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thousand oaks ca - With amortization, your monthly payments are largely interest during the early years and principal later. In addition to your principal and interest, your mortgage payment could include money that's deposited in an escrow or trust account to pay certain taxes and insurance. Generally, if your down payment is less than 20 percent, your lender considers your loan riskier than those with larger down payments. To offset that risk, the lender sets up the escrow account to collect those additional expenses, which are rolled into your monthly mortgage payment. Taxes -- The taxes are property taxes your community levies based on a percentage of the value of your home. The tax is generally used to help finance the cost of running your community, say to build schools, roads, infrastructure and other needs. You must pay property taxes even if you don't need an escrow account and even after your mortgage is paid off. Insurance -- Lenders won't let you close the deal on your home purchase if you don't have home insurance, which covers your home and your personal property against losses from fire, theft, bad weather and other causes. Even if you pay cash for your home, you should buy home insurance unless you can afford to repair or rebuild your home if it's damaged or destroyed. If your home is in a federally
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designated high flood risk zone within a flood plain and you are signing for a federally insured loan, federal law mandates that you must buy flood insurance. If you are not in a high flood risk zone, you still may buy the coverage. If you put less than 20 percent down on your home purchase, most lenders will also charge you private mortgage insurance (PMI) premiums. The coverage doesn't protect you, it protects the lender from you defaulting on the mortgage. Without the coverage, many buyers could not otherwise afford to buy a home. Effective for loans written on or after July 29, 1999, lenders must automatically cancel PMI when your mortgage balance shrinks to 78 percent of the home's original purchase price. Shopping for a mortgage is the first step toward owning a home and perhaps the most daunting, especially if you are not prepared. Once a simple task that meant comparing fixed rates from among perhaps a dozen or fewer savings and loan companies, the mortgage hunt today is like finding your way through a maze. There are dozens of loan types and hundreds of loan programs available through thou_sands of mortgage brokers, bankers, lenders, finance companies, credit unions, even stock brokerage firms. Contrary to popular belief, finding a mortgage doesn't begin with an application. Education is a better first choice.
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