14 results for tag: Mortgage

Top Real Estate Agents Tips for Sellers

As most of you know, we are now in the midst of the home-buying season. So, I wanted to provide people looking to sell their property this year with some information about how to maximize your selling price while minimizing your stress. To do this, I contacted some of the top real estate agents I know in the Metropolitan area and asked each of them for one tip.  Their incredibly insightful, unique and valuable tips are listed below. 1.  Prepare to Sell.  To get top dollar, it is important to spend the time upfront before listing your house for sale.  Two of the most important things are (i) to prepare the house for the market ...

How NOT to Select a Real Estate Lawyer

If you will be purchasing or selling a home this year you will need a real estate lawyer for the legal work. There are a few things that you should look for when deciding on the attorney. First, you should always employ the cheapest attorney you can find. That way, after spending hundreds of thousands on a home, you will be able to save a few dollars on the only person in the transaction whom owes a fiduciary duty to you and may be able to identify issues that can save you thousands of dollars in potential future costs if they are experienced and diligent. Penny-wise anybody? Second, if you have a family member who is an attorney but does not ...

The Party is Over for the Lowest Mortgage Interest Rates

If anybody is in the middle of the mortgage process now, either refinancing or purchasing a home, you are probably aware that the mortgage rates have increased dramatically (i.e. .25-.5%) since mid-April. If you are not aware, then you certainly are not working with me or anybody else who is watching out for your best interests. For everybody else, you will know soon since the newspapers are very good at writing stories about interest rates (either up or down) when it is already "Old News." The "new normal" is likely going to be interest rates in the low to mid 4s for the short term and probably upper 4s by the end of the ...

Five Things to Know About Your Credit Report

One of the biggest issues facing homebuyers today are problems with their credit scores. Unlike in the past, the available loan products and interest rates will vary significantly with a person’s credit score. Below are 5 Do’s and Don’ts to make sure that your credit score is as high as it can be: 1. DO-Make your mortgage on time and in no event later than the 30th day of the month. Even one 30 day late mortgage in a year can drop your credit score by 40-50 points and make you ineligible for certain mortgage products. If something has to be paid late, make it anything other than the mortgage.  2. DON’T-Allow your credit card balances ...

Giving Thanks for 7 Things that Surprised Me in Housing and Mortgages in 2014

Has it really been nearly a month since Halloween?  Apparently so since traffic on the highways, near the mall mecca of Paramus, is reminding me that holiday shopping mode is in full swing!  However, before we get there, we need to fulfill the American rite of giving “Thanks” for the overabundance of food in our country by gorging ourselves on turkey, stuffing and sides. We then leave room for dessert pies, including the season bellwether, pumpkin pie on which with we will “gourd” ourselves! Like the variety of side dishes on Thanksgiving, some of which are tasty and satisfying such as stuffing and others which are sour and kind of mushy ...

It is Possible to Buy a Home Now with Less than Perfect Credit and a Small Down Payment!

There’s a general feeling in the market that in order to get a mortgage now, a person has to have a credit score over 700 credit score; a very high income and a large down payment.  This can be difficult since the economy is still recovering so that high paying jobs are hard to come by. Also, due to the high cost of living, it is hard to save a lot of money in order to buy a house. But none of that is necessary.  So long as you have a job and a little money saved or available to use from some source, you can buy a home! For example, on a Fannie Mae or a Freddie Mac loan you can put down as little as 5%, and on an FHA loan, you can ...

Networking Do’s and Don’ts for the New Year

As 2014 comes to a close, I wanted to provide some networking tips that will hopefully help make 2015 a more profitable year. Note that this list is not designed to be exhaustive or objective (i.e. these are my own tips) so feel free to disagree. I originally intended to write 4 do’s and 4 don’ts for the 8 days of Hanukkah. But, because I had more to say, I am now going to write 6 do’s and 6 don’t for the 12 days of Christmas.  But, whichever you celebrate (or if you celebrate both, neither or something else), these tips are designed for you! The 6 Don’t (i.e. “Don’t be naughty”) 1. At a networking event, don’t hand out ...

“Don’t Buy a Home As an Investment” A Faulty Logic and Fuzzy Math

While I was reading the Sunday paper I came across this article from The Wall Street Journal and got intrigued by the title. Don’t Buy a Home as an Investment: After Costs, It Typically Doesn’t Yield Much. Think of It as a Place to Live. I always enjoy the Wall Street Journal’s columns and generally agree with them. However, in this column listed above, the author came to his conclusion first and then tried to justify it. He neglected to include several important factors and then he discounted his extraordinary return on his Manhattan apartment for no apparent reason. Read more here: Don’t Buy a Home as an Investment Dear Mr. ...

So You Want to Buy a House in 2015 (or Refinance)?

If you are looking at the mild, dry weather this winter and the low interest rates and thinking "We should look into buying a house this year," then this is for you. Likewise, if you have an interest rate above 4.25%; want to change from a 30 year fixed to a 15 year; have PMI on your loan but an increased house value; have an FHA loan with PMI of 1.35%; or want to convert an ARM to a fixed, this is for you too. But, in order to get a new loan, there are a few things that you should know.  Though some of them are "self-evident" and would appear to the untrained eye to be common sense, trust me that they are not. I would say "don't try these at ...

Changes to FHA Mortgage Insurance Premiums January 2015

Great news for anybody who either has an FHA loan or is looking to buy a property with an FHA loan. On January 26, 2015, which is just a few days from the taping of this video, the FHA will be lowering their Mortgage Insurance premiums. The current FHA Mortgage Insurance premium is 1.35%. It's going to be lowered by 0.5%, so from currently 1.35% to 0.85%. This represents the savings to people taking out FHA loans anywhere from $90 to $300 per month every month that you have that loan. So anybody has an FHA loan. you may be available to do a Streamline Refinance. A Streamline Refinance has very low documentation and has no closing cost so it ...