April 14, 2009

WORD: Buy-Down

The WORD for Today is:

Buy-Down—
a sum of money paid to the lender at closing to reduce the borrower’s out-of-pocket monthly mortgage payment. Buy-downs are usually temporary. In the last several years it has been common for the amount of the buy-down to be added to the purchase price for the house so that in effect the buyer is borrowing the reduction. This is a dangerous practice for several reasons: it adds to the indebtedness by inflating the mortgage/appraisal and causes the borrower to be upside down.

Buy-Down is also an inducement to a lender to reduce the interest rate on a loan during the early years of a loan. The buy-down payment to the lender may come from the seller, buyer, a third-party or a combination of these. The buy-down may be for the first 1-5 years of the loan; most common is the 2-1 buy-down. Buy-down sounds good but in a practical way it is seldom helpful to the borrower. If the borrower is not very strong financially and able to pay the buy-down totally out of pocket then it will be financed into the loan, which hurts them over the long haul. An artificially reduced rate now only means you have to catch up later. The lender is entitled to, and must receive, a certain rate of return. There really is NO FREE LUNCH.

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You can find more helpful definitions of WORDS like these in Your Real Estate Advisor which can be purchased at www.DovePublishingHouse.com.

(Please E-mail Heather at homeownershipmatters@gmail.com with any questions, comments or concerns you might have! We appreciate all comments and feedback, so please don't be shy.)

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