Category: Real Estate
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Proactively Maximize Your Deed’s Value—Don’t Just Wait.
Inflation, whether it runs high or moves at its historically normal rate, erodes your dollars. As a deed holder, at least you do have certain ways to offset inflation. A key method? Proactively boosting your deed’s value through home improvements.
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Tariffs and More: What Happens Now With the 2025 Housing Market?
There’s some extra tension in the real estate market. Anyone can sense it. Knowing what’s going on underneath it can help those who hope to acquire a deed this year. Home prices haven’t stopped rising in 2025. Prices could easily go up between 3 and 4 percent more, over the rest of the year. And…
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Real Estate Investors: Are the Best Days Behind Us, or Ahead?
With the price surges we’ve experienced in recent years, some real estate investors are selling their properties. Will new investors come to fill the vacuum? Maybe not so many — now that some of these properties have become prohibitively costly to buy, finance, and insure. That said, there are some pockets where small rental businesses…
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Live and Learn! What I Wish I Knew as a Real Estate Buyer
It’s always nice to learn from others’ mistakes and revelations, before we’re in the position to deal with similar situations ourselves. In this spirit, here are a few things first-time deed holders say they wish they knew before buying.
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FHA Layoffs? Here’s What Home Buyers Want to Know
A powerhouse of the U.S. housing market seems at the brink of a major staff cut. HUD is the Department of Housing and Urban Development. It oversees the country’s FHA-backed loans. And it’s in for some turbulence.
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Single and Looking (for My Very Own Deed)
Single and looking? Take heart! So many people would love to be in your position. Some never have a home that’s theirs alone. If you think most people in the current real estate market are couples, you’re right. Yet single buyers make up more than a fourth of all buyers. You could join them, and…
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Is the 30-Year Mortgage Best?
Most home buyers go with a 30-year mortgage. There are other options — most notably the 15-year mortgage. The shorter mortgage typically comes with a lower interest rate. But it also means higher monthly payments. The monthly weight of a 30-year mortgage is easier to handle. This, in turn, makes homeownership an easier reach for…
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Was Your Seller Inspired by Pinocchio? Buyer Remedies for False Disclosure Statements
In a recent survey, more than half of sellers admitted to not disclosing a known problem with their property. Although this is just one survey, the point bears noting. Buyers should probably expect to find issues with their homes. A home buyer can sue over a material defect that wasn’t disclosed by the seller.
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The Struggle Continues: Deed Equity Means Closing the Racial Wealth Gap
The African-American and Hispanic homeownership rate has generally been below 50%. Now, there’s a group on a mission to include the “have nots” in the U.S. population of deed holders. It’s taking down hurdles to homeownership, like the need to amass money for down payments. The Homeownership Council of America has debuted Equity DPA, a…
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Transferring a Deed Before the Loan Is Paid Off? Be Mindful of the “Due-on-Sale” Clause
Are you thinking of transferring your deed? You might be quitclaiming the deed to someone you know, or you might be transferring it into a company or trust. Or you might be getting ready to sell. In all of these cases, check the rules on your home loan. If you have a conventional mortgage loan…
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Splitting Lots: What It Takes to Subdivide a Piece of Property
Trying to purchase land and subdivide it? Or hoping to split a lot you have? It could be harder than it seems. Subdividing land involves dividing a single property into smaller parcels. Local governments often greenlight companies that create large subdivisions, as they can boost local tax bases and economies. In a parallel way, an…
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Back in the Game: How to Get Another Deed After a Bankruptcy, Foreclosure, or Short Sale
Finding a mortgage again after a financial setback can seem like an impossible feat. But it’s doable. Here, we consider foreclosures, short sales, and bankruptcies. We look at how they can be overcome for the purpose of acquiring a deed to a home.
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Between Signing My Purchase Agreement and Closing: What’s Going On?
What goes on between the day you find your seller and the day the seller hands you the keys? If you’re new to home buying, you’ll be curious about each step. And if you haven’t closed on a home in a long time, you might want a refresher. Once you sign the agreement, a…
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Is the Backyard Cottage Written Into the Deed, or Recorded Separately?
You might be familiar with guest houses or garden suites. You might have seen detached garages turned into cottages, or finished basements converted into rental space. Town managers call these extra living spaces ADUs: accessory dwelling units. A house deed typically does not point out an ADU on the property. But the additional living unit…
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Ready to Close—But the Home Isn’t Empty
You’re ready to close on your new home. There’s just one issue. On what you thought was your final walk-through, the home still has an occupant. Or, surprise! It’s still cluttered with the seller’s rugs and lamps. Let’s talk about how to avert this scenario — and how to deal with it if and when…
