Many homebuyers want the most favorable home loan terms they can get—the lowest interest rate and fewest points without the need for private mortgage insurance. One way to do this is to save your pennies until you can come up with a down payment that’s 20 percent of the sale price. On a $400,000 home, … Read more

When you’re looking for buyers or tenants for your property, you’ll have a hard time finding anyone who wants to sign on the dotted line if unpleasant odors are the first thing to hit people when they walk through the front door. Here are some tips to get rid of stubborn smells. Old Garbage and … Read more

This is the third in a three-part series about recommendations on how to perform an annual home safety audit. This time, I’ll focus on the outdoors, specifically, fire-safe landscaping. You may have noticed that in mid-May, workers could be found along many public roads clearing brush and removing low-hanging branches. They were hired to do … Read more

As I mentioned last week, once you’ve lived in a house for a while, little details often become invisible, which is why annual safety audits are such a good idea. Here’s a continuation of last week’s checklist to keep your home safe and in good repair. Kitchen Fire Extinguishers To keep everyone safe in the … Read more

When you are in the process of buying a house, you pay attention to the smallest details about the property. But after you’ve lived in a house for a while, those details often become invisible. This is why it’s such a good idea to do an annual safety audit. It forces you to pay attention … Read more

Your credit score is one of the ways mortgage lenders determine whether you’re a good bet, that is, whether to loan you money so you can buy real estate. Most credit scores range from 300 to 850, with higher scores indicating more creditworthiness. A good score is considered above 650. Your score is based on … Read more