Ah yes…..the wonderful Fall leaves start showing there color, temperatures start getting cooler, and people who are involved with budget planning for the next year don’t get to see these things take place or start pulling their hair out because deadlines are approaching. Forecasting, trend lines, and predictions…..oh my! Yes, depending on when some company’s have the end of their fiscal year, either they have already went through this or about to. On this day I want to help those who are not doing a budget for a company but for their families or selves. First, I do not like the “B” word……Budget, so from this point on we are calling it what it truly is…….a “Spending plan!”
I think we can break it down into 4 steps:
continue reading »
We have “Green Mortgages” or what we call Energy Efficient Mortgages. This loan allows the customer to finance improvements that result in making the home energy efficient. Now what makes this so appealing is we are starting to see a lot of people making these improvements to houses and/or looking for financing to do these improvements. Several things though would be needed to qualify a person for a Green Mortgage. The Energy efficient improvements must be “cost effective, so this means that the total cost of the improvements (including maintenance costs) must be less than the total present value of the energy saved over the useful life of the improvements. The full costs of the eligible improvements are added to the base loan amount and the customer does not need to qualify for the additional financing or provide an additional downpayment. In addition, a second appraisal is not required to reflect the expense of the eligible improvements. In place of not needing a second appraisal, you will need a written determination base upon a physical inspection of the property by an energy consultant using a Home Energy Rating System (HERS) must be provided by the borrower. The HERS energy consultant and contractor selected to install the improvements must be an independent entity, not related directly or indirectly, to the seller or the customer. For a list of certified energy specialists please visit: www.natresnet.org
This can be done on purchases and refinances and you can go all the way up to only 3.5% downpayment on these mortgages or 96.5% for refinances. Feel free to contact me with more questions about this since there is some more items that go into this type of loan.
