Expert Advice: 3 Benefits to Owning a Home

Expert Advice: 3 Benefits to Owning a Home


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

3 Ways Home Equity Can Have a Major Impact on Your Life

Image
  3 Ways Home Equity Can Have a Major Impact on Your Life There have been a lot of headlines reporting on how homeowner equity (the difference between the current market value of your home and the amount you owe on your mortgage) has dramatically increased over the past few years.  CoreLogic  indicated that equity increased for the average homeowner by  $17,000  in the last year alone.  ATTOM Data Solutions , in their latest  U.S. Home Equity Report , revealed that 30.2% of the 59 million  mortgaged homes  in the United States have at least 50% equity. That doesn’t even include the  38% of homes  that are owned free and clear, meaning they don’t have a mortgage at all. How can equity help a household? Having equity in your home can dramatically impact your life. Equity is like a savings account you can tap into when you need cash. Like any other savings, you should be sensible in how you use it, though. Here are three good reasons t...
Read more

Why Getting Pre-Approved Should Be Your First Step

Image
Why Getting Pre-Approved Should Be Your First Step In many markets across the country, the number of buyers searching for their dream homes  greatly outnumbers  the number of homes for sale. This has led to a competitive marketplace where buyers often need to stand out. One way to show you are serious about buying your dream home is to get pre-qualified or pre-approved for a mortgage before starting your search. Even if you are in a market that is not as competitive, knowing your budget will give you the confidence of knowing if your dream home is within your reach. Freddie Mac  lays out the advantages of pre-approval in the ‘ My Home ’ section of their website: “It’s highly recommended that you work with your lender to get pre-approved before you begin house hunting. Pre-approval will tell you how much home you can afford and can help you move faster, and with greater confidence, in competitive markets.” One of the  many advantages  of wo...
Read more

Calm Down! The Real Estate Market is NOT Falling Apart

Image
Calm Down! The Real Estate Market is NOT Falling Apart There has been tremendous volatility in certain markets over the last few weeks  (for example, the stock and currency markets) . When this happens, some tend to lump all of their investments together and create an almost ‘Armageddon’ scenario where everything loses value quickly and dramatically. Real estate is an investment that can get caught up in this hysteria. Does the concern about the current housing market have merit? Financial advisors have been warning us for months that the stock market was ripe for a  “correction.” Experts have been questioning the value of alternative currencies for over a year. In contrast, here are the opinions of three major players in the residential housing market: Ralph DeFranco,  Chief Economist, Arch Capital Services Inc. “It’s premature to worry about a housing bubble. The typical warning signs – excessive debt levels, poor quality loans, exponentially increas...
Read more