Home Loan

The market for home loans has certainly changed in recent times. Following a period where owning your dream house and getting a home loan was as easy as pie, it has more recently become more a daunting task. In the past, banks and other financial institutions were falling over each other to lure customers, and now many have discovered they didn't necessarily get the best deal.

Here is a look at some tips on how to get the best deal for you to acquire your dream home.

What are the eligibility criteria for getting a home loan?

The two basic factors that need consideration when it comes to home loans are the amount of loan repayment you can afford to make per month and a specified percentage of the cost of property. These two factors are where the home loan disbursement is based on.

Your income plays a big role in assessing your ability to repay, and likewise with your expenditure pattern. For instance, if your monthly income is $10,000 and your monthly expenses $8,000, then that means that you can afford to pay $2,000 towards any home loan you take. This amount can now be taken as an installment amount and your eligibility can be reverse-calculated.

So with these figures at hand, you therefore decide to get a home loan. At an interest rate of 9%, the monthly installment of a 20-year loan will be $900. Therefore, the higher your repayment capacity, the higher your loan will be.

The amount you get from your home loan largely depends on a number of factors. These include your age, profession, salary, the city you reside in among others. Essentially, the variation may also depend on the lender.

What are the Interest Rates offered for Home Loans?

Interest rates for home loans differ from institution to institution. Some can be as low as 1% and some can reach to as high as 12% or higher. The interest on home loans is usually calculated either on monthly reducing or yearly reducing balance. There are also some cases where daily reducing basis is also adopted.

In annual reducing, which is the most common, the principal, for which you pay interest, reduces at the end of the year. Thus, you continue to pay interest on a certain portion of the principal which you have actually paid back to the lender.