Approximately 34% of US households do not currently own a home. According to the National Multifamily Housing Council, there are over 43 million households in the United States occupied by renters. There are a number of reasons of course for not owning a home. However, one of the biggest perceived obstacles to homeownership is: Lack… Continue Reading
Are you buying a house and putting down less than 20%? Are you refinancing but have less than 20% equity? Whether you’re buying or refinancing, are you getting a conventional loan? Then you will need PMI. What is PMI? PMI stands for Private Mortgage Insurance. It protects the lender from losing financially if you default… Continue Reading
If the last time you shopped for a mortgage was over a decade ago, then you might be surprised by how much the menu of loan offerings has changed. Immediately following the housing crash, mortgage meltdown, and economic recession of the late 2000s, loan programs began to disappear and an overhaul of industry guidelines and… Continue Reading
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
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
A home is more than brick and stone and wood and nails and cement — there’s a spirit to the place that’s unique to each and every property you’ll visit as you shop for the right one. As I’ve told you many, many times before, buying a home is part brain — planning a purchase… Continue Reading
In the first part of this series, we covered the problems you might encounter because of the public record, and in the second, we discussed fixing issues with your credit file — part three is all about the “other” stuff that didn’t quite fit into the first two. There are countless miscellaneous issues you might… Continue Reading
About a month ago, the vacant house two lots north of me finally sold after being on the market for six months and sitting empty for (my neighbor estimates) about 20 years. That little time capsule was in great shape, but it was super outdated — it didn’t even have central heat and air, which… 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
The news is abuzz with the quarter percent interest increase that came from the Federal Reserve back in mid December, causing all sorts of panic and riots in the street. Well, maybe not riots — but a lot of people are wondering if they need to refinance now or if they’ve already missed their opportunity.… Continue Reading