Getting Mortgages in Colorado is easier than ever. Apply Online with American Financing.

Before you go looking for a home, you should determine how much home you can afford. Most lenders will prequalify you to borrow up to a certain amount. Prequalification allows you to focus in on a realistic price range and makes you a more attractive buyer. Whether or not you want to prequalify, eventually you'll need to complete a loan application and it may take some time to gather and assemble the required information.

How much house you can buy also depends on your mortgage's term and interest rate. The term is the length of time (usually 15 or 30 years) over which payments will be paid. The rate can be fixed (meaning it doesn't change over the loan's term) or adjustable (it fluctuates with market conditions). Thirty-year fixed-rate mortgages remain the most popular. The longer term lowers the monthly payment, while the fixed rate provides stability over the life of the loan. Given relatively low interest rates, these mortgages are attractive to buyers planning to stay at least six or seven years in their new home. The drawbacks are low principal payments in the early years, and the risk that market rates will decline over the term. However, if your credit history is sound and you have sufficient income, you can usually refinance your mortgage when rates decline.

A 15-year term lowers the interest rate, reduces total interest payments, and increases principal payments. But it also increases monthly payments. If you can't afford the higher payments now, you might opt for a 30-year mortgage. If there are no prepayment penalties, you can make additional principal payments as your income increases. Making just one extra monthly payment a year will pay off a 30-year mortgage in less than 22 years and can save tens of thousands of dollars in interest costs. If you plan to stay in a home no more than three years, you might want an adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM). ARMs offer initial rates that are lower than fixed mortgages. At some point, usually after the first year, rates are tied to market conditions and are subject to potential rate increases. Most ARMs include a cap on rate increases in any given year, as well as over the life of the loan. Some ARMs offer initial rates at least 2% below fixed rates and limit increases to 1% annually and 5% to 6% over the life of the loan. Many home buyers are attracted by the affordability of an ARM during the initial period. However, you should be confident that your future income will be sufficient if both interest rates and your monthly payments increase.

FACTS ABOUT COLORADO

Beulah red is the name of the red marble that gives the Colorado State Capitol its distinctive splendor. Cutting, polishing, and installing the marble in the Capitol took six years, from 1894 to 1900. All of the "Beulah red" marble in the world went into the Capitol. It cannot be replaced, at any price.

Colorado is the only state in history, to turn down the Olympics. In 1976 the Winter Olympics were planned to be held in Denver. 62% of all state Voters choose at almost the last minute not to host the Olympics, because of the cost, pollution and population boom it would have on the State Of Colorado, and the City of Denver.

The United States Air Force Academy is located in Colorado Springs.

The world's largest flat-top mountain is in Grand Mesa.

In Fruita, the town folk celebrate 'Mike the Headless Chicken Day'. Seems that a farmer named L.A. Olsen cut off Mike's head on September 10, 1945 in anticipation of a chicken dinner - and Mike lived for another 4 years without a head.

The LoDo region of Denver stands for Lower Downtown.

Denver, lays claim to the invention of the cheeseburger. The trademark for the name Cheeseburger was awarded in 1935 to Louis Ballast.

The highest paved road in North America is the Road to Mt. Evans off of I-70 from Idaho Springs. The Road climbs up to 14,258 Ft. above sea level.

Colorado means “colored red” and is known as the “Centennial State.”

The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad continues to provide year round train service operating a historical train with rolling stock indigenous to the line. The line was constructed primarily to haul mine ores, both gold and silver, from the San Juan Mountains.

The United States federal government owns more than 1/3 of the land in Colorado.

Colorado contains 75% of the land area of the U.S. with an altitude over 10,000 feet.

Colorado has 222 state wildlife areas.

Colfax Avenue in Denver is the longest continuous street in America.

The 13th step of the state capital building in Denver is exactly 1 mile high above sea level.

The Dwight Eisenhower Memorial Tunnel between Clear Creek & Summit counties is the highest auto tunnel in the world. Bored at an elevation of 11,000 feet under the Continental Divide it is 8,960 feet long and the average daily traffic exceeds 26,000 vehicles.

Leadville is the highest incorporated city in the United States at 10,430 feet elevation. Because there was lots of "silver" named towns at the time, the founding fathers suggested Leadville.

Katherine Lee Bates wrote “America the Beautiful” after being inspired by the view from Pikes Peak.

Hundreds of thousands of valentines are re-mailed each year from Loveland.

Fountain, has the distinction of being the United States' millennium city because it best symbolizes the overall composition of America. Fountain is the most accurate representation of the American "melting pot." Fountain was chosen after a Queens College sociologist crunched Census Bureau statistics in an effort to find the one city in the country that best represented the population make-up of the United States.

Pueblo is the only city in America with four living recipients of the Medal of Honor.

The tallest building in Colorado is the Republic Plaza at 57 stories high, in Denver.

Every year Denver host the worlds largest Rodeo, the Western Stock show.

Denver has the largest city park system in the nation with 205 parks in City limits and 20,000 Acres of parks in the nearby mountains.

Dove Creek is the "Pinto Bean" capital of the world.

The tallest sand dune in America is in Great Sand Dunes National Monument outside of Alamosa. This bizarre 46,000-acre landscape of 700-foot sand peaks was the creation of ocean waters and wind more than one million years ago.

The World's First Rodeo was held on July 4th, 1869 in Deer Trail.

Lieutenant Zebulon Montgomery Pike explored the southwest portion of the Louisiana Territory in 1806 and though he never climbed the peak that bears his name, he did publish a report that attracted a lot of interest to the area.

The slogan of "Pikes Peak or Bust," painted across many of the prairie schooners, was born at a time as fortune hunters headed west. Although only a handful of those who flocked to the region ever found gold.

At 14,110 feet above sea level over 400,000 people ascend Pikes Peak each year.

The aptly named town of Twin Lakes lays adjacent two natural lakes at the foot of Colorado's highest Fourteener, Mt. Elbert.

The Colorado Rockies are part of the North American Cordillera, which stretches 3,000 miles from Alaska, through western Canada and the United States, into northern Mexico. The centerpieces of this dramatic uplift are the peaks over 14,000 feet, or "Fourteeners", as they are affectionately referred to by climbers. There are 52 Fourteeners in Colorado.

Rocky Ford has been dubbed the "melon capital of the world."

The Yampa River below the northwest town of Craig holds northern pike in the 20-pound range, while the Roaring Fork and Frying Pan rivers are prime spots for trout fishing.

Colorado has the highest mean altitude of all the states.

Mesa Verde features an elaborate four-story city carved in the cliffs by the Ancestral Pueblo people between 600 and 1300 A.D. The mystery surrounding this ancient cultural landmark is the sudden disappearance of the thousands of inhabitants who created the more than 4,000 identified structures.