Expert Advice from Amy & Kyle Bergquist at Keller Williams Legacy Partners
We are refinancing our home. Again. For the third time in eight years of ownership. Does that tell you anything about what mortgage rates have been doing? Dropping, dropping, dropping. Oh yeah, and also that we have no intention of moving. In 2004 we started with a 30-year fixed rate mortgage. In 2005 we refinanced to another 30-year mortgage because we originally had a NINJA loan (No Income, No Job or Asset- hey, we were
A while back we talked about how appraisals can impact a deal. A new twist is that buyers have recently been making their offers more attractive by voluntarily removing the appraisal clause. They take the risk that the appraiser finds that the “value” of the home to be less than the contract price, and they have to bring more cash to the closing. Today we’re going to quantify that risk. Banks require appraisals to help
Real estate appraisals have been a hot button issue over the past few years. First, appraisers were implicated as a contributing factor to the real estate bubble in the mid 2000s. The line of thinking was that they were focused less on the accuracy of their results than on their next deal. Next, the government responded by clamping down on the appraisal process to prevent lenders and real estate agents (who were both also implicated
Yesterday was our first day out on the car shopping adventure. Kyle and I were both pleasantly surprised with the experience so far. Based on the initial research we did, we’ve decided there are 4 car makes that we find acceptable for our needs. So before we start price negotiations we’ll need to visit at least 4 dealerships. We went to Dealership #1 where we asked to test drive two cars. The salesperson was helpful
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) has been leading a push to get part of the Federal Home Buyer Tax Credit extended. But don’t get too excited – their proposal won’t give allow anyone new to claim the credit. Before diving into the details, here is a quick review of the current rules of the game: 1. First time buyer or existing owner (extra criteria). 2. Binding purchase contract by April 30, 2010. 3. Closing