To rent or to own? If you are planning on moving and are financially stable enough to potentially qualify for a mortgage, there is a lot for you to consider. Buying a home usually requires a down payment plus closing costs; renting also comes with its own fees, but those are generally less than you will need to buy a home. Here, we will explore whether it is cheaper to rent or own a house and the pros and cons of both.
I wrote an article in February 2013 discussing the low inventory environment, wondering where the sellers were, and predicting that inventory would eventually start to rise, which would put a lid or even some downward pressure on real estate prices. To read that article click here. So where are prices and inventory headed now, a few quarters later? Read the rest of this entry »
To rent or to buy is an old question with varied answers. The answer depends on your ability to come up with a down payment, your ability to commit to a specific area, your creditworthiness, and much more. Those are questions for each individual to answer, but there is interesting math related to how much rent costs that should be reviewed in helping you determine your answer. Read the rest of this entry »
All this tiresome talk about the fiscal cliff is a non-event. It reminds me of all the drama over Y2K. Y2K was the Year 2000 computer problem also known as the Y2K problem, the Millennium bug, the Y2K bug, or simply Y2K. This was when computers all over the world were supposedly going to go haywire because of the practice of abbreviating a four digit year to two digits in all of the computer programming. I woke up the morning of January 1st 2000, and turned on my computer just fine, did online banking just fine, and surfed the Internet and there were no downed websites, etc. It was a non-event, so is this supposed fiscal cliff. Read the rest of this entry »
Bernanke the Red-Nosed Fed chairman,
Had a very shiny nose.
And if you ever saw it,
You would even say it glows.
All of the other Fed chairman,
Used to laugh and call him names.
They never let poor Bernanke,
Join in any back room games.
Then one foggy Christmas Eve,
POTUS came to say, Read the rest of this entry »
Condominium fees are a waste of money. This is a common refrain I hear from people that are considering buying a condo. But are condo fees really a waste of money? Condo fees are thought a waste of money for people that do not properly maintain their home. For people that are used to owning a single-family home, with no mandated condo fees, they may:
I can see the point that in their opinion condo fees seem like a waste of money. Read the rest of this entry »
All homeowners have been renters at one point. Right before a renter will make a move up to home ownership and become a first time homeowner, they will talk to a mortgage lender like me to see how much of a mortgage they might be qualified. What do you think the rules are for a renter as far as how much mortgage they can qualify for? They are the same rules as anyone else. The debt ratio limits are the same. The income requirements are the same. The credit score requirements are the same.
The one thing that is different is Read the rest of this entry »
The Wicked Witch of the East is back.
She is called Fannie Mae.
She is dressed in black.
Government makes her stronger every day.
She is fed by our tax dollars,
and is hungrier than ever.
She makes mortgage clients holler,
with paperwork that ends…never.
Dodd/Frank makes things worse,
it is reactive legislation.
As usual the legislators,
should have stayed on vacation.
Fannie Mae paperwork is arbitrary,
ridiculous, bloated and a bitch.
Getting a mortgage is as scary,
as a midnight visit from a witch!
I think it is important to remind everyone every now and again that the mortgage business, at the end of the day, is a sales business. And loan officers are salespeople. We are trained as salespeople. We are incentivized as salespeople. Within the corporate hierarchy we are known solely as salespeople. But the consumer seems to forget that they are dealing with salespeople. I am not saying Read the rest of this entry »
Confirmation bias, what is it? I would say it is the psychological thing within most of us that colors our ability to admit we are wrong. I suffer from it mostly within the realm of investing. I am never wrong when I make an investment call, but of course, I am, many times. But I cannot admit it until its too late, because I am so smart, I cannot be wrong! So I wait until I lose even more, and then Read the rest of this entry »
