Why buying a home near your favorite grocery store matters

Think real estate and groceries

Buyers need to think about many factors before buying a home in Central Florida. These include price, neighborhood amenities, area schools and commute time.

New data suggests that nearness to your preferred food store should also be pondered. Shopping convenience is one perk. But a bigger one is the effect that grocer can have on your home’s value. This nearby store may affect your flipping or renting prospects, too.

Homebuying tips: how to choose your neighborhood

While this probably should not make or break your choice on where to buy, it can better inform your decision. So when scouting a home for sale, take time to learn which food stores are close by. This knowledge could pay dividends in the form of a…

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Statute of limitations on old debt: Do I have to pay it back to get a mortgage?

Is there old debt lurking in your financial closet?

Before you apply for a home loan in Davenport FL, it's a good idea to get a copy of your credit reports. Suppose your report includes some old debt from years ago. And suppose that's timed out as a result of your state's statute of limitations on debts.

Don't "reactivate" an old collection when you apply for a mortgage

What you do next could have a huge impact on your ability to get your mortgage application approved. And it could affect your financial well-being for years to come. So read on to make sure you know how to protect your interests.

Homes for Sale in Davenport FL

How to get a copy of your credit reports

Under federal law, you are entitled to a free copy of each of your…

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How loan features affect your mortgage rate (and what to do about them)

Why a loan's features change your mortgage rate

Your mortgage rate depends on many factors like the economy, your credit scores, the kind of property you're purchasing, and others. One factor that you have a lot of control over is the loan you select -- it's features and terms.

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What features affect your mortgage rate?

Features can shift risk from you to the lender, which increases your price, or from the lender to you, which drops it. For example:

• Rates that are initially fixed but then reset
• Interest-only payments
• Terms ranging from five to 40 years or longer
• Prepayment penalties
• Cash out refinancing

We'll look at how much each of these features adds or subtracts from your mortgage…

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How to Save For a House in One Year

Getting in the right financial mindset is crucial. Saving can feel overwhelming, but small moves add up quickly. You can do it!

7 simple steps to help you save for a house in just twelve months.

Want to buy a home in Davenport FL, but don’t have a pile of cash in the bank? You’re not alone. Trulia research tells us that saving up for a down payment is the biggest obstacles to homeownership for first-time buyers, behind poor credit history, qualifying for a mortgage, and rising home prices. When I saved up for my first home, it took several years. So as I can attest, the struggle is real but not impossible.

First, how much should you aim for? When thinking about…

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8 Ways To Increase Your Home’s Value On A Budget

Robyn Woodman  - Trulia  

A few strategic, affordable upgrades can add big value to your home.

Increasing the value of your home when selling can be a difficult task, but a few home improvement ideas can help you stage for success while keeping within your budget.

8 Home Improvement Ideas Under $1K

1. Install a programmable thermostat

Heating your home accounts for more than 40% of its total energy usage, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Programmable thermostats allow you to customize a temperature profile throughout the day. Reducing the temperature inside your home by a degree or two while you sleep can lead to huge savings on a monthly basis. And with energy costs on the rise, many buyers…

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Study: FSBOs Don’t Save Real Estate Commission

One of the main reasons why For Sale By Owners (FSBOs) don’t use a real estate agent is because they believe they will save the commission an agent charges for getting their house on the market and selling it. A new study by Collateral Analytics, however, reveals that FSBOs don’t actually save anything, and in some cases may be costing themselves more, by not listing with an agent.

In the study, they analyzed home sales in a variety of markets in 2016 and the first half of 2017. See 5 common mistakes for sale by owners make in 2017 . The data showed that:

“FSBOs tend to sell for lower prices than comparable home sales, and in many cases below the average differential represented by the prevailing commission rate.”(emphasis added)

Why…

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How to shop for a lower mortgage rate

Lower mortgage rate: not rocket surgery

At first it seems pretty simple: If you want a lower mortgage rate, you just check a few rate sheets, and the job is done and over. That sounds good, but the reality is that such an approach is likely to leave a lot of money on the table. Your money.

Homes for Sale in Davenport FL -  How do I see today's "real" mortgage rates?

The problem with looking at interest rates alone is that a mortgage is a piece of complex financial engineering. It has a number of moving parts. If the interest rate is all you check, you could miss higher costs elsewhere in the transaction. If you really want to find lower rates, you have to look at more than the big type.

Mortgage rates

First, we have the plain and…

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Want to start a business? Buy a home

Getting started

If you want to start a business, it helps if you own your home. That's because business financing is often hard to come by, requires a lot of hoop-jumping, and can be very expensive. Financing a business with home equity can be easier and much less costly.

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What the research found

New data show that more people use home equity as a source of startup capital than you’d think. One option is a home equity loan (HELOAN), which (usually) has a fixed rate, loan amount and repayment schedule. It's also called a "second mortgage."

How to get a mortgage approval when your business doesn't look good on paper

Another option is a home equity line of credit (HELOC). It has a variable rate that you can…

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58% Of Homeowners See A Drop In Home Values Coming

According to the recently released Modern Home buyer Survey from ValueInsured, 58 percent of homeowners think there will be a “housing bubble and price correction” within the next 2 years.

(Homes For Sale in Davenport FL)

After what transpired just ten years ago, we can understand the concern Americans have about the current increase in home prices. However, this market has very little in common with what happened last decade.

The two major causes of the housing crash were:

1. A vast oversupply of housing inventory caused by home builders building at a pace that far exceeded historical norms.
2. Lending standards that were so relaxed that unqualified buyers could easily obtain financing thus enabling them to purchase a home.

Today,…

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Why Is It Important To Use A Professional To Sell Your Home?

When a homeowner decides to sell their house in Central Florida, they obviously want the best possible price for it with the least amount of hassles along the way. However, for the vast majority of sellers, the most important result is actually getting their homes sold.

In order to accomplish all three goals, a seller should realize the importance of using a real estate professional. We realize that technology has changed the purchaser’s behavior during the home buying process. According to the National Association of Realtors’ 2016 Profile of Home Buyers & Sellers, the first step that “…44% of recent buyers took in the home buying process was to look online at properties for sale.”

However, the report also revealed that 96% of buyers who used…

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