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Buying a home is a great investment in your future and a great way to build wealth. However, few people – if any- can just buy a home. Instead, you need to get a mortgage. Mortgages are secured loans that use the house as collateral. They are structured differently than other types of loans because they typically are paid off over a much longer time.

Mortgages come in different types, and have different terms- so be sure to be aware of what your mortgage means to your finances before you sign on the dotted line.

(CNBC.com/Reuters) – Time is running out for home buyers seeking tax credits of up to $8,000, with purchase contracts needing to be signed by the end of this month and loans closed by the end of June.

With just a month to cash in on the tax incentive, which is designed to infuse life into a fragile housing market, demand for mortgages to buy homes eked out a 0.2 percent seasonally adjusted rise in the week ended April 2, the trade group said.

But applications for refinancing slumped 16.9 percent, pushing the trade group’s mortgage market index of total applications down 11 percent.

The average 30-year mortgage rate shot up by more than a quarter percentage point to 5.31 percent, a nearly eight-month high and well above the 4.61 percent record low a year ago.

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