You probably have heard the concept of making extra principal payments to reduce interest and payoff your mortgage early. The concept may be simple, but it is often overlooked and rarely practiced. A typical promissory note amounts to incredible interest over thirty years. For example, on a thirty year $100,000 loan at 9%, you will [...]
Washington DC is a great area to live. In spite of being the national capital, it is far from being a congested concrete jungle. Rather it is a sober place with buildings of national and international importance scattered here and there. If you are planning to buy a second home for yourself or you have [...]
Some are wondering if now is a good time to even invest in any type of real estate. Some are worried about the current state of the markets, the economy and current job situation. There is good reason to worry, however, if you have the financial backing now is a good time to invest. The [...]
It has been an eye opening experience the last few years about jobs and real estate. Many had rose colored glasses on and kept telling themselves that everything would be alright. Others were just not motivated enough to think beyond today. Those two groups likely lost homes and/or businesses. While still others took a stand [...]
It’s been a few years now that the real estate crisis just keeps sliding downward, but have we learned anything from it? We are supposed to learn from our mistakes and consciously try not to make them again, right? Well, there are those who have not, but there are also people who are learning not [...]
Mortgage holders are really struggling in today’s economy. This leaves the door wide open for mortgage re-financers to come in and take everything you have if you are not careful. It’s easy to get sucked into a scam when you are wanting to lower your mortgage payments in order to save your home from foreclosure. [...]
Whenever you sell a home, it is very important to make sure the home’s problems have been taken care of as well as possible. It may cost you an out of pocket expense but at the same time, you may also be able to increase the selling price of your home to recoup those expenses. [...]
While everyone knows and understands that the real estate markets have been bad, the economy has been bad and the job markets have been bad for several years now. What you may not know are the behind-the-scenes issues that have not helped the markets at all in 2011. Real Estate prices have really gone down, [...]
Not only are costs associated with real estate higher than in the past so are energy prices. Even if mortgage rates are lower than they have been in several years, the difference can be offset by the cost of electricity alone. It won’t do you any good to save $300 on a mortgage payment with [...]
Foreclosure is not a pretty option for either the homeowner or the lending institution. The homeowner does not want to lose their home and the lending institution does not want to get stuck with an unpaid mortgage. That’s where loan modifications come in. So, do they work? Will the lending institutions agree to it? Probably [...]
For many, giving up their home is a stressful and upsetting thing to do. But, a lot have done it because they simply could not keep up with the mortgage for any number of reasons. The current economy has caused so many to give up a mortgage. The are pros and cons to any decision [...]
Good news for the real estate markets. New building permits are on the rise and will be a boost for the markets next year. New construction coupled with low mortgage rates will help the struggling real estate industry tremendously. Just when it seems that things could not get any worse, a light can be seen [...]
It’s about time to have a little bit of good news where the Washington, DC real estate market is concerned. Washington, DC is one of only a handful of metropolitan areas that had the best annualized performance for the year 2011. This is good news as many others areas saw depreciation values drop even further. [...]
The recent economic crisis has many people rethinking how to buy real estate at a lower cost. Something new that the Washington, DC area has started seeing popping up are modular homes. No, not manufactured or mobile homes, but modular homes. These homes are just as pretty as traditional real estate but cost less. If [...]
Since Washington, DC and the surrounding areas have such a large and diverse population, there is something for everyone. Of course, most people will want something that is comfortable to them and their lifestyle. Here are a few of the hottest markets in the real estate arena: Anacostia Waterfront – This is the fastest growing [...]
You hear a lot in the news about foreclosures, refinancing and a slow economy. While all of those are very important, there is one aspect of the Washington, DC real estate market that is being overlooked. That is new home construction. It’s not just the Washington, DC area but the United States as a whole. [...]
Today’s economy is not a bowl of cherries. The nation has suffered a severe hardship the last few years and we are not out of the woods yet. Did you know that home prices have dropped more in this current depression than they did during the Great Depression of the 1930′s. That is staggering. This [...]
The housing crisis have caused many homes to be available on the market in the Washington, DC, Maryland and Virginia areas. There are homes available in just about any price range. It is just a matter of taking the time to look for what you like and visiting a lender to get funding in place [...]
We all know that home prices are well down compared to their peak in 2006. Interest rates are also well down hitting historical lows in recent weeks. Has this come together to make housing affordable? It’s an interesting question, more so when you consider how hard lenders are making it to get a mortgage, and [...]
If you are looking for a cheap foreclosed home in Maryland, then you may need to consider acting sooner rather than later. RealtyTrac figures are showing that Maryland foreclosures are slowly spiral downwards, with current estimates putting the foreclosure rate at in every 2,444 housing units. If you compare that to the national average of [...]
If you are looking to buy a home, then, considering the current market conditions, be prepared to lose value before you start to see any gains. This means any home purchases made in this environment has to be on the understanding that it’s a long term investment. While some areas are seeing slight gains, it’s [...]
Statistics can often be misleading and a quick look at the latest data published on Zillow wouldn’t offer much in the way of hope for home buyers. However, a closer look reveals that lower priced homes are weathering the financial storm reasonably well. It makes sense to an extent. Low priced homes don’t have a [...]
If you are in the process of looking to buy a new home, prepare yourself for some interest rate shocks. That will be one of the first effects you’ll feel if Congress fails to reach any sort of agreement on extending the national debt limit. While an increase in interest rates will hurt, and it [...]
There are a lot of ‘cheap’ homes on the market so I guess we should qualify that title by adding ‘not nasty’ – there are plenty of cheap and nasty homes around, and they are dirt cheap – in fact, it’s the dirt you’re paying for. However, away from the cheap and nasty homes, there [...]
Home buyers are always trying to push the closing price of a home as far down as possible. What some buyers don’t realize is that some prices have been squeezed as far as possible. This is not because of stubbornness on the seller’s behalf, but because their hands are tied as well. For some home [...]
There is a new product on the market that may appeal to those about to purchase their next (or first) home. Home equity insurance is designed to protect home owners against any future losses of equity due to a fluctuating real estate market. You can be protected by up to 20% of the homes purchase [...]
If you are in the market to buy a new home, the one catch-cry you are likely to hear is that it’s a ‘buyers market‘ and there are bargains to be had everywhere. It’s true too, there are bargains to be had in a lot of areas, but every home on the market is not [...]
Washington DC real estate is still holding strong when compared to most other real estate markets in the US. Prices in DC1 have either held their own or risen slightly compared to this time last year. Nationally, real estate prices have fallen around 4% so a rise of up to 6% augers well for the [...]
The current state of the real estate market is not being truly reflected in statistics that are being published. Recent numbers show that median house prices in the U.S. are hovering around the $160,000 mark. However, when you look at the distressed sales component, they are around the 40% mark, severely skewing those median house [...]
You have to be careful when reading articles that suggest you ‘buy now’. Do you take a second look at who is offering the advice because sometimes it is vested interest at work. Not vested interest in a direct sort of way, as in hoping you will buy from them, but vested interest in a [...]
