Buying a Home

1 . How to protect yourself in a real estate transaction It's no wonder that buying or selling a home ranks high on the list of the most stress-provoking events one can experience, up there with the death of a loved one and divorce. There's a lot at stake financially when you buy or sell a home. A good or bad outcome can affect your net worth, as well as your sense well being. [ Read Full Article ]

2 . Determining Your Offer Price When you prepare an offer to purchase a home, you already know the seller’s asking price. But what price are you going to offer and how do you come up with that figure? [ Read Full Article ]

3 . House Inspectors: Choosing The Right One... A qualified house inspector is the surest way to discover a house's not-so-obvious problems. Most professional inspectors are from some type of construction background, such as engineering, architecture or contracting. Their responsibility is to crawl beneath the floors, squeeze through the attic and generally comb the house's structure and mecha... [ Read Full Article ]

4 . How can I improve my real estate purchase offer? Few failed endeavors can match the frustration of losing out in a multiple-offer competition. But, almost as disappointing is making the only offer-and a strong one-and having the seller outright reject it. Here are a few tips on how to sweeten your offer without jeopardizing your financial security. [ Read Full Article ]

5 . 10 Benefits Of Buying At The End Of The Year In addition to low interest rates, there are other benefits to buying at the end of the year, including: [ Read Full Article ]

6 . Big Mistakes Every Homeowner Should Avoid In 1998, Ray Smith purchased her property at a mortgage lender's foreclosure sale. But she failed to record her deed. [ Read Full Article ]

7 . Do You Know The Real Price Of Your ARM? Adjustable-rate mortgages are complicated instruments. No one characteristic fully describes one. [ Read Full Article ]

8 . Does Home Remodeling Always Pay Off? Perhaps you've heard stories about homeowners who've greatly improved their net worth by remodeling homes and selling them. [ Read Full Article ]

9 . Dream homes on eBay (Barbie not included) Suzanne "Mercedes" Hayes sells a lot of stuff on eBay. [ Read Full Article ]

10 . Estimating How Much Home You Can Afford It's the question you need to ask yourself before you even BEGIN your new home search. It's the most important factor in determining what kind of home you can secure, and where you can begin to look. It's a crucial consideration for first-timers and veteran home buyers alike. [ Read Full Article ]

11 . Big Mistakes Every Homeowner Should Avoid In 1998, Ray Smith purchased her property at a mortgage lender's foreclosure sale. But she failed to record her deed. [ Read Full Article ]

12 . How to buy profitable real estate Are you the adventurous type of home buyer who wants to make a profitable purchase? Or are you looking for a near-perfect "model home" acquisition where all you have to do is turn the key in the front door and move in? [ Read Full Article ]

13 . Traps all home buyers should avoid At the beginning of a new year, it's natural to make resolutions. For instance, you may have been putting off buying a home. Now you've resolved to buy before interest rates rise and you're priced out of the market. Before forging ahead, consider the following tips and traps. [ Read Full Article ]

14 . What to consider when reviewing a home purchase offer A home purchase agreement is a complicated legal document. It will include all of the terms and conditions of the sale, most of which are negotiable. Some sellers focus on the price the buyer offers, minimizing the other terms and conditions. This approach can lead to trouble. [ Read Full Article ]

15 . Finding a Good Home Inspector: What You Should Ask You've found the house, your offer has been accepted, and funding is in place. But before you start packing, be sure you hire a professional home inspector to make sure your house doesn't have any major defects that could cost you down the road. [ Read Full Article ]

16 . For-sale-by-owner fallouts Why most do-it-yourself sellers give up after 30 to 60 days. [ Read Full Article ]

17 . Taking possession of home before closing gets risky Rarely do you find a home to buy that's in exactly the condition you'd like it to be. Even if the home is new, relatively new or well-maintained, you may want to make changes to the decor so that it suits your style preferences and works with your possessions. [ Read Full Article ]

18 . How much work should you do before selling? Recently a couple that owned a home in Berkeley, Calif., decided to move to neighboring Piedmont. They started their search by visiting Sunday open houses. It was quite apparent to them which listings had been prepared for sale and which ones had not. They were invariably drawn to listings that were charming, clean, and uncluttered. [ Read Full Article ]

19 . How to sell home without real estate agent Have you noticed when you are on an airplane, the stranger sitting next to you will often reveal secrets he probably wouldn't tell his closest friends? [ Read Full Article ]

20 . How would a truly flexible mortgage work? Lat week I had little good to say about Fannie Mae's new Payment Power Program (PPP), which allows a borrower to skip up to two mortgage payments in any 12-month period, and up to 10 over the life of a loan. A skipped payment results in an additional loan, equal to the payment plus a healthy access fee, tacked on to the balance. As an emergency... [ Read Full Article ]

21 . Is private mortgage insurance good or bad? Unless you are involved with real estate you probably have never heard of PMI. No. It's not a serious disease. In fact, PMI can be extremely beneficial if you are a "cash challenged" home buyer without a sufficient down payment. [ Read Full Article ]

22 . Is Your Dream Custom Home Out of Reach? Not Today! When the average American thinks about a custom home he thinks of finding a builder and perhaps an architect who take his dreams and convert them into the home of his dreams. Always the fly in the ointment is cost. Can the average American afford the luxury of a custom designed home? [ Read Full Article ]

23 . Manufactured Housing Sheds Stereotype Forget the term "mobile home" - it's so 26 years ago. [ Read Full Article ]

24 . Mortgage disclosure amendments do more harm than good The grapevine says that the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is seriously considering a proposal by the National Association of Mortgage Brokers (NAMB) for amending mortgage disclosure requirements. Is their proposal good for borrowers? [ Read Full Article ]

25 . Online Lending Makes Financing Your Dream Home Easy And Fast Financing the construction of your dream home may seem like a complicated process compared to the standard home purchase or refinance of an existing home. [ Read Full Article ]

26 . Most Common Mortgage Mistakes And How To Avoid Them The Canadian Institute of Mortgage Brokers and Lenders conducted the annual survey with sponsorship from the federal government’s housing arm. [ Read Full Article ]

27 . Plan Ahead for Real Estate Market Shifts If an economic disaster turns your local housing market into mush, will you be poised to capitalize on the new opportunities? [ Read Full Article ]

28 . Pros and cons of old and new homes When deciding between an old or new home, the list of pros and cons is lengthy. [ Read Full Article ]

29 . Should I take my home off the market for the holidays? As we head into the last month of the year, sellers usually wonder if they should take their home off the market for the holidays. While no one has a crystal ball, there are many good reasons to consider leaving your home on the market until it sells. [ Read Full Article ]

30 . Taking possession of home before closing gets risky Rarely do you find a home to buy that's in exactly the condition you'd like it to be. Even if the home is new, relatively new or well-maintained, you may want to make changes to the decor so that it suits your style preferences and works with your possessions. [ Read Full Article ]

31 . Dream homes on eBay (Barbie not included) Suzanne "Mercedes" Hayes sells a lot of stuff on eBay. [ Read Full Article ]

32 . How to avoid buying bad real estate Ask any experienced residential real estate attorney about his or her most difficult case. The answer will probably involve a "bad house." While not exactly a legal term, a bad house is one where the buyer alleges the seller knew about a serious structural defect, but failed to disclose it to the buyer before purchase. [ Read Full Article ]

33 . How To Plan Custom Home and Cut The Cost Last spring I participated in an "Ask the Experts" panel in Sarasota, Fla. Afterwards, a woman in the audience asked me to review her plans for a new beach house overlooking the Gulf of Mexico. [ Read Full Article ]