Wondering if your lender allows mortgage prepayment? Most lenders today have stopped carrying out mortgage prepayment penalties. Q: You recently answered a question about a rental property owner deciding whether to refinance into a 15-year vs. a 30-year loan. I bought my house in 1976 for $70,000 with a 30-year loan where the mortgage payment [...]
If you want to buy a building, then you should check out these five ways to successfully invest in real estate. Home buyers and real estate investors have been in a good mood for years, since around 2007, when the housing crisis began. And why not? Historic low interest rates combined with home values that [...]
What documents do I get after paying off my mortgage? These are the documents you should receive from your lender after paying off your mortgage. Q: My husband and I love to read your articles in the Home section of our local paper. We are close to paying off our home mortgage and would like [...]
Know who owns the mineral rights on your property when talking to gas and oil companies. When buying a new home, find out if you own the mineral rights. Q: How can it be legal for gas and oil companies to drill under my daughter’s property without her permission? In my mind, that is the [...]
With a proliferation of telemarketing calls and business solicitations, small businesses seem to be constantly fending off unwanted marketing offers. Sorting through solicitations can take up valuable working time for a small business, and opportunities can be lost if you cut short a customer call only to find out that on the other line is [...]
As parents, we want our children to be successful and happy in life, but teaching them financial independence often gets put on the back burner. Many parents wait until their children are graduating from high school or leaving for college to begin talking about money management. Here are three tips to help your children forge [...]
You open the door to your condominium after a long day of work, but before you settle in for the night, you notice water dripping from the ceiling and a large discolored spot on your living room carpet. It appears as if a toilet or bathtub belonging to your upstairs neighbor has overflowed, causing damage [...]
Retiring by the time you turn 40 might sound impossible, but it most definitely can be done. With some careful retirement planning and creative savings strategies, you can begin your retirement while you are still young and spunky. Getting started on your retirement savings as soon as possible is most important. The longer you have [...]
Inventories of homes for sale are so low this spring that bidding wars are breaking out in overheated real estate markets. Rising prices and shrinking supplies are hitting buyers with a double whammy as they anxiously scroll through limited choices to find a house to buy before prices and mortgage rates rise even more. In [...]
Life insurance is one of those topics about which I often hear questions. Many people don’t quite understand why they need to pay for a life insurance policy—or they are afraid that they might eventually need to use one. Most of us want to insure that our partner and/or children are taken care of financially [...]
