Jordan Vreeland

Simply put, a mortgage is a loan secured by real property and paid in installments over a set period of time. However, the word mortgage alone, in everyday usage, is most often used to mean mortgage loan. Qualifying for a mortgage requires meeting a pre-determined set of guidelines established by a lender, which may include credit history, income, employment and assets.

Whether you're a First-Time Home Buyer or seasoned investor, the mortgage approval process can be a slightly overwhelming adventure without a proper road map and good team in your corner. Updated program guidelines, mortgage rate questions and down payment requirements are a few of the components you'll need to be aware of when getting mortgage financing for a purchase or refinance.

Depending on your mortgage program and final underwritten conditions, you may have to re-submit the most recent 30 days of income and asset documents, as well as have a new credit report pulled. Worst case scenario, the lender may even require a new appraisal that reflects comparables within a 90 day period.

However, since a mortgage payment is one of the major side affects of purchasing real estate with a home loan financing program, we thought it would be important to highlight a couple topics and related articles about mortgage payments that may impact your monthly budget.

Just in case your first mortgage payment comes due before you get your first payment coupon in the mail, there should actually be a temporary payment coupon included with your closing documents.Your mortgage payment is generally due at the beginning of the month, and most lenders start assessing late fees on the 15th.

It's obviously important to know how much home you can afford, what type of down payment to budget for, monthly mortgage payment as well as what type of loan program you'll be using to finance the new property. Certain mortgage loans have residence type, HOA, appraisal or insurance restrictions that your agent needs to be aware of prior to showing you listings.