Feb 06
Buy a Home With No Monthly Payments? Reverse mortgages for purchases have been around a while but they stand to see more use as younger baby boomers hit retirement age. The mortgages are backed by FHA and they let households buy a home without having to make monthly mortgage payments. Instead, buyers put up a …
Feb 03
Saving for a Down Payment? This is How Long It Will Take.. Depending on where you live, saving for a down payment can take several years of financial planning. For example, in some markets, it may take the average person nearly a decade to save enough to buy a home. In California, that especially …
Feb 02
Safety Checklist for Moving Into a New Home Your clients have a lot to think about on moving day, but it’s important that they have more than just organizing and unpacking on their to-do list, according to The Red Cross. The group recently featured several items home buyers should think about when settling in …
Feb 01
Items Buyers Need to Add to Their Budgets Buying a home is much more than just paying a mortgage bill. Once you factor in association fees, property taxes, utility bills, and home maintenance, owners are often facing a much steeper price that is hundreds of dollars more. Help your buyers get an accurate estimate of …
Jan 31
The Best States to Raise a Family in 2017 North Dakota is the top family-friendly state for 2017, according to new findings from a WalletHub analysis. WalletHub’s research team compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia based on 40 key indicators, such as housing affordability, the unemployment rate, median family salary, education, health …
Jan 30
Mortgage Words You Should Know The mortgage industry loves jargon and it can quickly confuse a real estate professional and all the moreso a borrower. The Fannie Mae Sellers Guide alone has 91 different acronyms and abbreviations. The National Mortgage News recently offered up a few of the most common acronyms buyers and professionals …
Jan 27
Occasions That Call for a Handwritten Note As society operates more and more online, handwritten notes are becoming a rarity — which is why sending one to your clients could help you stand out from your competition. “A thank-you note can stand out from the seemingly dull and impersonal style of digital communications, …
Jan 26
First-Time Buyers Face More Tough Times Many first-time buyers are starting to feel like they just can’t catch a break. The continued limited inventories of homes for sale in the entry-level market and a number of other factors are pressing harder on first-timers who are trying to break in to home ownership. “Constrained inventory in …
Jan 25
Architects Give Home Design a Bold New Spin Some architects worldwide are building a select few homes that can rotate, allowing for a change of interior views from a room throughout the day or programming a home to follow the direction of the sun to help maintain inside temperatures. In New South Wales, Australia, the …
Jan 24
Renovations Uncover Secrets Behind Walls Homeowners are finding that as they renovate and walls are removed, they’re uncovering tokens from the home’s past. They’ve found everything from ritual objects placed behind the walls to ward off evil spirits to time capsules with notes enclosed for future owners to find. Michelle Morgan Harrison, an interior designer, …
Jan 23
Trump Puts a Halt to FHA Mortgage Cuts Just hours after being sworn in, President Donald Trump moved to suspend a plan to reduce the Federal Housing Administration’s mortgage insurance premiums that was set to go into effect on Jan. 27. The plan had been announced just a few days ago by the outgoing …
Jan 20
Where Foreclosure Backlogs Remain a Problem Banks continue to clean out the pipeline of loans that were originated during the housing boom days that have since turned sour. Most of the homes that are still being foreclosed on are from loans originated between 2004 and 2008, known as “legacy foreclosures,” according to ATTOM Data …
