Tips For Homeowners To Save Money
By having a savings fund in place homeowners can weather the good and the bad times with less stress. Even non-homeowners can benefit from having a savings fund since the money will be helpful during a “rainy day” event. Building up that savings fund does not mean big sacrifices either as some seem to think. Easy things can be done to start saving money that can translate into big numbers with the right effort as this article explores.
Refinance High Interest Rate Debt
Mortgage Refinance
When people think of refinancing high interest rate debt they often think of high interest rate credit cards. While credit cards do carry high rates homeowners can benefit by refinancing their mortgage when the rates are lower than their current interest rate. Many homeowners lock in interest rates with fixed term mortgages. With a fixed term mortgage the interest rate stays the same for the life of the loan (usually 15 or 30 years). In order to get a lower interest rate for the fixed term mortgage homeowners will need to refinance their current loan.
Homeowners need to look at the overall numbers rather than just the interest rate as there are many mortgage expenses that can eat up any savings that come from a lower rate. So while the interest rate may be lower the homeowner can end up in a worse situation when they are paying points or other mortgage fees as part of the refinance process. When financed into the loan those mortgage fees also may not be noticed upfront. Homeowners need to be checking that their overall monthly payment is lower as a result of the refinance.
Once a homeowner has ...
Who Should You Hire To Sell Your Real Estate Investment Property?
Real estate like many other fields has many niches that make up the overall market. In real estate there are buyer agents, listing agents, agents who specialize in luxury homes, agents who specialize in investment real estate, agents who specialize in the renting out of real estate and more. So while any real estate agent with Multiple Listing Service (MLS) access can list investment real estate for sale that does not mean they will provide the best service, service which will make the transaction flow much smoother for both the seller and the buyer. This article looks at why real estate investment owners who are looking to sell should connect with real estate agents who have experience selling investment real estate.
Would Any Listing Agent Do?
Certainly any real estate agent who has access to the MLS can list investment real estate for sale and may be even able to successfully get some offers in for the seller. That does not mean the process will be easier for a real estate agent who has no experience selling investment real estate (such as a real estate agent who specializes in selling luxury real estate). While that agent may have learned the ins and outs of selling all types of luxury real estate, selling investment real estate is a different ballgame. When listing any type of real estate the goals for the agent are to make sure they target the right buyers with the right marketing mix. Once the right buyers take notice of a piece of property they will want...
Should You Sell Your Home To An iBuyer?
Many might be wondering what exactly is an iBuyer in the first place as most companies that offer the service don’t call themselves iBuyer by default. iBuyer basically is a service provided by large real estate companies that seek to buy homes directly from the homeowner. These companies imply they are making it easier for homeowners to sell their home without all the need for home preparation, marketing and whatnot. While selling to an iBuyer may indeed be easier and quicker it does not come without a cost as this article explores.
What Is An iBuyer?
As noted above an iBuyer is usually a large corporation that is looking to buy homes to fix them up and then sell the house for a profit after repairs and updates have been made. Some of the companies operating as iBuyers include Opendoor, Zillow Offers, Redfin and others. The reason for the iBuyer name is that it is internet based like other products that add the extra i to their product name. Most of these companies are using a computer generated algorithm to determine the price of a home and some might be familiar with the Zestimate that Zillow puts out for homes on their websites. The computer generated number is just that, a number based on computerized data collected from recent sales around where a particular home is. Those numbers are not always accurate and can leave homeowners confused with their over and underpricing.
iBuyers should be not confused with wholesale real estate investors (...