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As we learn more about the sub-prime "melt-down" of 2007, the selection of a good lender is apparent in its importance as a key step to success. A new home buyer must pay careful attention to this selection and a good REALTOR will facilitate the process and add to your success. Your realtor can provide you with some web sites for information and a list of some proven lenders. These referred professionals will explain their financing programs and options to you, but do not hesitate to ask your realtor for additional background and information.  The loan process is complicated so do not hesitate to ask a lot of questions.

For example, a pre-approval letter is an excellent tool to use as you prepare for your house search. What is a pre-approval letter? It is…

The Fed cut interest rates by .5% today. Although a rate cut was expected, 0.5% was at the upper end range of what was expected. This is good news for a troubled national housing market. The stock market responded with a 300 point rally.

The rate cut is important for its financial help, but such an aggressive move is also an indicator that the Fed plans on addressing the current issues in the credit markets. Another bit of good news is that the Fed released a statement after the meeting saying that more rate cuts were on the way.

While the rate cut doesn't spell an end to the current housing problems it certainly helps. Borrowers with fixed rate arms that are set to expire are facing increased mortgage payments. By cutting rates, it will allow…

Recently people have been interested in a lot of the more exotic loan programs from no interest loans to negative amortization.  There has been some negatives associated with these loans with the changes in the mortgage industry.  So I wanted to take some time to talk about the almost forgotten 15 year loan.  Some people see the 15 year loan as drab and boring compared to all the fancy loans out there, but there are a lot of benefits of the 15 year fixed-rate loan.

For one, you pay the loan off in half the amount of time you would with a 30 year loan.  So if someone is currently 30 years old, they would pay off the loan when they are 45 instead of 60.  Because it takes half the time, people frequently think that the payment on a 15 year loan is twice as…

A common question that Buyers ask is how long a house is on the market. If it is too long, interest is lost quickly. It is a natural reaction to not be interested in something that no one else is interested in. The natural assumption is that there must be something majorly wrong with the home. But there are many reasons why a house has been on the market for a while.

A very common reason is that the home was originally listed to high. When a home is first on the market, it will get a large amount of traffic with the group of Buyers currently looking. It is crucial for it to not be over-listed, or those potential Buyers will pass, either because it simply is not showing up in the right price range or those people looking in that price range are finding…

Downtown Austin real estate is growing faster than ever.  Well, maybe not ever, but more than in the last 14 years I have lived here.  The city council and the community in general is pushing for growing the downtown into a live-work area with high density, shops downstairs, and living upstairs.  The term is "multi-use" and it is pretty much pretty much the montra for Austin real estate.  There are 10+ condo projects going up in the next couple years that cater to the different appeals of living in downtown Austin.

A couple condos are situated at the turn of the river in downtown Austin, taking advantage of views down the river.  The first time I saw the views, I was pretty surprised.  You can see all the way down the river from the Congress bridge,…

When you are buying your first rental property and becoming a landlord, there is lots to learn. How do I find tenants? What should I charge for rent? Should I update the places to get more rent? How do I tell the tenants they are late on rent?

I have read a lot about how you have rule with an iron fist to keep your tenants in line. Our philosophy is much more laid back, and it has worked out well for us. Every property is different, but this was our experience.

Our first real estate investment property was somewhere we would move into ourselves, and in retrospect, that was an aspect more important than I would have guessed. There's many decisions along the way, and being a potential tenant yourself makes those decisions much clearer.

First off, when it…

When someone decides to buy a house, one of the first tasks is to talk to a lender and determine the maximum loan they can get. The max loan will determine the cap on real estate prices for that the buyer. There’s lots of calculators out there that will help determine this.

But what if you want to have a certain payment per month and you want to know what the max house price would be for that payment? For example, you are renting at $800 per month right now, and you could deal with a couple hundred more per month to be able to have ownership. So, you want to know what house price would be equal to paying $1000 per month.

Well, you still take into consideration a lot of familiar items:
1) Your down payment, which is how much cash you will put down on the…

Selling your Home: Making your Home Accessible and a Pleasant Showing Experience

A lot of people ask for advice on how to sell their homes. There is the standard good advice... You can hire a professional stager to make your home be on the level of a model home. You can retile you bathroom or install granite in your kitchen to have a little more upgrades than the one down the street for sale. You can do all kinds of things on the level of presentation. One thing I think most people overlook is making your home accessible and making the showing experience a pleasant one.

First, try to be inviting to everyone who calls on the house. It is definitely inconvenient for people to be romping through your daily lives, but it is unfortunately part of selling a…