Top 5 Mistakes Home Buyers Make — And How to Avoid Them

From the beginning of your home search through closing escrow, there’s an awful lot to think about and do. It’s not unusual to make a mistake along the way. But with the financial stakes so high, a false move can end up costing you a lot of money. Full Article

Here are five common home buyer mistakes, with tips on how to avoid them.

• You Expect to get the price down After Making an Offer
• You wait until the eleventh hour to ask for credits
• You chase a deal at all costs
• You think you can do it all yourself
• You don’t think like a seller

We Will Never Forget 9/11

Alternative Ways to Come Up With the Down Payment on a Home

To successfully purchase a home today, you will need a down payment of at least 3.5 percent of the purchase price. Gone are the days of no down payment alternatives, down payment assistance and seller-offered programs to come up with the money needed to buy a home. Instead, let's look at the five ways you can come up with a down payment to seal the deal. Full Article

1. Gift Money: Gift money is simply that -- a gift from family or documented close relationship. The giftor needs to provide a gift letter and paper trail for the monies they are gifting for the benefit of the buyer. In other words, they'll have to provide a bank account showing that they had the ability to gift the money. In short, gift monies cannot be funds sitting at home in a safe.

2. 401(k)/Retirement Loan: Typically, borrowed funds for a down payment are a no-go, but the exception is a 401(k) or equivalent retirement account (or current home equity line). If you can borrow money from your 401(k) for your down payment, this is accepted for obtaining a purchase mortgage loan. Note: Depending on the terms of your loan, this could be counted as a liability andfactored into your debt-to-income ratio.

3. Sale of a Good: Believe it or not, you can sell your recreational vehicle and use the net proceeds from the transaction as your down payment. Let's say that you decide to sell your motorcycle for $10,000. You'll need to provide the full bill of sale -- as well as the bank statement depositing those funds, matching the bill of sale -- to your mortgage lender. Same goes for any other recreational vehicle, or other item that "makes sense." The key is as long as it's plausible and passes the litmus test and you can paper trail the monies from start to finish, you should have no problem using those monies for the house purchase.

4. Trust Funds, Settlement Awards, etc.: If you come into a chunk of change via an inheritance, settlement, lottery winning, trust fund disbursement, family buyout, even a gambling victory, all of these monies can be used for the down payment as long as the sourcing of the monies is fully documented from A to Z with no stone left unturned. Matching of the amounts of monies used to the original deposits will be required when it comes time to secure the loan.

5. Line of Credit: Where a down payment lacks, enter strength in income. You can take out a line of credit or a personal loan, deposit the full funds into your bank account and after two months, the funds will be eligible for use in the transaction.

While a down payment is needed to purchase in the current real estate market, a prudent homebuyer should also have plans for having available funds for closing costs. The same out-of-the-box strategies listed above can also be used to procure funds for closing costs.

Closing costs run at about 3 percent of the purchase price, on average. So the total funds to close would be 3 percent of purchase price plus 3.5 percent down.

Do your homework. If you don't have a down payment for a house, or your down payment is coming from more than one source, make sure that you talk to a lender upfront so they can help you navigate the best way to properly support and document your monies used. Doing this on the front end will save you from wasting time creating and gathering unnecessary paperwork.

Are Dining Rooms Dead? 5 Better Ways To Use That Space

How many times did your family use your dining room last year? If you can count the meals at the table on one hand, then you may want to consider repurposing that room. It can be hard to let go of the dining-room dream, but let’s be realistic. A room that only gets used during holidays isn’t worth keeping. If you’re willing to break out of the traditional dining-room mold, the possibilities can go a lot further than three-course meals and dress shoes. Here are five ways to get more from your dining room. For example, if you spend a lot of time in the kitchen and love the idea of your kids playing close by, then turn your dining room into their playroom. Ditch the fancy table and replace it with a craft table and add toy bins or book shelves. Full Article 

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30-Year Fixed Mortgage Rates Fall for First Time in Five Weeks

Mortgage rates for 30-year fixed mortgages fell this week, with the current rate borrowers were quoted on Zillow Mortgage Marketplace at 4.37 percent, down from 4.52 percent at this same time last week.

The 30-year fixed mortgage rate hovered between 4.56 and 4.48 percent for the majority of the week before steadily declining near the current rate during the weekend.

“Mortgage rates retreated late last week on a significant drop in new home sales and weaker-than-expected manufacturing data,” said Erin Lantz, director of Zillow Mortgage Marketplace. “This week, if scheduled economic reports reveal additional downbeat economic data, rates could drift even lower heading into the Labor Day weekend.”

Additionally, the 15-year fixed mortgage rate this morning was 3.34 percent and for 5/1 ARMs, the rate was 3.12 percent. Full Article

Landscape Your Home To Sell

When selling your home, landscaping determines whether your home feels inviting from the outside. Curb appeal is important to 71 percent of homebuyers when choosing their abode, according to a 2013 National Association of Realtors survey. Landscaping is a large part of that curb appeal, says Frank J. Lucco, managing director of IRR-Residential Appraisers & Consultants in Houston. “That first impression is important,” says Lucco. “If they don’t like the looks of the front of the house, which is mostly landscaping,” often they won’t even go inside. A landscaping investment could potentially pay a 215 percent return in home value, says Margaret Woda, a Realtor with Long & Foster Real Estate in Crofton, Md. While you may only recoup 68 percent of kitchen renovation fees, Woda says landscaping is money well-spent. Here are five things to consider with your landscaping. Full Article

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Selling Your Home: Should You Build A Fence So Buyers Won’t Worry About Privacy?

“It’s never great to be able to look into someone else’s window,” said Lyn Stevens, a real estate broker at Sotheby’s International Realty in Greenwich, Conn. And it’s worse still when they can look into yours. But before trying to solve the problem, she said, “think about return on investment, and salability.” A thoughtfully designed fence may improve the look of your yard and resolve privacy issues, she said, which could make the property more salable. But that doesn’t necessarily mean a higher sale price. “These things end up costing a lot of money, and you won’t necessarily get the value out of them,” she said. “If you had two homes side by side, and one had a fence in the backyard and the other one didn’t, I don’t see the one with the fence selling at a higher number.”  Full Article

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