Image by Andreas Breitling from Pixabay
The vast majority of homebuyers need a mortgage in order to purchase a house, and mortgages come with significant costs because they’re such sizeable loans. While there’s no way to avoid all of the costs associated with a mortgage, there are ways to save on your home mortgage. Here are three things you can do to reduce what you pay over the course of the loan.
1. Make a Sizeable Downpayment to Avoid PMI
Private mortgage insurance (PMI) is an insurance policy that generally protects lenders in the event of a default. If there’s PMI on your mortgage and you fail to pay the loan back, the insurance will reimburse the bank for their outstanding liability.
When this insurance is required, the homeowner pays the insurance’s premiums even though the insurance protects the bank (and not the homeowner). This is because the insurance protection is for a risk that’s directly related to the homeowner.
Whatever premiums you pay for PMI is money that you’ll never see again. The premiums aren’t applied to your mortgage balance (even though they’re sent in with your mortgage payment), and you personally will never collect on the protection.
Thus, you should avoid PMI if at all possible. The best way to avoid the insurance and corresponding premiums is to make a sizeable downpayment at closing. In most cases, banks require homebuyers who put less than 20 percent down to purchase PMI. If you put at least 20 percent down, you probably won’t need to pay for the insurance.
2. Purchase Points at Closing
Points are an option that you can purchase at closing. In exchange for buying a point, a bank will deduct the interest rate on your mortgage slightly. Usually, one point costs $1,000 for every $100,000 borrowed and lowers the interest rate by 1 percent.
Purchasing points at closing will cost you more up front, but they’ll drastically reduce how much interest you pay over the course of your mortgage. During a 15- or 30-year span, even a small reduction in interest yields a sizeable savings.
3. Pay Off Your Mortgage Early
Of course, paying off your mortgage early is a guaranteed way to save. You’ll no longer pay interest once your mortgage is paid off, and you’ll also have a big improvement in your month-to-month cash flow.
About the Author
Carolyn Andrews
Carolyn Andrews has over 30 years licensed Brokerage experience in both California and Colorado. Born in England, Carolyn moved to California in 1980, then relocated to Denver, Colorado in 1991. Carolyn has also received recognition for Top Sales at RE/MAX Alliance Aurora in 2007-2008 and is a member of the RE/MAX Hall of Fame & Chairman’s Club, as well as a recipient of the ReMax Lifetime Achievement Award. Carolyn has sold over 2000 homes personally in her career. Carolyn has been actively involved in many aspects of the Real Estate business including investment property, luxury homes, mountain resort property, skiin/ski out, REO/default management, loss mitigation, valuations, and disposition. She has been a speaker and panelist at several conferences and has been consulted on many occasions by various organizations in the REO/financial industries for her expertise and served on many boards. She has attended numerous ongoing classes to stay abreast of changes in the ever-evolving Real Estate industry. She is the prior State Director for Colorado for VAREP(Veterans Association of Real Estate Professionals). She is a member of 3 boards of Realtors including Metro Denver, Colorado Springs and Summit County mountain areas. She heads up The Andrews Group and is or has been an active member of NAR, CAR,REOMAC, CIPS, CRS, AREAA, NAPW, NAHREP, and is an original member of the ELITEReal Estate network. She was ranked #1 for most homes sold in Denver 2007 by Denver Board of Realtors, #2 for 2008, and #2 for 2009, #5 in 2010 and #4 in 2011 and has been consistently in the top 10 ever since. Carolyn Andrews has been a top rated Endorsed Local Provider for the Dave Ramsey Organization and also a Top Producing agent for 2018 for the Homelight Company.
