San Diego's Top Ten Loan TermsEveryone in San Diego knows that you should never sign on the dotted line without first reading the contract. The same goes for loans. Signing a loan without knowing the conditions and what everything means can be damaging to your finances, credit, and future investments. Before you sign anything, make sure that you understand the following terms and how they will affect you.
1. Interest rate. The interest rate is the percentage of your loan that is added to the total that you owe every month. The percentage will fluctuate according to the economy and will affect your payments.
2. Fixed Rate. This is an interest rate that continues at the same percentage throughout the whole time-span of your loan.
3. Variable Rate. A variable rate will adjust according to the economy and the charts that are stating what the rate amount should be. This type of rate generally changes every year and adjusts according to a specific given range of percentages.
4. Principal. The principal is what you will be paying on your actual house and whatever you pay on your principal is what you will see in the end as your investment.
5. Escrow. This is similar to a savings account for your loan. Whatever you put in escrow will build up without paying directly into the loan. At the finish of the term you can use it to finish paying off the loan or to invest in another loan.
6. Title. A title will be your claim to your home after it is legitimately yours. It recognizes that the property belongs to you.
7. Deed. A deed is most often used as a title for a commercial area. As opposed to declaring ownership it shows that the property is leased to the one who is using it as a business.
8. Home Equity. This is a loan or line of credit that you can get for your home. It will finance up to eight percent of your other loan and be reimbursed back later. This helps you if you want to consolidate loans or invest more into the property.
9. Appraisal. After an inspection of the home is made, there will be an appraisal. This will be an estimated value of what the home is worth.
10. Equity. This is the actual amount of the property that you own. In most cases, the value equals to what is being paid off of your principal amount.
After you've mastered these fundamental terms, you will be able to expand on your knowledge and find the right loan to meet your needs. These basic definitions will help you in making the right decision for the type of loan that you want.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Bob Schwartz, is a Certified Residential Specialist, and a CA licensed San Diego real estate broker with. Bob has over 27 years of residential real estate experience, authored a number of published articles and served as an expert witness for San Diego lawyers. You can contact Bob via his highly popular San Diego real estate website.
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