ShareTweet I’ve always taken the data reported by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) with a grain of salt, especially during the downturn in housing. They’ve always seemed to have a Pollyanna view on things, routinely telling us that the worst was behind us and better days were ahead, only to see sales and prices […]
Don’t Make These 10 First Time Homebuyer Mistakes
ShareTweet Thanks to record low mortgage rates and home prices that have fallen roughly one-third on a national level from the real estate bubble’s peak, buying a home is now more affordable than it has been in decades. (NOTE: This takes into consideration the price of the house/mortgage only, not other costs such as HOA […]
20% Down Payments for Homes Is (Hopefully) Making a Comeback
ShareTweet For many years leading up to the real estate bubble, it was almost unheard of to purchase a home without at least a 20% down payment. This was the bank’s way of making sure you had adequate skin in the game and started off with enough equity that, if you ran into payment problems, […]
Default on a mortgage in Spain? Lose Your House, Keep the Mortgage!
ShareTweet For those of us here in the United States who have long complained about the housing market and being stuck in an unaffordable upside down mortgage, you can thank your lucky stars you didn’t make your financial mistake in Spain. (Full disclosure – with the exception of people who ran into mortgage problems due […]