mortgage Rates Shopping for a great mortgage rate? We make it easy, complete one quick form, receive multiple offers from the nations top brokers and lenders. It's free and easy. www.shopforloan.com (Become a Sponsor) Homes For Sale - Apartments For Rent - Current Mortgage Rates - Real Estate Agents - Local - Yellow Pages

Home Equity Loans and

Financial Services: Home Equity - Financial Services Loans Vehicle Home Equity RV, Camper, Boat & Motorcycle HomeVantage Financing Student Personal First-Time Borrower Program CreditDefender, GAP and more! Apply for a Loan Mortgages Checking & Check Cards Savings & Money Market Certificates & IRAs Health Savings Accounts Youth Program Gift Cards Credit Cards Preferred Member Recognition Search Ent Home Equity Loans and Lines of Credit Put your home to work for you. With a Home Equity Loan or Line of Credit from Ent, you'll have the power and flexibility to handle your financial needs, now and in the future. Plus, using your home's equity usually means you'll receive a lower interest rate than with personal loans or credit card finance charges. Home Equity Loan or Line of Credit advantages include: Interest may be tax-deductible* Very low closing costs Financing up to 100% of loan-to-value** Flexible term options Low minimum loan payments including interest-only payment options on lines of credit. No applications fees *Please consult your tax advisor about deductibility of interest. **Standard credit qualifications apply. Loans subject to final credit approval. Financing available on homes throughout Colorado. Apply online or by calling (719) 574-1100 or 800-525-9623. With a Home Equity Loan or Line of Credit from Ent, you can: Make Home Improvements Add or remodel a room, finish your basement, or replace your roof or driveway. Finance it all at once with a home equity loan, or one project at a time with a line of credit. Consolidate Debt Save money each month by combining your high-rate loans into one loan at a low interest rate. Buy a Vehicle Finance a new or used car, boat, RV, camper or travel trailer at a low rate. (Use the Auto Loan vs. Home Equity Loan calculator to see just how much money youll save.) Pay for Education Draw from a line of credit and pay tuition as it comes due...at a much lower cost than using a credit card. Create an Emergency Fund A line of credit makes extra cash immediately available in case of emergencies. Home Equity Loan or Line of Credit: Which option is best for you? Any financial institution can give you a home equity loan. But the online Loan Advisor will tell you why you should get one. Or why you should consider a home equity line of credit instead. Just answer a few short questions and the online advisor will help you choose the best loan and terms for your needs. Apply online or by calling (719) 574-1100 or 800-525-9623. Privacy Pledge | Important Account Information | Contact Us This credit union is federally insured by the National Credit Union Administration. Equal Opportunity Lender | Equal Housing Lender ©2005 Ent Federal Credit Union Membership Area & Benefits What's New Newsletter Profile Press Releases Community Support Employment Locations & Hours Contact Us Loans Mortgages Checking & Check Cards Savings & Money Market Certificates & IRAs Health Savings Accounts Youth Program Gift Cards Credit Cards Preferred Member Recognition Featured Rates Loan Rates Mortgage Rates Savings Rates Corporate Rates Online Banking & Bill Pay Online Loan Applications Auto Auction Reorder Checks Telephone Banking Direct Deposit Courtesy Pay Additional Member Services Investment Services Investing Insurance Dental Benefits Perspectives Newsletter Meet Your Registered Representative Trust Services Investing Glossary Education Center Advice Center Calculators Auto Buying Home Buying Retirement Planning Life Stages Money Management Taxes Identity Protection Financial Counseling Seminars