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Learning Center

Guides to buying, refinancing, and owning a home — straight talk on mortgages, no jargon.

24 guides & articles

Everything you need to make a confident move.

Credit Not Perfect? How a Mortgage Broker Can Help — Choice Home Mortgage, Orange County mortgage broker

Credit Not Perfect? How a Mortgage Broker Can Help

A bank says no when your credit doesn't fit their box. A mortgage broker works with many lenders — and a file that's a 'no' at one can be a 'yes' at another. Here's how it works.

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How to Beat the Bank: Make an Extra Mortgage Payment — Choice Home Mortgage, Orange County mortgage broker

How to Beat the Bank: Make an Extra Mortgage Payment

When you have an extra mortgage principal payment, you pay down the loan balance. This means you pay less interest over the life of the loan because your interest payments are based on the loan’s balance.

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Reverse Mortgage Myths You Should NOT Believe — Choice Home Mortgage, Orange County mortgage broker

Reverse Mortgage Myths You Should NOT Believe

The reverse mortgage carries many myths that people believe. These myths could be holding you back from one of the most helpful ways to supplement your retirement funds

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How a Reverse Mortgage Can Help You with Inflation — Choice Home Mortgage, Orange County mortgage broker

How a Reverse Mortgage Can Help You with Inflation

A reverse mortgage is a mortgage against the equity in your home. Most people who take out a reverse mortgage own their home

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How do Tradelines Help my Credit Score? — Choice Home Mortgage, Orange County mortgage broker

How do Tradelines Help my Credit Score?

Tradelines are what makes up a credit score. it is the credit account reported on your credit report. There are two main types of tradelines

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What is a Reverse Mortgage and How Does it Work? — Choice Home Mortgage, Orange County mortgage broker

What is a Reverse Mortgage and How Does it Work?

A reverse mortgage offers seniors the best of both worlds – you can stay in your home yet use the equity in it to enjoy retirement.

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How Paying Off Credit Card Debt Boosts Your Credit Score — Choice Home Mortgage, Orange County mortgage broker

How Paying Off Credit Card Debt Boosts Your Credit Score

If you carry a credit card balance, you could be hurting your credit score and your chances of getting a mortgage approval.

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The Top Mortgage Programs you Must Know — Choice Home Mortgage, Orange County mortgage broker

The Top Mortgage Programs you Must Know

They are many mortgage programs available to you whether you have a perfect credit score or just okay credit score

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Key Steps in Buying a Home — Choice Home Mortgage, Orange County mortgage broker

Key Steps in Buying a Home

Buying a home can take many months and involves many steps, some of which you should take long before you even look at homes.

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Mortgage Rates and the Fed: How Interest Rates Impact Mortgage Rates — Choice Home Mortgage, Orange County mortgage broker

Mortgage Rates and the Fed: How Interest Rates Impact Mortgage Rates

There are many financial decisions that affect mortgage rates. Here is an explanation on how the Federal Reserve and interest rates impact mortgages

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Fannie Mae vs Freddie Mac – What you Should Know — Choice Home Mortgage, Orange County mortgage broker

Fannie Mae vs Freddie Mac – What you Should Know

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are government-sponsored agencies that help lenders back the loans they fund. They provide liquidity in the mortgage industry

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California Conventional Loan Limits 2022 — Choice Home Mortgage, Orange County mortgage broker

California Conventional Loan Limits 2022

The ‘average’ conventional loan limit in California is $548,250. This is the standard limit, that if you exceed, you’d need jumbo financing

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What is a Jumbo Mortgage Loan? — Choice Home Mortgage, Orange County mortgage broker

What is a Jumbo Mortgage Loan?

A jumbo loan is financing for a home that’s higher than the conventional limit. The exception to this rule is high costs areas such as California.

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Cash-Out Refinance Guide — Choice Home Mortgage, Orange County mortgage broker

Cash-Out Refinance Guide

With today’s relatively low rates, you may be eligible to tap into that equity, using the money you’ve earned in the home, putting it to good use with a cash-out refinance.

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How to Use Real Estate to Hedge Against Inflation — Choice Home Mortgage, Orange County mortgage broker

How to Use Real Estate to Hedge Against Inflation

Inflation is as high as 5%, which is an unprecedented rate compared to the past few decades You can use real estate to hedge against inflation

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Everything You Need to Know about Home Equity — Choice Home Mortgage, Orange County mortgage broker

Everything You Need to Know about Home Equity

Your home is one of the largest investments you’ll make in your lifetime, but it can feel like it ties up your funds. What if you could tap into the equity and use the funds as you want?

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Mortgage Broker vs Mortgage Lender – Which is Right for You? — Choice Home Mortgage, Orange County mortgage broker

Mortgage Broker vs Mortgage Lender – Which is Right for You?

Explore the difference between mortgage broker vs mortgage lender concept to decide which option is right for you.

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Reasons to Refinance Your Mortgage — Choice Home Mortgage, Orange County mortgage broker

Reasons to Refinance Your Mortgage

There's a lot more to refinancing a home than simply lowering your payment, getting cash out, or getting a lower mortgage rate.

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Orange County Property Values — Choice Home Mortgage, Orange County mortgage broker

Orange County Property Values

Like many other Southern California areas, Orange County has seen some sharp real estate price increases over the last few years.

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Documents needed to Refinance Mortgage — Choice Home Mortgage, Orange County mortgage broker

Documents needed to Refinance Mortgage

Before you gather your documents for a refinance, you must determine the type of income you have. Borrowers working for someone and those who are self-employed have different documentation requirements.

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FHA Loans vs VA Loans — Choice Home Mortgage, Orange County mortgage broker

FHA Loans vs VA Loans

FHA loans vs VA loans are often the most debated loan programs for eligible borrowers. Both loans are government-backed and have supportive aspects, but each program has its pros and cons. Keep reading to learn which loan program may be right for you.

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California Home Prices at all Time High — Choice Home Mortgage, Orange County mortgage broker

California Home Prices at all Time High

The California median home price is currently $ 758,990, which is more than double the median home price in 2000 ($ 354,020).

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Orange County 2022 Real Estate Forecast — Choice Home Mortgage, Orange County mortgage broker

Orange County 2022 Real Estate Forecast

The median sales price in Orange County as of October 2021 is still $944,343 according to Zillow. But what does it look like for 2022?

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7 Things You Need to Know Before You Refinance Your Mortgage — Choice Home Mortgage, Orange County mortgage broker

7 Things You Need to Know Before You Refinance Your Mortgage

Now is a great time to refinance. Before you rush into it here are 7 things you need to know before you refinance your mortgage.

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