Earnest Money Deposit and Closing Costs: What First-Time Homebuyers Should Know Buying your first home is an exciting milestone. Touring homes and choosing the right one is fun, but many buyers focus only on the purchase price and overlook some of the additional costs of buying a home. Unexpected expenses – like the earnest money […]

New Home Checklist: 7 Essential First Week Tasks Congratulations, you’ve bought a house! Purchasing the home you want is exciting. We’re here to help you minimize the inevitable stress of moving. After planning a move for months and diligently doing all the packing, prepping, and logistics, many people moving into a new home find themselves […]

Refinancing a Mortgage: How Home Equity and Property Value Affect Your Options Homeownership is one of the most common ways to build long-term wealth. As you pay down your mortgage and property values rise, you gain home equity – the difference between what you owe and what your home could sell for. When you have […]

Buying an as-is home comes with some unique advantages. However, you’ll want to take some steps to ensure that you’re protected once you move in. What Does “Sold As-Is” Mean? A seller lists a home for sale as-is when they don’t plan to perform any repairs before the closing. When you buy such a home, […]

Does Shopping Around for a Mortgage Pre-approval Hurt Your Credit Rating? For serious home shoppers, especially in competitive housing markets, it isn’t enough to be prequalified. You also need to a pre-approval for a loan amount equal to or greater than the price of the home you’re considering (minus the down payment).  That said, stringent […]