Ar_home_b_search
 



east county real estate: Your Winter Home Checklist - 02/10/10 02:25 PM
Winter weather can cause problems for homeowners. Keep these tips in mind and you can prevent many cold-weather mishaps. Although it would be good to tackle a few of these a week in the fall months leading up to winter, it is never a bad time to get started even though winter is in full swing.
Check flashings around roof stacks, vents, skylights and chimneys for signs of cracking, rusting and deterioration. Clear gutters and downspouts. If your downspouts are not tied into a drainage system, the ends should be routed sufficiently away from the house to prevent seepage into the … (5 comments)

east county real estate: Save Time and Improve Efficiency With Keyboard Shortcuts! - 02/10/10 12:21 PM
Perhaps the number one thing we all chase is time...we need more of it right? Well time is time: we can't have more than 24 hours a day. And really we can't manage time itself. However, we can manage what we do with the time we have. Efficiency is the key and finding ways to be more efficient with our time is a worthy pursuit. To that end let's look at one way you can put efficiency to work for you today. I'm willing to bet you spend quite a bit of your day at your computer. Did you know that … (2 comments)

east county real estate: Gifts for Down Payment - 02/01/10 05:11 PM
Did you know that a monetary gift can be used for your home purchase down payment? Many conventional loan programs allow gifts to be used toward down payment only after you have put a certain amount of your own money into the transaction. However, the FHA loan program allows the entire down payment (a minimum of 3.5% of the purchase price) to come from a gift.  Such gifts can also cover any or all of your closing costs to boot! The most common source of a down payment gift is from a buyer's parent(s) but FHA allows gifts to come from:
… (10 comments)

east county real estate: FED Open Market Committee Reaffirms Plans for Interest Rates - 01/27/10 05:04 PM
The FED has made the decision to keep the funds rate at its current level.  There was one dissenting vote regarding the rate stance.  The full article can be found here.  Highlights are listed below.
The consensus is to keep the rate near zero for the next several months The FED will continue to as planned to end its 1.25 trillion dollar purchase Mortgage Backed Security purchase program on March 31st. The conventional wisdom is that the rise in interest rates will be modest at about .50%  On February 1st they plan to stop a number of programs brought about to stabilize the financial markets in the … (0 comments)

east county real estate: Property Flip Waiver Requires More Lender Due Diligence - 01/22/10 12:45 PM
The real estate industry is abuzz regarding the recent FHA announcement suspending the dreaded FHA 90 Day Property Flipping Rule. In 2009 FHA relaxed its initial guidelines to exempt bank-owned properties from this rule. If the lender could show that the property was recently acquired by mortgagees or by vendors to whom they had transferred title, the 90 Day Rule was waived. Now this exemption has been extended to individual investors who have acquired a property within the last 90 days and wish to sell it for profit.
HUD has realized that since the volume of foreclosures has increased over the past … (1 comments)

east county real estate: Easy Home Maintenance - 01/11/10 03:13 PM
Keeping up with your home maintenance requires knowledge and attentiveness. But it also requires money. This is what real estate professionals mean when we refer to the "cost of ownership."  You can stay on top of these requirements by utilizing your home warranty and by keeping maintenance cash reserves. Even just $50 per month can add up and be a lifesaver if something goes wrong your home warranty does not cover.
Keep in mind, if you do not maintain your home properly, this will negatively impact the future sale/value of your home. Conversely, properly maintaining your home will set the stage … (6 comments)

 


Links

Archives

RSS 2.0 Feed for this blog