Are exclusive buyer agents better than traditional real estate brokers? Weighing the pros and cons of each and how to decide which to use when homebuying. Q: My wife and I have been reading Ilyce’s book, 100 Questions Every First-Time Home Buyer Should Ask, and one of the big things we took from the book [...]
When it comes to buying a home, Millennials are taking about 5 years longer to become homeowners. Here, I take a look at some factors that may be causing this shift in the average first-time homebuyer age. I live for a happy ending. Whether it’s in the movies, a fairy-tale wedding (hello, Harry and Meghan!), [...]
Buying a home can be stressful, especially if it’s your first home purchase. CPA Michael Trickey, managing director of The Berkshire Group in Lake Zurich, Illinois, hopes his new book, [amazon_textlink asin='1681022915' text='Finding Home: Everything You Need to Know - and Do - For Home Buying Success,' template='ProductLink' store='thinkglink-20' marketplace='US' link_id='becfb09b-6d76-11e7-a2e1-674bfee7d6fe'] will help first time [...]
Foreclosure can be a difficult financial hurdle to overcome, but buying a house in your child's name might not be the wisest solution. Q: It's been a year since my foreclosure, I'm renting now but the rent is high in Chicago where I live. If I bought another house and got a mortgage it would [...]
This week, online real estate company Redfin published the astonishing results of a survey. The survey found that 41 percent of millennial home buyers purchased real estate sight unseen. About one-third of all home buyers purchased property sight unseen. If those numbers are true (and we have no reason to doubt Refin’s survey methods), it’s [...]
Looking for a home? In this sellers’ market, it’s critical to avoid common homebuyer mistakes. There are a lot of challenges to finding your dream home if you’re house hunting this summer. For one, there are fewer homes on the market. Current homeowners who took advantage of record low mortgage rates during the recession don’t [...]
It’s been a decade since the housing market collapsed, and home prices have finally regained their previous peak. According to the State of the Nation’s Housing 2017 report, released today by the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University, U.S. home prices rose 5.6 percent in 2016, beating out their pre-recession highs. Across the [...]
There are better and worse states to buy a home, much of which has to do with price. First-time homebuyers have a hard time competing in the real estate market, but looking in the right state can make buying your first home much easier. According to a recent study from Bankrate, first-time homebuyers looking for [...]
How much home can you afford to buy? Not as much as last year, it turns out, as existing home sales fall due to affordability and lack of inventory. The National Association of Realtors reported that existing home sales declined 3.7 percent in February to a seasonally adjusted rate of 5.48 million units. Economists polled [...]
According to data compiled by ATTOM Data Solutions, February is a great month for home buyers, sellers and owners, which translates into it being a better time for home bargains than the so-called “traditional” homebuying seasons of spring and fall. A combination of fewer buyers competing for homes (and the resulting lower home prices) often [...]
