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One year ago in April, FHA increased the upfront mortgage insurance premium from 1.75% to 2.25%. Then in October, they reduced it back down to 1%. In just 2 months, we’ll see the Annual Mortgage Insurance Premium go up 25 basis points (a .25% increase). This means your MONTHLY payments will go UP effective April [...]
Archive for the ‘First-Time Buyers’ Category
FHA Introduces Increase In Annual Mortgage Insurance Premiums, Again
February 16th, 2011 
Laura 
Posted in Arlington, First-Time Buyers 
Tags: buying, FHA, fha financing, First-Time Buyers 
No Comments »What is An Earnest Money Deposit?
January 24th, 2011 Laura It’s been a rough week with 2 funerals, so please forgive the lack in posts recently. Hopefully we’re on the path to making 2011 great again! Back to real estate….as part of the purchase contract in Virginia (and DC and Maryland) buyers include an “earnest money deposit” (EMD) as part of their offer, but what does that [...]
First Time Buyer Incentives in the DC Metro Area
January 14th, 2011 Laura Last year, we saw the end of the $8,000 Federal Tax Credit to first-time home-buyers. Many people were sad to see it go, however, you may not realize that there are other incentives available to you if you’re thinking of buying your first home! Here’s a rundown: Washington,D.C. There’s a highly UNDERpublicized $5,000 tax credit [...]
Mortgage Insurance Tax Deduction Extended in 2011
January 5th, 2011 Laura Back in December I did a post called “The Mortgage Interest Deduction (MID) Should be Left Alone,” while that’s still up in the air, President Obama signed the bill extending the deduction for Mortgage Insurance through December 31, 2011. Borrowers can use Mortgage Insurance (MI) to buy a home sooner and enjoy predictable payments, while [...]
The State of the Arlington County Real Estate Market
November 30th, 2010 Laura Heading into December, the market will start to cool off, along with the temperatures. Normally, fewer properties will go on the market so fewer things will sell. Who really wants to move during the Holidays, right? So I suspect these numbers won’t change a whole lot as we round out 2010. Let’s look at the [...]
Couple Buys Meth House – Things You Should Know
November 29th, 2010 Laura In my afternoon post-lunch slump, I usually browse CNN for interesting stories going on around the world. I was surprised to see a story on the front page called “Couple’s first home is a meth house.” Yikes. The couple also writes a blog called Our Meth House. The summary: first-time home buyers in Pennsylvania use [...]
“It’s The Best Time To Buy!” Affordability Explained.
November 19th, 2010 Laura John Paulson said in a recent Forbes article: “If you don’t own a home buy one…if you own one home, buy another one, and if you own two homes buy a third and lend your relatives the money to buy a home.” Everywhere you turn people say “now is a great time to buy!” But [...]
Posted in Arlington, First-Time Buyers, Investor Tags: affordability, arlington real estate, buying No Comments »The Differences In Buying A Condo Versus A Co-op
November 16th, 2010 Laura Some definitions from the owning/buying viewpoint: Cooperative (co-op) A type of multiple ownership in which the residents of a multi-unit housing complex own shares in the cooperative corporation that owns the property, giving each resident the right to occupy a specific apartment or unit. Condominium A type of ownership in real property where all of [...]
Posted in Arlington, First-Time Buyers, Investor Tags: arlington condos, arlington coops, buying 2 Comments »Staying In Your Underwater House vs. Renting – What’s More Expensive?
November 10th, 2010 Laura I received a comment yesterday on my blog post, “Our House Isn’t Worth What We Paid: What Are Our Options?” “What about comparing the cost of the mortgage to rent over a long time frame say 10 years? In this region you’re going to conservatively flush $20000/year in rent. The point being would staying in [...]
Posted in Arlington, First-Time Buyers, Foreclosures Tags: arlington real estate, buying, renting, underwater 1 Comment »Dual Agency: Why I Don’t Do It
September 28th, 2010 Laura Before I launch into my rant about Dual Agency, I need to do a brief vocabulary lesson: Listing Agent: The Realtor(R) hired by the SELLER to represent them in a real estate transaction Buyer’s Agent/Selling Agent: The Realtor(R) hired by the BUYER to represent them in a real estate transaction Commission: Paid by the SELLER [...]
Posted in Arlington, First-Time Buyers, Keller Williams Realty Tags: buying, dual agency, finding a realtor, selling 6 Comments »
