Search results for homes
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Posted
Sep 25 2009, 06:18 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner blog The Dough Roller.
Particularly for those looking to buy their first home, the big question is always: How much house can I afford based on my income? I can still remember when my wife and I tried to crunch the numbers when we bought our first home back in 1993. I was scared to death that we wouldn't be able to afford the mortgage payments. But we did, and as the months and years went by, our mortgage payments became more manageable.
If you're considering buying a home, it helps to have an idea of how much you can afford. It's very important to think of this question from two different perspectives.
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Posted
Sep 22 2009, 04:19 PM
by
Teresa Mears
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Conventional wisdom would seem to dictate that someone with an excellent credit score is less likely to walk away from a mortgage than someone with poor credit.
That's not so, syndicated real estate columnist Kenneth Harney writes in a story The Washington Post headlined "Good credit scores, deadbeat choices." In fact, people with excellent credit scores are 50% more likely to "strategically default" on their mortgages -- intentionally walk away -- than are lower scoring borrowers, according to a study by credit bureau Experian and consulting firm Oliver Wyman.
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Posted
Aug 25 2009, 05:57 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This devil's advocate post comes from Jim Wang at partner blog Bargaineering.
A few years ago, when the housing market was sizzling hot, everyone and their mother talked about how their home was a fantastic investment. They talked about how a home that sold 10 years ago had quadrupled in value over the last five and cursed themselves for not buying more.
I knew someone who owned four rental properties, all bought with adjustable-rate mortgages, and was making a "killing" on the rents and appreciation. I knew someone else who was looking at his paper riches and marveling at how wonderful homeownership was.
Then the housing market stalled. ARMs reset. People were in rough shape. Those who overextended learned something the prudent have always understood: As much as your home is a great place, it's not an investment.
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Posted
Aug 19 2009, 06:14 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Xin Lu at partner blog Wise Bread.
Rising home loan delinquencies and foreclosures have made con artists very busy.
These scammers use public records to find homeowners who are in trouble, and then use a variety of schemes to take their money and property in the name of helping them avoid foreclosure. If you have late payments on your home loan, it's likely you will be targeted.
The following are some warning signs that you are dealing with a possible scammer:
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Posted
Aug 06 2009, 05:57 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Trent Hamm at partner blog The Simple Dollar.
A while back, I wrote about my best friend (besides my wife), John. John doesn't spend money on frivolous things at all. He spends way less than he earns and is really careful with his money, saving up for the future. He lives in a very small apartment in a poor neighborhood, bicycles to work, and doesn't engage in any expensive hobbies.
Until recently, he had been socking his money away in an ordinary savings account. He bought a few certificates of deposit along the way to increase his savings rate, but he was (and still is) pretty risk-averse. He had no interest in putting his money at risk.
Several months ago, he shocked me by announcing he had purchased 20 acres of undeveloped land within driving distance of Des Moines, a pretty serious investment. Given how risk-averse John was with his money, the purchase really surprised me. He never struck me as a real estate developer.
Recently, he invited my family down to the land to camp for the weekend. He had wanted to "clean it up" some before we checked it out.
We were really impressed.
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Posted
Jul 10 2009, 05:45 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner blog The Dough Roller.
Among the many personal-finance debates, the 30-year versus 15-year mortgage is always high on the list. In one corner you have the interest savers who swear by the 15-year mortgage (think Dave Ramsey), and in the other corner you have the lower-payment folks who swear by the flexibility of a 30-year mortgage.
We're in our second home, and in both we financed with a 30-year mortgage, so we've preferred the lower payments over the potential interest savings. But the truth is that there is no one answer to the 30-year versus 15-year mortgage debate. What works best for one homeowner may not work best for another.
Let's take a look at a mortgage example so we can see some real numbers, and then we'll look at the factors one should consider when choosing a home loan.
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Posted
Jul 08 2009, 12:13 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
A new study indicates that 26% of homeowners who quit paying the mortgage can afford to pay but no longer want to because they owe more than the house is worth.
The economists who did the study call this a "strategic" default. Time magazine reports:
"They can still afford to pay but they decide not to," says Paola Sapienza, a finance professor at Northwestern University and one of the paper's authors. "It's very easy to do this in the U.S."
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Posted
Jul 08 2009, 10:16 AM
by
Karen Datko
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Martin H. Bosworth at partner site ConsumerAffairs.com.
Many an enthusiastic new homeowner has been horrified to find that the warranty offered to them by the builder not only does not cover a host of problems, but forces the owners into private, often complex and costly arbitration schemes -- which nearly always favor the builder in the end.
That's the premise of "Home Court Advantage," a new report (.pdf file) released by Public Citizen that explores the homebuilding industry's use of private arbitration to avoid responsibility for structural defects and flaws in their products -- often violating state consumer protection laws.
"The arbitration companies know that their futures depend on keeping the people who hire them happy, and that means the builders and warranty companies," said David Arkush, director of Public Citizen's Congress Watch division. "As a result, the system is stacked against the consumer."
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Posted
Jun 29 2009, 11:42 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This guest post comes from "vh" at Funny about Money.
Sometimes I think the modest things I have in life are so much better than anything I could buy for a zillion dollars. Maybe I suffer from the sour-grapes syndrome. But ... well, you tell me. Is this sour grapes or common sense?
This morning La Maya invited me to go with her to an estate sale in one of the tonier parts of the far northwest Valley. The sale organizer touted "upscale" goods in a "4,000-square-foot house." So shortly after dawn cracked, we set out for the ocean of orange tile roofs that is the westside.
When we got to the neighborhood where the sale took place, we found ourselves in one of those curvilinear tracts where all the stuccoed houses look pretty much the same. This homeowners association dictated dust-brown paint with mud-brown trim. It being a fancy tract, some of the houses had stone facades: dirt-brown granite, every one. If you came home late at night and three sheets to the wind, you'd never figure out which of the half-million-dollar shacks was yours.
But seriously: The area was clean, obviously expensive, and very nice. I guess.
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Posted
Jun 18 2009, 12:42 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
The people often overlooked in the housing crisis are renters who are forced from their homes by foreclosure. Remember that news story about the sheriff who stopped foreclosure evictions because so many innocent tenants were suddenly made homeless?
Laws vary by city and state, but, generally speaking, a foreclosure nullifies a lease. Your landlord stopped paying the mortgage and, often without notice, you're out on the street.
How many people are we talking about? Lots. A post at Dollars & Sense said, "According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, renters make up an estimated 40% of families facing eviction because of foreclosure."
Finally, there's some help of sorts for renters who face losing their homes.
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