Michigan Mortgage

Buy a Rental Property? Love the Idea!

A friend asked recently for my advice on buying a rental property… Hey Evan, This is a different note but what do you think about Heidi and I trying to get some of these really cheap houses right now, fixing them up a bit, and renting them out? We gross about $36,000 right now and [...]

Is Now A Good Time To Buy A Home?

Everyone wants to know: are property values rising or are they declining?

The local real estate news shows that all but one of the cities surrounding Lansing reported an increase in the average actual sale price of homes this past year. That seems like good news.

Robert Schiller, the creator of the Case-Schiller RE Index, said today that all 30 cities he analyzes annually has declined over the past year and that we could see another 15% to 20% decline in the housing market before we reach the bottom! Another 15 to 20 percent…

VA Loan In 18 Days.

Can home purchases close quickly any more? The short answer is – yes.

Here’s the longer answer:

On the 10th of December I got the call from my client. The home they offered on last week passed inspection – need to get this closed. I asked what the expected date was and the client had forgotten “I think it’s yet this year,” she said.

Sure enough the purchase contract came over and the closing was to take place by the 31st. That would be 21 days from the day they cleared their home inspection…

It Takes a Village to Close a Loan

Are you still employed?

“The answer might be yes — but if we can’t prove it three days before closing, we’re not closing next Monday”. That’s what I had to tell a Michigan school teacher today when I learned that we were unable to reach any one in the HR office of her school district to verify her employment.

Now.

Despite the ups and (mostly) downs of the past few years, we’ve been saying all along that for many the time has never been better to take the plunge into home ownership. According to the latest data for 2nd quarter 2010, we’ve got even more reason for beating that drum…

Is Investing In Real Estate Still a Good Way to Become Wealthy?

As my last post indicated, many are afraid of what may be a reality in the real estate market – that the prices of homes may not rise much over the next decade or two.

The reasons cited include:

1. Americans are too focused on de-leveraging—paying off their credit cards and their upside-down mortgage.
2. Baby boomers are retiring and now with less money in their retirement accounts. They will not continue to buy second homes and will live more frugally in the home they have.
3. Young people are more transient than ever before and do not want to be tied down to a home and a mortgage and a job for 30 years.

These things could all be true and they could all be false. We don’t know. But let’s just say that it’s true and that we will see no rise in real-estate value for the next 20 years.

I still believe that being a real-estate investor is a great way to build real wealth in the long run. Here’s why…

Is Buying a Home Still a Good Investment?

I’m hearing this question from some in the media and many of my clients, friends, and family members. Some are projecting 10 to 20 years of relatively flat real-estate prices.

My first thought—they may be right.

My second thought—neither the media nor my uncle Harry are particularly trustworthy advisors about such things.

My last thought usually is…

How Long Does it Take to Close on a New Home Purchase?

Often, the process takes only three to four weeks. That said, we have to acknowledge that today there are factors that could cause the process to take much longer.

Let’s look at recent proof for this reality.

Home buyers who accepted a deal by April 30th had 60 days to close their deals by June 30th to qualify them for the home-buyer stimulus credit. If deals can be closed in three to four weeks, then why did Congress extend the home-buyer-credit closing date past the 60th day? There are a number of factors that made it necessary…