Standard Mortgage Blog

Buying a home in a seller’s market can be a challenge. Low inventory, enhanced property values, and ambitious buyers give sellers more negotiating power and make it competitive for prospective buyers. Let’s take a closer look at how home buyers can best position themselves for purchasing in a hot real estate market.

The appraisal process is one of the final stages before closing on your purchase or refinance transaction. It is also one of the most important, as it provides the value of the property that your lender will finance. Once you make an offer on the home and have a signed purchase agreement, your mortgage lender will order the appraisal, which is conducted by an independent third party.

When you bought your home, you probably had a lot of questions about the mortgage process and financing your home. Now that it’s been a few years, you likely haven’t given it a lot of thought. However, the lower interest rates fall, the more you may want to consider refinancing your mortgage. A mortgage refinance is the process of taking out a new loan to pay off your original mortgage.