Acorn Mortgage
An Introduction to Mortgage Backed Securities
What Are Mortgage Backed Securities?
Mortgage backed securities are securities that are backed by the principle and interest payments on a group of mortgage loans. Lenders group together mortgages and the money that is repaid by the borrowers’ pays investors in the mortgage backed securities.
Why Do Mortgage Lenders Issue Mortgage Backed Securities?
There are a variety of reasons that lending institutions issue mortgage backed securities rather than holding the mortgage themselves. Most lenders have a limited amount of liquid assets. By selling mortgages they are able to free up money in the short term to make additional loans.
Another reason that mortgage lenders sell off their loans as mortgage backed securities is to minimize their risk. Although every effort is made to establish the creditworthiness of an individual before a loan is made, circumstances can change. If a borrower defaults on his mortgage, the lender will have unplanned for expenses just in dealing with repossession and selling of the property. Adding in the lost principal and interest, and a small, local lender could find themselves in a financial mess very quickly.
When a lender sells a mortgage as a mortgage backed security, they receive their money up front, both the loaned amount and a percentage of the loan as their fee. The investors in a mortgage backed security then receive income each month, as the borrower pays back the principal plus interest on his loan.
Types of Mortgage Backed Securities
There are a variety of mortgage backed securities. The majority of mortgage backed securities are issued by the Government National Mortgage Association, otherwise known as Ginnie Mae, the Federal National Mortgage Association, or Fannie Mae, and the Federal Loan Mortgage Company, or Freddie Mac. These are all groups sponsored by the federal government. While Ginnie Mae is backed by the full faith and credit of the government, and guarantees its investors that they will receive their payments, both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have the authority to borrow from the Treasury, which makes them relatively safe investments as well.
In addition to the government agencies, brokerage firms and banks often offer mortgage backed securities. These are known as private-label securities.
Are Mortgage Backed Securities Risky?
Mortgage backed securities are not generally considered a risky investment. To obtain a mortgage, the borrower must go through a qualification process that assures the bank or lending institution that the loan will be paid back. The group who sets up the mortgage backed security will then group mortgages together in order to sell. By pooling the mortgages together, the risk to the investor is minimized. One borrower, who defaults on a loan, or, conversely, pays the loan off early, depriving the group of years of interest payments, will have less of an effect when he is a member of a large group. The same borrow, particularly one who defaults on a mortgage, can cause a real financial shock to a small lending institution.
Do Mortgage Backed Securities Make a Good Investment?
All investment decisions are extremely personal, and will depend on your personal needs. Decisions on investments are best made with help from a financial advisor. For someone who would like a monthly income, a mortgage backed security can make a good choice. A mortgage backed security, particularly one sold by Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, or Ginnie Mae, can be excellent investment vehicles. In general, the greater the amount of loans held in a mortgage backed security, the safer the investment, because the risk is spread over more people.
Before investing in a mortgage backed security, you should find out your expected rate of return. While this can vary, it is nice to know what investors have been receiving. Remember, it is not only loan defaults that can affect your income from a mortgage backed security, but also prepayments and principal only payments. The income from the security is figured on full payment of both principal and interest over the life of the mortgage, typically 15 or 30 years. Any action taken by anyone holding a mortgage in the security can affect your income. It is important to be clear about this with the person you purchase the security from.
Mortgage backed securities are an excellent development for borrowers, lenders, and investors. No matter what group you are in, it is important to understand exactly how they work and what you can expect. By doing that, you are better able to make a wise financial decision.
Adjustable Rate Mortgage
Another common type of home loan is the adjustable rate mortgage or ARM. With this type of loan, the interest rate will fluctuate depending on the 6 different real estate indexes.
The interest rate changes so the lender of the loan gets anproper margin. Thats due to the fact that the indexes influence the cost of funding that loan in the first place.
Basically, your lender lets you take on a little bit of the interest risk instead of just the lender like in a fixed rate loan. This type of loan can be great if the interest on your home loan consistently falls for a long time.
You dont have to worry that much about the interest rates because even if they jump drastically, there are limits on how much your payments will increase.
These limits are called caps and mean that no matter the size of the interest jump, you wont pay more than a certain increase in a certain time period.
As an example, lets say a lender gives you an adjustable rate mortgage. It has a 1 percent cap for any 6 month time frame and a 4 percent total cap for the entire loan.
Your payments can increase as much as 4 percent at the maximum until the loan is paid off. Thats not too shabby if you consider when interest drastically drops, you save a ton of money.
Every area in the country has different interest rates so you should read up on it before you opt to go with an adjustable rate mortgage.
Local newspapers usually include interest rates and predictions so that is a great place to go to keep an eyeon things.
4 Reasons Why Good Mortgage Lead Management Is Essential
The most time consuming task for mortgage companies is no doubt culvating and managing potential leads. Lead management can act as a significant competitive advantage if implemented correctly and mortgage agents and lenders can make good use of mortgage lead management tools in the following ways:
1. A good mortgage lead management system allows companies to close up to 20% more leads than before. Mortgage branches obtain mortgage leads from various sources such as mortgage lead websites and marketing companies. These leads are pre-sorted to include prospects that possess the right credentials and are more likely to buy a home. Following up on genuine leads increases the conversion rate, helps to generate more referrals, and provides companies with more time to concentrate on customer service.
2. Good leads do not get lost: In the absence of a good lead management system, genuine leads are apt to get lost in the clutter that arises from obtaining leads in a haphazard manner. With a lead management system in place, this does not happen as only genuine mortgage shoppers are included in the lead. The leads generated can be differentiated in terms of zip codes, loans required, area codes, credit history, etc. Such cataloging of the leads simplifies the follow-up and tracking of these leads. Thus, a good lead management system makes it easy for companies to act on the leads while they are still hot. It helps companies to allocate their resources more efficiently for the purpose of converting leads into business.
3. Better response time: A swift response to queries from prospects helps to not only resolve their doubts but can also prevent them from looking elsewhere. Good mortgage lead management enables collection of leads for various services. These leads are gathered at a central location where they can be easily accessed by all employees who can study the information and contact the leads quickly. The database of information provided by a mortgage lead management system can be easily updated, and future queries by prospects can also be handled with ease.
4. Better security: A good lead management system offers security for mortgage companies as well the prospective clients by providing access only to qualified employees. This is of significance to prospects who part with valuable information in their dealing with the mortgage companies.
Thus, implementation of a good mortgage lead management system enables better customer service and data security for the prospect, and higher efficiency and profits for the mortgage firm.