Real Estate Tip:

Keep the area around your property in neat condition with grass cut as towns often issue fines for overgrown or messy properties

Real Estate Insights:

“How much of a down payment do you really need to buy a house?” [View Article]:

Conventional wisdom tells us that you have to make a 20% down payment to buy a home. The truth is that there are alternatives that allow you to purchase a home with a much smaller down payment. People often say that it’s safer for homeowners to make a bigger down payment on a home because they then start off with some built-in equity-I disagree with this notion that Suze Orman and others peddle. The problem is that you cannot spend equity—every dollar you pay your lender belongs to them—you can’t get it back if you find yourself in a financial bind. Consequently, the safest move when buying a home is first and foremost to make sure down you can easily afford your monthly mortgage payments (regardless of how much equity you have, if you can’t make your mortgage payments, you won’t be a homeowner for long). The other safe piece of advice I have is instead of making extra payments toward the principal balance on your home loan to pay if off faster, put extra money into an interest-bearing account and pay off your entire mortgage when you’re saved up enough to do so.