There’s no perfect home, but some homes are more ideal for your household than others. When you look for your next home, carefully consider these four criteria – price, features, location and condition. The closer you get to meeting all four criteria, the better your chances are of making a good buy. Price In any market, price has to come first. To determine what you can comfortably afford, talk to your...

    Buyers who fixate on purchase price and mortgage size often overlook opportunities to save money on both. Usually, the lower the purchase price, the smaller the mortgage a buyer must borrow. We’re not suggesting that buyers buy less or resort to trickery or pressure to arrive at an attractive lower purchase price. Nor, are we suggesting a price chopped by tens of thousands. Instead, by adding value to the components of an...

As you start to gather up your belongings and pack them away for your move, many sellers question which items they should leave out for buyer appeal. Often the wrong items are left on display; things like family photos, personal keepsakes, and treasured belongings. All of these items should be safely packed away which very often creates open space (a plus for buyers) on shelves, refrigerator doors, and desktops. Buyers often make a decision...

As the race for the 2012 Presidential Election gets rolling, a new survey from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) shows what is on voters’ minds. Topping the list of concerns for voters is the importance of homeownership and the ease of obtaining it. The survey showed that American voters “strongly value homeownership and would oppose efforts to weaken or eliminate the mortgage interest deduction or diminish a federal...

Despite many programs to help underwater homeowners, the financial crisis continues and foreclosures loom throughout the country. Some experts say the housing answer is not just lowering interest rates but also actually reducing principal. In other words, these experts are encouraging banks to write down the principal and interest rates to current market value, which according to some experts would save homeowners $71 billion each year....