Home Buying Tips

• Determining Your Offer Price
  When you prepare an offer to purchase a home, you already know the seller’s asking price. But what price are you going to offer and how do you come up with that figure? Continue article...
• How to protect yourself in a real estate transaction
  It's no wonder that buying or selling a home ranks high on the list of the most stress-provoking events one can experience, up there with the death of a loved one and divorce. There's a lot at stake financially when you buy or sell a home. A good or bad outcome can affect your net worth, as well as your sense well being. Continue article...
• How to avoid buying bad real estate
  Ask any experienced residential real estate attorney about his or her most difficult case. The answer will probably involve a "bad house." While not exactly a legal term, a bad house is one where the buyer alleges the seller knew about a serious structural defect, but failed to disclose it to the buyer before purchase. Continue article...
• How would a truly flexible mortgage work?
  Lat week I had little good to say about Fannie Mae's new Payment Power Program (PPP), which allows a borrower to skip up to two mortgage payments in any 12-month period, and up to 10 over the life of a loan. A skipped payment results in an additional loan, equal to the payment plus a healthy access fee, tacked on to the balance. As an emergency source of funds, it is much more costly than accessing a home-equity line of credit (HELOC). Continue article...
• Tips and tricks for refinancing your home mortgage
  Thanks to today's ultra-low interest rates, the home mortgage business is booming at a record pace. Continue article...
• Estimating How Much Home You Can Afford
  It's the question you need to ask yourself before you even BEGIN your new home search. It's the most important factor in determining what kind of home you can secure, and where you can begin to look. It's a crucial consideration for first-timers and veteran home buyers alike. Continue article...