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Concessions Make Your Home More Marketable

Sellers offer concessions as an incentive to encourage buyers to purchase their home. The concessions, paid for by the seller, benefit the buyer in ways that may be more appealing than possibly, being able to purchase the home for a lower price. In some situations, buyers have good income, credit, and even the down payment … Continue reading Concessions Make Your Home More Marketable →

Building Your Home Buying Team

There are a lot of professionals involved in the homebuying process. And when these people can function as a team, the buyer is much more likely to end up where they want to be…in their new home. The lender is an integral part of the team unless you are going to be paying cash. Trust … Continue reading Building Your Home Buying Team →

Securing Your Retirement

Social Security was established, on August 14, 1935, to take care of the country’s elderly in their retirement years. Today, about 65 million or 1/6 of Americans collect benefits and the average monthly retirement amount received in January 2022 was $1,614 per month or about $19,370 per year. This annual Social Security benefits exceed the … Continue reading Securing Your Retirement →

Homeowners Need Resources

Managing an asset worth hundreds of thousands of dollars is a responsibility that requires attention to details such as timely payment of the mortgage, home repairs and maintenance, upkeep, and oversight on financial issues including taxes, insurance, and other things. Depending on how long you’ve been a homeowner, you may have faced some of the … Continue reading Homeowners Need Resources →

Waiting for the Mortgage Rates to Come Down?

Waiting for the mortgage rates to come down before you buy a home may not be a good decision. If you are correct, and the rates do come down by two percent, the savings you benefit from a lower rate will most likely be devoured by the appreciated price increase. As of 10/27/22, the 30-year … Continue reading Waiting for the Mortgage Rates to Come Down? →

Finding Funds for a Down Payment

A soft second loan, sometimes called a silent second, is subordinate to the first mortgage, whose payment is deferred or forgiven until a specific date or the resale of the property. This would mean that buyers would not have to contend with regular payments thereby keeping their debt-to-income ratio lower and more affordable. While normal … Continue reading Finding Funds for a Down Payment →

“Do you feel lucky? Well, do ya?”

You may remember the famous line in the Dirty Harry movie when Clint Eastwood has just had a shootout with bank robbers and is standing in front of the lone surviving thief who is considering going for his gun. Harry with his gun pointed at the bad guy says to him ""Did he fire six … Continue reading “Do you feel lucky? Well, do ya?” →

When will the market turn?

Housing affordability has declined dramatically in 2022 due to continued rising home prices and a three-percentage point jump in mortgage rates. Based on the popularity of Google searches for "housing bust" or "housing bubble", it could be surmised that buyers are anticipating relief, but they are probably not going to see it anytime soon. Home … Continue reading When will the market turn? →

Another Tool to Improve Affordability

The rapid rise in mortgage rates during 2022 coupled with continued appreciation of home prices have limited the number of buyers in the market which is reflected by the lower number of home sales currently. "It’s a fact that many households are impacted by higher mortgage rates as they no longer earn the qualifying income … Continue reading Another Tool to Improve Affordability →

Cause to Pause

Rising mortgage rates are causing some would-be buyers to pause their decisions until they determine whether rates are going to come back down. While it may be possible, the probability is that prices are going to continue to increase. On December 23, 2021, the 30-year fixed-rate, according to Freddie Mac, was 3.05% and is at … Continue reading Cause to Pause →