Real Estate
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One issue that has been a real pain since getting our new home is getting a locksmith to come over and change the locks to our new house. After the closing date our real estate agent recommended a specific locksmith who does great work and is very inexpensive–two things that our great for new homebuyers.
I called the man and left messages over a 2 1/2 week span until I finally got him on the line this week. He will come come out and change them in the morning.
It is one of those little nagging homeowner issues thatcan drive you nuts once you have moved into your house.
Written by Nagel on December 17th, 2006 with no comments.
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Many know of the benefits of buying a home and building equity instead of paying rent. Often, many do not realize that there are some important tax breaks out there for homeowners. You need to make sure you can capitalize on this so remember these tax break tips and if you have an accountant do your taxes let him or her know that you are elligible.
Read this article in Smartmoney.com to learn a wealth of knowledge that you can use when tax time comes.
Written by Nagel on December 14th, 2006 with no comments.
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Our house closing was about 3 weeks ago. It lasted 45 minutes as did the final walk through. It was much easier than we thought it would be. The sellers were very nice and left the home in good shape and let us have their lawn mower. We waited another week to move into the house because we had the floors sanded and it was worth every penny. The floors look new, which was first thought to be impossible because they were in such bad shape. We had movers on the Friday after close and it went smoothly. We still had a lot of work to do, but we did not have to carry the huge pieces of furniture and move them. The place was a disaster area until a couple days ago. We finally put everything away. We have painted three rooms, sealed up some roof spots, fixed a broken stone step and weatherproofed some doors. We will have some electrical work done next week.
Written by Nagel on December 6th, 2006 with no comments.
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Sales of existing homes posted a tiny increase in October but the median home price fell by a record amount. Analysts forecast more price declines in coming months as the once-booming housing market undergoes a painful correction.
The National Association of Realtors announced on Tuesday that existing home sales were up 0.5 percent. This market the first increase in existing home sales after seven straight bad months. However, the median home price was $221,000 which is 3.5% under what it was in October 2005 (this is the biggest drop ever).
However, the median price for a home sold dropped to $221,000 in October, a decline of 3.5 percent from a year ago. That was the biggest year-over-year price decline on record.
Many buyers are waiting for the bottom of the market and many predict that it will continue to get worse before it gets consistently better. Many others believe that this housing decline could be the impetus for a recession for the U.S. economy.
Written by Nagel on November 29th, 2006 with no comments.
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Wednesday the Fed released minutes from the FOMC meeting detailing that housing activity would continue to pull down on economic growth for the next 3+ quarters,. Investors are trying to determine how much of an effect this fact will have on the U.S. economy as a whole and consumer spending since the start of holiday shopping is just around the corner. The U.S. Commerce Department revealed that Housing Starts were down 14.6% in October to 1.49 mln units. This was more than exopected and was the lowest level since July 2000. Building Permits did no better and went down 6.3% to its lowest level since December 1997.
The Fed is trying to produce a soft landing for the housing market so some of these numbers are expected, but somewhat more alarming than hoped.
Written by Nagel on November 19th, 2006 with no comments.
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No, this post is not about Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita in the Karate Kid. My wife and I recently bought a house and we are closing next Friday. We plan on moving in the Friday after we close on the house. In the interim week we have hired a contractor who specializes in sanding and varnishing the hardwood floors (prior owner had a dog and many kids). They will take the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday before Thanksgiving to sand the floors down so the sacratches and wear no longer are present and then put two (from what I am told never have only one coat because it will not last nearly as long) coats of varnish on. They are only doing the upstairs hardwood because the kitchen and dining room need it as well, but we plan on putting innnew cabinets and countertops in the kitchen in the next few months.
Hopefully, this will be a painless process and we can quickly move on to our next projects we need to complete.
Written by Nagel on November 18th, 2006 with no comments.
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Fixed-Rate Mortgage
You can determine exactly how much you’re going to pay each month for the next 30 years. As you earn more money over the years the payments become a lower percentage of your debt. However, you will pay more for this peace of mind compared to an ARM.
Adjustable-Rate Mortgage
The rates are lower than a fixed rate mortgage so you can afford more, but this caqn work against you as it has for thousands of Americans that are seeing their monthly payments go up 50% because of rate hikes.
While the ARMs are sexier they can really cause some serious worry because of the volatility. I would not recommend getting an ARM loan except a few instances and those are rare.
Written by Nagel on November 15th, 2006 with no comments.
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Wednesday of this week I was getting very nervous about us securing a mortgage loan on time to keep in line with our contractional agreement. It literally got done that last day possible about 45 minutes before the end of the business day. The appraisal was the main issue because the sellers’ real estate agent screwed up–the first appraiser that came to appraise the house was turned away because they said we already had an appraisal. This is true, but we changed mortgage lenders and they had to do their own appraisal.
Things have calmed down a lot the last couple days. We have all the information in order to wire the down payment money to an escrow account at the title company. We plan on doing it a couple days before the closing so there are no surprises.
This week we settled with the sellers on the repairs that need to be done. They are giving us a credit to get the electric panel and circuit breakers fixed.
We have agreed on a closing time and place and are in the process of setting the final walk-through time. Now we have one week to go before we own our first house.
Written by Nagel on November 13th, 2006 with no comments.
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We are moving about 25 miles west of where we currently live. We have a relatively large apartment and a decent amount of belongings to move. I have moved so many times in my life I decided this time we need to get movers. Fortunately, family members had recently done almost the same move so they recommended a mom-and-pop moving company for us to use. They are inexpensive and I think the process will be so much easier than if we did it ourselves. Plus we can write off our moving expenses on our taxes so it will cost even less in the long run.
The movers arrive the Friday after Thanksgiving at about 10am and I hope to be completely finished by late afternoon. Here’s hoping.
Written by Nagel on November 12th, 2006 with no comments.
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Here are some more websites to raise your level of real estate knowledge.
- Trulia.com Nationwide listing of homes on the market. Gives you school information, crime rates and city information.
- Propertyshark.com Foreclosure home listings, tax maps, zoning data, and demographics. Covers only selected states right now.
- HomePages.com Gives you the low down on the area including restaurants, parks, schools and governemtn offices.
Written by Nagel on November 10th, 2006 with no comments.
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