Homes are valuable assets and must be maintained so they function properly, are safe, enjoyable and hold their value. Attention to maintenance, minimizing expenses and managing debt & risk will protect your investment. Maintenance It is interesting that Continue Reading
People purchasing a used car have most likely heard of CARFAX vehicle history reports to help them avoid buying a car with costly hidden problems. Less likely are buyers to know that there is a way to discover some of the repair history of homes they are Continue Reading
Sellers try to rationalize not making needed updating and repairs to their homes before marketing them by saying they are going to let the buyers make their own personal choices. It is a convenient story to justify not going to the effort for the Continue Reading
Appreciation and amortization are key factors in building equity for homeowners with mortgages. As the home goes up in value due to appreciation and the unpaid balance goes down due to amortization, the equity increases. Appreciation is the increase in value of Continue Reading
While updating and remodeling certainly makes a home more enjoyable and livable, and increases the value, homeowners should not expect to recover 100% of the cost of the remodeling. Certainly, remodeling and updating makes a home sell faster, some of the Continue Reading
Existing FHA and VA mortgages are assumable at the note rate to owner-occupied buyers who qualify. This can be an alternative to paying higher, current rates and benefit buyers with lower closing costs while saving money on the payment. For the last 20 years, Continue Reading
Adjustable-rate mortgages are not the right choice for many homeowners especially, if they plan to own the home for a long time. Less than 3% of buyers choose an adjustable-rate mortgage according to NAR's 2021 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers. With fixed-rate Continue Reading
Mortgage rates have been kept artificially low by the Federal Reserve since the Great Recession in 2010. There is a whole generation of people who have never known what might be called normal mortgage rates. And then, most of the rest of the adults in America Continue Reading