On Tuesday, I wrote about the relative worth of mortgage insurance. For some, it is a welcome expense; for others, it is a needless expense best avoided. But for those who go the mortgage insurance route, it is usually not very long before they want to get rid of that extra monthly insurance payment. To […]

The value of mortgage insurance is different for every potential home buyer. To some, it is a way to get into a larger house or into a house, at all. For others, it is an unnecessary additional expense, only offering an unnecessarily large budget or small down payment. So the value of mortgage insurance is […]

The foreclosure inventory has waned over the last few years and the foreclosure price tags have come up. Where in 2010 or 2011 you could have purchased just about any Real Estate Owned home (foreclosure), it is now a much riskier gambit. This has led many of the talking heads to warn homebuyers of the […]

Many potential homebuyers I have spoken to have told me they are sitting on the sidelines until the fall or winter. The housing market jumped up tremendously last year, and is up again this year, meaning your dollar isn’t going quite as far as it did two years ago. Generally, as we leave the summer […]

FICO recently announced changes to how they will determine your credit score. These changes will help many borrowers on the cusp of eligibility, as they will now exclude  medical bills in collection and paid or satisfied collections when determining your score. What this means is that tens of millions of Americans will see their credit […]

When relocating, whether to the next town or the other side of the country, one of the most important considerations is school district. This is an obvious point for parents, as the school you send your child to is usually one of the primary factors in your location search. But even if you are not […]

Last week, I discussed the most common mortgage programs, including conventional, FHA, and VA. I also discussed rehabilitation, or construction, loans. On Tuesday, I discussed the two most common financing options: fixed rate and adjustable rate mortgages (ARM). Today, I am going to put these two concepts together to discuss the most common types of […]

Last week, I discussed some of the most common types of mortgage programs. This included conventional, FHA, and VA, and I touched on construction, or rehabilitation, loans. These are definitely the most common ways people finance a house, and each targets a specific part of the housing market. Today, I will discuss the most common […]

This is a loaded topic, because mortgage “types” can mean a lot of things to different people. But when I speak to people I meet and tell them I am a mortgage professional, the question of what is the “best” or what is the “most common” type of mortgage usually comes up within five minutes. […]

Many people dream of having a vacation home. A second house somewhere a drive away to go on vacation for free and build equity, turning it into a great long-term investment, too. But there are a few things to consider before you plunge into this kind of purchase. First, you want to consider what it […]