Category: News

With today’s hot real estate market, many people are moving to new areas – sometimes across the country, sometimes across town, either way here are ten things to look for when considering a new neighborhood. 1. Property Taxes – you should look at property taxes and also how much they’ve increased in the last five years and if any increases are planned. It’s a good idea to build this into your budget too. 2. Amenities – check what’s nearby based on your interests, restaurants, groceries stores, houses of worship etc. 3. Future development – it’s a good idea to check and see what future development is planned – it might be a good or bad thing but either way its worth checking. 4. Crime rates – you can check local…

If you’re buying or selling (but especially buying), a home inspection is a crucial part of the process that too often is seen as just another step. So here are the 3 keys to make sure you come out on top and avoid surprises after you move in! 1. Inspect the Inspector First! Make sure your inspector is certified, qualified and experienced. You want someone who is going to check things thoroughly and not just check the boxes. Find a good inspector early as the good ones can often be like a popular restaurant – hard to get a reservation. 2. Be Present for the Inspection If at all possible make sure you attend the inspection too! It may take a few hours so block out the morning or afternoon…

Last week the Federal Reserve announced it was raising the Federal Fund rate by a quarter percentage point rate, the first rate increase in three years. You are probably wondering what that actually means for homeowners. Although not officially connected this normally means mortgage rates go up, and rates have increased recently. The Fed has also indicated that it will increase rates even more in the coming months as inflation is one of their top priorities. If you are currently on a fixed interest rate mortgage the won’t affect your rate or your mortgage payments. If you have an ARM variable rate mortgage then it will be affected affected and you may want to consider locking into a fixed rate mortgage before rates go higher. If you are under contract…

As we enter tax season, let's review how owning a home can help lower your tax bill. First, lets clarify that you’ll need to do an itemized return to take advantage of the deductions. Second the deductions are just that deductions from the income that is subject to tax, not just taking an amount straight off your tax bill. Onto the benefits! The biggest one, you may already be familiar with – the interest deduction. The money you pay in interest over the year on your loan is fully deductible on the first $750,000 of your loan or up to $1 million if your loan was originated before December 15, 2017. The other biggie is deducting property taxes. You can deduct up to $10,000 in state and local taxes including…

If you bought your home with less than 20% down, you are most likely paying private mortgage insurance (PMI). Most borrowers can’t wait to get to 22% equity when their PMI will be cancelled. One way to stop paying PMI is through refinancing your home. Now this likely won't be an inexpensive way to avoid PMI in terms of closing costs involved with refinancing. So you may want to have other reasons to refinance such as a lower monthly payment or getting cash-out as well. If you’re equity has increased a good deal recently so that you have more than 20% equity then you could avoid PMI through this route as well – you’ll still have to pay for an appraisal but that will be a lot less than the…

What Is A Non-QM Loan? A Non-Qualified mortgage loan (Non-QM) is a loan that falls outside of the QM (Qualified Mortgage) loan parameters, which provide legal protection to lenders and have stricter guidelines to help prevent against default. Non-QM loans fill a void for people with fluctuating income that may come in lump sums. Most often they used by people who are self-employed (like a small business owner, entrepreneur, contractor, nurses, etc.) and don’t tick the boxes for a traditional mortgage with requirements for their tax statements, pay stubs and W-2s. They are also used by borrowers that may certain credit issues in their past that rule out a QM loan. Non-QM loans do not have the traditional guarantees backed by those of Freddie, Fannie, FHA and VA loans. If…

Whether you are looking to sell and make your kitchen more presentable, you just moved in to a new place or you built equity and want to upgrade your current kitchen, here are 7 keys to consider before starting. And we'll throw in one more before we start - ask are you a big kitchen person or do you order out for eggs and bacon? Consider if you are going to use it all day, every day or just as a place to keep beverages cold and to warm food up. 1. Budget - Before getting started set a budget! (Can’t you say this before starting every project? :) 2. Lighting - Gone are the days of dark cramped kitchens, make sure there’s plenty of light and consider a mix…

For many people buying a home is part of the American dream but saving for the down payment might not be. So whether you are trying to buy your first home or size up for your growing family here are some tips to save for your down-payment. 1. Eliminate waste and daily splurges – if you have a smart thermostat make sure you don’t have the heat on in the winter or ac in the summer when no one is home. Consider replacing daily coffee stops with brewing at home, subscribe to services you don’t really use – eliminate some of them. 2. Budget – make a monthly budget of your spending – see where you can cut back and see how much you can save monthly. 3. Tax Return…

There are a lot of mortgage terms that we have heard a lot, but we don't always 100% know what they mean. Today we'll explain what home equity really is and how you could use it. To put it simply home equity is the amount of your house that you own. So for example if you have a mortgage loan balance of $100,000 and your home's value is $300,000 then you have $200,000 in home equity. You calculate home equity by subtracting your mortgage balance from the appraised value of the home. Your home equity is an asset and you can use it for things like cash-out refinancing, home equity lines of credit (HELOC) perhaps if you have paid your mortgage off you can also get a reverse mortgage. If…

If you are considering refinancing before rates go up to pay off other debts like credit cards, here is a quick overview. The average American has nearly $40,000 in debt not including home loans so today we ask if you consider a cash-out refinance to pay off other debts like credit card debt. Credit card interest rates are normally much higher than mortgage interest rates and if you are carrying high credit card debt while making minimum payments, there is an opportunity to save a lot in monthly credit card payments that are primarily going to pay high interest rates on the debt. First you will need enough equity in your home to get a cash-out refinance. With real estate values rising many people have seen their home value rise…