From the category archives:

Wealth Building

15 Year Mortgages

Since the start of 2010, the 15 year mortgage has become more popular in Charlotte, North Carolina.  A recent article in the Wall Street Journal gave some reasons why this is happening. With the low mortgage interest rates, many homeowners are finding that a 15 year mortgage is more affordable than previously.  In addition, for [...]

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Life insurance and your home loan

Many home owners in Charlotte are conditioned to hate whole life insurance, however, I think it deserves a second look in terms of your home ownership and mortgage strategy. As a rule of thumb, consider a whole life policy equal to your mortgage balance. Here’s why: 1. You mortgage will always be protected. 2. You [...]

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A Better Strategy

Since the Great Depression, conventional wisdom said you should buy a house for both shelter and investment and pay off your mortgage as fast as you can.  No wonder many Americans store a large portion of their wealth within the walls of their homes. Unfortunately, many of those people have seen their wealth disappear. It’s [...]

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Understanding Amortization

Thumbnail image for Understanding Amortization

Last month, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac all but ended Interest Only Mortgage loans, so the only loans left are Amortizing Mortgages.  (Some borrowers can still get an Interest-Only style mortgage, but they are very restricted now). If you have ever closed on a mortgage, you probably remember the large stack of paperwork you needed [...]

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It’s a Great Time to Refinance

Many home owners in Charlotte and North Carolina are discovering it’s a great time to refinance their home loan.  With the unusually low rates of the past few weeks, we’ve helped homeowners: Shorten their mortgage term to 10 or 15 years without increasing their payment Save several hundred dollars each month in interest Convert from [...]

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