Category Archives: News

If you are new to buying or selling real estate or it has been a while since your last transaction, you will hear many terms spoken throughout the transfer of property and you may not know what they all mean. Here are 15 of the top terms that may be less obvious that you will hear and may wish to have defined.  Approved for short sale  This essentially means that the current homeowner’s bank has approved a lowered price for the home and it is ready to be sold. Back-end ratio This is one of the procedures that a lender uses to qualify a homeowner’s qualification for a loan. This uses the monthly debt payments including the forecasted housing costs, Read More »

Anyone who is looking to buy a home is going to want to secure a home loan and at the lowest rate possible. This was a bit easier to do in recent years but this year the landscape has changed with rising rates. However, if you are looking to do your best to combat today’s rates, here are some areas you can focus on. Credit Score Your credit score plays a big role in the rate that you can get. Freddie Mac states “When you build and maintain strong credit, mortgage lenders have greater confidence when qualifying you for a mortgage because they see that you’ve paid back your loans as agreed and used your credit wisely. Strong credit also Read More »

The past year has changed how a lot of us feel about our home and what is most important to have in them. As we all spent more time at home a lot of home improvement projects were taking place. As a result of all of this, certain home upgrades have become increasingly more popular than others. Here is a closer look at some that have been trending as of late. Closet Organization With more time at home regularly accessing belongings, organization is key. Homeowners have been doing purges of items that they no longer want or need and implementing some organization systems. There are several ways to do this with some investing in a full-on professionally installed closet system Read More »

Property values have been continuing to rise for years now and despite the pandemic the number of home sales has as well. This all plays into the fact that homeownership is one of the greatest ways to invest into your financial future. Building home equity can act similarly to a forced savings plan as your home appreciates. Even before the current pandemic home equity was on the rise and now it has continued. This bodes well for giving sellers more options while encouraging buyers to enter the game.  According to CoreLogic, here is what a recent report has shared after the midpoint of this year: “U.S. homeowners with mortgages (roughly 63% of all properties) have seen their equity increase by Read More »

These days there is a lot of chatter about just how low mortgage rates are. This is part of the driving factor behind a busy real estate market as well as the cause for many to refinance their existing mortgage to realize some savings. Among the discussions comes some false or misleading information which should be cleared up. Here are some of the top myths about home mortgages.  Getting a mortgage is simple With rates so low lenders are extremely busy. Many are looking to take advantage and either buy property or refinance the one they own. With this influx of applicants some lenders are tightening up their requirements. Some lenders are dealing with this by increasing minimum credit scores Read More »

Thanks to Mother Nature, the 2018 hurricane season here in South Florida was a relatively quiet one. The stresses of arduous preparation and painstaking recovery were dodged this year unlike what we all experienced last year with Irma. As a result, the real estate market has shown a much more robust increase in sales this fall. While it makes sense that an uninterrupted season would be better, it is great to see an overall continued strength in the market. Broward County has seen single family home sales increase by 18.5% while median sale prices decreased by a small 2.1% according to Realtors of Palm Beaches and Greater Fort Lauderdale. Listings available for sale have increased in numbers but only to Read More »