I get asked a lot of questions about interest rates – why wouldn’t I? I’m a loan officer. The problem is that interest rates don’t tell the whole story, neither does APR. I’ll attempt to sort out the issues and – BONUS – help you understand when it’s good to buy the rate down or, […]
Real Estate and Wealth Creation
I believe it is important to prepare for retirement and the way to do this is by investing. Real estate is one of the best investment vehicles out there. Watch my videos and read my blog posts for lots of great information and strategies about investing in real estate.
A Bigger Mortgage and A Higher Rate? How Can That Be Better?
The Issue A few weeks ago I had a past client call me about refinancing her loan. She only owes $144,000 and has a great rate at 3.75% BUT most all of her credit cards are maxed out or close to it and they have two car loans so even though they make good money, […]
Why I’m Not a Fan of 15-year Mortgages
There are those whose goal it is to pay off their mortgage…as quickly as possible. Some people’s approach to this is to get a 30-year mortgage and pay extra every month while others just get a 15-year mortgage and pay it off that way. Then there are those who get a 15-year mortgage AND make […]
Things to Consider OTHER Than the Interest Rate When Getting a Mortgage
With a title like this, some readers may think I am trying to justify higher interest rates than my competitors. The fact is, I have very competitive interest rates, I just think that if that’s all you focus on when getting a mortgage, you miss a lot of other things. For instance, the timing of […]
Adding Value – What It Is, What It Isn’t, and How Important Is It?
Over the 24 years that I’ve been a loan officer, I’ve tried to add value to my clients and my Realtor partners as a way of differentiating myself from my competition. To me, adding value is providing something of value that isn’t expected as a part of the normal service. I watched a video the […]
What is the Return on Investment on the Equity in Your Home?
What is the Return on Investment on the Equity in Your Home? Some people think it’s the rate of appreciation on real estate in their local area. Other’s aren’t quite sure what to say because it seems like the answer should be obvious but if it is, why do I ask the question? Because the […]
Down Payment Amount: The Facts About How Much You Should Put Down
There are several ways to look at the logic behind how much you should put down on a house you are purchasing. For most first-time homebuyers, it’s all they can do to scrape together 3 – 5% of the purchase price for their down payment (FHA requires 3.5% down and conventional has programs with as […]
Top 5 Reasons Why You Should NOT Refinance Your Mortgage
I was meeting with a client the other morning who needed to either refinance or sell her townhome to access some equity to pay off her sister. If she decides to sell, she will buy another townhome closer to work, where as it will be pretty much business as usual if she refinances. A situation […]
Four Ways to Put Your Equity to Work: #4 – College Housing for Your Children
In this series we have talked about ways to put your dead equity to work for you. All options require pulling out excess equity (typically equity over 20% of the home’s value). The first option was to renovate / update – this allows your equity to build more equity by making your personal home worth […]
The Impact of the New Tax Law on Real Estate Owners
Toward the end of 2017 congress approved a new tax bill that was signed into law and became effective as of January 1, 2018. If you own real estate, there are several thinks you need to know so that you can make educated decisions regarding buying, selling, and holding real estate. I’ll start of with […]