Letting folks know that you’re looking to buy your first home can open a floodgate of unsolicited advice from friends and loved-ones. Your Aunt and Uncle bought their home during the Reagan administration, but are now suddenly experts on real...
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Plenty of people rely on tips for a some or all of their income. Right now, more than 16 million Americans work in the kinds of service and hospitality industry jobs that have traditionally relied on tips for compensation. And...
The Federal Reserve has raised interest rates three times in 2018, and they’re not finished: another hike is expected before the end of the year. If that’s not bad enough, most financial analysts agree that we can look forward to...
In the popular imagination, Millennials live in big city apartments or occupy their parents’ basements rent-free. But in fact, members of the Millennial cohort—that generation of young adults born roughly between 1980 and 1998—bought more homes last year than people...
If life has treated you pretty well and/or you’re looking for a home in an expensive part of the country, you may discover that the amount you’ll need to borrow to purchase a home puts your mortgage in jumbo mortgage...
You’re almost there, future homeowner! You’ve made a successful offer and sorted out your financing. Your future home appraised well, and it cleared a title search. Now, it’s time for your final walkthrough: one last look around before you officially...
Legally, there’s nothing stopping you from getting a mortgage this afternoon and refinancing it tomorrow morning. But just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should. If you’ve only recently joined the ranks of mortgage-paying homeowners, you might be...
Summer may be the busiest home buying season, but it’s not necessarily the best time of year to buy a home. Sure, there are lots of houses on the market in the summer. But if you spent your summer sipping...
The home-buying television shows make it look easy. Find a home. Put in an offer. Poof. Done. But in the real world, there are a few hurdles to clear between the seller accepted your offer and congratulations, you’re a homeowner...
It’s one thing to idly scroll through online house listings, or cruise your local open houses on the weekends. It’s something else entirely to make a real offer to buy a home. Making an offer on a home is serious...
Home appraisals are hugely important when it comes to your mortgage. Once a seller has accepted a homebuyer’s offer, a home appraisal is on the short list of final hurdles to clear before closing day. If you haven’t bought or...