Existing Homeowners May be Facing Higher Payments
As a current homeowner, you may be basking in the consolation that you bought before the market got crazy with higher prices and interest rates. However, it doesn’t mean that you may not be facing higher mortgage payments for next year. Most homeowners pay their taxes and insurance into an escrow account with their mortgage payment. The lender monitors the account to be sure there are enough funds available when the taxes and insurance are due. If there is a shortage, it could cause your payment to increase. In 2021, the national average increase in home prices was just under 20% but...
Read MoreHomeownership and the Three M’s
Homes are valuable assets and must be maintained so they function properly, are safe, enjoyable and hold their value. Attention to maintenance, minimizing expenses and managing debt & risk will protect your investment. Maintenance It is interesting that people understand the necessity to maintain a car and regularly have the car inspected, repaired and do regular maintenance. Even though a house could be worth many times more than a car, homeowners regularly neglect what should be routine maintenance. Failure to maintain a home properly adversely affects the value. Many times, buyers...
Read MoreWill Selling Your Home Increase Your Tax Bill?
With home prices rising 20% nationwide in the past year and in some markets, even dramatically more, many homeowners are excited about the equity in their homes. In the past, most homeowners were not concerned about profit from the sale being taxed but some may be surprised. The profit homeowners make on the sale of their homes have enjoyed a generous exclusion. Since 1997, for qualified sales, single taxpayers exclude up to $250,000 of capital gain and married taxpayers filing jointly, can exclude up to $500,000 of gain. Prior to the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997, homeowners over the age of...
Read MoreBuying a Home…Ask for a CLUE Report
People purchasing a used car have most likely heard of CARFAX vehicle history reports to help them avoid buying a car with costly hidden problems. Less likely are buyers to know that there is a way to discover some of the repair history of homes they are interested in. Lexis Nexis C.L.U.E. (Claims Loss Underwriting Exchange) is a claims history database that enables insurance companies to access consumer claims for the previous seven years when they are underwriting a risk or rating an insurance policy. An insurance underwriter could identify a previous claim for substantial damage to a...
Read MoreCoordinating the Sale and Purchase of Your Home
Usually, it is easier to buy a home than to sell a home but that isn’t necessarily the case currently. In today’s market, it can be scary to sell your home before buying another because you could find yourself without a home. Most sellers will not accept a contingency on the sale of a buyer’s home in today’s market. So, let’s look at some of the alternatives that homeowners are using to facilitate the transactions. If you have the income, credit, and cash available, the replacement home can be purchased with a new 80-90% loan-to-value mortgage and sell the...
Read MoreA New Opportunity for Homebuyers
You may not have heard of anyone assuming an existing mortgage for over thirty years and didn’t know they were even possible any longer. The reason is simple, it didn’t make financial sense but now that interest rates are increasing, it may be an opportunity for some homebuyers. Conventional loans added clauses to mortgages back in the early 80’s that gave the noteholder the right to raise the interest rate if a loan was assumed, as well as require the new buyer to qualify for the loan. This essentially ended the practice of assuming conventional mortgages. Then, in the...
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