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becoming a better borrower
by Dan Rafter on August 13, 2009
Pres. Barack Obama has put an increasing amount of pressure on mortgage companies to restructure the loans of homeowners who are struggling to make their monthly payments. Many homeowners, though, hav...
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becoming a better borrower
by Dan Rafter on August 6, 2009
It can happen for a host of reasons. Maybe you've lost your job. Maybe your employer has cut back your hours. Maybe you're going through a serious injury. You might even be struggling through ...
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becoming a better borrower
by Dan Rafter on August 3, 2009
Retirement presents a whole new set of challenges. Many of the big ones are financial: Will you have enough money to pay off your bills? Will you have enough to meet any unexpected money challenges th...
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becoming a better borrower
by Dan Rafter on July 31, 2009
There are a lot of reasons for the big housing crash that the country is still fighting through. Mortgage lenders loaned out money to customers who weren't financially able to handle a large month...
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becoming a better borrower
by Dan Rafter on July 24, 2009
Mortgage lenders have taken a lot of the blame for the collapse of the housing market. They approved borrowers who couldn't pay back their mortgage loans. They pushed other homebuyers to take out ...
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becoming a better borrower
by Dan Rafter on July 6, 2009
There's one secret to taking out a mortgage loan without losing your mind: Don't obsess over those mortgage interest rates.
Unfortunately, this is the one piece of advice very few borrowers l...
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becoming a better borrower
by Dan Rafter on July 1, 2009
For many people, owning a home is still the embodiment of the American dream. (I guess they don't know yet about clogged gutters, weeding and broken water heaters.) The desire to own something, to...
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becoming a better borrower
by Dan Rafter on June 29, 2009
If your home lost half of its value — not too unbelievable of an occurrence in today's housing market — would you be willing to simply walk away from your mortgage? Would you have any ...
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becoming a better borrower
by Dan Rafter on June 24, 2009
You should buy a home because it's the best lifestyle choice for you and your family. You shouldn't buy a house becasue it's a good investment.
There's a simple reason for this: Homes...
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becoming a better borrower
by Dan Rafter on June 12, 2009
If you want to become a homeowner, you're going to need a good credit score, unless you have piles of cash lying around. For most, though, the credit score is the key to determining whether they w...
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becoming a better borrower
by Dan Rafter on June 10, 2009
The economy is terrible. Yes. But there is a bright spot for certain homeowners: The weak economy has resulted in lower mortgage interest rates. That means it's a good time to refinance a mortgage...
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becoming a better borrower
by Dan Rafter on June 2, 2009
Many things have caused the housing slump the country is still working through.
But one of the biggest factors? Borrowers weren't honest with themselves before taking on their mortgage loans.
A...
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becoming a better borrower
by Dan Rafter on May 25, 2009
The average mortgage interest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage loan last week was still below 5 percent. Historically, that's an amazing rate.
That doesn't mean, though, that there aren...
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becoming a better borrower
by Dan Rafter on May 14, 2009
You can always count on RealtyTrac for bad news, at least these days.
The online provider of foreclosure data didn't disappoint this month, when it released its April foreclosure report. The rep...
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becoming a better borrower
by Dan Rafter on May 12, 2009
I applied for my most recent mortgage loan back in 2006. You might remember that this was right before the housing boom ended and the housing crash began. Bad timing on my part. Today, my home is wort...
