Ontario Canada - may I know why you want to switch? If you are not happy with them, email me what they have done for you and what documents you have signed with them to know what remedies you can get. victor_catalan@centum.ca.

Powered by

My ex-partner and i have separated a year ago. he got a job away and is now having to meet half the payments on our house as well as renting in the area he now lives. he constantly threatens to stop his contribution to the mortgage. we have a repayment mortgage. the house has been on the market for some time and it is becoming more and more difficult to manage these payments. lots of people i know for various reasons are on interest only. i contacted my building society to see if we could switch to interest only until the house is sold. they have refused but have given no reasons why. we have at least £140,000 equity in the house and owe them £55,000 - even if the house was to sell at a dramatic loss they will get their money...... the building society will not give me a reason but are willing to loan me another £50,000 to buy my partner out - which i do not want to do. on each occasion i have broached this subject i have been sidelined into the option of borrowing more money. i am totally fed up with this. i need to eat and live and with my contribution to the mortgage this is becoming more and more difficult. we are on a massive 5.99 interest rate... for five years on top of all of this. i have learnt recently that an investment we have on part of the mortgage will incur a penalty of a considerable amount... it is too complicated! but if someone can give me an idea of why they are so dead set against it i would be glad to hear from you. they will get the money they lent to us whatever happens so why are they being so obstructive. thanks for your help.... susan thank you for your answers. the situation on the interest only has now resolved and i have been granted my request. i discovered the mortgage lender had in fact mis-sold us a fixed rate which would incur penalties they had not advised us of. on confronting them with this information, they were only too pleased to help. i got what i requested. but feel their treatment of me up until the time i had this information has been obstructive.. i now hold a few of the cards and i am deciding whether to report them to the fsa, as it is a serious oversight on their part.

Its not as simple as just "switching". You have a legally binding contract for a particular mortgage on particular terms. To allow you to change would require that contract to be terminated and replaced by a fresh agreement on new terms. IE you would need to properly remortgage. This may seem pedantic, but the lender has to protect their interest in the loan, and you have to be protected by having legal certainty. Remortgaging would incur legal charges and other fees, although the lender could waive these if it wanted to. If you went on to interest only you would also need to have something in place (an investment of some sort) that is intended to repay the mortgage capital at the end of the term. Even if your stated intention is to sell ASAP the mortgage would be for term of many years, so the investment product would need to exist as well. Unfortunately, your intention to sell may be genuine, but lenders know that minds can change, so they need to protect themselves (and you) from this. Practically speaking, you should negotiate lower payments with your lender. And if you genuinely think you will sell soon, there is not much they can do if you stop the payments. However, this is a high risk strategy, because if you can't sell you may find yourself being repossessed and your credit score may be affected.

Powered by

I have a house in illinois that i am paying a mortgage on. i moved to kentucky and have not been able to sell my house. my house has not sold in 1 1/2 years. i am paying a mortgage and rent. has anyone ever heard of mortgage companies allowing someone to switch mortgages for a another foreclosed (more expensive) house? in other words, i want to take over the payments of a more expensive house in kentucky and give my less expensive house back to the bank. any info or links to websites would be great.

Interesting and creative idea. In order to give it a chance of success you need to call it something other than a "switch." That doesn't sound good and the loan officer is going to shy away from it because he has never done it before. So instead of a "switch" you could propose to "buy" the new house if they will finance the new house; assume the mortgage on your old house; and accept your equity in the old house as partial payment on the new house. This is still really a long shot, but it has a better chance because you will be talking in terms that they are familiar with. They may think you are out in left field, but they won't think you are from outer-space. :-) Good luck. And by the way, commenting on an earlier answer, 1031 exchanges are allowed only on property held for investment purposes.

Powered by

My husband is going back to school full time in two weeks. we've figured we'd have no choice but to sell our house and go and rent. however, yesterday my father suggested switching our mortgage from paying down the interest and principal to just the interest. i really don't want to leave my home. it's my home. any advice would be much appreciated.

The mortgage company probably just won't let you switch. Like someone else said, you may have to refinance. However, your payment may not drop that much anyway. For example: The payment on a regular $100,000 loan for 30 years at 5% is $536.82. The payment on an interest only $100,000 loan at 6% is $500.00. A savings of only $36.82 a month. Someone I know tried to refinance in to an interest only mortgage and they found out that their payment would actually go up due to the higher interest rate.

Powered by

We live in ma and my dad passed away, leaving behind the house that was only in his name. i was named the administrator of the estate, and we are looking to sell the house because we can't afford the mortgage payments. what steps do we need to take in order to sell the house? does the house need to be switched over to the name of the estate? if so, how do you do that?

Sorry to hear of your loss. Well, you should be speaking with a lawyer or at least a financial advisor. Your bank or your father's bank will often have an estate planner/financial advisor who can stear your to legal advice, necessary paperwork, etc. or at least direct you to someone who can. There are major things to think about such as inheritance taxes, land transfer fees, realtor fees, etc. How you handle the transaction will depend on how much is owning on the home, market conditions, and how many people are beneficaries. For example, if selling it (after fees, taxes, and mortage payments during the sale) isn't going to net much, you might wish to just let the bank have it. If you are the sole beneficary... it might be better to transfer it into your name -- since you would get the proceeds anyway. In most cases, you can contact your local land titles office for instructions on transfering land ownership as the executor of a will. Typically just paperwork (copy of will, death certificate, etc.) and a small fee. However, whether you should do so asking a lawyer or estate planner is a good idea. Also, you might wish to approach his bank and get them to hold off on mortage payments until the house is sold -- especially if you aren't living in it.

Powered by

We bought a house in nov 2006. when we bought the house, we did it in a hurry becase the house that we were renting, the landlords lost. i like my house and i thnk that we did really good in the short time that we had, but we really need somethng bigger. i've seen a house that would fit us perfectly, while my children grow up. we have a mortgage on the house we just bought, and i was wondering if there was a way that you can just switch your house for another (someone told me about this). the market is so slow to sell as fast as i would need to not lose out on the other house. can anyone help us out?

http://www.onlinehousetraders.com/ First you need to check your loan paperwork and see if your home is assumable. FHA loans are assumable, meaning you can transfer your loan to the new owner if you sell your house. That allows the new owner to take over your FHA loan without the additional cost of obtaining a new loan. To assume the loan, the buyer has to meet the credit standards for the loan. This feature can make it easier to sell your home. About the only way you see this taking place in consumer lending is with assumable mortgages. Even there, it's not widely used. http://newyork.craigslist.org/nyc/swp/ check out www.fha.gov

Powered by

My wife with her parents as co-buyers bought the house in which we currently live 12yrs ago. though i have made all of the payments for the last 4 years(since marriage) and spent around 40k in remodeling etc. we have never taken steps to alter the mortgage agreement. we recently made an offer on our "dream house" (which was accepted). i have been approved for up to 100% financing on the new property if needed, but they require a significant figure in liquid accounts to extend that option. we just placed our house on the market and expect it to sell shortly but we are trying to investigate on the possibilities of getting a bridge loan on our current home to ensure everything goes well with the purchase of our new home.any advice?

It is going to depend on the laws in your state. Some states do not allow a change of title if the mortgage is in a different name . These are called "mortgage" states. CA is a "Deed of Trust" state and does not have this requirement so it is very easy to do at any title company no matter whose name in on the home loan. Check with a professional in your state. A bridge loan may be a good idea. In many cases, you can pull equity out of your present home and use it to purchase another property. The payments on the bridge loan can be escrowed so that means you would have no out of pocket mortgage payments for 6 to 9 months. Sounds good, doesn't it? However, after the 6 to 9 month period, the bridge loan is due in full so you might have to refinance the property again just to payoff the bridge loan if the house does not sell in time. I have seen this nightmare play out many times. I have past clients that are just drowning in debt thanks to two mortgage payments they have to pay to save thier credit rating. It is only a matter of time before they are in financial ruin. Might be a little late in the game for you, but I tell most of my clients to find a real estate professional that is familiar with the buying trends in your area. If they are honest, they will let you know how long it is taking for similar properties to sell in your market. Be sure they can back it up with market data. Be careful, most RE Agents are just salespeople that are more interested in a commission that your financial well being. I have seen far to many people that assumed that thier home would sell quickly, only to find out it may take months and in some cases, years for thier property to sell. In many cases, The selling price is far less than what the real estate agent told them they can get for thier home initially. Ask yourself if the worst case scenario plays out (remember Murphy's Law) can you afford to pay 2 or more mortgage payments and for how long. If the answer is yes, then you might want to go ahead and get the bridge loan. If the answer is no, then you might want to just sell your current home before you buy another. Many real estate agents will tell you to put a "sale" contigency on the purchase contract of the new property. This would require that your present home be sold before you can close escrow on the new home. This is an option, but it also can make you a less desirable buyer. If the seller is in a hurry to sell, then they might not want to wait 6 months for you to sell your house. Hope this helps. 8 yrs Mortgage and Finance experience

Powered by

I bought my home in findlay illinois in october of 2007. its a 1 bedroom, wood framed, 900 square foot home built in 1916 with a 40x40 detached 2 car heated and insulated garage. i paid 35,000 for it. it appraised for 38,200 at time of purchase. 30 year fixed mortgage at 6.75% interest, financed with help of first time home buyers loan through usda rural development. my credit score was 640 at time of the purchase with no bad strikes or missed payments since and i have since payed off an automobile loan. looking at this graph in this link really scares http://www.businessinsider.com/the- housing-chart-thats-worth-1000-word s-2009-2 im young and really goofed when purchasing this home as it was a rush rush situation due to a family member dying and i got overly excited about it and didnt do my research and get educated on the matter untill after i purchased it. im afraid that since the housing crash, the house may not be worth what i have left on the loan. national interest rates are extremely low right now, so im considering trying to refinance it. i dont know if i would be better off refinancing or selling it right now. i can afford a considerable raise in the monthly payment which is only 318$ after escrow, so im thinking of refinancing and going with a 10 year loan. i dont know much on the 30 vs 10 year subject but i would suspect its a lot harder to get a 10 year loan than a 30? am i correct? what would you do in my situation?

Go ahead and refinance. Your total mortgage was only $35,000. No big deal in the big world of mortgages. Save up a couple of thousand dollars and then refinance into a 10 year. (Frankly... save up $10,000 and get that loan down to a 5 year... There are people out there that finance cars that cost more than your house. Stay in it as long as you want... you will never see a better deal out there again.

Powered by

I have a small home at the shore with 29 yrs left on a $207,000 mortgage (est worth $280,000). my aunt in-law has a large home (est worth $300-500,000). she wants a small home at the shore - i want a large home. seems like a match made in heaven but we are unsure of how to go about switching. due to a recently failed business i have no saving, very bad credit, just enough income to pay my current mortgage, and have already been turned down for refinancing or the possibility of a new mortgage. i would guess since she has lived there all her life she owes little to nothing on her mortgage, and i know her income is basic. her nest egg is the equity in her home. we thought about having her hold the note on her house with a "rent to own" deal but that still leaves our mortgage. a realtor said to sell out right to each other but without the ability for us to get a new mortgage we wouldn't be able to afford her home. she doesn't want to lose her equity either. any advise?

Why don't you just move into each others houses for a while. You can then save up a little of money and get your credit back on track. Then you can purchase each others houses. This may be a little bit a trial period and make sure both of you are happy with the ones homes. If her home is worth $500K I dont think you will be able to afford that kind of payment so you may have to purchase it for $500K but take a mortgage out for $300k and have her put a lien on your new home for $200k for 5 years until you can start making more and refinance to pay her back.

Powered by

My husband and i bought our house 6 years ago. it's on a quiet dead end street in a nice neighborhood with very close access to town, walking distance to school and a large wooded lot. it's an old house that we knew was a fixer upper and have spent the last several years doing just that. new kitchen, new bath, new windows throughout, added a family room, a deck, landscaping, etc. we bought the house for $123,000 and it has recently appraised for $210,000. now that our kids have switched schools and for other reasons, we want to sell. we have a house that we are interested in buying, but we don't want a double mortgage pymt. houses in our area are not selling at all right now. what are my options?

You can rent out the house for the cost of the mortgage and buy based on your income . You could hook up with the national organizations that are popping up and "Trade" your house with someone in the area you want to move to and swap the mortgage instead of buying anew. You purchased BEFORE the boom... Which is fortuitous... BUT With the market in the shitter... If your credit isn't good enough you won't be able to get a good mortgage on your new home. Prices are DOWN... WAY DOWN... But not as low as they were when you bought your origional house... I don't see how your payments would double with it being a buyers market... Get a good realitor and shop around... It is the same steps NOW as it was both before and during the boom... Just don't freak... Don't jump at something you can't handle in the long run... Keep your head and plan for the worst while expecting the best... Nothing has changed but pessimisium invading the country!