Home Buying Articles & Advice
Homeowner's Insurance
- Homeowner's Insurance Basics
- How Much Does Homeowners Insurance Cost?
- Homeowners Insurance and Your Credit Score
- Homeowners Insurance for Condos
Don't Buy a Car - or Did You Already Buy One?
- When Income Grows and You Want to Buy "Stuff"
- Debt-to-Income Ratios and Car Payments
- How Buying a Car Reduces Your Purchase Price
Things Not To Do Before Buying a Home
- No Major Purchases of Any Kind
- Don't Move Money Around
- Should You Change Jobs?
- Reasons to Delay Buying a Home
Why Buying a Home is a Good Idea
- The Best Investment
- Income Tax Savings
- Stable Monthly Housing Costs
- Forced Savings
- Freedom and Individuality
- The Business Cycle and Buying a Home
- Looking Ahead - Buyer's Remorse
- Buyer's Remorse - Did You Make a Huge Mistake?
Why Search for A Realtor?
- Finding an Agent by "Accident"
- Listing Agents vs. Selling (Buyer's) Agents
- Should You Call the Listing Agent?
- Agent's Advertising - Is the Purpose What You Think?
- Finding Your Own Realtor
- Some Basics About the Search
- How to Conduct the Search
- Interviewing A Good Realtor
- When the Agent Asks You for an Appointment
Buying a Home With Resale Value - Location
- Location, Location, Location?
- Location - Local Community, Town or City
- Location - the Local Neighborhood
- Location - the Residential Neighborhood
Buying a Home With Resale Value - the House
- A Home With a View?
- Lot Choice and Landscaping
- House Size
- Bedrooms & Bathrooms
- Closets, Garage & Laundry
- Kitchen
- Fireplaces
- Swimming Pool?
Comparable Sales and Your Offer Price
- Determining Your Offer Price
- Comparable Sales in the Public Record
- Comparable Sales in the Multiple Listing Service
- Comparable Sales - Pending Transactions
Offering to Purchase Real Estate- the Basics
- Introduction and Overview
- Contingencies in a Purchase Offer
- Earnest Money Deposit
- The Closing Date
- Transfer of Possession
Writing an Offer - Safeguards Regarding the Property
- Disclosures From the Seller
- Condition of the Property Upon Transfer
- Inspections You May Require
- Final Walk-Through Inspection
How Financing Details Affect Your Offer
How FHA and VA Financing Affects Your Offer
You and the Seller Must Agree on Some Services
Moving Resources
Get an estimate on moving, truck rentals for do-it-yourself moving, and moving supplies such as boxes and stuff..
Property Search
There are over a million homes for sale at any given time. Most national sites only have a partial or outdated listing of those homes - but they don't tell you that. We do. So, "property surf" on a local site with MLS access. Our Property Search Directory contains such local sites.
On-Line Listings
Some local agents put their listings online and these listings often contain more information than the MLS database. It might be fun to cruise through those sites, if only you knew where they were. Use our Property Search Directory.
Housing Market & Appreciation
Once a month we analyze the current housing market and prepare quite a few graphs on housing appreciation in different regions of the country.
Step-by-Step Home Buying
- Are you Buying a House? Or a Home?
- Writing Offers - Property Safeguards
- How Financing Affects Your Offer
- How FHA and VA Affects Your Offer
- Agreeing with the Seller on Some Services
- The Home Inspection
- Buying a Home for Resale Value - Location
- Buying a Home for Resale Value - the House
- Did You Make a Huge Mistake?
Buying Hints & Insights
- Mortgage Lender Optimism Reaches Record High
- Federal Reserve Caution May Stave Off Mortgage Rate Hike
- New Mortgage Rules Aim to Simplify Paperwork for Buyers
- Despite Slow Recovery, Experts Optimistic About 2015 Housing Market
- Rise in Zombie Foreclosures Points to Last Wave of ‘Strategic Default’
- Mortgage Rates Should Rise in 2015
- Banks Plan To Ease Lending Standards Ahead of Fannie, Freddie Rule Changes
- Share of First-time Home Buyers Falls to 26 Year Low
- Slowdown in Home Prices Represents Shift in Market Fundamentals
- No One Believes the Fed’s Promises to Raise Interest Rates
- Thaw in Mortgage Credit Standards Could Speed Housing Recovery
- Why There Are No Homes on the Market
- Housing Market Recovery Hits a Wall
- Mortgage Credit Standards Are Loosening, But Only For the Wealthy
- Investors Back Out but Who Will Fill the Home Buyer Void
- Re-defaults Loom Large as Mortgage Modification Payments Set to Rise
- 2013 Percentage of Distressed Properties Sales Hit Three-Year High
- A Look at 2014 Housing Predictions
- The FHA Hastens Its Retreat from the Mortgage Market
- Is the Peak of Home Price Growth Behind Us?
- Government Shutdown Will Slow Mortgage Process
- QRM Rule Proposal Could Negate Any Real Market Change
- Home Prices Jump by Record Margins, but Are They Sustainable?
- NAR's Yun: Reasons to Be Concerned About Housing Mismatches
- How Will the Mortgage Market Handle Higher Interest Rates?
- Housing is Now 56 Percent of Normal
- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Are Starting to Turn Profits � Could This Be Bad?
- Moody's: Mortgage Credit Will Loosen in 2013
- New Mortgage Rules Finalized But Debate Continues
- Are Rising Home Prices in 2013 a Sure Bet
- Is There Still Reason to Fear the Foreclosure Overhang?
- Finding the Housing Crisis Culprits
- QE3 isn't a Guaranteed Cure for Housing Market
- Mixed Data Creates Confusion: Have Home Prices Stabilized or Not?
- Principal Write-downs: The Next Big Mortgage Push
- Short Sales Gain Traction with Banks and Buyers
- Getting the Big Picture on the Housing Market
- Home Values Have Plunged $6.4 Trillion since Market Bust
- Number of Underwater Homeowners Fell in Third Quarter but Prices Declined as Well
- How Obscenely Low Mortgage Rates Will Affect the Housing Market
- More Government Mortgage Help Around the Corner
- Foreclosure Tidal Wave Has Slowed, But Not Disappeared
- The U.S. Housing Market - Where Does It Stand Now?
- The Rising Toll of Falling Prices
- Has Recovery Begun? Mixed Messages from Housing Experts
- New Mortgage Rules May Discourage Return of Private Lenders
- Investors Driving Housing Market Once Again
- Finally, the Real Cause of the Financial Crisis...Or Not
- What's up next for Fannie and Freddie
- The Mortgage Deduction: Sacred or Superfluous?
- There's More to Life than Interest Rates
- Mortgage Fraud - First in Making Loans, Now in Foreclosures
- Look Out - The Next Tidal Wave of Foreclosures Is about to Crash
- Fannie Mae: Tough Mortgage Standards Are Here for the Long Haul
- Deed in Lieu: The Next Biggest Thing in Foreclosure Trends
- Lending Industry Gets Its 'Due' for Mortgage Mess
- Goldman Sachs: Scoundrel or Scapegoat?
- Mortgage Modifications - Round Two
- The Housing Market - Where We Stand Now
- Can Government Make More Loan Modifications Ahead of the Next Foreclosure Wave?
- Why Interest Rates are Likely to Rise in 2010
- Will Mortgage Servicers Become the Country's Landlords?
- Fed Says Housing Market Not Likely to Quickly Return to Normal
- Gifts Still Make Great Down Payments
- Will the End of the Homebuyer Tax Credit End the Recovery?
- The Housing Market is Showing Signs of Life - Has Economic Recovery Begun?
- More Foreclosures Create Snowball Effect, Government Programs Not Able to Keep Up
- New Foreclosure Crisis Spreads to Good Credit Homeowners
- New Incentives for Lenders to Modify Loans
- How Bad Is the Housing Market?
- Does the Obama Housing Plan Go Too Far or Not Far Enough?
- Do Current Conditions Warrant More Government Intervention?
- The Fed's Historic Actions May Not Have Historic Consequences
- The Federal Reserve's Mortgage Market Rescue Efforts
- One in Five Homeowners in "Underwater" Mortgages
- Take Advantage of Homeowner Programs to Avoid Foreclosure
- Sell Your House in This Market
- Offset Your Mortgage Costs by Saving on Homeowners Insurance
- Home Buyers Guide - The Appraisal
- Foreclosure Rescue Bill Explained
- Is It Time to Renovate or Repair Your Home?
- Foreclosures and the Housing Crisis
- How to Sell Your Home in a Slow Market
- Should You Start with a High Sales Price?
- Preforeclosure flipping: The key to real estate riches
- When Your Home's Value is Less Than the Mortgage
- Should You Buy a Home in Today's Market?
- The Home "Wealth" Effect
- Closing at the End of the Month.
- What is the Multiple Listing Service?
- How the Lockbox Helps Buyers and Sellers
- Location, Location, Location - Means...what?
- When Market Value Outpaces Appraised Value
- What Goes With the Home When You Sell or Buy?
- Negotiating Contingencies in Real Estate Contracts
- If you bought cars the way you bought houses
- Asking the Seller to Pay Your Closing Costs
- Where is an Agent's "True Value"..?
- The Earnest Money Deposit
Submitted by Professionals
- Real Estate Lament
- A Broker's Responsibility
- Buying Homes in California
- How do I Prepare for Closing?
- Buying Bank Owned Properties
- Buying Your Country Dream Home
- Negotiating the Real Estate Contract
- Choose Agent Carefully Before Buying Home
- Buyer's Brokerage -- Boon or Bane?
- So You Want to Buy a Home?
- Your Escrow and YOU
Click here to see the Q&A Page
Featured Articles
Real Estate Glossary
Original, complete and easy to understand.