Mortgage Tips from Myles

The media have created a stream of bearish articles about real estate. The Federal Reserve has been consistently raising interest rates. This has resulted in a need to stabilize your mortgage situation.

Many people took out second mortgages and adjustable rate mortgages to generate cash and to invest in second homes in appreciating real estate markets.

I bought some investment properties but with the mortgage rates rising I decided to take some steps to give us a more secure financial situation.

We changed our adjustable rate home equity loan into a fixed rate 30 year loan. While it raised the rate a bit, we are now paying off principal and the amount of the loan is going down and the rate is no longer soaring like it was before.

We had a second mortgage on one home which had a high mortgage rate. Almost 10%! It also had a pre-payment penalty on it. We figured out a way round it. We paid off the whole 2nd mortgage except for $100 using a 0% credit card. We pay $1 a month on that loan now. We are paying off the credit card every month and there is 0% interest on the loan. So, it pays sometimes to take advantage of those 0% credit card offers that flood through the mail.

It pays to look at your mortgage rate and other alternatives every now and then to ensure your financial future.