October 2007
Monthly Archive
17 Oct 2007 06:27 am
Consider Using A Builder-Lender To Finance Your Next Home Purchase
| Despite charges of improprieties against builder owned mortgage companies, home buyers themselves are generally satisfied with their builder-lenders As part of its 11th annual survey of new home buyer satisfaction with their builders, J.D. Power and Associates, for the first time measured the experience of purchasers who used their builders as their lenders in 17 markets of the 24 markets covered in the larger survey. The recent study found that the majority of those who opt to obtain financing through their builder do so because of competitive rates. They also claimed the process was easier and more seamless, according to the global marketing information services firm. |
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search for : mortgage companies, builder-lenders
16 Oct 2007 07:11 am
This Buyer’s Market Ripe For Making Real Profits
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This buyer’s market is characterized in the same fashion as buyer’s markets in years past — a huge surplus of unsold properties. As a result, single home and condo prices have experienced a decline for well over the past 18 months. So, buyers need to ask themselves “is now the time to buy”? Will prices continue to decline, stay the same, or begin to edge back up to pre-real-estate-bubble prices. Either way, there may be no better time and now to act. The best strategy for real estate investing and the best way to make money in real estate is to buy low, when the conditions are in the favor of the buyer to buy. |
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search for : buyer’s market, condo prices, real estate investing
15 Oct 2007 06:59 am
Craving Community: The New American Dream
| The authors, drawing from sociological studies and adding anecdotes from themselves and others plow well-worn ground: that people were not meant to live in isolation — and that car-driven suburban land planning, along with the Internet, keep us in isolated cocoons, watching videos in our home theaters rather than going to the movies and having wine in our cellars rather than bars, locked away from our neighbors, rather than fostering healthy relationships in more nurturing village settings. So what’s the answer? For many community planners, it’s a return to village life known variously as Traditional New Developments, New Urbanism and Smart Growth, ideas which have been tried, though not widely adopted, since the early 1980s. |
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search for : return to village life, Traditional New Developments, New Urbanism, Smart Growth
14 Oct 2007 07:20 am
Home Staging As A Sales Tool
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The concept of staging homes was created in 1971, but staging isn’t so large that home staging businesses are fighting each other for customers says Lamay Hostetler, a partner in Phoenix-based Staging Solutions, LLC. “It seems like there’s so much business out there that there’s really no need to be competitive,” she said. “In most industries it’s not like that.” Halvorsen and Judy King, owner of Cave Creek-based Advantage Staging, worked together Tuesday on staging Randy Hunt’s vacant house in Ahwatukee. Together, they set up a temporary bed in the home’s master bedroom, using a bed skirt, boxes, an air mattress, a mattress pad, a comforter and pillows. They placed paintings and plastic plants around the house , did some light cleaning and more work.
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search for : staging homes, home staging business
13 Oct 2007 06:01 am
How The Low-Rate, Teaser Loans Affect Renters Too
| Runaway foreclosure numbers are impacting a new group of victims — renters. Across the country, a rising number of landlords are falling behind on mortgage payments, sending their properties into foreclosure. In many cases, their tenants are being forced out of their homes. Often, the tenants’ first notice of trouble occurs when they get a letter from the bank directing them to leave the premises. In many cases, the homes and apartments entering foreclosure are owned by investors who got low-rate teaser mortgages and intended to hold the buildings for a few years and then sell them at a profit — before their mortgage rates rose. Now, with the housing market badly depressed in many markets, the owners can’t sell the homes or afford the higher mortgage payments. Many are defaulting. |
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search for : Runaway foreclosure numbers, low-rate teaser mortgage
12 Oct 2007 06:43 am
The Fine Art Of Haggling For Your Next Home
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According to a Consumer Reports National Research Center survey of 2,167 households , more than 90 percent of those who tried to talk down the price succeeded on furniture, electronics, appliances, even medical bills. The most successful hagglers shaved an average $50 off the asking price of an individual item or service. Of those who yakked their way to a better deal, 94 percent scored a lower price at least once during the past three years. Overall, 61 percent of respondents bargained at least once during that time. Not for the introverted, shy or withdrawn, successful negotiations do require a level of assertiveness and the willingness to risk rejection. |
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search for : successful haggler, successful negotiations
11 Oct 2007 06:50 am
Why Good Credit Is Important When Seeking A Mortgage
| Good credit is the number one determining factor that will convince a lender to offer you the best mortgage interest rate, at the principal amount you want. Mortgage lenders look to your ability to repay a loan, your history of credit debt repayment, the likelihood you’ll make timely payments (as indicated by past payment history), the amount you will put down on the loan, and the value of the home. Lenders analyze your credit scores (FICO) and credit history, the loan-to-value ratio of the desired loan and your (total) debt-to-income ratio. |
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search for : Good credit, mortgage interest rate, credit score
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