tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-244119782009-11-09T14:56:48.085-08:00This blog is a Q&A tool for home buyers. If you have questions about the home buying process, this is a great place to ask them.Brandonnoreply@blogger.comBlogger375125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24411978.post-17605135850919929942009-11-09T14:22:00.000-08:002009-11-09T14:56:48.100-08:00

Fannie Mae recently launched a new program to help struggling homeowners avoid the foreclosure process. The Deed for Lease program allows homeowners to transfer their property deeds to their lenders, and then lease the home (from the lender) at a market rate. This program is an alternative to other foreclosure-avoidance solutions, such as loan modifications.Many homeowners facing foreclosure have

Brandonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24411978.post-68873417578244328682009-11-08T09:57:00.000-08:002009-11-08T10:21:53.770-08:00

This is an update to a previous post about the first-time home buyer tax credit being extended into 2010. Some new information has been released, regarding the extension of this credit. Here's a summary of recent events:On November 4th, the Senate unanimously approved a bill that would extend the home buyer tax credit until April 30, 2010. The House of Representatives approved the bill on

Brandonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24411978.post-14917708567954264532009-11-05T10:51:00.000-08:002009-11-05T11:18:56.868-08:00

Reader question: "I was recently turned down for a mortgage loan due to my credit score being low. The lender did not give me much more information than that. I was wondering what I should do in this situation, in order to get approved down the road."This is a pretty common question we get from readers. Fortunately, it's also pretty easy to answer. First, you should understand that a credit score

Brandonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24411978.post-91709192753019796602009-10-27T06:41:00.001-07:002009-10-27T14:54:59.893-07:00

Reader Question: "We bought a home 3 years ago. After 7 months of paying mortgage we lost our income for a few months and fell behind on our mortgage payments for a month. We called our lender repeatedly to address the problem, sometimes being put on hold for an hour. We were not allowed to make a payment on the loan until the repayment plan was finalized, which put us behind on our mortgage

Brandonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24411978.post-77450796995366503362009-10-13T06:40:00.001-07:002009-10-13T07:26:20.064-07:00

Reader Question: "I am buying a home soon and I plan to use an adjustable-rate mortgage to pay for it. I'll only be in the home a few years. Can you tell me about interest rate caps on ARM loans, and how they work?"The primary difference between a fixed-rate mortgage and the adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) is that the rate on an ARM loan will change over time. For example, with a 5/1 ARM, the

Brandonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24411978.post-35998885162985043832009-10-12T13:58:00.000-07:002009-10-12T14:19:53.078-07:00

Financial lobbyists are pressuring Congress to extend the first-time home buyer tax credit program, and also to increase the credit amount from $8k to $15k. If you're in the market for a new home, you've probably heard about the tax credit for first-time home buyers. It's a credit for up to $8,000, and it applies to just about anyone who hasn't owned a home in the last three years. It's part of a

Brandonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24411978.post-58940005902466869862009-09-25T12:41:00.000-07:002009-09-25T12:52:40.293-07:00

Reader Question: "I am looking for help with a question on the 1st time home buyer tax credit... My fiance and I are buying our first home. We are scheduled to close Oct. 23, 2009. My income is exceeds 75k however her income is in the 40k range. Together our incomes are well under 150k. Individually she would qualify for 100% of the tax credit but because of my income I would not. Jointly

Brandonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24411978.post-80734539816399640142009-09-18T16:21:00.000-07:002009-09-18T17:22:32.937-07:00

For the second quarter of 2009, mortgage lending rates remained below 5% (for a 30-year fixed loan). For the last couple of months, however, they have been hovering above the 5% mark. Most experts predict that lending rates will fluctuate between 5.5% and 6% for the rest of this year.What does this mean to you, as a potential home buyer? It means that now could be an excellent time to lock in a

Brandonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24411978.post-34210771129550426682009-09-16T08:04:00.000-07:002009-09-16T16:43:17.078-07:00

I've received a few emails about real estate purchase agreements lately, so I thought I would answer all of those questions at once. In this lesson, I'll talk about the key parts of the purchase agreement and what you should know about each one of them.To put this article in context, I am referring to residential real estate purchases -- as opposed to commercial property. This article is intended

Brandonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24411978.post-25403982226819934782009-09-15T16:22:00.000-07:002009-09-15T16:52:51.105-07:00

Reader question: "I was wondering how to get home loan quotes from the Internet. Is it as easy as filling out a form on a website, or is there more to the process than that?"Yes, it is that easy. But there are several things you should know before you start requesting home loan quotes online. So let's talk about what happens when you fill out a loan request on a lender's website.Actually, before

Brandonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24411978.post-56885635063724226572009-08-29T14:43:00.000-07:002009-08-29T14:52:33.760-07:00

Reader question:I am in the middle of buying a house and just hit a snag. House I am looking to buy is a foreclosure owned by a bank. This bank is selling home "As Is". Had home inspected and all seemed to go well. Got a call today from my realtor (who I am not impressed with) saying that house was appraised today and that some things had to be taken care of before I could get an finalized

Brandonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24411978.post-30585897469863142962009-08-29T06:19:00.000-07:002009-08-29T07:28:22.669-07:00

Countless articles have been written about the steps to purchasing a home, and many of them do a good job explaining the process. So I don't plan on reinventing the wheel with this article. Instead, I'd like to focus on the first few steps you should go through when purchasing your first home.Why this focus on preliminary steps? Because that's where first-time home buyers make most of their

Brandonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24411978.post-70166033358672685712009-08-21T09:42:00.000-07:002009-08-21T09:47:27.701-07:00

Reader Question: "I found a vacation/retirement home I'm considering buying. I saw the listing online and it is about 3 hours from my current home. The house is listed through an agent. Do I need an agent also, because I'm aware the agent that listed the house is working for the seller? We are driving up to look at the house with the Agent that has the property listed on Saturday. Please help

Brandonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24411978.post-86399997570983620542009-08-15T10:14:00.000-07:002009-08-15T10:31:55.870-07:00

Filing a home insurance claim is not something the average homeowner thinks about a lot. After all, your house is generally your most important asset, so it's not pleasant to think about worst-case scenarios that could lead to a home insurance claim.But if you're reading this article right now, I can safely assume you're either in the process of filing a claim, or you soon will be. So let's talk

Brandonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24411978.post-51946598683892173812009-08-15T07:48:00.000-07:002009-08-15T08:40:24.597-07:00

We have been receiving a lot of questions from first-time buyers about the $8,000 home buyer tax credit program. So I thought it would be helpful to address them here on the blog.Without a doubt, the most common question we receive has to do with using the $8,000 tax credit as a down payment when buying a home. Here's the latest on this subject.Please note: This program has evolved in the past,

Brandonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24411978.post-30522168351347305062009-08-14T08:45:00.000-07:002009-08-14T09:07:57.573-07:00

If you've been watching the news over the last few months, you probably know about home loan modification programs and how popular they have become. Basically, these programs are designed to modify a person's home loan in order to prevent a foreclosure scenario. They are reserved for certain "at risk" homeowners who meet a predetermined set of criteria and guidelines.In this article, I'll explain

Brandonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24411978.post-59263524373191557172009-08-14T07:25:00.000-07:002009-08-14T08:05:21.109-07:00

Reader Question: "What's the best way to determine a maximum mortgage amount when buying a home? How big of a mortgage loan can I afford to take on?"I cannot answer the "how big" question, but I can explain how to answer it for yourself. The first thing you should do is revise the question you are asking. Instead of asking how big of a mortgage you can handle, ask how much you can afford to pay

Brandonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24411978.post-47685125436203219212009-07-31T15:19:00.000-07:002009-08-01T08:18:31.814-07:00

Reader Question: We are about to buy a home soon, and we already have our eye on a particular house, but we're not sure how to evaluate the seller's asking price. How do we make sure we're not paying too much for the home?This is an excellent question, and the answer will depend heavily upon whether you are using a real estate agent or going through the home buying process by yourself. If you're

Brandonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24411978.post-61574330664677734792009-07-31T15:14:00.000-07:002009-08-01T08:22:59.922-07:00

Reader Question: What is an 80-10-10 mortgage loan, and how does it work? It's a fairly common way to buy a home these days, especially when the buyer does not have a full 20% down payment. Basically, these three numbers represent percentages of a whole. The first number, 80%, represents the primary loan the home buyer gets to pay for the home. The second number, 10%, represents a second loan --

Brandonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24411978.post-14806836367219651852009-07-31T15:05:00.000-07:002009-08-01T08:31:55.543-07:00

Reader Question: Is an adjustable rate mortgage a bad idea for first-time home buyers?This is one of those questions we cannot answer one way or the other, because it really depends on the situation. In some cases, an adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) loan can be used wisely to save the home buyer money. In other cases, the risk outweighs the rewards. So the best thing I can do is explain how

Brandonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24411978.post-73391232122902024102009-07-30T17:26:00.000-07:002009-07-30T17:36:24.792-07:00

Reader Question: My husband and I are planning to buy a home in the near future. This will be our first time going through the process, and we're wondering what we should look for when house hunting for the first time.We actually create a new house hunting checklist recently, so that's a great place to start. It covers most of the things you should do to prepare for the process. So with this

Brandonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24411978.post-69847013666616751322009-07-30T17:04:00.000-07:002009-07-30T17:13:40.924-07:00

What happens when a bank forecloses on a mortgage loan? This question was sent in by a reader of the home buying blog. I think we've covered this topic before, but it does come up a lot so I figured I could cover it again.Here's what happens when a bank forecloses on a home. The process will vary from one state to another, because foreclosure laws vary between states. But the basic process is the

Brandonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24411978.post-57136236318921551372009-07-07T09:26:00.000-07:002009-07-07T09:40:38.797-07:00

Are there home loans available for people after a foreclosure process? In a word, yes. But it may take time to rebuild your credit score and reach the point of "forgiveness" where a lender is willing to approve you. Here is a recent question we received by email that covers the topic of home loans after a foreclosure situation. Reader Question:My question is about buying a home after foreclosure.

Brandonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24411978.post-46988550754614016572009-07-06T07:03:00.000-07:002009-07-06T08:27:50.325-07:00

I recently provided some input for an article in the Dallas Morning News that explained how to shop for a mortgage loan. The interviewer asked me if home buyers should compare mortgage lenders during the process, or simply compare the rates offered by the lenders. I explained that the interest rate and terms of the loan are the most important factors a borrower should consider, and that the

Brandonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24411978.post-89159403762729966362009-06-28T15:40:00.000-07:002009-06-28T15:58:26.716-07:00

Reader Questions (my responses are in green):1. From what I gather it is best to shop around for best offers for pre-approved mortgages. I have read your response and understand that this has little impact on your credit score, even though each lender will check your credit score. How do I go about 'shopping around'? Also, I understand that the pre-approval letter does not guarantee that you will

Brandonnoreply@blogger.com