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Tips for Selling in the Fall
With fall marking its entrance, kids back in school, and the holidays just around the corner, home sales tend to slow down during this time of year. If you're selling, it means you need to take extra measures to make your house stand out above the others on the market in your neighborhood.
So, if you're preparing to sell your house this fall, think about:
Curb appeal. Fall can make or break you when it comes to curb appeal and the all-important "first impression." Leaves turning shades of crimson and gold can add extra appeal to the total look of your home's exterior. On the other
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hand, leaves strewn about your front yard can decrease your home's visual appeal during that first impression.
Generic improvements that enhance your home's functionality, efficiency and
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Questions You Should Ask About Property Taxes
Property taxes are a major expense, one which often totals thousands of dollars per year. But property taxes are not the same for like properties or for every owner.
Property taxes provide much of the revenue used to fund local and state governments. As property values go up, property tax collections also rise which means additional dollars are available for more public services -- and perhaps even for tax refunds. Alternatively, if property values decline, then government programs tend to be squeezed or there is pressure to raise income and sales taxes to make up for short-falls.
How much you pay for property taxes depends on the value of your home and also local tax policies. In the usual case, a property value is established by government assessors. Once a value is set the tax rate is then applied. For instance, if the rate is $1.50 for each $100 in value, then a home worth $100,000 would have an annual tax bill of $1,500 or $125 per month.
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Get A Grip, Lock That Rate
Rate locks are key to keeping the lid on lending costs when interest rates begin to take off -- as they have for the past month and a half.
Since Sept. 8, when the average fixed interest rate on 30-year conforming mortgages was 5.71 percent, rates have risen for six consecutive weeks, adding 0.39 percentage points to the average.
That pushed the average mortgage interest rate to 6.10 percent on October 20, according to Freddie Mac's Weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey.
The six-week run up in prices was the longest sustained week-after-week increase in average interest rates since spring of last year when rates rose for eight consecutive weeks. From 5.38 percent in March 2004, they rose to 6.34 percent by May, 2004.
What's more, the 6.10 percent average rate is the highest it's been since July 1, 2004 when it averaged 6.21 percent, Freddie Mac said.
"Anytime rates go up, rate locks are an issue. If you don't lock in your rate, then your rate is floating with the market," said Jack Guttentag, the "Mortgage Professor" and finance professor emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School.
A traditional rate lock is a lender's guarantee that your mortgage carries a specific interest rate, points, and other
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Housing Forecast
Looks Stronger
The forecast for home sales has trended up as the year progressed, fueled lately by added demand resulting from the impact of recent hurricanes, according to the National Association of Realtors.
David Lereah, NAR's chief economist, said that at the beginning of the year it was thought that 2005 would be the second best total for both existing- and new-home sales, but by June it was apparent that another record was in the works. "Post-Katrina, our sales projections for this year have moved even higher," Lereah said. "Short-term momentum is very strong, and our Pending Home Sales Index just set a record. In addition to the housing needs of hurricane victims, we may be seeing some 'fence jumping' from home buyers who are getting into the market before
Daily News and Advice
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