Jamaica Real Estate Mortgage Hints and Tips

Get your budget in order   Get a notebook and record your daily spending for 1 to 3 Months.  Get a clear picture of your spending habits and look for ways to cut back and eliminate frivolous spending.  You may be able to free up more cash and be able to get more house for your money.

Establish an emergency fund  Save at least 3 to 6 Months worth of living expenses for a rainy day.  You may need to exercise some amount of discipline to keep this fund intact and use only for emergencies. Once you have to go into these funds, the first priority should be to replenish immediately.

Consider a 15 or 20 year Mortgage  Some people do not even think about a mortgage that is less than 25 or 30 years because they think that would put the Monthly Mortgage Payment at a very high amount.  However, if you take the time to do the math, you may find a way to make it work.  Look at the example below:

At 14% Interest rate with a Mortgage of J$5,000,000

                                Monthly Payment                   Total Payment over term
25 years               J$60,188                                   J$18,056,416
20 years               J$62,176                                   J$14,922,250
Difference          J$1988                                         J$3,134,166

At 14% Interest rate with a Mortgage of US$100,000
                                Monthly Payment                  Total Payment over term
25 years               US$1204                                 US$361,128
20 years               US$1244                                 US$298,445
Difference          US$40                                        US$62,683

The math obviously shows that it pays to try to find the additional amount to pay off your mortgage quicker and save a great deal of money in the long run.  Feel free to experiment with our loan calculators using your own figures.

Keep closing costs in mind and be prepared  You will need to be prepared to pay the closing costs for the loan.  These funds have to be paid in cash and cannot come from borrowed funds.  Closing costs can range from 5% to 10% of the loan amount.

Be Informed  Get the facts about mortgages and decide what is best for you.  Go to the bank and sit down with a mortgage officer and take notes.  Ask questions and make sure you have a full understanding.   Be sure to comparison shop and pay attention to the fine print and conditions that each Mortgage lender places on their loans.  You can also check out our glossary of common terms to get up to speed on the ‘Mortgage lingo’.

Pay off small debts  Try to clean up your outstanding credit card debts.  Minimize the amount of debt you have outside of school and car loans.

Related Pages

Jamaica Mortgage Companies

Mortgage Calculators