Buying a Home

Hud Homes For Sale: Five Things Home Buyers Needs To Know Before Making A Bid   HUD homes for sale are FHA insured loans that have been foreclosed and HUD has taken possession of the HUD houses. HUD assigns the HUD house to a Management and Marketing Contractor. The M&M contractor has cleaned it up the HUD house and had it appraised by a FHA appraiser. The rules for buying HUD homes for sale are different for home buyers (HUD calls them Owner-Occupants) and investors. This article is written for home buyers, not investors, and I will discus the things they should know before ... Read Full Story

When subprime loans disappeared in 2008 home buyers found alternatives with government secured loan programs. The Veterans Administration (VA) and the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) have replaced subprime lenders when it comes to zero down financing and low credit score qualifying. VA and FHA loans are especially effective in when you want to buy a HUD Home. As HUD is essentially the same agency that insures FHA loans, they have a great interest in quickly selling homes they had to repo from oveleveraged home owners. Therfore, they offer special financing terms to buyers of HUD homes, including a $100 down payment program. Columbus VA ... Read Full Story

Today a Chicago woman bought a home in Saginaw, Mich. for less than a Starbucks coffee. At the same time an eBay seller learned to always set a reserve price on their for sale items. There were only eight bids on the abandoned home in Saginaw, but in the end 30-year-old Joanne Smith won the eBay auction. Smith told People that she didn't know much about the house. "The people who I bought the house from, they are not giving me any information about it," she said. "I know that the property is abandoned and that there are taxes owed on the house, but ... Read Full Story

Would you like to buy a home, but don't know whether you can afford it or not? Here's what you can do: - Check your credit score. You can do this online at www.equifax.ca for about $25. You are probably looking for a score of at least 600 to be able to qualify for a mortgage. There are many ways you can begin to improve this score. Make sure to make at least your minimum payments on your credit cards each month, and pay all of your bills on time. If you have a large amount of debt, talk to a debt counselor or ... Read Full Story

Once you have found the perfect property, it is time to make an offer! This is where your Realtor can really help you! You want to be realistic in your offer; something that you can reasonably afford, and that the other party will reasonably sign. So how do you come up with the price? Your Realtor should provide you with a list of comparable properties to help you decide on proper pricing. Comparables should include a couple of active listings, recently sold listings, and expired listings. Listings should have similar qualities (ie., # of bedrooms, property size, type of home); the more similar, the ... Read Full Story