Welcome! Please feel free to browse through our different sections of the site.  You can find information about who The Mortgage Company is, what types of services we offer, and other various information about the mortgage industry.

Ready to apply?  Great!  Follow our link to our apply now page to fill out a short form that is designed to get some basic information from you.  Once one of our experienced loan officers get your information, they will customize a plan to help you achieve the type of financing that best fits your needs.

Thank you again for stopping by, please feel free to leave comments and suggestions about our site!

FHA insures lenders against loss in the event that borrowers default on their loans. In this way, FHA encourages lenders to make loans that they might otherwise view as too risky. FHA began operations in the depths of the depression of the 1930s when lenders had stopped making new loans altogether because a sizeable proportion of existing loans were in default. As the country worked its way out of the depression, the FHA settled into the principal role it has today: helping a segment of the low-and-moderate-income population become homeowners who otherwise might not make it because they have shaky credit or can't come up with the cash needed for the down payment.

Jack Guttentag is Professor of Finance Emeritus at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Visit the Mortgage Professor's web site for more answers to commonly asked questions.

Once you know some of the basics about mortgages, you can more closely examine the different types. You should familiarize yourself with two basic kinds of mortgages before we get to some of the more exotic variations.

Fixed-Rate Mortgage

This is the plain-vanilla loan that most people think of when considering a mortgage. You will owe a certain percentage of the loan as interest to the lender. This amount never changes, and your monthly payment will remain the same over the life of your loan. Fixed-rate mortgages are usually for 15 or 30 years.

ARM

No, not the thing hanging from your shoulder. This is an "adjustable-rate mortgage." The interest rate changes to reflect changes in the credit market out in the great, wide world.

The first-year rate (otherwise known as the teaser rate) is generally a couple of percentage points below the market rate. There are also upward limits, above which the interest rate isn't allowed to go -- this is called the cap. If your teaser rate is 4%, and you have a five-point cap, then the highest that your interest rate can go is 9%.

What's more, the amount that the interest rate can rise each year is limited, usually to one or two percentage points per year. The frequency at which the rate adjusts might vary; make sure you know these features.

If you're considering an ARM, think about the worst-case scenario. What if interest rates go up, and your ARM adjusts to its maximum? What will that maximum be, and when will it kick in? Will you be able to afford the payments?

And that, folks, is it: the two major types of loans.

Even if you can't modify your existing loan, many lenders now offer "streamlined" refinancings. Among the bigger lenders that do: Norwest, Countrywide and Citicorp Mortgage. A streamlined refinance can cut your application-to-approval time in half.

These deals may require just a loan application, a few documents (a pay stub and your last W-2) and a limited credit check. And you can sometimes get away without a new appraisal. At First Union Mortgage, for example, you can skip the appraisal on a refinancing if the company is already servicing your loan. Ditto for Countrywide, as long as you owe no more than 80% of the loan value.