If you are considering purchasing a home in 2022, you are undoubtedly dreaming of features that are important to you. As more Millennial buyers move into the market and seek out their first space, the housing market is experiencing a shift in demands and expectations in home features. From buyers focusing on green and energy-efficient […]
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4 Homebuying Tips for Tipped Employees
Plenty of people rely on tips for some or all of their income. In fact, millions of Americans work in the kinds of service and hospitality industry jobs that have traditionally relied on tips for compensation — and that number is expected to increase in the coming decade. You might think that buying a home is just […]
Saving for Your Down Payment? Here’s Where to Stash Your Money
For many would-be homeowners, the biggest hurdle on the path to homeownership isn’t the expense of a potential mortgage. It’s the difficulty of saving for a down payment. For the non-savers among us, it can be tempting to assume that the only people who can put serious down payment money together these days are well-heeled […]
Want to Close Your Mortgage Quickly? Here are 6 Things You Should Do.
Maybe you’ve heard horror stories about mortgages gone wrong—particularly when mortgages don’t close quickly. Homebuyers stuck in living-in-a-hotel-limbo because they underestimated the length of time it would take to finalize their mortgage. The seller who backed out of a deal because the buyer’s mortgage lender was taking too long. A delayed application leading to higher […]
Closing Costs, Explained
Fees and expenses associated with finalizing a real estate transaction are called closing costs. Many first-time homebuyers are surprised to find out that closing costs are a thing at all. Then, they’re doubly-surprised to learn just how much of their home buying budget is going to go towards closing costs. It’s not unusual for closing […]
Don’t Even Think About Getting a Mortgage Until You Do These Three Things
The house-hunting shows on television make it look so simple: decide to buy a home. Stroll through a few open houses, fall in love with the perfect place, sign some papers, and pop open the champagne. Congratulations, you’re now a homeowner. But as with most things, television shows only the most glamorous parts of the […]