Ki's Austin Real Estate Blog

On November 7, 2009, Congress enacted the Worker, Homeownership and Business Assistance Act (WHBAA) of 2009. This new act extended, expanded and broadened the benefits for the first-time homebuyer credit. The new deadline for reaping the benefits of this program is April 30, 2010. Changes to the ...

According to recent polls, more Americans would rather see the government work on the economy then work on the environment. The economy remains at the forefront of Americans' minds and tops the list of concerns. Despite the empirical evidence that the economy is on the mend, people across the cou...

Although the current state of the economy has made it difficult to obtain financing for home flipping, it's not impossible. You can still make money flipping homes. With a little creativity and a little bit of elbow grease, you can do it in style. Your first consideration must be your credit scor...

Mortgage rates shot up this week with the 30 year rate moving from 4.81 to 4.94. Rates also moved up substantially last week. So now in the last two weeks rates have moved from 4.71 to 4.94. This is highest the 30 year rate has been since November 5th. Although the other mortgage products have mo...

In the midst of a protracted and increasingly jobless recovery, one might assume that financial prudence would dictate a freeze in large purchases, with home buying near or at the bottom of the list. However, there are a number of emergent factors which point the other direction, and many investo...

Reverse mortgages have been around for a while and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) under the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) was one of the first to offer them. Before diving into the deep end of a reverse mortgage, you need to make sure you understand what it is, if yo...

Two weeks ago mortgage rates hit historic lows with the 30 year falling to 4.78. The next week they fell even further to 4.71. This week they rose back up to 4.81. Although they rose a tenth of a point the mortgage rates are still near historical lows. Below are the nine lowest rates of all time....

Ever curious about which homes of the rich and famous, or just famous, are on the market? Last heard, there was an abundance of famous real estate available. You can't talk about famous real estate on the market without mentioning Bernie Madoff's real estate woes. One person's woes are another pe...

In 1803, Lazare Carnot began the the study of entropy in thermodynamics, suggesting that natural processes become disorganized over time, leading to waste and inefficiency. So too, in economics does this now taken-for-granted law seem to be in clear effect: recession's end has thus far led to lit...

With the drastic downturn of activity in new construction, builders are becoming much more savvy in the ways of home building, and new homebuyers are receptive to the changes. Since the bottom fell out of the real estate market last year, builders have had to become more creative in order to surv...