Best Homes in 2018

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Start Early and Live Happily Ever-after

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As storybooks go, the character is introduced, they meet their love interest, a villain thwarts their intentions, true love overcomes, they marry and live happily ever-after.  It's a very familiar formula. Similarly, there is a formula that couples follow in real life.  They go to college, get a good job, rent a home, fall in love, get married and buy a starter home.  They start a family, move into a larger home, save for their children's education, start planning for their retirement and if they live within their means, they invest their surplus funds. An alternative to this might be to start investing in rental homes early in their adult life before their standard of living becomes so expensive that they don't feel like they have the money to purchase rentals.  There are infinite possibilities but let's say a single person, after getting a good job, buys a small three or four-bedroom home with an owner-occupied, minimum down payment.  They ...
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Inventory Continues to be a Challenge

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In any given market, inventories fluctuate based on supply and demand considering area and price range. The National Association of REALTORS considers a balanced market to be a six-month supply of homes. If it takes longer than six months to sell, it is thought to be a buyer's market and less than six months, a seller's market. Most buyers and sellers probably feel a balanced inventory is more like three months' supply of homes. The inventory of existing homes has been reduced to approximately 1.5 million houses which is 10.3% lower than a year ago. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis there are 5.7 months' supply of new homes currently on the market in the U.S. Inventory has a direct impact on price. When demand is constant, but inventory is reduced, price tends to increase because the same number of people are trying to buy a smaller than normal number of homes. As easy as it is to recognize the signs of spring, one shoul...
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Gift of Equity

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There is a little-known mortgage program that could provide the vehicle for the right person to get into a home.  If a person sells their home to another for less than the fair market value, the difference in the appraised value and the sales price is considered a gift of equity for the buyer. FHA requires that borrowers receive gifts of equity only from family members transferring title to the borrower.  An appraisal is required to determine the value of the home.  The sales price is subtracted from the appraised value to determine the equity to be gifted.  If a home appraises for $300,000 when the owner will sell it for $250,000, the gift is $50,000. The gift is applied to the down payment.  In this example, the borrower would have to qualify for a $250,000 mortgage which would require private mortgage insurance because a 20% down payment on a $300,000 home would be $60,000.  If the buyer had an additional $10,000 in cash to put do...
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