Mortgage Law in California
In Palo Alto, California, a mortgage is a loan given to buy a specific piece of property - usually a house - with the property being purchased with the loan serving as collateral for that same loan.
Getting a mortgage is a big decision. However, if you have decided to buy a house, and determined that you can afford it, a mortgage is probably your best bet. Real estate is very, very expensive. So expensive, in fact, that it would be impossible for almost anyone to buy a home if they had to pay the full price up front. A mortgage allows the seller to get paid immediately (from the bank), with the buyer paying the bank back with interest, over a period of many years, in reasonable installments.
When you buy anything on credit, however, you are going to end up spending significantly more than the purchase price, because you have to pay interest. Obviously, a lender couldn't stay in business if it didn't charge interest on loans, this would cause it to (at best) break even on every loan it issued.
However, to many people, this extra cost is worth it. After all, without mortgages, few people would ever be able to buy homes, if paying out of pocket is the only alternative.
Getting a Mortgage in Palo Alto, California
When trying to get a mortgage in Palo Alto, California, it's necessary that you have a good credit history dating back as far as possible. The better your past record of paying back loans, the more likely a bank is to assume the risk of loaning you hundreds of thousands (or more) dollars to buy a house.
Many banks or other lending institutions will need a down payment before issuing a mortgage. While it is usually not a huge sum of money, it's often significant, and represents a percentage of the purchase price. It's important that you have more than enough money saved up and set aside to make this down payment. This will make the process much less stressful, since it should prevent the payment from putting too much of a dent in your budget.
You should be mindful of your financial situation, and realistic about it, as well. It might be tempting to abuse credit, and buy a much more expensive home than you can afford. You should make every effort to resist this, and ensure that the price of the home you're buying is priced low enough that it won't result in prohibitive monthly payments on your mortgage. You need to determine how much it will cost per month to own your home, including taxes, maintenance, and mortgage payments. You should make sure that your monthly income exceeds these estimated expenses by a significant amount.
Once everything is in order, it comes time to complete the mortgage agreement. Once this is signed, there is usually no going back, so you should make sure that you understand every single term in this long-term agreement.
Can a Palo Alto, California Real Estate Attorney help?
For many, buying a home is one of the most important financial decisions they ever make. Therefore, it would help almost anyone to have a competent Palo Alto, California real estate attorney help them along the way.