Our Furry Friends Here’s an interesting statistic: 85 million families in the United States own pets. Dogs, cats, iguanas, snakes, even pigs! You name it, there’s someone out there who’s got it. Our little cozy critters and loving companions bring us comfort, love and protection. But how has having a pet affected your home? If you’ve ever house broken a dog, you know that it can be an exasperating task. I don’t even want to
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Buying a house is not something you should do without some good financial knowledge and advice. Your first mortgage should be thoroughly thought out and well planned. Now that you’re thinking of purchasing a home, use the next 12-18 months or so to prepare yourself. Prepare Your Credit Early Houses are not cheap. In order to pay for one, you’ll have to get a home loan and pay it off in monthly installments. How much
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Though we strongly encourage you to never miss a payment (because of the negative repercussions that it could have on your credit), we’re aware that sometimes things happen that are out of our control. Missing a payment on your mortgage loan may seem like the end of the world. In most cases, you know ahead of time that you are going to miss a payment. In a more drastic scenario you may be faced with
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3 Financial Problems We All Face Handling money is a challenge for everyone. Whether we admit it or not, making money and saving it is a hard thing to do. Most Americans live the paycheck to paycheck cycle, only having enough money to last them until they get paid again. In this article, we’ll recognize a few of the most common money mistakes that we all make and how to prevent them. Living the Check
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One of the terms that is often used in the mortgage business, especially during the closing of a mortgage loan is “Escrows” or “Escrow Account”. An escrow account, sometimes called an impound account, allows you to pay the homeowners insurance and property taxes on your home. It’s important that your taxes are paid on time and in full to the county tax assessor to avoid penalties and tax liens. Essentially, every month the deposit amount
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If you’re a single mom considering buying a home, you’re not alone. According to a study conducted by the National Association of Realtors, single women are more than twice as likely to purchase a home than single men. In late 2016, 16% of homebuyers consisted of single moms. Only 7% of buyers were single men. Surprisingly on a national average, women generally make less money than men. Regardless, single moms everywhere are finding opportunities to
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If you’ve seen recent horror movies like The Conjuring, The Forrest, and The Collector or even more dated movies like Scream from the 90s, or Psycho from the 60s, you’d probably never venture down into the basement for fear of the unspeakable terrors that could be awaiting you within the bowels of your home. Television has portrayed the basement to be a dark and scary place where spooky things happen to nice people. But this
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The Analytics on Appraisals What is an Appraisal? An appraisal is a document provided by an appraiser (the person who conducts the appraisal report) that provides a professional estimate of the value of your home. Appraisals are conducted by a third-party appraiser who is completely objective in their process. Appraisers do not work in favor of the lender nor the borrower. They simply conduct the appraisal and produce their findings. Appraisals are most often conducted
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Our last few articles have been on the impact that the oncoming rise in interest rates from the Federal Reserve will have on the general public, and more specifically how it will impact those who are in the market for purchasing and refinancing. Janet Yellen has openly stated that a change from the Fed is coming soon due to the growth in our economy. We’ve mentioned both the pros and the cons of an interest
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How Inflation Impacts our Economy Our economy is doing better than it has done in a long time. As more and more people in the US are finding work, the unemployment rate is steadily dropping. This is great for the economy of our country as people and businesses are buying, selling, and trading and in turn stimulating the economy. One important factor involving economic stimulation is inflation. Inflation is important to understand if you want
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