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Category: Home Buying

  • Our Home Is Underwater – What Should We Do?

    Reader Question: Monty, we have a family member whose home is underwater. They owe $114,000 on the mortgage with a monthly PITI payment of $890.00. They paid $119,000 for it. Here, is the problem. They are divorcing, and his wife has moved out of the house. A local agent has estimated the home will sell today for between $75,000 and $90,000. Our…

  • Is Buying A Foreclosure Risky?

    Reader Question: Does the possibility of a lower price of a trustee sale out weigh the risks of a unusually quick decision without the normal due diligence process? – Rich V. Phoenix, AZ Monty’s Answer: Hello Rich, thanks for asking the question. There is no cut and dried answer, but I will do my best.…

  • Top 10 Real Estate Myths

    Reader Question: Dear Monty, you write a lot about the myths and misinformation in real estate. Do you have a “Top 10 real estate myths” kind of thing for that stuff? – Jason S. Chicago, ILL Monty’s Answer: Hello Jason, Thanks for asking. It is an insightful question. Here is a list of the “Top…

  • How Real Estate Works

    Knowing how real estate works Real estate defined in law is an “immovable object” with a legal description that defines its space and place in our geography. A Registered Land Surveyor is a person with specialized knowledge on measuring and documenting land parcels according to the law.  As the United States has grown, most every…

  • How To manage buying or selling a home

    The goal of this website is educating you about how to manage buying or selling a home. As a buyer, you might say to yourself, “What is the big deal? Let us jump in the car and start looking. It is pretty easy”. If you are a seller, you may say, ” I will call…

  • Should I Own A Home?

    Should I own a home? We are fortunate because the dream of someday owning a home is a reality in our country. Home owner­ship is a solid symbol of our free enterprise system and is one of our greatest rights as U.S. citizens. It offers some income tax advantages and is often viewed as a…

  • The real estate agent working environment

    Understanding the real estate agent working environment Your success with your real estate experience is in direct proportion to what you know about real estate. This short primer will help you better understand the agent and their playing field. Here are some facts to help shape your perspective. The more you know, the better your…

  • How To Choose A Home Builder

    Before You Begin Your Builder Search Just as with buying or selling an existing home, building a new home can be a complicated process. Fortunately, there are steps one can take to avoid costly problems and unsatisfactory results. At the same time you can provide more input to achieve the outcome you want. First, as…

  • What Is A Real Estate Transferee?

    A Family Moving For An Employer A transferee is an individual whose employer has asked them to relocate.  Companies relocate employees for a wide variety of business reasons. In many cases, these new assignments are long term and require that the entire family’s participation in the relocation. Typically, the employee sells their home in the…

  • Mortgage loan pre-approval

    A mortgage loan pre-approval from a lender has gained more importance in real estate transactions than ever before. Mortgage lending has been affected the past several years with a heightened level of regulation in an attempt to prevent the types of abuses they believe created the real estate meltdown that began around 2008. Appraisal restrictions,…

  • 8 tips to find the right home mortgage

    Find the money first Shopping at a price point over your maximum loan qualification is just one reason the importance of mortgage pre-approval is not taken for granted. Critical first step Even before you start looking for a home, have a mortgage loan officer pre-approve you. It is a critical first step. Here are the…

  • Finding the right real estate agent

    Which Agent Will It Be? Finding the right real estate agent can make the difference in the quality of the experience.  Because searching for a home, or selling a home, may be the largest single financial decision you make, interviewing three agents is a wise exercise for you to undertake. If you had been attending…

  • Viewing a potential new home, smartly…

    …Smartly Experience has proven that the more you know about viewing a home smartly, the better chance you  have of making the right decisions when you are ready to make an offer on one. This prior knowledge can help save you time and result in a successful transaction for both you and the seller. Ready,…

  • Real estate negotiation for home buyers

    Negotiations Are An Important Key So many times I have seen ego, misinformation or just downright stubbornness cost a sale unnecessarily. In most cases, one or both of the parties were not willing to consider the concern or objection of the other party. Many critical concerns will be  discussed and decided upon during the real…

  • The Rules Of The Real Estate Game

    What You Do Not Know Can Hurt You Most of us coming into the real estate market today are searching for information. We tend to look for information about homes, neighborhoods and financing. Consumers  do not always ask the right questions  because they do not know which questions  to ask. Conversely,  agents do not realize…