A couple of years ago we published a piece about how to get a mortgage even if you have student loans. Back then the mortgage industry was different and eventually the information aged on us. It happens, we can’t possibly predict how things will change, all we can do is try to stay on top… Continue Reading
So, you’re interested in getting a mortgage, but you know for a fact that you’re anything but an ideal candidate. You’ve resigned yourself to a life of renting and living under other people’s rules, because there’s no way you’re going to get your debt-to-income ratio into an ideal place and there’s not a house to… Continue Reading
It wasn’t that long ago that the LA Times wrote a scathing article about the widespread effect that student loan debt is having on the housing market. One report they cited estimated that 414,000 home sales, or eight percent of the average number of annual home sales, would disappear because of this excess debt. The… Continue Reading
Earlier this summer, a friend of mine was looking to buy a house and although their Realtor assured them that it was a slam dunk and everything was fine with their paperwork and they had a legitimately significant down payment, there were complications. In fact, their appraisal came in a little over eight percent short.… Continue Reading
When I was in real estate school, one of the concepts we discussed in great depth was the very real way that neighborhoods grow and die — how real estate is more like a living thing than a simple concept. Instead of a straightforward life cycle, neighborhoods go through growth, decline, decay and rebirth as… Continue Reading
Since I read this article by Maggie McGrath over at Forbes in early January, I’ve been turning it over and over. If you didn’t see it when it exploded onto social media, the gist is that most of America doesn’t have $1,000 in liquid cash at any given time. By the majority, I mean, 56… Continue Reading
There are few dirtier words to the average home buyer than “mortgage insurance.” Article after article has been written on ways to avoid mortgage insurance and on why it’s an awful, terrible thing, but I’m here to tell you something new. Mortgage insurance isn’t always a horrifying scar on your mortgage paperwork. In fact, mortgage… Continue Reading
When you think of the word “conventional,” I know it brings to mind images of things that are considered “normal” or “standard” in our culture. That kind of thinking has caused a great deal of confusion among mortgage-seekers for a very long time because a Conventional mortgage isn’t the default choice for many buyers. For… 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
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