Today’s homebuyers are looking for deals and one of the best places to find a deal is to look at bank-owned homes. Bank-owned (foreclosed) homes represent a dichotomy of financial extremes – as one person’s nightmare becomes another person’s opportunity. Banks make money by lending money and collecting interest. They do not make money by [...]

Standard Intro: MLS (Multiple Listing Service) photos are photographs that real estate agents take and publish online to “advertise and market” their listed properties to other real estate agents. Those same photographs are ported over to real estate sites on the internet like Realtor.com that everyday consumers have access to. I have been in the [...]

For the purposes of this article, the IRS has defined first-time homebuyers as those who have not owned a home in three years. First-time homebuyers who purchase a home before December 1, 2009 may be eligible to take advantage of an $8,000 tax credit as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. [...]

Recent changes in the law have reinstated last year’s 2008 loan limits for FHA, Freddie Mac, and Fannie Mae loans. The limits are equal to the greater of 125% of the 2008 local area median home price or $271,050 for FHA and $417,000 for Fannie and Freddie, with an overall maximum cap of $729,750. Also, [...]

Not a day goes by for me without receiving a call from someone who is considering “walking away” from their home…and not coming back.  I think they call me with hopes that I will talk them out of it.  But the only way I can talk them out of it is to provide a better [...]

I like to have fun.  I also like to learn how to do my job better. Sometimes the best way to learn how to do a job better is to analyze a job that has been poorly done…and have a little fun in the process. MLS (Multiple Listing Service) photos are photographs that real estate [...]

This past week the Obama administration issued more details on refinancing and modifying mortgages under the government’s new “Making Homes Affordable” program, opening the way for troubled homeowners to get some help from their lenders. The plan is designed to help stop the damaging impact that declining home prices have on all Americans. This step [...]

I read today that 60% of the sales in the current real estate market are “distressed sales” — defined as a combination of short sales and foreclosure sales. Personally, I would have guessed a higher percentage. It sure “feels” like more to us REALTORS®. I will assume most of you know what a foreclosure sale [...]