The Real Estate and Mortgage Show - April 2
Steve, Frank, Lisa and Barb take all of your real estate and mortgage questions. The appraisal is one of the topics that the crew touches upon.
On today’s show, Steve, Frank, Barb and Lisa touch on appraisals, rural properties and having a mortgage checkup. Lisa starts us off speaking about hobby farms and rural properties, hobby farms must have a barn like dwelling to house animals on the property to be considered as such. All rural properties will require an appraisal to be completed as well as an inspection of the septic system and a water test will be required.
Barb speaks about mortgage checkups. If you signed a 10 year mortgage and you are at, or over the 5 year mark, it may be a good idea to consider breaking your mortgage and signing a new mortgage at a lower rate. The penalty to break the mortgage for a term under 5 years (or a 5 year variable) is typically set at a 3 month interest. If you have 5 years or more left, it is still worth a review of the mortgage as some lenders will absorb some of the penalty costs to switch your mortgage over to them.
Frank speaks a bit about fixed rate vs. variable rate mortgages, one tip he always points out to anyone choosing the variable rate mortgage is to set your payments at the fixed rate amount. This will not only help you pay down your principal and interest faster but, it will also prepare you if rates do happen to increase.