Personal Finance & Investing Newsletters
Home Buying & Selling
How to Decide Whether to Refinance a Fixed-Rate Mortgage
If you have a fixed-rate mortgage and interest rates drop, you may want to refinance the same mortgage loan to reduce your monthly payments. The following table shows monthly payments for 15- and 30-year [more…]
How to Stage Your Kitchen for Home Showings
Staging a kitchen for house tours calls for cleaning up clutter; painting walls; making appliances sparkle; and completing repairs and updates. Natural touches -- like flowers or fresh fruit -- can attract [more…]
Tax Rules for Selling Your Home
Until recently, if you purchased a home, you were required to keep track of the original cost and the cost of improvements to the home for tax purposes. Then, when you sold the home, if you made a profit [more…]
Identifying the Most Desirable Home Features
Home buyers are looking for energy efficiency when they shop for houses, along with upgraded features, such as specialty rooms. Lots of storage throughout the house attracts potential home buyers, who [more…]
Buying an Owner-Occupied HUD Home
First-time buyers often finance their homes through the federal government, primarily by way of FHA-insured loans. When the property owner fails to make mortgage payments on the property, FHA initiates [more…]
How to Market Your House for Sale with Photos
Digital pictures of your home's interior show off rooms to potential buyers -- on the Internet and in your marketing fliers. Taking your best shots requires attention to ISO setting, shutter speed, light [more…]
Investing in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Properties
One of the ways the federal government promotes homeownership is by providing financing through Fannie Mae (FNMA or Federal National Mortgage Association), Ginnie Mae [more…]
Working with a Real Estate Closing Team
Most sellers and buyers think of the agreement as the tricky part of the transaction and the closing as the part they can take pretty much for granted. Agents know otherwise. As an agent, your work isn't [more…]
Considering Disadvantages to Paying Cash for Your Second Home
When considering paying cash for your second home, you need to think about more than just whether you have the money to cover all the related costs. You also need to keep in mind long-term tax strategies [more…]
Flipping Strategy: Buying into a Hot Market
When most people think of flipping houses, they immediately envision a process of buying a ramshackle house on the cheap, fixing it up, and then reselling it for more than they've invested in it. That's [more…]
Flipping Houses: Making Money in Any Market
The housing market, like the stock market, fluctuates. Home values can steam ahead, stay put, or spiral down out of control. You make your money when you buy a house at less than market value. By adjusting [more…]
Pinpointing House Flipping Hot Spots
Whether you're an average home buyer or a seasoned real estate investor, every search for the right home begins with a search for the right neighborhood. After all, location is everything. [more…]
Flipping Houses: Lining Up a Home Inspector
Whenever you make an offer on a house, make the offer contingent upon the house passing inspection. Then, have the home professionally inspected. This contingency ensures that you don't get stuck holding [more…]
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