While you can always keep your expenses to a minimal, your mortgage payment will surely take the biggest chunk out of monthly paychecks.
Good thing that there are a few strategies that can help lower your mortgage payments:

1. Get a cheaper house.
Under buying is much better as you can always move up later on, instead of over buying and finding it hard to make your monthly payments. Make sure that you are realistic when buying a house, and factor in all important things such as your interest and principle, homeowner’s insurance and taxes, or even an HOA fee and mortgage insurance.
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2. Request the Seller to Pay the PMI
Although you might be short of cash for making a bigger down payment, you will be able to lessen your monthly bill with an upfront private mortgage insurance. You can request the seller to pay this as an alternative to price reduction.

3. Increase the down payment.
Down payment always has a great impact on your payment. If you already have enough cash, and you think you can handle from there, you can make a 20% down payment, and skip paying the PMI.

4. Pay Points
You can pay points at the closing to buy down the interest rate. When you pay one or several points, each of this is equivalent to 1% of the loan balance, thus letting you reduce your loan’s mortgage rate.

5. Recast the Loan
While majority of the lenders are not actively marketing this service, you could in fact request for a loan re-amortization or recast. This is done through making lump sum payment for the principal that can reduce the principal balance. The lender will then recalculate the payment based on this lower balance.

6. Select an ARM
Many homeowners don’t really keep their first purchase of real estate for over several years so a 30-year fixed rate might not make sense if you will not use it. What you can do instead is choose from hybrid ARM produces which provide fixed introductory rates.

7. Refinance
It will cost you a bit more to refinance your loan instead of recasting it but you can have much lower monthly payments depending on the loan term and interest rate. Refinancing can lower the interest rate and it can also re-amortize your remaining balance over new loan term.

8. Ditch the Mortgage Insurance Coverage
When you already have your own house, and you want to decrease your monthly payments, check how close you are to getting rid of your PMI. You can also have the PMI eliminated by making extra payments to lower the loan balance below 80% of the original value of your home.

9. Request for a New Tax Assessment
Property taxes are part of loan payments. If you feel like the assessment is relatively high, you might appeal it to lower your tax burden. Just be careful since a new assessment might discover that your house is worth more than in the past, thus making your taxes go up.

Posted by Randy Blakeslee- GetnSocial

Probably, the first step to have a great outdoor space for your summer days is to get your deck safe for everyone who will use it. There are tons of things you could do to ensure that your deck isn’t only functional and safe, yet this also becomes the envy of all your friends and the center of the summer cookout season in your neighborhood. Such simple ideas will ensure that your patio, porch or deck, regardless of the weather, is ready for anything you throw at it.
Below are the tips to prepare your deck for outdoor entertaining:

• Consider Installing a Fire Pit. A fire pit can serve as the center focal point for your deck and they also enable year-round use during early fall and spring when the weather starts get chilly.
• Enclose Your Deck with Mosquito Net. Netting is perfect for climates that are humid and warm, particularly during hot summer months because they help keep out pests and insects.
• Construct Tiki-Torch Brackets. To set the atmosphere and mood of your outdoor space, you need soft outdoor lighting. The brackets enable a safer way to use this alternative and fun form of lighting.
• Transform Your Deck with Gathering Areas and Comfortable Seating. Decks are a perfect place to congregate and socialize. Lounge chairs and outdoor couches are a comfortable and stylish way to relax the outdoors.
• Consider Partially Covering or Covering Your Porch, Patio or Deck. It’ll help prevent outdoor appliances and furniture from getting ruined by sunlight or weather.
• Build Deck Levels. A good way to divide the deck space into separate sections for lounging and cooking is to make levels connected by small stairs. This makes not only an attractive layout, yet adds the additional space’s illusion.
• Build Lots of Counter or Storage Space. When grilling and cooking outside, the storage becomes the key to keep your utensils and food within arm’s reach. Construct countertops, cabinets, and install small refrigerator for convenience.
• Make Space for the Sound. Installing the surround sound system is a good deck addition for entertaining people and throwing parties.
• Make Your Deck Into a Cinema Outdoor. A famous choice today for numerous homeowners is installing a big TV into a covered area on the deck.
• Upgrade to Stationary Grill. The regular grill is a good addition to any yard, deck or porch, yet to impress the neighbors as well as cook topnotch food for big gatherings, design your deck with the built-in grill. Not only they are good at cooking than the portable grills, they’re often bigger and could accommodate more food.

There are other ways to prepare your deck for your outdoor experience during summer days or any season of the year. Just make sure to keep safety in mind as this can make a huge difference to make most of quality time with your family and favorite circle of friends when celebrating any kinds of event.

Posted by Randy Blakeslee- GetnSocial

Once the time comes to finally get your very own place to live, the first thing that pops in your mind is whether you should buy a house, or rent one.

Renting or buying a house will depend on financial status and personal opinion of each and every person. Below are the benefits and drawbacks of renting and buying a house.

Buying a Home: The Benefits

• Buying your own home can increase your assets.
• There is no need for you to pay rent every month.
• Houses have guaranteed appreciation after a period of time.
• Buying your own house will give you the sense of ownership. After you finished paying the loans taken on your house, you will become a legal and legit homeowner.
• You are free to decorate your home exactly how you like with no need to get permission from other people.
  
  

Buying a Home: The Drawbacks

• You will need to think a lot before you decide to relocate to a new place.
• You will be responsible for every single maintenance and repair needs around your home.
• You need to pay property taxes.
• You need to spend for the stamp duty, insurance costs, broker’s free, registration fees, society charges, and more.
• Banks will not finance the entire home loan you get. They will only take care of around 80 to 90 percent of the loan requirement, and you will pay the rest of the amount.
  
  

Renting a House: The Benefits

• You don’t need to pay property tax for the place you live in.
• The landlord is the one who takes care of maintaining the house.
• if you don’t like the current location of your house, you can always change it any time you like. There is no need to contemplate a lot when relocating.
  
  

Renting a House: The Drawbacks

• Your landlord can always increase your rent any time he or she wants.
• You need to pay rent for the rest of your stay in the house but you will never be its owner.
• The landlord might send you notice to leave the house anytime if you violated any of the terms and conditions stated in the home rental agreement.
• You can never modify or change the house as you like.
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The Bottom Line
Renting or buying a house will depend on your personal opinion because these two choices have their own set of pros and cons. Reaching a decision will depend on your financial status. For someone who wants to be flexible with changes, renting a house will be the better option. Meanwhile, if you are searching for a long term investment and you want to increase your asset, your best choice is to buy a house. At the end of the day, everything depends on your current situation, and what your short term and long term goals are. Both choices are good, and it is up to you to decide which one will work best for you.

Posted by Randy Blakeslee