In the grand homebuying scheme, there are two people who are going to make or break your experience: the lender and the real estate agent. Everyone has an opinion on which is more important, negotiating the best deal on the purchase price or finding the best financing, but no one will tell you that both […]

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 […]

Clients will often ask me my opinion on thing relating to the mortgage industry and homeownership in general. These questions will, usually, lead to a conversation around the worthiness of property as an investment. And while I am pretty straightforward in my belief that owning properties is seldom a bad thing, there is a small […]

When clients come to me expressing an interest in buying a condo here in Michigan, I usually run down a few important points. First, I discuss the various types of condos available. Determining what type of condo you want will help you to find the right community. Next, we discuss what it means for a […]

If you are currently renting or looking to relocate, understanding the time it takes from start to finish to buy a new home can be extremely important. You don’t want your lease to come due before you have a house to move into and you don’t want your first day of work in the new […]

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. […]

When clients contact me for the first time, I am often asked what, exactly, I do. People understand what a bank is, and they understand, to some extent, what a mortgage broker is. But a Mortgage Banker is a strange term that isn’t in the standard lexicon of most people. So when I’m asked, I […]

There are many ways to get a mortgage. Some benefit borrowers with large down payments, some benefit those with less to put down; some benefit borrowers who plan to be in the home for less than 7 years, some benefit borrowers who plan to be there for 30 years; some benefit borrowers with good credit, […]

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 […]

After you buy a house in Michigan, there is a lot that needs to be done. You need to set up utilities, figure out moving arrangements, childcare arrangements if you have kids, update your driver’s license, and so on. But there are two important forms which must be filed with the Tax Assessor’s Office that […]