Explore the Loan Process

Step 1: Application

Applying for a home loan is a big decision whether you are just starting out and buying your first house or refinancing your current house. At Ascend Mortgage, we make the home loan process as quick and hassle free for you as possible. We have loan programs to accommodate just about anyone in any situation. We have taken steps to ensure you are informed of your options at every level of the process. Below we have explained some of the common choices you will need to make when applying for your loan.

Choice 1 - Purpose of the Loan
Purchase - You are buying your first home or looking to buy a new home.

Refinance - You have a mortgage and want to improve the terms of your loan to lower your monthly payment or decrease the length of time you have to repay your loan. You can even refinance to convert some of your equity into extra cash. You can use that cash to buy a new car, pay off your student loans or as extra savings towards your retirement.

Consolidate Debt - You want to wrap your current debts into one low interest rate loan. This will give you the convenience of one statement each month instead of keeping track of multiple bills.

Choice 2 - Fixed or ARM
Fixed - Fixed rate loans offer the dependability of the same monthly payments for the life of the loan.

ARM - Stands for Adjustable Rate Mortgage. Usually an ARM starts off with lower initial monthly payments than a fixed rate mortgage for the first 1-7 years before adjusting based on an interest rate index. When adjusting, your rate may go up or down depending on market conditions

Choice 3 - Life of the Loan
The most common loans taken out run for 15 or 30 years, but you can choose terms that run for 10, 20 and 40 years as well. For simplicity sake we will compare the advantages of the most common 15 and 30-year loan.

15-year - You build equity in your house faster and have a lower rate than a 30-year loan, but your monthly payments are higher since you are paying off the loan in a quicker time period.

30-year - Lowest monthly payments for a fixed loan, but over the life of the loan you pay more interest than the 15-year loan.

Choice 4 - Rates and Points
Once you know what type of loan you qualify for you may choose to lock in the rate for that particular loan request.

Rates - The lower the interest rate you lock in will result in lower monthly payments and total interest paid for a given set of loan terms.

Points - One way to save the maximum amount of money each month is to "buy down" your rate. Discount points may be paid to the lender to obtain a reduced rate. These discount points may be refinanced into the total loan amount, along with other closing costs.

Next: The Approval Process