Buying

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 […]
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 […]
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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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% […]

Buying Housing Affordability – Call to ARMs Housing Affordability is negatively affected by both rising home prices and mortgage rates. A 20% increase in nominal home prices and a 2% increase in the 30-year fixed rate mortgage since January have contributed to a 46 point drop in the NAR Housing Affordability Index. The Index was 143 in June 2021 and is 98.5 in […]

Buying Are prices and rates going to continue to rise?

Buying Indecision Can Be Expensive With all that is going on in the world, a global pandemic, supply chain issues, highest inflation in 40 years, the economic effects of a war in Ukraine, it can be overwhelming to think about when the right time is to buy a home. On a local level, there is a pent-up demand for […]

Buying Difficult to Buy What Is Not For Sale Buyers are becoming discouraged there are not enough homes on the market, especially, in certain price ranges. When they do find something they want, there may be multiple offers and they end up losing to another buyer. Some buyers after experiencing several […]

Buying When are the Negotiations Over? The primary negotiation in a home purchase takes place when the contract is agreed upon that includes the price, closing and possession. With inventory down over 19% in the past year and multiple offers being more of the norm than the exception, the first round of negotiations can be challenging. Buyers and sellers alike feel relieved […]

Buying Become a Victim of Inflation or Benefit from It In inflationary times, currently the highest in 40 years, the purchasing power of your money diminishes each day; essentially, buying you less. The biggest threat is to be without capital assets, like a home, that are benefiting from the increase in prices. Your money buys less gasoline now, than it did a year ago, by close […]

Buying Buying a Home…Ask for a CLUE Report 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 interested in. Lexis Nexis C.L.U.E. (Claims Loss Underwriting Exchange) […]

Buying Coordinating the Sale and Purchase of Your Home Usually, it is easier to buy a home than to sell a home but that isn’t necessarily the case currently. In today’s market, it can be scary to sell your home before buying another because you could find yourself without a home. Most sellers will not accept a contingency on the sale of a buyer’s […]

Buying A New Opportunity for Homebuyers You may not have heard of anyone assuming an existing mortgage for over thirty years and didn’t know they were even possible any longer. The reason is simple, it didn’t make financial sense but now that interest rates are increasing, it may be an opportunity for some homebuyers. Conventional loans added clauses to mortgages back in […]

Buying Cost of Waiting to Buy in Both Price and Interest Rates Have you ever been shopping on a website where you were looking at something that was on sale? You were interested in it but there wasn’t a sense of urgency and maybe, you had a lot going on and didn’t get back to it for a few days. When you did go back to the website, the […]