Over the last year about 94 percent of home buyers bought a home using a fixed-rate mortgage, taking advantage of the lowest rates in history. However, some of these buyers will be paying more in interest than they need to based on how long they will own their home. If you only plan to be […]
Are you in a position to take advantage of a little known tax loop called a 1031 Exchange? If you are an real estate investor and have an investment property you are interested in selling then a 1031 Exchange may be right for you. Under Section 1031 of the U.S. IRS code, an investor may […]
Interest rates are now lower than they have been in more than 40 years. That said, it might be hard for you to think about your “window of opportunity” being closed. However, reports coming out now state that it will cost more to buy a home at the end of this year. One of the […]
It’s April and once again tax time is upon us. As a tax payer, you are allowed two options for deductions; standard or itemized. Interested tax payers will compare each method to see which one is more advantageous. Some tax programs like Taxcut and TurboTax® make the comparison for you and suggest the best outcome. […]
When buying a home you may be given the opportunity to prepay some interest in the form of “points.” This allows the buyer to bring down their mortgage interest rate by making upfront payments. Points can also be paid for building a home or for improving your principal residence. However, points paid when you refinance […]
We all remember what happened in late 2007 and early 2008 with the real estate market. The bottom dropped out of it and sent our economy into turmoil helped by bad lending practices across several mortgage companies. As a result, the Dodd Frank Reform Act was enacted to help protect the home buyer from predatory […]
Have you ever heard of a water meter key? You might want to read the rest of this post and find out what it is. My suggestion to homeowners with Fairfax homes for sale: buy one before you need it. Oh, no! It’s 3 o’clock in the morning and a pipe just burst. Water is […]
During the normal course of our lives we come to know certain expectations. We expect coffee to be hot, beer to be cold and that Mexican food is almost always spicy. But if any of these expectations are not met, there are no serious consequences. When the value of an item rises, whether by price […]
Spring is in the air! Well for some parts of the country. Remember when mom used to designate a weekend and say it was Spring Cleaning Weekend? It is once again time to start clearing out the winter fog and clutter. Keeping things in your home means you have to take care of them, the […]
As interest rates increase, the group of people who can afford to buy a home decreases just a little. New mortgage rules have gone into effect this year which tightens the payment to income ratios. As our summer demand season approaches, experts are predicting interest rates will rise. A half percent rise in interest rate […]
