We Bought a House Sight Unseen—and It Turned Out To Be a Total Nightmare Don't go too crazy to get that house! One of the new ways some buyers are trying to beat the market and get into properties is to submit contracts on homes "sight unseen". I've done that in the past [...]
Reasons to Invest in Real Estate vs. Stocks I'm not an investment counselor nor do I play one on TV But I have been in the real estate game for over 30 years and I can boldy say that real estate should be a significant part of any investment portfolio. It might be [...]
The Guide to Buying a Home Sight Unseen Will COVID create more virtual home purchases? It's an interesting question. Most everything in our lives and economy has been disrupted by the virus and new pathways and ways of doing things have been engendered by this reality. Deciding on a home, and then executing [...]
It might be time to move....or it might be time to re-finance A confluence of circumstances have driven rates to historic lows and I'm getting tons of calls from clients about seizing the opportunity to purchase, to re-finance, or to leverage their equity for a home improvement. This is a good article about [...]
Real Estate: A Port in the Storm! I have blogged extensively about how well the real estate market has been holding up in our region. Here's an excellent article about some of the underlying reasons for that. Look for my regular posts that discuss up to the date information on the local market [...]
Econ 301. Why mortgage rates often don't mirror Fed actions I get questions about this A LOT! Here's a good article that explains some of the reasons why Fed actions on short term rates don't always mirror what happens to the long term mortgage market rates.
Selling real estate? Know your stuff with Capital Gains Taxes Most (though not all) people who sell a principle residence that they have lived in for at least the last two years don't have tax consequences when they sell, but what if your property and situation doesn't fit into that nice little box? [...]
Waiting for the next economic downturn to buy is a mistake Even though we are in the midst of a historically long economic expansion and it is extremely robust at this point, there are few recessionary clouds on the horizon. And as this article states when it comes, as it inevitably will, real [...]
The economic hits just keep on coming!! These days when I go to post it's not about whether there is good economic news to share, but about which indicator of it to choose from! Nice problem to have. Rates continue to hover near historic lows which all of my buyer clients are loving, [...]
It's about to get easier (and harder) to get a loan Changes in how FICO credit scores are calculated make managing your credit score more important than ever! The good news, these changes will likely improve the scores of those who already have good to exceptional scores as their successful financial management habits [...]