In a prior blog post, we talked about what home buyers should know about interest rates, and how rates impact home buying power. Home buyers should also know how their credit score affects the mortgage interest rate they’ll be offered! You cannot control the market...
In a prior blog post, entitled “What Home Buyers Need to Know About Appraisals,” we explained how appraisals work, and how they can sink a home sale when the appraisal value does not agree with the sale price. Yet appraisals can delay a home sale for another reason as...
With home inventory slim in many areas of the country, home buyers face plenty of competition! A mortgage pre-approval can make the difference between getting your purchase offer accepted, or having the seller choose another offer by a better-prepared buyer. A...
Could your debts hold you back from buying a home? It’s possible, because mortgage underwriting includes calculating your DTI, which stands for debt-to-income ratio. The more debt you have outstanding, the less money you have available for a mortgage payment. Cutting...
Renters are feeling pressured by rising rental costs, and the financial strain is making it increasingly difficult for them to make the transition to home ownership. In Zillow’s recent Housing Aspirations Report, renters in 20 U.S. major metropolitan areas were...
A large portion of Americans remain burdened by rental costs, according to the 2017 State of the Nation’s Housing Report, published by the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University. The report shows that while homeowners are enjoying the benefit of rising...
Home buyers might be confused about the role earnest money plays in their real estate transaction. There’s good reason for this, since earnest money isn’t technically required! Customs regarding the amount of earnest money that should be offered – and whether it’s...
If you're carrying student loan debt, you're not alone. According to a recent article by Forbes, there are 44 million active student loan borrowers in the U.S., representing about 1.3 trillion in outstanding debt. About 29.4 million of these borrowers are...