Been thinking of buying a home? You’ll want the right team. You see, there are a lot of professionals involved in the homebuying process. And when these people can function as a team, the buyer is much more likely to end up where they want to be…in their new home. The lender is an integral […]
August 14, 1935 – this date was the establishment of Social Security, which was a breakthrough movement in caring for our country’s elderly during their retirement years.Today, about 65 million or 1/6 of Americans collect benefits and the average monthly retirement amount received in January 2022 was $1,614 per month or about $19,370 per year. […]
There are some very difficult decisions which can tend to arise when you’re a homeowner. Sometimes, those decisions are what can make or break the idea of renting vs buying. If you think about it, the idea of an asset which is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars can be slightly terrifying to some! Not […]
If you’ve thought about waiting until mortgage rates come down until your buy a home, you might not be making the best decision. Here’s a reason – if you are correct, and the rates do come down by two percent, the savings you benefit from a lower rate will most likely be devoured by the […]
This topic makes me think of a record. Remember back in the day, watching records spin while you listened to your favorite music? The housing market, especially when it comes to affordability, almost makes me think of those spinning records. A question many of us are asked as realtors is “when is the market going […]
“It’s a fact that many households are impacted by higher mortgage rates as they no longer earn the qualifying income for the median-priced home.” Nadia Evangelou, NAR Economist. What this means is that the rapid rise in mortgage rates during 2022 is coupled with continued appreciation of home prices. This has limited the number of […]
I’m sure you’ve heard, but mortgage rates are still rising. It’s causing some would-be buyers to pause their decisions until they determine whether rates are going to come back down. It may be possible, but the probability is that prices are going to continue to increase. According to Freddie Mac, the 30-year fixed-rate on December 23, […]
There are four of the five factors which affect the sale of any home – which owners can actually control. Those are price, condition, terms and the agent you select. The one thing you definitely cannot control is the location of the home – but you do of course have the ability to adjust the […]
In 2021, the tax-free gift amount was $15,000. In 2022, that has risen by one thousand dollars, making the limit for tax-free gifts in 2022 a total of $16,000. Tax free means that no tax is due to the donor or the donee. There are provisions that would allow gifts higher than this amount providing […]
Normally, married couples own a home as joint tenant with rights of survivorship. When a spouse dies, the surviving spouse inherits the home and it does not trigger a taxable event. Unfortunately however, the capital gain exclusion is reduced to a single person’s share unless the survivor disposes of the property in the granted time. […]
