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By Lindsey, on August 8th, 2011
Do you ever feel like you are in a hamster wheel deciding when the best time would be to jump off?
Well you are not the only one. There are a few things to consider before deciding when to buy a home. There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that the housing market is highly unstable presently. Waiting around for it to stabilize would be foolish if you take a look at your current financial situation and decide it is a good time for you, personally, to buy a home.
Get your ducks in a row.
Raise your credit score and make sure your debt-income ratio is at the correct percentage.
What is the correct percentage for your debt-income ratio to be? According to the Lending Tree website, your debt-to-income ratio should be no higher than 36 percent. Anything higher and you run the risk of denial or higher interest rates.
Job Stability.
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(560 words, 0 images, estimated 2:14 mins reading time)
By Lindsey, on June 10th, 2011
Rental prices have gone up dramatically. As with everything in the economy, the rates follow supply and demand. Now that there are more foreclosures, there are more people looking to rent homes. If the home prices aren’t enough to entice you to call your local buyers agent, maybe checking out local rent will be.
Rent is up almost 8% in the last 10 years according to CNN Money. In a Trulia report out of 50 cities that were covered, it was cheaper to buy in 36 of the cities than it was to rent!
Home buyers are overly cautious. In order to break the cycle of indecision, it is time to break out the calculators and do some real number crunching. Make sure you have a timeline of how long you will be renting vs how long you would stay in a home if you purchased it. Start with the price-to-rent ratio. This means you divide the price of the house by the cost annually it would be to rent a similar one. If the rate ends up to be above 20%, it is generally smarter to rent if you are only planning on staying about 5-7 years.
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(333 words, 0 images, estimated 1:20 mins reading time)
By Lindsey, on May 22nd, 2011
Is the housing market coming back around yet? There isn’t anything obvious to confirm this assumption, but home prices are rising in certain areas.
For instance, The Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord, NC-SC area home prices have risen 12.2% since the beginning of 2010. This is good news for anyone who has bought a home in the area in the last year, the median home price being $$195,000. Their homes have gained value over the last year. This is not the case everywhere.
I will give you a quick rundown of the areas where home prices have gone up and then will compare them to the areas where home prices have declined over the last year. See which category you fall into if you have bought a home in the last year.
Coming in second to the Charlotte area is Buffalo, Niagara Falls, NY. The prices of homes here has risen 10.8 % in the last year bringing the median home price to $118,100.
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(602 words, 0 images, estimated 2:24 mins reading time)
By Lindsey, on March 16th, 2011
Are you a teacher, a firefighter, law enforcement officer, or an emergency medical technician? If so, you may qualify for the Good Neighbor Next Door incentive that is offered through the US Housing and Urban Development program.
What is the Good Neighbor Next Door Sales Program and who qualifies for it?
The Good Neighbor Next Door Sales Program is a program when the HUD offers a large incentive, a discount of 50% off the listing price of the home. This applies to homes in “revitalization areas.” These areas are designated by HUD and authorized by Congress under the National Housing Act. It promotes revitalization through more opportunities to own homes in the areas. HUD uses criteria like household income, the rate of homeownership, and the foreclosure activity on FHA-insured mortgages.
Your local buyers agent can help you find eligible properties in your area.
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(415 words, 0 images, estimated 1:40 mins reading time)
By Lindsey, on March 6th, 2011
So if you didn’t catch the first half of this list last week, check it out here. I have entered the second half of the list below. I would love to hear from people who live in these places or are considering buying in them!
If you think there is a city out there that wasn’t on the list but should have been, let me know and I will pass the word!
1. Winner of Best View for the Money: Deerfield Beach, Florida
Average Home Price in this beach town is $89, 400! Did I just say that? Yes, 89 thousand. This awesome ocean town is within driving distance of the major sports teams in Miami as well as the culture in Ft. Lauderdale. I don’t know about anyone else, but I think I am feeling the effects of Seasonal Affective Disorder and this sounds like a great place to start my sunshine/warm weather therapy.
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(563 words, 5 images, estimated 2:15 mins reading time)
By admin, on February 21st, 2011
If you were thinking about buying real estate last year and thought you might purchase a single family home for under $100,000, you were not alone. A significant number of buyers lwho contacted us for an under-$100K home actually closed on their home.
If you’ve got a great credit history, you may be able to buy a home with little more than the money saved up in the change jar! Low prices combined with historically low interest rates gave these first time home buyers and investment buyers some great deals.
Not surprisingly, about one fourth of them found their property in Ohio. Also represented were Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington.
Buyers agents helped these folks find properties in the in the following specific areas:
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(370 words, 0 images, estimated 1:29 mins reading time)
By Lindsey, on June 25th, 2010
A Perfect Home At A Perfect Price
Sounds perfect, doesn’t it? With the sudden turn of the economy, or not so sudden depending on how you look at it, buyers are now in control with the historically low interest rates and supply exceeding demand in the current housing market.
Gone are the days when the sellers had buyers wrapped around their finger. Buyers are on the lookout for their perfect home at the perfect price. They are on the quest for the steal of a lifetime while the seller hopes to keep their head above water.
Nearly everyone envisioned a pitch housing market after the tax credit of $8,000 expired, but I don’t think anyone expected the devastation that actually ensued. Promptly after the credit was unavailable the housing market started its wobble.
The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index showed every U.S. region had less sales in June compared to May 2010.
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(645 words, 3 images, estimated 2:35 mins reading time)
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