You’ve had your inspections and asked for your repairs — the Seller responded and, presumably, those fixes are underway. Your loan officer has all your paperwork, so now there’s nothing to do but wait. Welcome to Mortgage Limbo. I’ve found this part of the process particularly difficult to write about because as a Buyer, it… Continue Reading
We had our home inspection a couple of weeks ago, but it’s a process that takes a while to resolve, so I’m just now posting about it. Basically, once you reach the home inspection stage, you’re entering a hurry up and wait situation. In my area, a homebuyer has 10 days to get their inspection… Continue Reading
Before we start talking about loan applications, I have a confession to make: I took a lot of shortcuts in getting our mortgage loan. See, when I was a Realtor, I made a lot of connections — a lot of them — and even though it has now been a few years since I surrendered… Continue Reading
As you guys know, I recently put a house under contract with my husband — and although he’s fairly laid back, this process is never easy. As a Realtor, I watched a lot of couples nearly come to blows over garages, carpet and a myriad of other minutia and I wasn’t about to let that… Continue Reading
Last week, I let it slip that I was looking to get back into the housing market. I figured that since the cat’s out of the bag, so to speak, I’d go ahead and take you on a journey with me. As you already know, buying in the current market is a complicated dance between… Continue Reading
You guys are the first to know, besides my Realtor, that I’m on the hunt for a new house. I know, the lady that gives mortgage advice every week is actually going through the process herself — again. Volunteering for this adventure has made me realize something: there’s a lot more to buying a house… Continue Reading
If you’re in the housing market for the first time, the mounting cost of everything can get pretty overwhelming, even if you’ve been saving carefully. After all, everybody knows to save five to 10 percent of our dream home’s cost for a down payment, but fewer people know that we need to be saving another… Continue Reading
Let me tell you all a little story about mortgages. Long, long ago interest rates were extremely high, reaching nearly 19 percent in the early 1980s. At the same time, there were also assumable mortgages: a loan product that allowed a buyer to take over the loan on a home with the terms remaining intact.… Continue Reading
Shopping for a mortgage should be your first step before you even begin to ponder your housing options. Whether you choose to go with an FHA, VA, USDA, Conventional or exotic mortgage is a very personal decision that you’ll have to make on your own, but I thought it might help if I made some… Continue Reading
It’s inevitable that as spring approaches an increasing hoard of buyers will be flocking to the real estate market. The biggest question everybody’s got in the front of their mind, way ahead of whether or not they’ll find the right house or can get into the best school districts, is how much they should spend… Continue Reading