Uncategorized Negotiate a Buydown to Get into a Home Now   If you are a prospective homebuyer, things have changed in the past year.  Most notably, mortgage rates have more than doubled which has created an affordability gap that has taken approximately 15 million buyers out of the market. Inventories are growing but it isn’t because more people are deciding to sell their homes; it is […]
Buying If you’re on the sidelines, at least get ready… If you’re on the sidelines to buy a home, there are things you can do to be ready when you do get back in the game. Improve your credit score to qualify for the best mortgage rate available which are reserved for those with the highest scores.  Get a copy of your current credit reports from […]
Buying and Selling Bergen County 1 family and condo/co-op stats 2022 vs 2021 from NJMLS
Buying and Selling Negotiating Your Position The seller wants the most for their home and the buyer wants to pay the least possible.  From the very beginning of the homebuying process, there are adversarial positions between the principals.  If you happen to be in a multi-offer situation, it just complicates things further. Then, there are the emotions that tend to cloud the decision […]
Buying Turn Back Time As the expression goes, “if I could turn back time”, maybe you’d would do some things differently.  If you’re wanting to buy a home, the regret may come from not getting a mortgage when rates were half of what they are today.  There may not be a way to literally “turn back time” but you […]
Buying Buy Now, Refinance Later The dilemma facing would-be buyers today is to wait until things settle down or move ahead in this unsettling economic environment.  More specifically, the question should be, what are you waiting to settle down: mortgage rates, or prices or both? Mortgage rates haven’t been this high since 2002, so it could be considered plausible that the […]
Buying Does high inflation discourage you from buying a home? Inflation devalues the purchasing power of money and the interest earned on savings is almost always less than inflation.  Tangible assets like your home consistently become more valuable over time.  In inflationary periods, a home is a good investment and a hedge against inflation. Borrowing money at fixed rates during times of inflation can be very advantageous…like […]
Buying Did you know this about your credit? Credit scores are used to assess risk and determine whether a borrower is approved or declined for a mortgage, credit card or some other type of credit.  The score is a numerical value ranging from a low of zero to a high of 850 or 900 depending on the credit bureau. The higher the score, the […]
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Buying Waiting For 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 12/8/22, the 30-year […]
Uncategorized Downsizing Options Opportunities exist for a subset of homeowners, possibly in their 60’s to 70’s, who want to downsize to smaller homes for convenience, less maintenance, change of lifestyle, or to save money.  These homeowners are more likely to have large equities and will not feel the same constraints that are keeping younger owners in their homes due […]
Selling 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 […]
Buying 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 […]
Uncategorized 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 price […]
Uncategorized “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 shots […]
Buying 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 lending […]
Buying 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 […]
Homeownership 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 […]
Buying 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 […]
Buying 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 is very important when […]
Buying 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 6.29% […]