Mortgage Mistakes

2019-11-21T09:19:28-05:00November 1st, 2019|Categories: Blog|Tags: |

Four Very Common Mortgage Mistakes Beware of these four top mortgage mistakes. You are a homebuyer and you are excited about purchasing a new home. The contract has been accepted and you apply for your loan. Don't sabotage the loan process by making any of these four common mistakes while your loan is being approved. Your lender will do a final credit review immediately before your loan closes. Take a look at these four risky behaviors and make sure you do not jeopardize your loan approval. 1. Don't Apply For Credit: That means, don't [...]

Southwest Florida Shines

2022-10-25T11:16:37-04:00January 10th, 2017|Categories: Blog|

 Southwest Florida Southwest Florida shines again. The sunshine state explains itself. "My main motivation for moving here was the weather," said Tyler Thompson. According to Trulia.com, More people are flocking to our backyard -- permanently. "The sunshine, the beaches... it's a good... place to raise a family," said Kyle Beauvios, of Orlando. And, according to one home search site, Cape Coral and Fort Myers rank number 2 out of 10 "top cities in the nation to move to in 2017". Local realtors are not shocked by this prediction. "Add in the fact that "Interest rates are low; taxes [...]

A Reverse Mortgage For Your 2nd Home

2019-11-20T11:54:58-05:00September 6th, 2016|Categories: Blog|Tags: |

A Reverse Mortgage; For Your Retirement Or Vacation Residence A reverse mortgage is the perfect strategy  for your retirement or vacation residence. Make no monthly payments and never owe more than the value of the property. Sounds too good to be true?  This time it is true! Purchase your retirement or vacation home with a Responsible Reverse Mortgage and make no monthly mortgage payments. A reverse mortgage allows you to tap into the equity of your primary residence and use that cash to purchase property with NO payments out of pocket during the entire term [...]

Mortgage Rates – Never What You Expect

2019-11-20T11:54:58-05:00August 28th, 2016|Categories: Blog|

  Shopping Mortgage Rates Shopping mortgage rates is a bit like trying to buy a new car that has five different sticker prices on the window. You know that you won’t end up paying any of those prices, but you have no idea which one is even close to what you’ll pay. Here’s how to get a real mortgage rate. Those Low Mortgage Rates Might Cost You Put a few details into an online mortgage rate tool and see what happens: You get a page full of results with dozens of different mortgage rates. You’re certainly [...]

Should I Pay Cash?

2019-11-20T11:54:58-05:00September 15th, 2015|Categories: Blog|Tags: , |

I HAVE THE MONEY...SHOULD I PAY CASH?   An all-cash purchase can be viewed as an investment. The investment is not the house, because you are buying the house, and will enjoy any appreciation in its value, whether you pay all cash or take out a mortgage. The investment in an all-cash transaction is the mortgage you avoid. It might better be called a "no-mortgage" investment. The return of the investment is the interest rate you would otherwise have paid on the mortgage but now avoid. This return can be compared to that of [...]

Perils Of Pricing Too High

2019-11-20T11:54:59-05:00August 15th, 2015|Categories: Blog|Tags: , |

It’s fascinating the way folks estimate the value of their homes when they’re getting ready to sell….and the trouble they run into when they ignore real estate professionals’ advice that they’re pricing too high. Quicken Loans does a monthly national study of homeowner over-estimations of value compared with actual appraised values and guess what: The gap between owners’ “opinions” of value and the real world is higher this summer than it has been in years. People have grander notions of real estate value than the market will pay them. Part of the reason is [...]

The Florida Cost Of Living

2019-11-20T11:54:59-05:00July 12th, 2015|Categories: Blog|

The Florida Cost Of Living It's true. $100 buys more in Florida. The Tax Foundation is a non-partisan, non-profit research organization that has monitored tax policy at the federal, state and local levels since 1937. Recently they published a map  that shows the relative value of $100 in each state. The map shows us that prices for the same goods are often much cheaper in states like Missouri or Ohio than they are in states like New York or California. As a result, the same amount of cash can buy you comparatively more in [...]

Home Sellers: The Curse Of The First Offer

2022-10-25T11:18:05-04:00May 22nd, 2015|Categories: Blog|

Sometimes when everything goes right we have trouble accepting that fact. Perhaps nowhere is this phenomenon more clearly illustrated than in the case where a seller receives a good offer right away. It's called the curse of the first offer. The annals of real estate are well stocked with stories of sellers who refused to take a good, but not perfect, first offer, and who then waited a long, long time before finally accepting something else at a considerably lower price. And most agents who have been around for a while know to shudder [...]

Searching Real Estate

2019-11-20T11:54:59-05:00May 11th, 2015|Categories: Blog|

Some say that big and national are the way to go when searching real estate.  Just how complete and accurate are the national site real estate web-sites? There are a number of reasons why the big box sites just can’t compete with local knowledge. Bigger and more is always better, right?  Not necessarily.  I can only speak to our area of southwest Florida but I have noticed that many more properties appear for sale on the big box sites than are actually for sale in our local multiple list system (MLS). Considering the MLS [...]

Average rate on 30-year mortgage falls to 3.78 percent

2019-11-20T11:54:59-05:00March 22nd, 2015|Categories: Blog|

Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates fell this week, remaining near historically low levels at the start of the spring home-buying season. Mortgage giant Freddie Mac said Thursday the national average for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage declined to 3.78 percent from 3.86 percent last week. The average rate for a 15-year mortgage, popular with homeowners who refinance, slipped to 3.06 percent from 3.10 percent last week. A year ago, the average 30-year mortgage stood at 4.32 percent and the 15-year mortgage at 3.32 percent. Mortgage rates have remained low even though the Federal Reserve in [...]

Go to Top