1. Most of the time, if you have a documented pre-approval, you will get your mortgage, so a mortgage contingency is not really necessary, right? Wrong. It is only unnecessary if: You can afford to lose 5-10 percent of your purchase price. The mortgage contingency...
What is the Best Offer? Whose interests are being served by rushing offers and accepting offers that close the fastest? Some of the time, the seller wants and needs a quick closing. Some of the time, the seller's agent is advising their client to take the easy deal,...
Consider the not so perfect house; why prioritizing the location, lot size, and lay of the land before considering the interior features of the home is so important in this market. These are challenging times for home buyers. Housing inventory is at record low levels....
Not every year is the same, but there's a pattern. First, though, I want to remind you that it takes about five weeks to close on a house, once you have an accepted offer. Here, I am talking about when you get your offer accepted, not when you close. So, for example,...
If you are thinking of buying a house or condo, your credit score matters. A low score can: Cause you to be unable to get a conventional mortgage. Drive up the price of your mortgage, because you are a higher-risk borrower. Sudden changes in your credit score, after...
When you're on the market for a new home you'll have lots of housing types to choose from. One of these is the cooperative, or co-op for short. Co-ops differ from traditional housing in a lot of important ways. They won't appeal to everyone, but some are sure to see...
The day you close on your home is big day. After weeks of searching, open houses, negotiating and securing financing you're finally ready to accept the keys to your new home. But what actually happens on closing day? Most buyers know they'll be signing a lot of...
Real estate transactions are rarely a done deal once the purchase contract has been signed. There are still a few steps to get through before you reach your closing day, one of which is the title search. This is when documents on the history of a property are reviewed...
So after a lot of open houses and tough decisions, you finally have a signed deal. At this point, it might be tempting to pop open the champagne but don't just yet. Just because you have a signed contract doesn't mean things can't go wrong. There are still a few steps...
Anyone who's looked into the home buying process will have come across the term "earnest money" a few times. What is it? Simply put, it's a "good faith" deposit that is paid once you've made an offer on a home. It's intended as a way to show the seller that you're...
In the real estate game, you'll often hear the phrase “Days on the Market” (DOM). For home buyers, this is a crucially important term to understand. Why? Because it tells you how long a home listing has been on the market. The higher that number gets the more its...
If you're a home buyer looking for a bargain (what buyer isn't?) then one option to consider is a HUD home. This is a home owned by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. When a buyer who took out an FHA loan forecloses, the property goes to HUD. But...