Tag: Homeownership
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Do I Have to Pay Off My Student Loans Before Buying a Home?
This month, 150,000+ people received emails that say some of their student loan debt will be forgiven. The latest $1.2 billion worth of debt forgiveness is a ray of sunshine for many potential first-time homebuyers. It impacts a person’s access to mortgage loans, and therefore the ability to acquire property deeds. But what about the…
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Washington State’s Path to Fair Housing: The 2024 Recording Fee Increase and Covenant Homeownership Program
Beginning January 1, 2024, Washington State implemented a substantial revision to its recording fees, significantly affecting the real estate sector. This modification entailed a $100 increase in the recording fee for each document, aligning with the Covenant Homeownership Program assessment as outlined in RCW 36.22.185. This hike is applicable to a broad array of documents,…
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Owning a Home Just Got More Useful. AI Speeds Up HELOC Lending
At the year’s end, it’s fun to pick out the best innovations to appear during the past 12 months. What about the role of artificial intelligence in home lending? More people might take out home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) to put their home equity to work — if only it weren’t such a drawn-out…
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Added to a Deed: What Are the Tax Consequences?
It’s a common question. You’re going to be added onto someone’s deed. Will you have to declare your new homeownership to the IRS? An acquisition of real estate is not considered income. But being named on a deed could still implicate taxes. Let’s explore why.
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What Is “Subject-To” Home Buying? AKA: Taking Over the Mortgage Payments
Ever heard someone say they got a “subject-to” offer on their home? Or maybe you or someone you know is contacted with a subject-to offer. Maybe you saw a sign saying “We buy homes!” and wondered what’s going on. Subject-to is a little-known strategy in the world of deed transactions. It comes in many forms.…
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Update! Fed Signals 2024 “Pivot” on Interest Rates. What Should Home Sellers and Seekers Know?
As we’ve all noticed, deed transfers really got stuck in a rut in 2023. Too few owners are selling their homes. Supply is down. Prices are up. A core issue? The Federal Reserve. Over the past two years, the Fed has hiked rates in order to banish inflation and to tighten up the economy. So,…
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KeyBank Talks Fair Housing—Putting Its Money Where Its Mouth Is
KeyBank® is putting $400,000 into NeighborWorks Western Pennsylvania. Why? To make housing accessible to Black communities — as they have been disproportionately left out of homeownership. Sure, $400,000 is a modest sum these days. But it’s part of a bigger picture. In recent years, KeyBank has contributed close to half a billion dollars to Greater…
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First-Time Buyers, Get Ready for These Extra Costs
Seriously? Ordinary home expenses now cost the average homeowner more than $14K every year? That’s above and beyond the owner’s mortgage loan payment, according to Zillow and the home improvement estimate company Thumbtack, in their 2023 study. Mortgage interest and high property values aren’t the only price a buyer pays. And the totality of homeownership…
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The Big Tease: Look Out for Rising Interest on a Home Equity Line of Credit
Once you get a deed to your own home, you have special wealth-building powers. Pay off the mortgage faithfully month by month, and you own increasing home equity. This is how your home turns into value you can tap when you need or want it. A home equity line of credit (HELOC) gives you an account…
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Can I Quitclaim My House Into a Living Trust?
We’re glad you asked. You might have heard that a living trust can… All of the above are reasons many people use this method of passing their property along after they die. And a home is a typical piece of property that people put into a living trust. Importantly, a living trust is a…
