Today's Real Estate News and AdviceUpdated: February 10, 2012Know Your Expenses Before You Buy For many, homeownership is still a dream. Moving from renting can seem like it’s an impossible mission. But if you plan ahead and carefully budget, the goal of homeownership can be yours. When budgeting how much home you can afford, it’s important to understand and anticipate the costs of owning and maintaining a home. Here are a few things that some first-time buyers forget to include. FULL STORY-> Real Estate Investors Offer Big Pay Off, If You Can Keep Up Today's real estate investor isn't necessarily a high roller, but more often a working stiff with a small-business, tapping existing non-real estate investments to cash in on affordable real estate properties to flip or rent. If you are a real estate agent looking to serve them, you'd better be at the top of your game. FULL STORY-> Average 30-Year Fixed-Rate Mortgage Holds at All-Time Record Low In Freddie Mac's results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey®, most average mortgage rates inching higher on January's positive employment data. The 30-year fixed remained unchanged and at its all-time record low. One year ago at this time, the 30-year fixed averaged 5.05 percent. FULL STORY-> Highly Effective Pre-listing Tools In this article I’m going to share with you information of two tools that are highly effective forms to insert in your pre-listing package. FULL STORY-> Home Equity Use No Longer Home Equity Abuse A record-breaking refinancing trend finds most homeowners putting cash into the deal or not taking cash out, a trend that reflects faith in the value of the home as an investment. FULL STORY-> Get Out Of Debt Reducing your debt-load can be the next, and biggest step, towards owning a home of your own. This is because you must have a strong credit score to buy in today's market and a strong credit score comes from healthy spending habits and low debt ratio. FULL STORY-> Agents: Not All Web Browsers Are Equal So what, exactly, does a web browser actually do and how can picking the right one put your real estate business at a competitive advantage? Put another way, real estate professionals deserve a browser that has the best out-of-the-box features, free of complications and with zero difficulty. FULL STORY-> Top 10 Flowers for Curb Appeal Are you fighting a bad case of cabin fever this Winter? If so you're not alone! Dormant flower beds all across the nation are begging for some splashes of color. Here's a list of the top 10 inexpensive, easy-to-maintain flowers that will please those beds, your budget, and your neighbors. FULL STORY-> Mortgage Rates Continue Low Despite Upbeat Economic Data Since most of the news coming out of Europe has been helping to keep mortgage rates low, upbeat economic data in the U.S. did not have as much of an impact as was expected on Friday. The stock market remained down until Friday, when several key reports were released and investors returned to risky assets. FULL STORY-> Ask the HOA Expert Our HOA board has some funds that we want to put into a CD to earn more. The funds are not going to be needed for about 3-5 years. We are currently getting a very low rate of return in a Money Market account but can improve our position by 2-3% by long term CD investing. What are the downsides? FULL STORY-> Homeownership Possible Within Three Years After Foreclosure Losing your home can be devastating to your credit, not to mention your psyche, but you can buy again within as few as three years after a foreclosure or short sale. If you lost your home to foreclosure or a short sale, don't lose hope. Don't hesitate. Begin today putting yourself in a good position to buy. FULL STORY-> Amendment to REALTOR® Code of Ethics Reflects Changes In Business Practices The class of persons about whom Realtors® should not knowingly or recklessly make false or misleading statements has recently been expanded. An examination of what this means and how it came to pass may be of interest. FULL STORY-> Inside The Interior Design Show Where do interior designers go for trendsetting ideas and out-of-the-box design ideas? PJ Wade gives us an insider view of The Interior Design Show and tips for 2013. FULL STORY-> The Tax Planning Countdown to 2013 Starts Now! As we begin 2012, all real estate investors need to pay very close attention to the ever changing tax landscape. Particular attention needs to be paid to the significant tax increases slated to occur in 2013. FULL STORY-> Real Estate Outlook: New Home Sales and Prices Decline Pending existing-home sales may be up across the nation, but new home sales fell for the first the first time in three months in December. These latest figures come from the U.S. Commerce Department. FULL STORY-> Real Estate Marketing Strategies: Powerful Tips for Maximizing Your Success The biggest obstacle to obtaining success is how you think of yourself. If you spend your day putting yourself down, then you will never move forward. Be conscious of how you talk and think about yourself and when it turns negative, stop yourself and think. There is always something to be happy about and you, loving yourself is certainly worth celebrating. FULL STORY-> More Real Estate News and Advice... |