One way
to create the best home equity loan in Virginia is to customize
your home loan yourself. Many borrowers use a refinance to shorten
the term of the mortgage. Now brace yourself: Even at low rates,
a shorter term means a higher
monthly payment. The benefit is that you'll build up home equity
faster and pay far less in total interest over the life of the
loan.
Consider Jim
Neill, 48, a real estate broker and his wife Merrilyn, 55, a psychotherapist.
Recently, the couple took out a 15-year fixed-rate loan at 6.75%
to replace an 8.13% ARM (adjusted rate
mortgage) with a 30-year term. Their monthly
payment jumped by $200, but now they will own their own home outright
by the time they retire. In addition, the total interest on the
15-year loan will come to $95,447, vs. $222,234 on the remaining
life of the ARM -- and that assumes their adjustable rate would
have held steady at its current 8.13%. "This is forced savings,"
says Jim. "When we retire, we can scale down and take equity out
of the house."
If you can't
afford the payments on a 15-year mortgage, your next best means
of building home equity is to refinance for less than 30 years.
To do so, ask your mortgage company to customize your new loan's
term to match the years that are left on your old home loan
if you are five years into a 30-year mortgage, for example, ask
for a 25-year loan.
Nathan
Toler is Vice-President of Internet Operations for Sharp Mortgage
Group, a zero-down home mortgage specialist. Click here for more
about
VA home loans and VA
mortgage refinances. |