"Types of Home Loans"

Types of Loans

Which type of loan is best for you? There isn't a single or simple answer to this question. The right type of mortgage for you depends on many different factors:

Fixed Rate Mortgages

The most common type of mortgage program where your monthly payments for interest and principal never change. Property taxes and homeowners insurance may increase, but generally your monthly payments will be stable for the life of the loan.

Fixed-rate mortgages are available for 30-years, 20-years, 15-years and even 10-years. Fixed rate fully amortizing loans have two distinct features. First, the interest rate remains fixed for the life of the loan. Secondly, the payments remain level for the life of the loan and are structured to repay the loan at the end of the loan term. The most common fixed rate loans are 15-year and 30-year mortgages.

Adjustable Rate Mortgages (ARMs)

These loans generally begin with an interest rate that is usually below a comparable fixed rate mortgage, and could allow you to buy a more expensive home.

However, the interest rate changes at specified intervals (for example, every year or at the end of a specified period) depending on changing market conditions; if interest rates go up, your monthly mortgage payment will go up. However, if rates go down, your mortgage payment will also goes down.

There are also mortgages that combine aspects of fixed and adjustable rate mortgages starting at a low fixed-rate for seven to ten years, for example, then adjusting to market conditions. Ask your mortgage adviser about these and other special kinds of mortgages that fit your specific financial situation

New interest rate = index + margin

The margin is fixed percentage points added to the index to compute the interest rate. The result will then be rounded to the nearest one-eighth of a percent.

Example:

The margins remain fixed for the term of the loan and are not impacted by the financial markets and movement of interest rates. Lenders use a variety of margins depending upon the loan program and adjustment periods.

Most ARMs have an interest rate caps to protect you from enormous increases in monthly payments. A lifetime cap limits the interest rate increase over the life of the loan. A periodic or adjustment cap limits how much your interest rate can rise at one time

Negatively amortizing loans

Some types of ARMs offer payment caps rather than interest rate caps, which limit the amount the monthly payment can increase. If a loan has payment cap but has no periodic interest rate cap, then the loan may become negatively amortized: if the interest rates rise to the point that the monthly mortgage payment does not cover the interest due, any unpaid interest will get added to the loan balance, so the loan balance increases. However, you always have the option to pay the minimum monthly payment, or the fully amortized amount due.

Option ARM Loans

One of the most creative products that doesn't require a set payment each month is the option ARM. After the first payment, you get four payment options to choose from each month: your lender sends you a monthly statement offering a minimum payment (1), interest-only payment (2), 30-year amortized payment (3) or 15-year amortized payment (4).

Combined (Hibrid) Loans

Hibrid loans, a combination of fixed and ARM loans, come in different varieties:

Fixed-period ARMs With fixed-period ARMs homeowners can enjoy from three to ten years of fixed payments before the initial interest rate change. At the end of the fixed period, the interest rate will adjust annually. Fixed-period ARMs 30/3/1, 30/5/1, 30/7/1 and 30/10/1 are generally tied to the one-year Treasury securities index. ARMs with an initial fixed period beside of lifetime and adjustment caps usually have also first adjustment cap. It limits the interest rate you will pay the first time your rate is adjusted. First adjustment caps vary with type of loan program.

The advantage of these loans is that the interest rate is lower than for a 30-year fixed (the lender is not locked in for as long so their risk is lower and they can charge less) but you still get the advantage of a fixed rate for a period of time.

Two-Step Mortgage Two-Step mortgages have a fixed rate for a certain time, most often 5 or 7 years, and then interest rate changes to a current market rate. After that adjustment the mortgage maintains new fixed rate for the remaining 23 or 25 years.

Convertible ARMs Some ARMs come with option to convert them to a fixed-rate mortgage at designated times (usually during the first five years on the adjustment date), if you see interest rates starting to rise. The new rate is established at the current market rate for fixed-rate mortgages.

The conversion is typically done for a nominal fee and requires almost no paperwork. The disadvantage is that the conversion interest rate is typically a little higher than the market rate at that time.

The other kind of convertible mortgage is a fixed rate loan with rate reduction option. If rates had dropped since the time of closing it allows you, under some prescribed conditions, for a small conversion fee to adjust your mortgage to going market rate. Generally the interest rate or discount points may be a little higher for a convertible loan.

Balloon Mortgages

Balloon loans are short term mortgages that have some features of a fixed rate mortgage. The loans provide a level payment feature during the term of the loan, but as opposed to the 30 year fixed rate mortgage, balloon loans do not fully amortize over the original term. Balloon loans can have many types of maturities, but most balloons that are first mortgages have a term of 5 to 7 years.

At the end of the loan term there is still a remaining principal loan balance and the mortgage company generally requires that the loan be paid in full, which can be accomplished by refinancing. Many companies have other options such as a conversion feature at the end of the term. For example, the loan may convert to a 30 year fixed loan at the thirty year market rate plus 3/8 of a percentage point. Your conversion can be guaranteed based on certain criteria such as having made your last 24 payments on time. The balloon mortgage program with the conversion option is often called a 7/23 Convertible or 5/25 Convertible.

Buydown Options

The most common buydown is the 2-1 buydown. In the past, for a buyer to secure a 2-1 buydown they would pay 3 points above current market points in order to pay a below market interest rate during the first two years of the loan. At the end of the two years they would then pay the old market rate for the remaining term.

As an example, if the current market rate for a conforming fixed rate loan is 8.5% at a cost of 1.5 points, the buydown gives the borrower a first year rate of 6.50%, a second year rate of 7.50% and a third through 30th year rate of 8.50% and the cost would be 4.5 points. Buydown were usually paid for by a transferring company because of the high points associated with them.

In today's market, mortgage companies have designed variations of the old buydowns rather than charge higher points to the buyer in the beginning they increase the note rate to cover their yields in the later years.

As an example, if the current rate for a conforming fixed rate loan is 8.50% at a cost of 1.5 points, the buydown would give the buyer a first year rate of 7.25%, a second year rate of 8.25% and a third through 30th year rate of 9.25%, or a three-quarter point higher note rate than the current market and the cost would remain at 1.5 points.

Another common buydown is the 3-2-1 buydown, which works much in the same ways as the 2-1 buydown, with the exception of the starting interest rate being 3% below the note rate. Another variation is the flex-fixed buydown programs that increase at six-month interval rather than annual intervals.

As an example, for a flex-fixed jumbo buydown at a cost of 1.5 points, the first six months rate would be 7.50%, the second six months the rate would be 8.00%, the next six months rate would be 8.50%, the next six months rate would be 9.00%, the next six months the rate would be 9.50% and at the 37th month the rate would reach the note rate of 9.875% and would remain there for the remainder of the term. A comparable jumbo 30-year fixed at 1.5 points would be 8.875%.

Graduated Payment Mortgages (GPMs)

Graduated payment mortgages have payments that start low and gradually increase at predetermined times. A lower initial payments allow you to qualify for a larger loan amount. The monthly payments will eventually be higher in order to catch up from the lower payments. In fact, your loan will be negatively amortizing during the early years of the loan, then pay off the principal at an accelerated pace through the later years.

Lenders offer different GPM payment plans, which vary in the rate of payment increases and the number of years over which the payments will increase. The greater the rate of increase or the longer the period of increase, the lower the mortgage payments in the early years.

Home equity line of credit (HELOC):

A home equity line of credit is a form of revolving credit in which your home serves as collateral. Think of it as a credit card that is secured by the equity in your home. Many homeowners use these credit lines for major items such as debt consolidation, travel expenses and home improvements.

Home equity loan (also known as a "second"):

A home equity loan enables you to borrow money in a lump sum against the equity (the value of your home minus what you owe) you have built up in your home. This loan is subordinate to the existing first mortgage. Buyers commonly use a second mortgage to keep their first mortgage in the conforming range (which keeps the rate lower) and to avoid PMI. Home equity loans are often used to pay off credit card debt, buy a car or to make major renovations to a home.

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