Tag Archives: home mortgage

The Energy Efficient Mortgage

Posted on June 18, 2013 | 1 comment

Energy mortgages are essentially mortgages that credit a home’s energy efficiency in the home loan.

For an already energy efficient home, this could allow the borrower a greater debt-to-income ratio, thereby giving the homebuyer the ability to buy a higher quality home due to lower monthly heating and cooling costs.
For homes where energy efficiency can be improved, an energy mortgage allows money saved in monthly utility bills to finance energy improvements.

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A variety of energy mortgages have appeared in recent years and more are anticipated as RESNET and the Environmental Protection Agency increase education and information outreach.

Energy mortgages come in two basic categories:

Energy efficient mortgages, which are used to finance homes that are already energy efficient.
Energy improvement mortgages, which are used to improve the efficiency of existing homes.

Energy mortgages are sponsored by both federally insured mortgage programs (i.e., Federal Housing Administration and Veterans Administration), as well as the conventional secondary mortgage market (i.e., Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac).

Read more at: http://www.resnet.us/energy-mortgage

Disclaimer: for information and entertainment purposes only.

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Posted in Mortgage Information

Tagged energy efficient mortgage, home mortgage, improvement mortgage, solar

Owners of Energy Efficient Homes Less Likely to Default on Loan

Posted on April 6, 2013 | 1 comment

WASHINGTON — If you buy or own an energy-efficient house, does this make you less likely to default on your mortgage? Is there a connection between the monthly savings on utility costs and the probability that you’ll pay your loan on time?

A new study by the University of North Carolina suggests that the answer to both questions is a resounding yes.

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Using a sample of 71,000 home loans from across the country that were originated between 2002 and 2012, researchers found that mortgages on homes with Energy Star certifications were on average 32% less likely to default compared with loans on homes with no energy-efficiency improvements. Energy Star homes, which can be renovated dwellings or newly built, provide documentable savings of 15% or higher on utility bills compared with houses containing minimal energy improvements.

Researchers took pains to statistically separate out factors other than energy-efficiency savings that might account for the strikingly different performances by borrowers on their mortgages. They controlled for house size; age of the house; neighborhood income levels; house values relative to the area median; local unemployment rates; borrowers’ credit scores; loan-to-value ratios; electricity costs; and even local weather conditions.

Disclaimer: for information and entertainment purposes only

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Posted in energy retrofitting

Tagged energy efficient home, home mortgage, loan default, solar

A Hidden Morgage Fee is Set to Rise

Posted on March 14, 2012 | Leave a comment

INSIDE the interest rate quoted on your home mortgage lies a small hidden fee that has been charged by government-sponsored entities like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for more than three decades. It’s an add-on rate known as the guarantee fee.

An increase in the fee has been mandated by Congress to occur this spring, and other increases are likely later this year and next. When they happen, interest rates on single-family mortgages resold to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac are likely to inch up as well.

“It’s going to be silently passed through” by lenders when it does increase, said Richard W. Grohmann, a real estate lawyer in Paramus, N.J.

The G-fee — as it is known — does not show up in borrowers’ mortgage documents or good-faith estimates, and it is little known outside the industry.