After five years of sizzling growth, U.S. home price appreciation is showing signs of cooling. Pending home sales — a leading market indicator — are down from a year ago, according to the National Association of Realtors. In many of the nation's hottest markets, brokers also are reporting a growing gap between sellers' asking [...]
Buy when times are hard. Buy when blood is running in the streets. Buy after a flood, blizzard, riot. During such times, insurance firms and banks have properties they don't want. Owners are also desperate, as they suffer the anxieties of having to feed a white elephant. Winter and summer are real estate's dead [...]
Some people are just plain lousy at saving money. A house is an automatic savings account. You accumulate savings in two ways. First, every month, a portion of your payment goes toward the principal. Admittedly, in the early years of the mortgage, this is not much. Over time, however, it accelerates. Second, your [...]
When someone decides it is time to sell their home, they interview several Realtors from different companies to determine which one is best for them. They want someone who will represent them and someone they feel will do an effective job at marketing their home. However, when someone decides to buy a home, they [...]