Housing Upgrades That Might NOT Bring Value to your Home

When upgrading, home owners often seek features that aren’t only desirable to them but also what will add value to the home when it comes time for resale. Read more

Best Places to Retire

Check out this report. One of our cities here in SC got some love!…

Every year CNNMoney comes out with some fun and informative lists of the best places to live, work, and even retire. The United States is on the brink of a retirement “boom.” Seventy-eight million baby boomers are gearing up, or settling into, retirement. Where should this newly free generation call home? CNN has a few suggestions.

Topping the list is Read more

Become your kid’s mortgage lender

Between slumping prices and low mortgage rates, it’s a good time to look for real estate bargains. But thanks to tightened lending standards, legions of young would-be homebuyers aren’t exactly in a position to take advantage of the opportunity. That’s where their parents come in: One in three first-time buyers received either a gift or a loan from their families to help buy a home in 2011, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Such a move can provide significant financial benefits to child and parent alike. But you need to proceed carefully to maximize the tax and estate-planning advantages and avoid unpleasant family conflicts.

The most straightforward way for a parent to lend a hand is to simply give your child some cash. There is a limit, however, to how much money the federal government will let you give away tax-free in any one year. In 2012, a taxpayer can give $13,000 to an individual without triggering so-called gift taxes. Married couples may underwrite their child to the tune of $26,000 a year. Read more

Get Out Of Debt

Get out of debt today! It sounds a bit like a late-night infomercial, but the truth is that a debt-free lifestyle can be within reach for you and your family.

Reducing your debt-load can be the next, and biggest step, towards owning a home of your own. This is because you must have a strong credit score to buy in today’s market and a strong credit score comes from healthy spending habits and low debt ratio.

Credit used to be something different than it is today. Some reports show that the volume of consumer loans more than doubled in from 1990 to 2000. Changes in credit were happening long before this decade, though. People used to buy only what they had the cash to use. Times have changed. Read more

Fed Announces Low Interest Rates Through 2014

The Federal Reserve announced today that they will keep interest rates low until at least late 2014 in an effort to help jump-start the sluggish economy by making it less expensive to borrow money across all segments of the economy. Read more

Selling a House With a Dated Kitchen?

You have a dated kitchen and you need to fix it up in order to sell your home, but you find yourself short of the typical $30-40K for a full upgrade. What do you do? Read more

6 Tax Breaks Every Homeowner Should Know

Regardless of the current state of our economy and the housing market, buying a home is still a great investment. However, the resulting taxes that accompany owning a home can lead to confusion and uncertainty.

In most cases, you need to itemize your taxes in order to take advantage of all the tax breaks that accompany home ownership. This might seem overwhelming, but the benefits of completing this process make up for the inconvenience. Read more

5 Ways to Improve Your Credit Score

In today’s world, your credit score can have a significant effect on the financial aspects of your life. Your credit history determines loan and credit card interest rates, can raise your insurance premiums, and can even be a determining factor for getting a job.

Therefore, it’s very important to take steps to achieve and maintain a healthy credit score, and to check up on it frequently to ensure that it is accurate. Read more

Boomers More Willing to Help Kids With Down Payments

Two-thirds of baby boomers say they want to help their children or grandchildren with a home down payment, according to a study of more than 1,000 baby boomers age 45 and up conducted by Meredith Research Solutions for Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate.

In fact, one in five boomers surveyed say they’ve already loaned their children money, cosigned a mortgage, or given a cash gift for a down payment on a home.

Even baby boomers not considered wealthy are willing to offer help on down payments. While baby boomers who make more than $75,000 a year were found to be the most willing to offer help, 46 percent of baby boomers who make less than $75,000 per year say they also plan to help their child with a future home purchase, according to the survey. Read more

Lenders are Looking More at the Condition of the Property

It is pretty well known these days that mortgage applicants are liable to undergo scrutiny more thorough than just about anyone in the business can remember. I don’t know about the rest of the country, but in our neck of the woods (Orange County, California) we are also seeing the emergence of a parallel trend. Not only are borrowers getting a more thorough examination, but also the properties themselves are being scrutinized as never before.

I am not talking about the value of the property — those kinds of appraisal issues have been with us for some time now. Today, I am referring to the physical condition of the property. Read more

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