Real Estate Blog

How’s Your IQ on the QM?

The Qualified Mortgage Rule came into effect on January 14, 2014 as one of the results to the Dodd Frank Reform Act to protect consumers from predatory lending practices. This will affect the underwriting standards that the majority of lenders will use to qualify borrowers....
Read more

Every Homeowner Needs One

A water meter key is like insurance; buy it before you need it. Imagine a pipe has burst and there is water flowing like a river through your home. There may a cut-off valve to each sink if it works and if that’s where the...
Read more

Reasonable Expectations

Coffee should be hot. Beer should be cold. Mexican food should be spicy. However, if these things are less than the standard that you expect, there are not any lasting consequences. As the value of the object in question rises, either in price or gravity,...
Read more

Making Room in Your Rooms

The more things you have, the more you have to take care of. And in this case, the more that you have to store that gets in the way of finding the things that you actually use. Periodically, you need to go through every closet,...
Read more

Rate/Payment Relationship

A ½% increase in interest rate may not sound like much but it is roughly equivalent to a 5% increase in price. It becomes obvious when you compare the payments. If you financed 100% of the cost of a $250,000 home at 4.5% interest for...
Read more