Buying a House - and Paying for it Project Worksheet In this project we will examine the process of buying a house. We will look at important considerations when selecting a mortgage ("mortgage" is a fancy word for a home loan). We will also look at possible ways to save money on your mortgage. PLEASE READ ALL OF THE INSTRUCTIONS Part I: Search for a bourse and Loan 1. Select a house, condo, or a townhouse from a real estate website such as Realtor.com or Zillo.com. The price of the home you choose MUST be $274,900. The home, condo or the townhouse can be in any state in the United States. Attach a picture and website address including the description of the house in the PowerPoint presentation 2. Assume you will pay the asking price for the home. Put the asking price here 3. Most mortgages require a significant down payment. To get the best rate and payment on a mortgage you will typically need to put 20% down. You will then get a mortgage loan for the other 80%. Calculate your down payment and mortgage loan amount and list them below. Down payment: Mortgage Amount: There are many different types of mortgages. Most people work with a loan officer to figure out what type of mortgage best fits their needs. Many people even decide what type of mortgage they need before they start looking for a house. To keep this project fairly simple, we'll assume that you're going to compare a 30 year fixed rate mortgage and a 15 year fixed rate mortgage Credit scores (also called FICO scores) are extremely important when obtaining any loan. You should do everything you can to have a good credit score. (You may want to do an internet search to find out how credit scores are determined and what you can do to make sure you have high FICO scores.) 4. Contact a lending Institution (a broker, a bank, or a credit union), tell them you're doing a project for school and that you need to get the interest rate on a 30 year and a 15 year fixed rate mortgage. Tell them you're putting 20% down, what your loan amount is, and that you have a 750 FICO score. Record the rates below. Institution Name 30 Year Interest Rate (750 FICO) 15 Year Interest Rate (750 FICO). 1 Page Buying a House - and Paying for it Project Worksheet In this project we will examine the process of buying a house. We will look at important considerations when selecting a mortgage ("mortgage" is a fancy word for a home loan). We will also look at possible ways to save money on your mortgage. PLEASE READ ALL OF THE INSTRUCTIONS Part I: Search for a bourse and Loan 1. Select a house, condo, or a townhouse from a real estate website such as Realtor.com or Zillo.com. The price of the home you choose MUST be $274,900. The home, condo or the townhouse can be in any state in the United States. Attach a picture and website address including the description of the house in the PowerPoint presentation 2. Assume you will pay the asking price for the home. Put the asking price here 3. Most mortgages require a significant down payment. To get the best rate and payment on a mortgage you will typically need to put 20% down. You will then get a mortgage loan for the other 80%. Calculate your down payment and mortgage loan amount and list them below. Down payment: Mortgage Amount: There are many different types of mortgages. Most people work with a loan officer to figure out what type of mortgage best fits their needs. Many people even decide what type of mortgage they need before they start looking for a house. To keep this project fairly simple, we'll assume that you're going to compare a 30 year fixed rate mortgage and a 15 year fixed rate mortgage Credit scores (also called FICO scores) are extremely important when obtaining any loan. You should do everything you can to have a good credit score. (You may want to do an internet search to find out how credit scores are determined and what you can do to make sure you have high FICO scores.) 4. Contact a lending Institution (a broker, a bank, or a credit union), tell them you're doing a project for school and that you need to get the interest rate on a 30 year and a 15 year fixed rate mortgage. Tell them you're putting 20% down, what your loan amount is, and that you have a 750 FICO score. Record the rates below. Institution Name 30 Year Interest Rate (750 FICO) 15 Year Interest Rate (750 FICO). 1 Page
