| Dorchesterlife Receives Sherpa Seal Of Approval
For many older New Zealanders, working past retirement age is becoming a financial reality with policy changes and socio-economic developments becoming more influential on when to retire. Reverse mortgages offer one solution to retirement funding but with more companies offering these plans, knowing who to trust can be difficult. DorchesterLife, which offers both Home Equity Release loans and Reverse Mortgages, is proud to be a member of SHERPA (Safe Home Equity Release Plans Association), the industry body dedicated entirely to the promotion of safe home equity release (Reverse Mortgage) plans and the protection of plan-holders. .
Home equity loan avoids fees of refinancing mortgage
Q. I would like to refinance my adjustable-rate mortgage to lock in one of today's low rates. But I don't want to pay a lot of fees for a new mortgage that would actually make my monthly payments bigger over the next year. Refinancing would cost thousands, which seems like an awful lot for a loan of only about $80,000. What should I do? A. You might consider a home equity loan instead of an ordinary mortgage. Many home equity loans are unusually attractive now. Yours is a dilemma that confronts many homeowners with adjustable mortgages, or ARMs: They may be happy with the low interest rates they're paying today - in many cases only 4 percent or so - but they worry their rates will rise in the future. It would be nice to lock into a low fixed rate, but refinancing fees can total thousands.
After the Deluge
In addition, companies like Citigroup (ticker: C), Merrill Lynch (MER) and others have to re-equitize their balance sheets, and that process is just beginning. People are way underestimating the dilution this will cause financial-services companies. They are in an awkward position. The faster they take writeoffs, the less capital they have and the less lending they can do. The market has not fully appreciated how much more equity will have to be raised. The first half looks awful, but it doesn't mean the whole year will be awful. I'm a big believer in not trying to anticipate the end of the world. Hickey: Only home mortgages have blown up. There are problems in auto loans, student loans, leveraged-buyout and junk-bond loans. Wherever people were lending, they were lending stupidly. Delinquencies have risen across the board, but defaults haven't come yet.
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