American Mortgage Funds in Dallas, TX | Mortgage Loans | Texas Catalog

A mortgage loan is a long-term loan for which the house and land you are buying are used as collateral. If you aren`t able to meet the terms of your mortgage, the bank or lending agency can take your house. It`s important when you are shopping for a loan to make sure that you balance the kind of house you want against the mortgage payment you can afford.
Fixed-rate mortgages are called fixed-rate because the amount of interest you pay stays the same no matter what the interest rate is for other kinds of debt. This keeps your mortgage payment from changing every time the prime rate changes.
If you`re not planning to live in your house for a long time, an adjustable rate mortgage might make sense. These types of loans start with a fixed-rate period and often have lower interest rates than fixed rate mortgages during that time, which can range from a month to several years. After that time the rate changes annually (or more or less frequently, depending on the loan). There are caps that prevent your interest rate from rising too much at one time or over the life of the loan. Sometimes these loans can be converted to fixed-rate loans for a fee.
A popular option for first-time homebuyers and those with less-than-perfect credit is the FHA mortgage loan. These loans are fully insured by FHA (the Federal Housing Authority) and require a three percent down payment, which can be a gift to the borrower from a family member.
Common reasons to refinance include paying off a balloon payment, converting an adjustable rate loan to a fixed rate, get cash out. A few reasons for cashing out include: home improvement, an education fund, and consolidating debt.
Another way American Mortgage Funds converts equity in your home to cash is a "home equity" loan. A "home equity" loan is an alternative to refinancing if your home loan has a very low rate compared to current interest rates or if you have a prepayment penalty on your loan.
In order to refinance you will need a current appraisal, analysis and in many cases verification of your income and assets, as well as most of the same paperwork required when you originally financed your home.