How to Save Thousands of Dollars on Your Home Mortgage, 2nd Edition

by: Randy Johnson

Topics include: low start rate, loan reps, index plus margin, lagging index, refinance transactions, ask your lender, mortgage industry, garbage fees, qualifying ratios, national lenders, large lenders, your loan, leading index, settlement agent, lenders today, portfolio lenders, second trust deeds, fee alternatives, bottom ratio, your credit report, top ratio, jumbo loans, teaser rate, rate sheet, biweekly payment, Advanced Topics, Choose the Right Loan, Good Faith Estimate, The Lowdown, Social Security, Lender Fees, Community Reinvestment Act, The Structure of the Mortgage Industry, Wall Street, Trans Union, Federal Trade Commission, Life-of-loan Balance Payment Rate Years

Robert Bruss, San Francisco Examiner -- At last, here's a 'how to get a mortgage' book that takes the borrower's side, explaining how lenders earn their biggest profits and how borrowers can take advantage of lenders....This is one of the few 'how to get a mortgage' books that cannot be recommended to highly. It's not perfect (the reverse mortgage section is very superficial), but the insider knowledge makes up for the weaknesses. Home buyers, realty agents, mortgage lenders and homeowners should study this book to understand the real workings of the huge home mortgage industry.

Book Description
Find The Home Mortgage That’s Right For You
Finding the right mortgage can be complex, confusing, and frustrating. But that doesn’t mean you have to settle for anything other than the terms you want. This indispensable and newly updated second edition of How to Save Thousands of Dollars on Your Home Mortgage spells out everything mortgage hunters need to know in clear and accessible terms. It covers more loan alternatives than any other book and examines the importance of discount points. It offers complete details on virtually every mortgage option currently available, what advantages each option offers, how to choose the right one for your needs, and how to save money in the process. New information in this edition will help you use the Internet to find a home and get a mortgage, examine automated underwriting models and conforming loan limits, and weigh new shopping strategies. Easy-to-read charts and graphs, helpful sample forms, and numerous examples will help you understand:
• First-time buyers programs
• APR, buy-downs, reverse mortgages, accelerated payoffs, and zero point loans
• Refinancing strategies
• Closing costs, lender fees, and other expenses
• How to dispute credit report errors and fix credit problems
• How to use the Internet for loan analysis

Insider's Look at the Mortgage Industry & Processes
This book is very easy to read and understand most of the math. It reads like you're having a friendly conversation with an industry insider who is trying hard to explain things in simple, non-technical ways, and even better, the author isn't trying to sell you something. You can't get this kind of information by talking to a real live mortgage broker, since they only want to sell you a deal.
This book has helped me to understand a lot about how the mortgage process works, and what I should look out for. If I had to find something to criticize, I would say that there is a lot of explanation over loan types that I will never use, but at least I do know more about what's out there.
Actually, for me, this book didn't steer me into doing anything different for my upcoming home purchase, but it did confirm that my original plan is the best course for someone in my situation. I will go to my credit union, make a 20%+ down payment and get a 15 year loan.
The chapter on 15 year loans is the most eye-opening thing in the book. It's amazing that even though a 30 year loan (the most common) has a lower monthly payment, after 30 years, you will have paid nearly triple the price of your house, with about 66% being interest to the bank! If that sounds extreme, just multiply your monthly payment by 360 payments, and you will see it for yourself.
The better alternative, IF you can afford slightyly higher monthly payments, is the 15 year loan, where the interest total is less than half of the total payments. Just multiply your montly payment by 180 months to see that total. Also, a 15 year loan goes for about .5% less APR.
If you can put down 20%, then you can also get out of paying the Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI), which saves you a few thousand dollars over the course of the loan.
This is a very nice book, that I could not put down. Since I am planning to purchase my first house in the near future, I found this book to be very good at explaining many technical terms that I had heard of, but I did not know what they meant. Now I know much more about mortgages, and I feel more confident about going out and buying a house.

Reviews:

I wish their were more stars -- I recently purchased the second edition of this book from www.amazon.com . I chose it because it had such impressive customer reviews, but it was even better than I expected! HOW TO SAVE THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS ON YOUR HOME MORTGAGE was undoubtedly the most valuable reading I've done in a long time. The advice will probably save me money every month for the rest of my life. I am so glad I read it before I completed the mortgage on my first home, I can just imagine the readers who are writing their second or third morgages kicking themselves as they turn the pages. IF YOU ARE GOING TO TAKE THE TIME TO READ ANYTHING BEFORE YOU BUY YOUR NEXT HOME, READ THIS BOOK FIRST!!!!

Absolutely Invaluable -- I can't recommend this gem of a book highly enough. I read it after digesting two other, more general books on house buying, as well as reading about mortgages on a number of financial websites, and thought it couldn't teach me anything I did not already know about mortgages. I was very, very wrong. Pretty much everything I thought I understood about how to shop for a mortgage was incorrect. I was making every classic blunder that Randy Johnson identifies -- and I think I am significantly above average in my understanding of personal finance. If you are an intelligent person who likes to make informed financial decisions, you owe it to yourself to carefully study this book.

Invaluable -- If you've ever stumbled blindly through the process of getting a mortgage, you'll feel like you're reading an expose as you go through this book. Johnson completely demystifies how the "system" works. He explains the differences between mortgage brokers and loan reps, what all those fees are on your closing statements, who's getting your money and why, the approval process, the advantages and disadvantages of the many different loan types, how brokers and loan reps can benefit from your ignorance, and more.
The book is written in plain English, and Johnson does what most of the people in the industry can't or won't: He explains things to you like he *wants* you to understand what he's saying. If forewarned is forearmed, you'll go into the process armed to the teeth after reading this book.

Tell it like it is!!! -- The book is written in an understandable language for the lay person. It provides plenty of examples and tables which back up what the author is saying. In addition, the author provides worksheets from his website which helps readers to calculate mort. payment, etc. The reader definately will have a knowledge of how to negotiate your interest rate and eliminate unnecessary fees. The author touches on the topic of credit which is what we all need to obtain a house. If you're tired of being abused by individuals in the industry, then this book is for you.

A Must Read for Home Owners -- As both a home owner and a mortgage reseacher, I found Randy's book, "How to Save Thousands of Dollars on Home Mortgage", to be invaluable both from personal perspective and professional perspective.
Through this very well written book with lots of practical guides and hints, Randy tought me a lot of details about home mortgage, mortgage refinancing, and saving a lot of money on your next home purchase or refiance.
So read Randy's book and save yourself money!