5 Things to Do After Your Mortgage Closes
After sitting down at the mortgage closing table to sign all the paperwork, you get the keys and can breathe a sigh of relief. But before you tuck all those mortgage…
Buying a home
Work through the buying decision: a realistic budget, a down payment plan, the offer, inspection, and closing.
Start with your question
- What fits my budget?How Much House Can I Afford?
- How do I plan the cash upfront?The Ins and Outs of a Down Payment
- What should I check before closing?How to Make the Most of a Home Inspection Before You Buy
6 Homebuying Mistakes to Avoid
While there are plenty of homebuying pitfalls, with the help of real estate and mortgage professionals and a little of your own homework, you can avoid the major…
6 Tips for Saving a Down Payment as a Renter
Homeownership is the American Dream, and yet with house prices on the rise, it can sometimes feel unattainable if you’re still trying to make a rent payment each…
6 Tips to Get a Rock-Bottom Home Loan Payment
Buying a home can be an overwhelming process, especially if it is your first time. It can be easy to get swept along in the process without stopping to make sure you…
Best Time of the Year to Buy a Home
Whether you have been saving up for your first home or you are ready to upgrade to a bigger place, you may be wondering if there is a “best” time to buy a home. While…
Buying a First Home in an Expensive Area
For Americans living and working in the nation’s most expensive real estate markets, homeownership can seem like the impossible dream. Prices are high and options can…
Buying a Home with help from Family
With U.S. home prices have jumped 20 percent in the past year, it is becoming increasingly harder for many Americans to buy a home on their own. To be able to break…
Can I Qualify for Down Payment Assistance?
One of the biggest obstacles to homeownership is coming up with enough cash for a down payment. When your own savings are not adding up quickly enough and you don’t…
Do You Have Enough Money to Buy a House?
When potential buyers are ready to begin their dreams of homeownership, they often start by looking at real estate listings. The asking prices are the starting point…
Home Buying Help: What is Escrow?
Buying a home is often the biggest purchase you make in your life. With all that money on the line, buyers and sellers AND lenders need a safe and secure way to make…
How Much House Can I Afford?
Build a homebuying budget with principal, interest, taxes, insurance, upkeep, other expenses, and savings. Use your own monthly figures in the planner.
How to Avoid Delays in Your Home Buying Process
In today’s hot seller’s market, it may be difficult to find and buy a home as quickly as you would like. As of February 2021, the average mortgage loan took 53 days…
How to Avoid Wire Fraud at Mortgage Closing
You have found the perfect property and made it all the way through the home buying process. The only thing left to do is wire the down payment and closing costs to…
How to Buy a Home During COVID-19
With most of the country on shelter-in-place orders due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus, the homebuying process has undergone plenty of changes for those still…
How to Make the Most of a Home Inspection Before You Buy
An inspection examines a home’s condition and possible repairs. It is different from an appraisal, which a mortgage lender generally requires to estimate the…
Is a Bigger Down Payment Always Better?
In the homebuying process, if you find yourself in the enviable position of having more cash than needed for a minimum down payment, it may be difficult to know just…
Is Down Payment Assistance Still Available During COVID-19?
Even as demand for mortgage loans has ramped up since the coronavirus crisis began, some aspects of the home loan market have changed. With millions of homeowners…
Is Now the Right Time to Buy Your First Home?
There are millions of potential U.S. homebuyers sitting on the sidelines wondering if it is smart to buy their first house in the midst of a global pandemic.…
Should I Buy, Build, or Renovate as a First-Time Home Buyer?
Today’s housing market faces the lowest level of inventory in over 20 years, according to the National Association of Realtors. That supply is even tighter among the…
The Essential Pre-Home Search Step
You have been saving to buy a home for a while and you are curious to see what’s out there. A quick internet search turns up a few intriguing properties. You start…
The Ins and Outs of a Down Payment
Being able to purchase a home is often tied to how much of a down payment you have saved. If you have never bought a house before, you may not understand what a down…
What is an eClosing?
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, in the quest for convenience, everything in our world was trending more towards “virtual” services. The coronavirus quarantining of…
What to Do if the Appraisal Comes in Low
You’re in the middle of the home selling process, having accepted a buyer’s offer. But after your house is appraised, the reported value comes back lower than the…
What’s the Difference Between a Home Appraisal and Inspection?
When you take the plunge to buy a home, there will be a flurry of appointments and meetings with real estate agents, mortgage lenders, title companies, and…
Who Will I Work with in the Home Buying Process?
When it comes to buying a home, you already know you’ll be dealing with home sellers and your real estate agent. However, there are many more people or parties…
Why This Fall Might Be the Best Time to Buy a House
The U.S. housing market has been in overdrive for the past several months, as buyers play catch up after the coronavirus pandemic shut down most home-shopping in the…