Northern Virginia Real Estate - Loudoun, Fairfax and Arlington

When buying a home, there are two stages in the home loan approval process. Stage 1 starts when a homebuyer submits a mortgage application to his loan officer for a pre-approval. A pre-approval is a "walk-through" mortgage approval that says -- at a given purchase price and downpayment amount --...

Many homeowners are entitled to two major tax deductions -- one for annual interest paid on a home loan, and another for real estate tax bills paid to government. Calculating your approximate tax credit is basic: Add mortgage interest paid and real estate taxes paid together Find your marginal t...

Many homeowners are entitled to two major tax deductions -- one for annual interest paid on a home loan, and another for real estate tax bills paid to government. Calculating your approximate tax credit is basic: Add mortgage interest paid and real estate taxes paid together Find your marginal t...

The end of the Super Bowl kicks off the Real Estate Spring Buying Season. As home sellers should prepare for the season's upcoming homebuyers, they could do worse than to watch this four-minute home staging video from Barbara Corcoran. Barbara offer simple steps that "won't cost you a lot of mon...

According to ENERGY STAR, properly sealing and insulation a home can save up to 10% on heating and cooling costs. The government-group Web site focuses on major sources of home air leaks such as basements, attics and near chimneys. These three categories represent close to 80% of a home's energy...

(Pronounced: NEGH-ah-tive am-ohr-tih-ZAY-shun) Negative amortization is the process by which a loan's principal balance increases on a month-over-month basis. This is in contrast to a "typical" amortization schedule in which the principal balance decreases. Negative amortization is an optional f...

As a homeowner, your financial obligations extend beyond your monthly mortgage payment. Periodically, you are also required to pay real estate taxes and homeowner's insurance premiums. Each month, you pay your mortgage payment to a company called a "mortgage servicer" (because they "service" you...

Adjustable Rate Mortgages are mortgages for which the interest rate is subject to change over time according to pre-defined rules. ARM is a common acronym for Adjustable Rate Mortgage and every ARM has similar features: An initial fixed period during which the mortgage rate doesn't change An ini...

For a lot of homebuyers, calculating a prospective mortgage payment is an online experience. For example, a search on Google for "mortgage calculator" returns 39 million options. Some people, however, prefer to plan on their local hard drive using spreadsheets. For these people, the hardest part ...

When a buyer and seller reach agreement on a home sale, the buyer typically puts a small amount of money into a trust account. This up-front deposit is more commonly known as "earnest money". A sales contract's earnest money requirement will vary from contract to contract. It can be as high as 1...