When you’re selling your home and the closing date is looming, the last phone call you want to take is the one from your buyer informing you that the appraisal for his or her loan has come in below the sale price—and asking if you would consider taking less money. Getting this far with the [...]
“Buy low and sell high” goes the old adage. Home prices and mortgage interest rates may never be this low again, so why aren’t more people thinking about buying a home? Ask the professionals who are supposed to know the answer and you’ll get someone else to blame. Realtors fault lenders for making it too [...]
One of the editors in our office recently bought her first condo, and while I enjoyed walking her through the process of buying a home, I had to give her some advice along the way. While she was excited to find the perfect place and was eager to move in and start decorating her new [...]
When weighing your options for buying a home, you may hear the same criteria: Have you saved enough money for a down payment? Can you afford the expenses associated with owning a home? Are you going to stay in the home for a short period of time or is this home a place you intend [...]
On the surface, housing market predictions should be picking up: Mortgage rates are at all-time lows, foreclosure filings are roughly 30 percent lower than in the third quarter of 2010, and housing starts were up 15 percent from August to September. However, a closer look reveals that this upswing is not what it seems. The [...]
Did you join real estate expert Ilyce Glink on the last Live Chat? If you missed out, here’s an excerpt with common questions about buying a home, buying rental property, and deciding whether to buying vs. renting Sign up for the next Live Chat on the Equifax Facebook page. Q: Why should I buy instead of [...]
In this series, real estate and mortgage expert Steve Cook takes a look at falling home values: the causes, the effects, why home prices are still falling and what needs to happen to see home values improve. Yesterday, I looked at housing market predictions and asked why people aren’t buying houses despite prices and rates [...]
In this series, real estate and mortgage expert Steve Cook takes a look at housing market predictions for falling home values: the causes, the effects, why home prices are still falling, and what needs to happen to see home values improve. “The hurrier I go, the behinder I get,” said the White Rabbit in Alice [...]
Why are you scrimping and saving, clipping coupons and skipping meals, forgoing vacations, and being extra nice to wealthy relatives in hopes that they might “loan” you a few thousand or remember you in their wills so you can make the down payment on your first experience buying a home? Are you nuts? Don’t you [...]
Foreclosures and short sales aren’t the only story in the housing market. Historically low interest rates should be a sign for existing homeowners that it might be time to refinance. Freddie Mac released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey today and the results are good news for anyone looking to refinance: fixed rate [...]
