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There are advantages and disadvantages to each, and the decision will depend on your particular circumstances.
If you want to use the equity from your British home to help fund your Greek property, you might want to use a UK lender. However, if you receive your income in Euros it might be the best answer to take out a Greek mortgage because having your paycheques and your outgoing mortgage payments in the same currency can save you money on exchange rate variations.
It is not as difficult as you might think to obtain a Greek mortgage, and now that Greece has adopted the Euro as its currency it has gotten much easier still. Mortgages in Greece are available for most foreign buyers, who can obtain them through Greek banks. Be aware that Greek bureaucracy is notoriously slow and your mortgage application might take some time to be approved. However, there should be no issues with approval and you will be able to take out a mortgage to buy your property in Greece.
How do banks in Greece assess mortgages?
Mortgage lenders in Greece usually assess the eligibility of the loan based on the ability to service the loan after any deduction of outstanding credit commitments elsewhere in the world. The amount that you will be able to borrow from a bank in Greece to purchase a property in Greece will be normally based on a percentage of this remaining amount.
How much will I be able to borrow?
Most banks in Greece will be able to lend up to ninety percent of the purchase price of Greek villas or apartments in Greece.
What proof of income will I need to provide?
If you are working for an employer, you will need to produce your payslips from the last three months and your personal bank statements from the last six months. If you are self-employed you are required to show a copy of your Audited Accounts, your last twelve months of business and your last six months of personal bank statements.
Are mortgages available for every type of property?
Loans are available for a wide range of different types of property in Greece. Whether you are purchasing a large villa, a new development, a small town house, or apartments in Greece you will likely be able to get a mortgage.
Will the bank take into account the fact that I am intending to rent out my property in Greece?
No, most Greek banks will not consider any potential rental earnings when calculating a mortgage. If you are applying for a mortgage at a Greek bank, you will need to be able to afford the property for sale in Greece whether you are renting it out or not.
Online amortization schedule calculators are some of the best online available. They are web-based, so they do not need additional software or applications. Amortization schedules can be calculated immediately online on one of their web pages.
Ewmortgage.com is a mortgage advisor website that features a Java-based interactive amortization table (http://www.ewmortgage.com/mortgage/), and other mortgage-related applications such as APR/front end calculator, 5/25 and 7/23 balloon convertible mortgage calculator, car leasing payment calculator, monthly payment table generator, income qualification calculator, nominal and effective interest rate calculator, etc.
Realdata.com, real estate investment and development software developers, offers a web-based amortization utility (http://realdata.com/ds/amort2.shtml) and a Microsoft Excel version (http://realdata.com/ds/amort.xls) that can be downloaded for free. The web tool is Java-based so you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
Calculators4mortgages.com also has a Java-based Amortization Schedule (http://www.calculators4mortgages.com/Calculators/Amortization-Schedule/amortization_schedule.html) that calculates the monthly payment of a specific loan and breaks down the amount of principal and interest paid over the term of the loan.
HSH Associates (http://www.hsh.com/calc-amort.html), a consumer loan information website, features an amortization calculator to generate an amortization schedule (by month or by year), as well the monthly payment for a mortgage paid either monthly or bi-weekly. It is also capable of demonstrating the effects of prepaying your mortgage on an irregular or regular basis. There is also a JavaScript version available.
Century21.com, a real estate website, lets you calculate amortization schedules and save, and email the result or amortization table. However, you need to register to use the save and email features. Registration also allows you to store your search criteria, file agent information and build a custom library. Entry method is standard such as loan amount, interest rate, loan term and monthly payment.
The real estate brokerage business in Ethiopia is not as well developed as in other countries. You dont see large and established real estate brokerage companies so common in western countries. Here, buyers and sellers for Ethiopia homes rely on local agents, commonly known as Delalas. For the most part, these are traditional agents with no formal training in real estate but who basically mediate between buyers and sellers for Ethiopia real estate. Through word of mouth or their special network, these agents know the areas they operate in very well.
When you want to sell or buy Ethiopia homes, you just call one of these agents and tell them of your intention. These agents, in turn, inform their associates who would help them find prospective buyers or sellers as the case may be. In many cases, the Delalas work in groups of two or three and split their commission according to who was the principal negotiator and who did the most work.
A great deal of negotiation is involved in buying Ethiopia homes. Asking prices can be as high as 50% more than the final sale prices. Negotiations can take weeks, and even months in some cases. Expect to walk out of a negotiation a few times. In many cases, the Delalas play critical role in convincing both sellers and buyers to come to terms.
In general, Delalas do not help customers in completing the legal paperwork needed to complete the Ethiopia Real Estate transaction. This must be done by the buyer and seller themselves and may take several months. It is very important that buyers check the authenticity of seller documents before buying real estate in Ethiopia. Otherwise, they can waste crucial time and/or money in such endeavor. For a small fee, people who are less skilled with the Ethiopian bureaucracy may seek the help of legal assistants locally called Guday Asfetsami.
Home mortgages are hard to come by in Ethiopia. Most Ethiopia real estate transactions are conducted on cash basis. Mortgage financing may be obtained in some cases, but primarily for new homes built by developers. These companies negotiate financing terms with local banks in advance for all of their clients. Basically, they arrange group deals for their clients those who can put the required down payment. Down payments vary from 20 to 40%. Although most mortgages are for 10-20 years in duration, some companies arrange mortgages for as long as 30 years. Interest rates are variable and depend on the prevailing interest rate fixed by the Ethiopian central bank.
It is estimated that there are about sixty local and six foreign real estate development operators in Ethiopia. Examples of local developers include Sunshine Real Estate, Ayat Real Estate, Gift Real Estate, and Ambassador Real Estate. A major problem with homes built by some of these companies is the time it takes to complete construction. In the past, some of these homes were completed many years past their due dates. And some Ethiopia homes never made it to completion.
So, who can buy homes in Ethiopia? Anyone can buy real estate in Ethiopia as long as he/she is an Ethiopian citizen, foreign national of Ethiopian origin, or has Ethiopian parents. To see the latest listing of residential and commercial properties for sale or rent, please visit sites such as Ezega Real Estate, which is the largest real estate portal in Ethiopia and lists hundreds of homes for sale and/or rent at any given time. Anyone can register and post properties there for sale or rent for free.
The typical homeowner may think that mortgage acceleration is the act toward reducing the indebtedness on residential property by making larger repayments or more frequent ones than the loan contract requires. The short answer would be this is correct. Mortgage acceleration simply put means to speed up the process for paying off the loan. The part that becomes a little vague, or downright mysterious, is just what method is the most effective to accomplish this.
Creative Methods for Mortgage Acceleration
There are several hot methods that have hit the mortgage marketplace in recent years that make even 15-year fixed rate mortgages with bi-weekly payments look like financial dinosaurs. Although critics of these financing methods claim them too good to be true, the actual review dictates that when conducted with the proper information and education, many of the proposed goals stated from applying mortgage acceleration tactics are reasonably achievable.
How Can These Practices Benefit a Homeowner?
Through restructuring a mortgage correctly, an average homeowner can repay the loan in seven to 15 years. There is no sacrifice in living expenses made and, in fact, can cut total debt in half. Hearing this statement elicits instant disbelief from most responders wondering if the statement is true, then why s it not prevalently known to all? Good question! Most believe there is some insidious catch to the practice, its probably fraudulent, illegal or, at best, quite unethical. Not true!
Mortgage History Shows Conservative Mindset
The lending of money has always been mostly a conservative activity. Yes, some venture capitalists take high risks lending money but require great rewards doing so. The home mortgage market has been relatively a conservative arena based upon business practices that basically benefited the lender first. Traditional mortgages 100 years ago called for a 50 percent down payment that our grandparents slaved years to save. Our parents faired a little better, but never dreamed of no-money down arrangements or ever saw a plethora of mortgage products such as adjustable rate mortgages or interest only mortgage loans. And more recently, use of negative amortization loans have become popular mortgage vehicles for short-term real estate investments. Traditional products like a 30-year fixed mortgage possess an amortization schedule that favours the lender. However, in recent years some clever people discovered inside lending institution secrets that could help consumers win the interest war.
Interest Only Mortgage Is Key
At the heart of any successful mortgage acceleration process is an interest-only loan. About 20 years ago in Australia, someone discovered that if an interest-only loan was obtained and repaid in a specific way will allow a consumer to pay down all personal debts three times faster than associated with conventional financing. It requires a great deal of discipline including gaining a month ahead for repayment of an interest-only loan and also associated depositing money, a pay check, into an interest-bearing account. Additionally, through making your loan repayments earlier than required, you can essentially prevent any additional interest from accruing.
Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC)
This is the vehicle that allows a consumer to deposit money directly into an account that consolidates all your debt mortgage, credit cards, auto loans into one vehicle that allows you the draw off the balance of this loan using checks or a debit card.
Check with your trusted mortgage broker for greater details about mortgage acceleration.