2015 has again signaled the willingness of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to purchase loans with a 3% down payment. Until just recently, most mortgage brokers asked for a 5% down payment, unless you are in a USDA area. You could then apply for a VA loan, or your state offered local housing down payment assistant help.
Continue reading Smaller down payments pave the way for first-time home buyers
We all have heard the news about the Detroit Michigan resident James Robertson who walks to and from his job every day. When you have not heard the story, here is a link to a Business Insider article about James Robertson.
His car broke down years ago and he did not have the money to fix it. Ever since then he made the 21 mile trip to and from work on foot while keeping perfect attendance at this job.
Continue reading Lesson to be learned from a guy who walks 21 mile to work
We all heard the news that the groundhog saw his shadow, so now we will have 6 more weeks of winter. Let’s take that time to prepare the house for selling in the spring. Its cold outside so it is a great time to work inside. We can do some of the outside work when it warms up outside. Continue reading Winter is a good time to prep your home for selling in the spring
MoveHub has published a world map that highlights each country’s cost of living. The cost of living numbers included the prices of groceries, transportation, restaurants, and utilities.
Most of us who consider moving to another country look at some of the basic information we find. Looking at this report it is a real an eye opener.
Some of the countries with the highest cost of living indexes are the UK, Australia, Switzerland, Singapore, and France. Comparing some of the countries with the lowest cost of living index are Morocco, Nepal, India, and Egypt. You can see the full report and list below.
An interesting map from MoveHub reveals living costs around the world.
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Winter is here and many times it is just to cold to do anything outside. This is a perfect time to plan for your outdoor projects you can accomplish in the spring, summer, or fall. It does not matter if you own your house, rent a house or apartment, there are things you can do to make your personal outdoor space a little more appealing to you.
Continue reading Winter is great for spring gardening planning
There are more home fires in the winter than any other season. Several reasons for this include unattended cooking stove, live Christmas trees not being watered adequately, old artificial trees with outdated and possible faulty lights and wiring, unattended fire places or candles, and space heaters to close to flammable material just to name a few.
Continue reading Winter is the season for the most home fires.
When you are renovating or rehabbing a home consider reusing and recycling some of the original materials. It will many times save you money in the long run.
Some great items to save, restore, and reuse are fireplace mantels, handrails, spindles, or solid wood doors. Continue reading When renovating, not everything has to be bought new
When you are in a rented home or apartment in the winter time, and you are craving the lush colors of the warmer weather season, you can still bring the outdoors into your home.
Continue reading Container gardening is great for small spaces.
With the years end, December 31st 2014, the FHA ended the temporary waiver to the FHA 90 day flip rule allowing financing on flipped properties before the current owner owned the property over 90 days http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/FHAFAQ
What does this mean to a seller or buyer? Continue reading FHA flipping rule was not extended
2015 not only brought changes to the FHA guidelines on appraisals, but also significant changes on who can obtain the appraisal certification. Continue reading 2015 brings huge changes to the appraisal field.
