Six Keys to Selling Your Home in Today?s Market
According to the National Association of Realtors®, more than 4.25 million homes sold in 2011. That’s a lot of real estate and such numbers raise the question: How are sellers doing it? “Because individual homes are unique, there isn’t one single strategy that works equally well for every property,” says Wendy Forsythe, the executive vice [...]
5 Basic Steps to Make a House Your Home
Are you looking to buy your home for the first time? Congratulations! While this is an exciting time, knowing what you are in for can ease the process exponentially. Below are a few steps you can take to find your dream house, and make it into your new home. Learn About Homeownership Owning a home [...]
Loan Modification is Stressful; Know Your Options
When the Obama administration rolled out the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) in 2009, officials estimated 3 to 4 million borrowers would seek relief from their mortgages through the program amidst the worst recession and housing market collapse in decades. More than two years later, those projections have proven to be optimistic, to say the [...]
NAR Home Buyer and Seller Survey Reflects Tight Credit Conditions
Recent home buyers are staying well within their means with notably higher incomes and modestly higher down payments than buyers in the previous year, due to the restrictive mortgage credit environment, despite historically favorable housing affordability conditions, according to a study released at the 2011 REALTORS® Conference & Expo. The 2011 National Association of Realtors® [...]
Find the Right Home: HomesDatabase.com Unveils ?Lifestyle Search?
MRIS, the Mid-Atlantic region?s multiple listing service (MLS) marketplace that facilitates $36 billion in yearly sales, has launched a new ?Lifestyle Search? feature as a major upgrade and enhancement to its consumer website HomesDatabase.com, the organization has announced. ?Typically, consumers are confined to searching by home features such as room count and type, square footage [...]
Not All Home Inspections Are Made Equal
A home inspection is a crucial component of making a smart home-buying decision. According to Jay Gregg, director of marketing for Pillar To Post, not all home inspections are equal. Gregg, who has experience in home inspections, sales marketing and as a previous Pillar To Post franchisee, believes Pillar To Post inspections are the most [...]
How to Predict Local Home Prices
You?re about to put an offer on a home, but you?re worried that prices will sink and you won?t get the best deal. You?re putting your home on the market and you want to get the most you can for it but you can?t wait forever to sell it. You?ve found a great deal on [...]
Five Ways to Fight a Low Appraisal
What do you do when the appraisal on the dream home you want to buy comes in below the price in the offer the seller has accepted?even as much as 10 to 20 percent below? Chances are that raising the cash for your down payment and closing cost has tapped you out. Finding thousands more [...]
MONEY Magazine Reveals Annual ?MONEY?s 100 Best Places to Live in America?
?MONEY? magazine has revealed the 2011 list of “MONEY’s 100 Best Places to Live in America,” highlighting small towns across the country with populations of 50,000 or less. For the annual cover-story, on sale August 19, MONEY looked for places with the optimal combination of job opportunities, fiscal strength, top-notch schools, safe streets, good healthcare, [...]
95 Percent of Refinancing Borrowers Choose Fixed-Rate Mortgages
In the second quarter of 2011, fixed-rate loans accounted for about 95 percent of refinance loans, based on the Freddie Mac (OTC: FMCC) Quarterly Product Transition Report released yesterday. Refinancing borrowers clearly preferred fixed-rate loans, regardless of whether their original loan was an adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) or a fixed-rate. An increasing share of refinancing borrowers [...]
6 Tips for Success at Real Estate Auctions
RISMEDIA, July 5, 2011?With foreclosures flooding the real estate market, many property buyers and investors are hitting the auction circuit looking to capitalize on the next great deal. For those that are new to the auction block, there are a few ?rules of thumb? you?ll want to keep in mind before placing your bid. PropertyAuction.com [...]
The Value of Home Warranties: Protect Your Wallet
RISMEDIA, June 30, 2011?Even with home sales and prices continuing to fall nationwide, millions of Americans will still navigate the process of buying and selling homes this summer, and for many, the sheer volume of details and decisions can be overwhelming. With so much to consider when buying or selling a home, it can be [...]
Mortgage Insurance Cancellation: The Myths and Realities
RISMedia, June 3, 2011?When it comes to private mortgage insurance (MI), there are several myths that exist that make buyers reluctant to consider a conventional loan with MI as an option when purchasing a home. One of the more common misconceptions is that cancelling MI is a difficult?not to mention time-consuming?process. The irony is that [...]
Your Leadership Needed: Nearly Half of Home Buyers Surveyed Don?t Understand Essential Information about Mortgages
RISMEDIA, May 5, 2011?As the housing market continues to struggle, home buyers appear ill-prepared to take out a mortgage, answering basic questions about mortgage information wrong nearly half (46 percent) of the time, according to a Zillow® Mortgage Marketplace survey. In fact, 44 percent admitted they are not confident in their knowledge of mortgages or [...]
Study Examines the Impact of Homebuyer Education and Counseling on Mortgage Performance
RISMEDIA, April 29, 2011?Potential homeowners who participate in pre-purchase education and counseling programs may be more likely to pay their mortgages on time, although the evidence on this point is not consistent and compelling, according to a study released today by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). The study also finds that those who participate in [...]
House Rich Rule #12 ? Share the Brain Trust
RISMEDIA, April 13, 2011?Don?t let Washington or Wall Street stop the entrepreneurial spirit in you. We are in a period of history right now where as an entrepreneur, you want to build wealth and you can?t rely on anyone else. The real estate market is here for you and the revival is coming. Don?t miss [...]
Real Estate Deep Dive: Raleigh, NC
April 8, 2011?In our last installment, we talked about the Las Vegas market and likened it to investing in stock options – volatile and risky, but with incredible upside potential. Not for the faint of heart. Today we go to the other side of the spectrum. The Blue Chip market of Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina – [...]
The Power of Belief and Expectation
RISMEDIA, April 8, 2011?While you may not always get what you want, you will always get what you expect! Surprisingly, the power of belief and expectation work just as effectively on your feelings of self-doubt and limitation as they do on your thoughts of success and achievement. Think thoughts of defeat or failure and you [...]
What to Watch Out for When Buying a Foreclosure: Help Your Clients Know Which to Buy?and Which to Walk By
RISMEDIA, April 7, 2011?The economy is improving overall and, as a result, some bright spots are showing up in the real-estate market. However, the foreclosure spike, which began around the same time the recession did, isn?t a distant memory just yet. In many areas, foreclosures are still happening; in some areas, those numbers have increased. [...]
March Housing Scorecard Shows Continued Need to Advance Market Stabilization
RISMEDIA, April 7, 2011?The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of the Treasury have released the March edition of the Obama Administration’s Housing Scorecard. Officials caution that the latest housing figures underscore fragility in the housing market and the need to continue efforts to help American families stay in [...]