Know Before You Owe: How The New Mortgage Rules Will Affect First-Time Condo Buyers

October 19, 2015 | By J Simpson AuthorMy First Apartment

On Oct. 3, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau implemented a major new revision to the mortgage process. The new program, known as “Know Before You Owe”, might mean headaches for banks and loan lenders, but the increased transparency is good news for everybody in the market for a new home, including first-time condo buyers. What…

How Much Should Interest Rates Affect Your Decision to Buy?

July 29, 2015 | By Contributors AuthorMy First Apartment

By Ali Donoghue Like it or not, if you need a mortgage to buy a condo, you need to understand interest rates. Your interest rate – together with the size of the the loan – determines the amount of monthly payments when you take out a mortgage on your home. So, for example, if you…

If You Can’t Qualify for a Mortgage, Should You Ask for a Mortgage Co-Signer?

June 1, 2015 | By Contributors AuthorMy First Apartment

By Dan Bergman What do you do if you want to buy a home, but you can’t find a lender to extend you a loan? It’s a question some young condo buyers face. One option many initially-snubbed buyers turn to is getting a co-signer. It works this way: a co-signer is a person who takes…

How Much Should You Budget for Condo Closing Costs?

March 21, 2014 | By Seija Goldstein AuthorMy First Apartment

Congratulations! You’ve saved diligently and your dream condo down payment is within sight. You are all set to start looking for a place when you visit your friendly neighborhood mortgage loan officer and find out that you need to save a little bit longer, to cover your condo’s closing costs. There costs vary by location,…

Should You Pay Extra on Your Mortgage Principal?

February 28, 2014 | By Alex Starace AuthorMy First Apartment

As much as you love your new condo, you sure are paying a lot of interest on your mortgage. You’ve heard that it’s possible to pay extra principal each month – and that there are benefits to doing so, including reducing your overall interest payments. Is this true? How does it work? Assuming you have…

How Does a Mortgage Work?

January 10, 2014 | By Alex Starace AuthorMy First Apartment

If you’re buying a place, you’re almost certain to need a mortgage. Here’s the lowdown on mortgages. A mortgage is a loan. In the most basic sense, that’s all it is – it’s a loan that allows someone to buy real estate. Like all loans, mortgages have interest rates. In other words, if you take out a…

ARM vs. Fixed: How to Decide Which Mortgage Is For You?

January 9, 2014 | By Seija Goldstein AuthorMy First Apartment

When you start looking for your first mortgage you’ll be introduced to a whole slew of new terms and abbreviations: Conventional fixed, ARM, FHA and PMI. Get your bearings by Googling each term and checking here about mortgages in general. But, even if you know what each term means, you’ll still need to decide which…

The Condo Down Payment: How Much to Put Down?

January 6, 2014 | By Alex Starace AuthorMy First Apartment

When considering how much you can afford to pay for a condo, the down payment often looms large. And for good reason: it’s a lot of money. But what precisely is a down payment? And how much of one should you make? First things first: a down payment is that amount of money you pay…