What you need to know about buying a home in 2019. From low housing inventory to mortgage rate hikes, let these four tips be your guide. In the twenty-five years or so that we’ve been writing this column, we’ve started each new year with a look back at the year that was (in this case, [...]
No seller disclosure? A home buyer is worried about investing in a home where the seller refuses to provide a seller disclosure form. What are the liabilities? Q: We are first time home buyers and we liked a house which is 20 years old and looks to be in good condition except for kitchen appliance, [...]
Buying your first home: How to find the right mortgage lender that will have your best interests at heart. Hint: It may not be who your real estate agent suggests. Q: I recently saw you on the news and I wanted to reach out to ask you a few questions. I wanted to take the [...]
Before hiring a Realtor, this couple wants to visit a few open houses. Are there consequences for visiting an open house without an real estate agent without one? Q: My wife and I have recently started looking for a home, but we do not have a real estate agent yet. We are currently looking into [...]
Buying a home can be stressful, especially if it’s your first home purchase. CPA Michael Trickey, managing director of The Berkshire Group in Lake Zurich, Illinois, hopes his new book, [amazon_textlink asin='1681022915' text='Finding Home: Everything You Need to Know - and Do - For Home Buying Success,' template='ProductLink' store='thinkglink-20' marketplace='US' link_id='becfb09b-6d76-11e7-a2e1-674bfee7d6fe'] will help first time [...]
It’s been a decade since the housing market collapsed, and home prices have finally regained their previous peak. According to the State of the Nation’s Housing 2017 report, released today by the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University, U.S. home prices rose 5.6 percent in 2016, beating out their pre-recession highs. Across the [...]
Millennial home buyers are buying up a storm of real estate. Finally. For the past decade, since the Great Recession forced so many Americans to put their lives on hold, the world of real estate has been praying for the arrival of Millennials on the home buying scene, to begin buying, selling, fixing up and [...]
Remember gold shag carpet and fake wood paneling? Home design trends come and go - fortunately the wood paneling trend is mostly gone - and the same is true for homebuying trends. If you want to give yourself the best chance at a new home, you’ve got to stay up to date on what’s happening [...]
As a first-time homebuyer, you’ll hear a lot of advice telling you to shop around for a mortgage. Ideally, this doesn’t just mean contacting a bank or two. It also means talking with different types of lenders and brokers. But, frankly, it can be hard to tell the difference between these options—particularly between a mortgage [...]
