In today’s hot real estate market, you may ask if you should make renovations to help the house sell for more?
The answer is it depends. Major renovations usually don’t recoup their cost in terms of higher sales price, however if the house is in excellent shape except a kitchen or bathroom, you may consider doing it for a higher sales price. Minor updates are a good approach to help the house look better without a major investment. Some examples are painting the house, new cabinets, flooring (if in bad shape), even minor things like updating the faucets can make a big difference. If you have potential turn-offs like water damage, it’s something to consider fixing. A water stain on a ceiling can scare off buyers, so replastering or sheetrock over stains is probably a good idea.
If you do decide to do a major reno, keep in mind you are doing this to sell and not to your style, so avoid bold choices and go with more neutral options. Overall, in today’s hot market its probably better to focus on little things rather big updates.

The average American has nearly $40,000 in debt not including home loans so today we ask if you consider a cash-out refinance to pay off other debts like credit card debt.
Credit card interest rates are normally much higher than mortgage interest rates and if you are carrying high credit card debt while making minimum payments, there is an opportunity to save a lot in monthly credit card payments that are primarily going to pay high interest rates on the debt.
First you will need enough equity in your home to get a cash-out refinance. With real estate values rising many people have seen their home value rise so they may qualify for cash-out. You’ll still need to maintain equity in the home at 80-90% to avoid paying mortgage insurance and you will have to get an appraisal and pay closing costs which will be subtracted from the cash out amount.
Contact us to see if a cashing out to pay off your debt makes sense for you. And remember you’re not actually eliminating the debt you’re just saving on high interest payments so be careful not to start spending again on the credit cards and getting caught in a debt cycle loop.

Today we are going to discuss two common mortgage loan products, and the pros and cons of both: FHA versus Conventional Loans.
Many people are familiar with the 20% down, good credit 30 year fixed conventional loan scenario. FHA loans are designed for people who have difficulty qualifying for a conventional loan to buy a house.
FHA Loans offer down payments as low as 3.5% and are more lenient on credit scores and past financial issues. Borrowers can qualify for FHA loans with as low as 580 credit scores.
One of the downsides of FHA loans are mortgage insurance requirements, if you put down less than 10% you will be required to pay monthly insurance for the duration of the loan, as well paying Upfront Mortgage Insurance Premium.
The best choice for you? Give us a call or apply online and we will analysis what programs suits your needs 😊

This week we saw the benchmark 30-year fixed rate mortgage fall below 3% again according to Freddie Mac. While 15-year fixed-rate are down to 2.27%. This opens opportunities for refinancing and rate locks for many borrowers.
Sam Khater the chief economist at Freddie Mac noted that this creates a lot of opportunity for borrowers to refinance and increase monthly cash flow, with nearly $2 trillion in conforming mortgages able to refinance and reduce their interest rate by at least half a percent. He said last year homeowners who refinanced their 30-year fixed-rate mortgages saved more than $2800 annually.

We’ve seen housing prices rising throughout the country so you may ask is buying still better than renting? According to a recent study from researchers at Florida Atlantic University and Florida International University, it is still better to buy than rent in most areas.

The study looked at the top 23 metropolitan markets and analyzed if buyers bought a house and built equity or rented and reinvested the remaining income. Overall they found it was better to buy with savings coming from today’s still low interest rates, which lowered home owner costs even with the rise in housing prices. Of course all real estate is local so while the overall message of buying being the better strategy, results varied region to region.