The route of buying and selling a home can be a daunting one, littered with pitfalls and traps.  From loan options to knowing what to bid, the buying market is a minefield to be maneuvered deftly.  For sellers, it’s about which broker is right for you, home preparation for prospective buyers, and settling on the perfect purchasing price.  All these little things taken together can add up to a mess of a headache.  Below, we will take a look at some of the issues you may be facing as you attempt to buy or sell a home successfully. For new and experienced home buyers alike, interviewing prospective buyer’s agents is the first step.  Once you find one you trust, try to get a referral to a mortgage broker (for the home loan) and compare their rates with your own banks.  Once with your chosen lender, you can request a loan pre-approval letter that will verify your income and also pull a credit report on you.  Understand the type of loan you want – Check out The Canseco Group … [Read more...]

This age-old question must be made on an individual basis and each family must answer some prep questions before deciding. Mobility Are you ready to move every year or every other year if necessary? Owning your own home provides stability, however renting is volatile, you may be faced with a myriad of conditions which require that you move.  The rent may become too high, the landlord might default on major repairs, you may hate the neighborhood due to deterioration or a high crime rate, and so on. Factored into to the moving is the cost for the movers, and reconnection fees as well as broken or lost items resulting from the move. Often time’s children have change schools and the day-to-day lives of family members are disrupted several times during the course of their life times. According to psychologists, moving is one of the major life stressors.  Owning your own home would mean that you are planning on staying in one place and that would reduce a lot of this stress. … [Read more...]

The real estate bust in the USA has caused many potential home owners and lending banks to rethink their strategies. To avoid the flux of buyers who purchase homes they really cannot afford, banks are making it more difficult to get the mortgages. Down payments have ballooned over the last couple of years. The government has also called for a gradual ten percent increase minimum on down payments on conventional loans for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgages in the public sector. The private real estate sector is meeting that requirement and going beyond the minimum amount as a safety net against potential buyers who really cannot afford the homes they are purchasing. This in turn, will cushion their investment in the real estate as house pricing continue to plummet. The Wall Street Journal by real-estate portal Zillow.com, reports that the average conventional mortgage down payment in nine major states rose to twenty-two percent. The conventional mortgage rates have doubled … [Read more...]

The Home Path Mortgage is a program run by Fannie Mae in an effort to provide incentives for prospective home owners looking to purchase foreclosed upon property, such as condos, town homes, and family abodes.  The program allows for a low down payment of only 3% as a benefit for those unable to afford conventional financing.  On top of the ability to pay through your own savings, you have the option of going through a grant or a secured loan from a non-profit, state, or local government.  On top of these flexible mortgage terms, the Home Path Mortgage program adds two highly coveted features -- There is no appraisal and no mortgage insurance.  Appraisals can potentially disrupt or outright kill your purchase.  And with no PMI, or Private Mortgage Insurance, there is no addition of insurance costs added to your monthly mortgage payment – This can save you hundreds of dollars alone.  Thanks to the terms of the Home Path Mortgage, you are literally saving yourself both time and … [Read more...]