Mortgages

A Real Estate User’s Guide To the Government Shutdown

As Democrats and Republicans fall all over each other trying to blame the other side of the aisle for the government shutdown, should you be concerned if you’re involved with a real estate transaction right now or in the near future?  Umm – it depends.

Since the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is a government agency, any borrower who applies for or, has applied to get an FHA or VA mortgage will be impacted.  Those temporary electronic highway signs on the side of the road that read, ‘Incident Ahead – Expect Major Delays’ applies here.

Since the vast majority of HUD workers were sent home early Saturday morning and they’re operating on skeleton crews, virtually no one is there to answer calls/emails, process paperwork or grant loan approvals.  UGH!!! Continue reading →

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So You Want to Buy a Home?

Let’s face it, if you’ve never bought a home, the process can seem a bit daunting.  And even those home buyers who have been through the process a couple of times will find that it has become more time-consuming and complicated.  So for the benefit of those who are thinking about buying a home, I present you with the top 10 most frequently asked questions posed by buyers who are totally confused.

1.  WHERE DO I BEGIN?

ANSWER:  Meet with a lender.
I know, I know – you want to look at homes.  And lots of them.  Meeting with the numbers guy or gal is not high on your priority list.  But do yourself a favor; get pre-approved for a loan first.  It costs nothing, takes only a couple of minutes, and you’ll be better equipped to make a solid offer on a home that is backed up by a pre-approval letter.  If you overlook this initial step, you run the risk of wasting lots of time looking at the wrong priced properties not to mention, making offers on properties that you’ll never be able to purchase.    Continue reading →

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