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Do You Have Buyer's Paralysis?
You've looked at dozens of homes. Your REALTORŪ is about to tear his/her hair out with frustration. You are paralyzed, letting one great home after another pass you by. Why can't you make a decision?
Buying a home can be an over -
whelming process. There are so many decisions to make and any of them can mean serious financial consequences. A home, after all, is hardly a liquid asset. Nor is it a growth investment, according to Wall Street definitions. In fact, it's your greatest financial debt, requiring constant maintenance. With all that weighing on you, no wonder you've got commitment -
phobia.
Yet, you really want to buy a home. You know that few purchases will provide
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you the quality of life that a home of your own does. And, there are plenty of advantages, as well - tax breaks, rising real estate values, a stable environment for the family, to name only a few. So you stifle your worries and keep looking for homes. But still, you just can't find the one that's just right for you.
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Job-hunting Strategies for Trailing Spouses
You're moving. Again. And once again, your spouse's career takes precedence and yours is back at square one. Even if you are in total agreement with the move, you will still experience two of the highest stress factors in existence simultaneously - moving and unemployment.
Along with death of a family member, loss of a spouse, and disaster, moving and being unemployed rank among the top five stress producers. To be faced with two of the top stressers simul -
taneously requires the marshalling of all your survival and recovery instincts.
You're moving to make life better, but that is only true if moving is best for both of you and the rest of the members of your family. Your job as the transferred spouse is to make the best of the transition. Finding the right employment situation will get you well on the road to accomplishing that goal.
Over 75% of company transferees are married, according to the Employee Relocation Council, which means three out of four transferees has a "trailing spouse."
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Myths About Bi-weekly Mortgage Payments
It's amazing how many people think bi-weekly mortgage
payments save you money through some hocus-pocus.
That's because in many borrowers' minds, "bi-weekly"
translates as "half a regular mortgage payment, twice a
month." If such a technique could cut years off the term of
your fixed mortgage, (or reduce the total interest paid on an
adjustable rate loan) it would be magic. But that's not what's happening.
Yes, you might make a half-payment on the 1st and the 15th
of a month. But bi-weekly means "every two weeks", and you'd
owe another half-payment on the 29th. The next month you
would indeed pay only twice, but sooner or later, another
three-payment month will show up.
If you pay every two weeks, that means 26 half-payments a
year, the equivalent of 13 full payments. And it's that extra
payment, applied entirely to principal once a year, that works
the magic.
Your bank's computers are not set up to handle
half-payments, and if you tried sending them in, you'd soon be embroiled in a
confusing late-payment hassle. If you do want
to achieve the same results, cutting approximately nine years
off a 30-year loan, you can try one of three systems:
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The Basics: Home Buying 101
You need three things to buy a house -- good income, good
credit, and some cash. And if you lack any one of those,
sometimes even if you lack two, there is often a way around
it.
After all, if you have enough cash, income and credit
won't matter. You can simply pay cash for your home. If
that's your situation, in fact, you're in a strong negotiating
position and can sometimes buy at a bargain figure, because
you represent a sure thing, a simple transaction, for the
seller.
So what if you have good income and credit, but lack money
for down payment and closing costs? Several options are open
to you. For starters, veterans can obtain a VA-guaranteed
loan with no down payment at all. And if you can find sellers
who agree, the VA will allow them to furnish the cash outlay
you need, covering everything from bank points to your prepaid
property taxes.
Any buyer can apply for an FHA-insured mortgage, with down
payment of less than three percent. New regulations allow the
down payment to be furnished by a relative. Some of your
closing costs (prepaid mortgage insurance premium for example)
may be financed along with the rest of the loan. And a
cooperative seller may agree to cover some of your other
costs.
Daily News and Advice
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