From the category archives:

Real Estate

Is the McMansion Dead?

Over the past few weeks, there have been several headlines declaring the death of the McMansion. Depending on how you define the “McMansion”, there may be some merit to the argument, but other aspects of the American desire to have things that are “big” are alive and well. I mean, didn’t we declare the death [...]

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How Much Does it Really Cost to Move?

My wife and I have been mulling over a move for some time now. No, we’re not jumping on this low rate bandwagon thinking we’re going to turn a huge profit on a move, but we’re just thinking about what the best location is for the top district, what works for my commute, proximity to [...]

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Mortgage Rates Dip Below Key 5% Level – How to Get Yours Even Lower

Mortgage rates dipped below the key 5% level for 30 year fixed rate mortgages again this week. While many had predicted that rates would rise by mid-2010, it’s looking as though they may stay low at least through the year. The government intervention and reluctance to raise rates given a near 10% unemployment rate has [...]

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USDA Home Loan Program – The 0% Down Bonanza You’ve Never Heard About

The USDA loan program is offering, and has been for years, home loans at incredible terms even following the housing collapse, under the edict of rural lending (farm loans) given the challenges faced in finding a mortgage loan or deriving high income in sparsely populated areas. The surprise is – many of the zip codes [...]

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FHA Loan Introduction and Explanation

The following is a guest post at Darwin’s Finance. If interested in guest posting here, inquire further via this contact form. The FHA (Federal Housing Administration) was formed by congress in 1934, to help a needy country rise out of the depths of depression. The majority of the country did not own their own homes, [...]

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40 Year Mortgages – And 50 & 60 Year Mortgages While We’re at it

I’ve been seeing more ads lately for 40 year mortgage loans and once my curiosity was piqued, I also found that there are 50 year and 60 year mortgage loans out there. On one hand, I found this to be rather unorthodox and novel since you never hear about “40 year mortgage rates breaking new [...]

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$Million+ House for $10 Raffle – Don’t forget the Taxes!

As reported by the South Florida Sun Sentinel, a Fort Lauderdale couple has decided that since their house that they purchased for $2.35 Million in 2005 isn’t selling, the next best thing to do is to raffle it off. They’re intending on raffling off 300,000 tickets for $10 each. It’s a pretty sweet looking house [...]

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Is it Ethical to Re-Lock your Mortgage Deal when Rates Drop?

With mortgage rates hitting record lows last week following the news that the Fed would buy up to $300 Billion in Treasury securities on the open market, there was a mad rush to lock in the best rates and inevitably, there was a fair amount of “mortgage envy” on behalf of borrowers who had recently locked. [...]

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Mortgage Rates Dropping to Record Low – Time to Refinance?

Mortgage rates dropped again last week to below 5% for conventional 30 year mortgages and will possibly break the recent record set in January when mortgage rates briefly dipped below 5% and then popped back up again. Fifteen year mortgages averaged 4.61% last week, down from 4.64% the week before. Based on recent market conditions and [...]

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