What happens when the co-owner of your home dies with debt? This reader is concerned that they’ll get stuck with the bill or worse yet, that they’ll lose the home. Q: My mother and I currently share ownership of my home. We own the home equally. I've been reading some of your posts on ThinkGlink.com [...]
Best summer vacation ideas for families on a budget. Budget-friendly summer vacation ideas for families who can't afford to travel this summer. Are you struggling to plan a summer vacation on a budget? You’re not alone, according to a recent Bankrate survey 60 percent of Americans who aren’t planning a summer vacation have decided they [...]
Mortgage delinquency rates are down, credit delinquencies are up. CoreLogic reports 30-day-plus delinquency is the lowest it’s been in over a decade. It’s a good news, not-so-good news situation. First, the good news: More people are paying their mortgages on time. Unfortunately, credit delinquencies are up as more people are having trouble getting their credit [...]
How do you decide if a home equity loan is right for you? An honest look at your current debts and a talk with your mortgage lender may be able to help. Q: We’re thinking that we don’t want to move forward with a home equity loan we applied for. We’re pretty far along in [...]
Will buying a house hurt your credit? Research on how taking out a mortgage impacts your credit score is finally here to answer this age-old question. Your credit score will fall an average of 15 points over a period of four months after buying a house, according to consumer analysis by LendingTree. More specifically, your [...]
A recent report from the Harvard JCHS takes a look at the important differences in the housing market since the 1980s. Many staples of American life look different in the three decades since 1988, from big hair to the cost of college to the rising number of Americans burdened by housing costs. In a recent [...]
Millennial’s student loans have kept them from becoming homeowners because they can’t afford a down payment or tanked their credit defaulting on a loan. If you’re hoping your children will be able to buy a home of their own someday, you might want to keep an eye on how much money they’re taking out in [...]
When it comes to buying a home, Millennials are taking about 5 years longer to become homeowners. Here, I take a look at some factors that may be causing this shift in the average first-time homebuyer age. I live for a happy ending. Whether it’s in the movies, a fairy-tale wedding (hello, Harry and Meghan!), [...]
It doesn’t often happen that the lender declines to do a mortgage modification six times, and then out of the blue cancels the loan balance and releases the lien. In this case, the lender did just that, but the homeowner is still worried she might lose her mortgage. Q: I’ve been working with my bank [...]
My husband is going to take out a mortgage with my mother-in- law, put the house into a trust, name themselves as the trustees, and my husband and his siblings as the beneficiaries. Is taking out a mortgage with my mother-in- law a good idea? Q: My husband and I made on offer to my [...]
