If you are planning to buy home, you need to know about home loans processes, troubleshooting and how to choose the right home loan for house that falls within your budget. There are various types of home loans offered by different financial institutions. You need to figure out which type of home loan is beneficial for you.
Loan Tenure: The loans provided by financial institution are offered in tenures or period of years. You should check out the tenure for loans available in the market. There are loan tenures available for upto 25 years.
Repayment Options:
You need to choose between fixed and floating rate home loans. Many banks and financial institutions will provide you with the option of switching from a floating rate home loan to a fixed rate home loan once a year at no extra cost. But you need to check out the facts first with the loan providing firm.
No Penalty option: There are also no penalty option offered by few finance companies. In this mode, you can opt to pre-pay up to 25% of your loan every year. Pre-payment is permitted after a minimum of 6 months following loan disbursal.
Tax Benefits: You should know the right of your tax benefits on home loans. Resident Indians are eligible for certain tax benefits on principal and interest components of a housing loan under the Income Tax Act, 1961.##
Always check with a financial home loan expert or financing company to understand home loan processes and to avail the best bargain on your home purchase.
The home buying process can seem complicated, but if you take things step-by-step and you know how to choose the right home loan, you will soon be holding the keys to your own home!
Ten steps to buying a home
Step 1:Figure out how much you can afford. What you can afford depends on your income, credit rating, current monthly expenses, down payment and the interest rate. The calculators can help, but it is best to visit a lender to find out for sure. A housing counselor can help you figure out how to manage and pay off your debt, and start saving for that down payment!
Step 2: Know your rights
Step 3: Shop for a loan. Save money by doing your homework. Talk to several lenders, compare costs and interest rates, and negotiate to get a better deal. Consider getting pre-approved for a loan.
Step 4: Learn about home buying programs
Step 5: Shop for a home. Choose a real estate agent, Wish list - what features do you want, Home-shopping checklist - take this list with you when comparing homes.
Step 6: Make an offer. Discuss the process with your real estate agent. If the seller counters your offer, you may need to negotiate until you both agree to the terms of the sale.
Step 7: Get a home inspection. Make your offer contingent on a home inspection. An inspection will tell you about the condition of the home, and can help you avoid buying a home that needs major repairs.
Step 8: Shop for homeowners insurance Lenders require that you have homeowners insurance. Be sure to shop around.
Step 9: Sign papers. You're finally ready to go to "settlement" or "closing." Be sure to read everything before you sign!
Step 10: The House is yours now. Have Puja or hawan.
Tax Benefits
The benefits of taking a home loan the income tax authorities look with favour upon those servicing a housing loan from specified financial institutions. And, it is up to you to be wise enough to take advantage of this.
• Let's start with Section 24 of the Income Tax Act.
Interest paid on capital borrowed for the acquisition, construction, repair, renewal or reconstruction of property is entitled to a deduction. That means you are allowed to deduct an amount equivalent to the total interest payable on the housing loan from your taxable income within the same financial year.
This is now a substantial amount. It started off with the Income Tax Department offering Rs 15,000 as the maximum amount eligible for deduction in the case of self-occupied property. This later got doubled to Rs 30,000. It did not stop there. After getting enhanced to Rs 75,000, it was then taken to a limit of Rs 1 lakh. Presently, the limit stands elevated to Rs 1.5 lakh.
So, should you borrow money to acquire, construct, repair, renew or reconstruct property on or after April 1, 1999, you get a deduction of up to Rs 1.5 lakh. The criteria being: the property has to be acquired or constructed by March 31, 2003 and be self-occupied.
When put in figures, this is quite an amount:
• That brings us to Section 88 of the Income Tax Act.
You get a 20% rebate on repayment of principal during a financial year. Once again, over the years, the principal repayment eligible for rebate has been enhanced from Rs 10,000 to the current limit of Rs 20,000. Stamp duty, registration fee or other such expenses paid for the purpose of transfer of such house property to the assessee is also considered under this amount.
Going back to our earlier example:
