If you've been on the fence about homeownership, now is the time to take a leap! Don't let the negative press deter you from one of life's greatest joys.
Take a look at five short and sweet reasons that homeownership is great!
1. Equity. When you pay rent, you never see that money again. It is lining the landlord's pocket.
Read More: http://tinyurl.com/3mk279w
Effective September 1, 2011, the State is now asking for you to submit a copy of your driver’s license and vehicle registration with your form. Both the DL & registration address MUST MATCH the physical address of the property you are claiming as your homesteaded property.
Visit your county's central appraisal district website for specific details.
Paying everything by the month: There are usually four components that go into your monthly payment: principal, interest, taxes, and insurance – often referred to as PITI.
read more: http://www.blanconews.com/news/100709/
Now, a bipartisan group in Congress is sponsoring legislation that would limit the credit-score impact of paid-off and settled collection accounts that sometimes are the product of disputes and botched record keeping by insurance companies, hospitals and doctors.
Titled the Medical Debt Responsibility Act, the bill would require the three national credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian and TransUnion — to expunge medical collection records of $2,500 or less from files within 45 days of their being paid or settled. Currently, by contrast, paid-off collections can remain in files for as long as seven years, exerting their heaviest negative impacts on consumer scores during the initial two years. The bill is co-sponsored by Reps. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.), Don Manzullo (R-Ill.) and Ralph M. Hall (R-Texas).
Read here for some perspective: http://www.texasrealestate.com/web/2/21/more/060911.cfm
Even if you’ve already got a low mortgage rate, consider going shorter term, lowering your rate even further, and owning your home debt-free sooner!
Call it the new mortgage reality. Lenders that got burned when the housing market collapsed are taking extra steps to protect themselves and are requiring more financial documents than ever. But that doesn’t mean getting a mortgage has to be too stressful as long as you’re prepared.
You won’t receive a score, but it’s important to review a report from the three credit reporting agencies: Experian, TransUnion and Equifax. Make sure the information on each is correct. If you have any late payments or recent inquiries on your report, prepare to explain the circumstances to a lender in writing. You’ll have to settle any open collections, tax liens or judgments before you close the mortgage.
Read more: http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20110515/business/705159975/#ixzz1MRoDmgP3Marty Kramer | 5/11/2001
You’re not likely to find a perfect house. You might find the perfect house for you, but it almost certainly will have some flaws.
Even newly built homes usually have at least a few problems. And an existing home’s faults will depend in large part on the diligence of the owner … whether he took maintenance and repairs seriously or let things slide.
Fortunately, Texas requires sellers to provide a disclosure notice...
read more: http://www.texasrealestate.com/web/2/21/more/051111.cfm
NorthJersey.com | Ilyce Glink | May 8, 2011
Q. How can we take money out of 401(k), pay off our mortgage and not pay taxes on it all if we do it all at the same time? Can any of it be deferred? The amount we'd want to take out is $105,000.
A. Unless you're in danger of losing your house, you generally shouldn't take money out of a 401(k) and use it to pay off a home loan.
Why? Because your money is growing inside your 401(k) at a faster rate than you're paying out for your loan. Also, your mortgage interest may be deductible if you itemize on your federal income tax return.
If you've recently refinanced, you're probably paying less than 5 percent for your mortgage. (I just refinanced to a 15-year at 3.75 percent.)
If you itemize, your net interest rate is somewhere around 3.5 to 4 percent. That's basically like free money, and over time you'll do a lot better by keeping the cash inside your 401(k).
Read More: http://www.northjersey.com/news/business/121457589_Do_not_touch_401_k_to_pay_off_mortgage_.html
Wall Street Journal | AnnaMaria Andriotis| May 5, 2011 
After years of trepidation, home buyers are finally beginning to wade back into the housing market. But as they do, many are making the surprising choice to hunt alone, rejecting the assistance of what's known in real estate as a buyer's agent.
For years, house-hunters have had the option to work with a real estate agent who shows them properties and may ultimately negotiate the price – a counterbalance to the agent who almost invariably represents the seller. But now fewer buyers are taking it. Of the buyers who purchased a property through a real estate agent, just 57% had buyer representation, according to a 2010 report by the National Association of Realtors. That's down from 62% in 2009 and 64% in 2006, before the housing bust. Also, fewer buyers are first learning about the home they purchase from real estate agents: just 37% are reporting real estate agents as their first source of information on the home they purchased, down from 50% a decade ago, according to NAR.
Many experts think this is a bad move – worse, for example, than trying to sell a house without an agent. For one thing, in most cases, a buyer doesn't pay an agent; the buyer's agent splits the commission with the seller's agent, so the services are essentially free to the buyer. Also, a buyer's agent can usually access historical price data for home sales in the area, which means he can recommend a bidding strategy that targets comparable properties that sold for less, rather than the mid-range. John Vogel, adjunct professor of real estate at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, calls going through this process alone "a mistake."
Read more: Do You Need a Buyer's Agent? - SmartMoney.com http://www.smartmoney.com/personal-finance/real-estate/do-you-need-a-buyers-agent-1304523622290/#ixzz1LofN7uLg
