The 2012 tax season is in full swing. My guests this week include Enrolled Agent and owner of Brookwood Tax Service, LLC, Chet Burgess, Merry Brodie, an Enrolled Agent and owner of several Jackson Hewitt Franchises in the Atlanta area, and Bill Nemeth, an Enrolled Agent who is president of the Georgia Association of Enrolled Agents. [...]
Cancelling Credit Cards to Get Cash Out Refinance. You have an excellent credit score, great credit history, plenty of equity, and yet lender wants borrower to cancel many of his credit cards to qualify for a refinance. Q: I have a situation in my mortgage refinance process and need your advice. My lender wants me [...]
If you have an FHA loan and are underwater, you may be able to still obtain a streamline refinancing with a lender. See if you qualify. Q: I purchased and closed on a home May of 2009. The house is now 30 percent underwater. We bought it for around $120,000 and now its worth around [...]
If you are trying to refinancing your underwater mortgage be careful your lender does not charge you excessive fees. Shop around. Q: We are underwater with our home. We have never been late on our payments and have good credit. We called our lender and we were accepted for the HARP 2.0 loan program. Our [...]
New residential construction figures released this week by the the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development exhibit the effects of the ongoing foreclosure crisis. Fewer housing start projects are being completed than ever before. According to a joint press release issued yesterday by the U.S. Census Bureau and the [...]
What's better a Larger or Smaller Down Payment when you are buying a home and get a home mortgage. The simple answer is that it depends. Q: If I buy a home and put down $30,000 and then wait until the end of the year and pay another $30,000 toward the principal owed on the [...]
Cozy relationships with DC legislators fueled the housing crisis. The blame game goes on, you need to look to the voters to make a change. When it comes to the housing and foreclosure crisis, there’s plenty of blame to go around. But over the past few weeks, we’ve receive quite a few letters along the [...]
If a lender has a judgment against you, you can try to settle that debt before the lender garnishes wages or finds and gets your assets. Q: My sister and I purchased a boat slip several years ago, which we could not afford to keep. Our lender has just filed judgment papers. We are at [...]
We have come so far with the stock market. This week, the NASDAQ hits 3000, but what about homeowners? The NAR Home Affordability Index may finally have some good news. And as usual, providing personal finance advice, real estate advice and consumer advice on the Ilyce Glink Show March 18, 2012 on WSB Radio. This [...]
HUD approved housing counseling agencies are set to receive more than $40 million in grant money, designed to help families find housing and avoid foreclosure. The housing industry is getting another boost from the feds, this time in the form of counseling grants. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced Friday the availability [...]
