Mortgage Down Payments Are Equity Investments
The term mortgage downpayment defines a percentage of the property’s value that a borrower contributes in order to secure a long-term mortgage on his home from a lender. The amoung that a lender requires varies with the type and length of the loan, the economic climate that exists at the time and the lender’s credit worthiness. In reality, it is not a down payment on the mortgage loan, but a payment representing a percentage of the property’s purchase price and therefore the owner’s equity at the time of the sale. From the lender’s perspective, the down payment lessens the risk but assigning that much of it to the purchaser.
The amount of a mortgage down payment generally varies between 5% and 25% of the total property assessed valuation. During the past five “boom” years in America, many lenders started offering sub-prime mortgages even to high risk lenders with little or no down payment. Regrettably, these mortgages were structured to require increased interest over time and when the interest finally rose, most of these loans went into default because the owner could no longer make the payments. While variable-rate loans looked good at the time, they became nightmares in the economy of 2007.
In the current climate even people with excellent credit and high credit scores are having a problem obtaining mortgages. The normal 20% down target for people with good credit and stable situations has become 25% or more. Even the biggest and best-known banks and lending institutions are running scared and are hesitant to write these long-term fixed rate loans. Notwithstanding this, we can generally say that the best chance for a credit worthy person to obtain a 25 or 30-year fixed-rate mortgage today is by making the biggest-possible mortgage downpayment and thus sharing more of the risk with the lender.
The smaller down payments for less credit worthy people usually required mortgage terms with bigger monthly payments which the way mortgages are amortized, meant that the payments were 90 or 100% interest during the first 5 or 7 years of the loan. This assured th lender of extra protection, since if in default, he could always sell the property and recoup his loan value plus any equity remaining over and above the loan principle.
A mortgage on a home is, for most people, the single largest debt they will ever acquire.
It should be undertaken cautiously and is best reviewed by an attorney prior to signing on the dotted line.