In my ongoing effort to help my clients understand the taxable implications of a mortgage during tax season, today I will talk about how a tax return can and cannot be used to help with a home purchase. I run into many clients who qualify for a mortgage; they have the income to sustain a […]

On Tuesday, I wrote about selling a house in the winter, some of the potential difficulties of selling this time of year, and some of the tips I’ve learned over the years to help any winter-time seller. Today, I would like to talk about the other side of that transaction; the winter-time buyer. I find […]

Popular wisdom would tell you to never sell a house in the winter months. Your house will not show as well (especially here in Michigan), there are fewer buyers looking for houses, and you will take a big hit to the value of the house as a result. And while there is some merit to […]

In 2014, the big stories were the impact of the new Dodd-Frank regulations, the new Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac programs, and the questions surrounding interest rates. The Dodd-Frank regulations were accounted for, changes were made, and the industry moved on. Interest rate hikes were a concern all year, and most analysts were just waiting […]

Mortgage preapproval letters have become a standard practice in the home buying process. Most sellers would like something of substance from a lender stating that you actually have the means to buy their house before making it unavailable to other buyers. Why take their house off the market and go into contract with you, when […]

The market for house flipping has never been stronger. Even as house prices surge, more and more people are stepping into the house flipping game to make a quick buck. And as such, more and more clients are calling me to ask if they can finance a house they plan to flip. Now, in a […]

So you’re in the market for a new house, you’ve met with a Realtor, and have begun a cursory look at houses online based upon your assumption of what you can afford, but need to get a preapproval to get the process moving. Your local bank has rates posted in their lobby, and likely a […]

With all of the new construction here in Michigan and all around the nation, the question that keeps coming up is: should I buy a house or build one? And while the answer is, of course, dependent upon your individual situation, I can give you some general ideas of the pros and cons of each. […]

This is a very interesting topic, which is a popular questions, especially for first time homebuyers. I run into many young executives and engineers who recently graduated from college and have been working for several years at their first job, but know they will be switching companies at some point in the not-so-distant future. So […]

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 […]