Standard Mortgage Blog

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.  

If you have a fixed-rate mortgage, you can rest assured that you will have steady monthly payments (comprised of principal and interest) throughout the life of your loan. However, as market and economic factors change, the opportunity to improve your mortgage rate or shorten your term may present itself. If the rate that you locked in at closing is higher than current market rates, you may want..