Covid 19’s wide-ranging impact sadly involved much more than our health. Just over 10 Million homeowners struggling to pay their mortgage, were forced to enlist forbearance (a temporary interruption in monthly payments) to tide them over until the employment market and their financial position improved. Forbearance however does not mean forgiveness. Those deferred payments are… Read More
This D-Day post was meant to publish yesterday but after receiving several articles and posts from my son, I realized that what I thought I knew was grievously lacking, and I scrapped my original piece to tell a more complete story. Yesterday, June 6, 2020, was the 76th anniversary of D-Day. D-Day commemorates the allied… Read More
How Will Secondary Market Reform Affect the Home Buyers? No One Knows Yet. Home owners, potential home buyers and those in the Mortgage and Real Estate industry, have been watching closely since the financial crisis to get a sense of where the real estate market is going and when. So far market recovery has been… Read More
As if IRS and Banking scams, computer and cell carrier hustles, census fraud and government grant hoaxes weren’t enough, there are scams perpetrated via every communication device, by mail, phone, text and email and sadly, in person as well. A recent addition to the ever-growing profession of scam-creation, are utility scams. The government tracks known… Read More
This year’s income tax season is nearly at a close and many of us have already moved on to determining and tracking deductions for the 2018 tax year. Mortgage and Home Equity loan interest tax guidelines will be changing but the general public’s initial knee-jerk reaction to these adjustments was largely premature. Fortunately the bottom… Read More
Since the post below was first published, The House has passed a version of the TRID Improvement Act of 2017. I’ve read the amendments, you can read them here, and they are indeed an improvement. It takes Congress so long to develop or improve anything that I hesitate to point out that it could use… Read More
FIRPTA – A Tax on Home Seller’s that Home Buyer’s May be Liable For FIRPTA has been around awhile but I ran up against it so many times in the past year that I’ve learned a lot more about it lately. The friendly folks at Pioneer Title were especially knowledgeable and helpful, explaining the finer… Read More
The Gig Economy – Mortgage App Tips for Contractors and Self Employed The Gig Economy has been a hot topic lately. As the work-from-home concept cycles yet again into the fashionable zone, freelance and contract entrepreneurs are flourishing. But current mortgage regulations in our country are not self-employment friendly. That doesn’t mean you can’t get… Read More
Will Environmental Hazards Have an Impact on Your Home Value? The factors most people consider when determining their home’s value include size, condition and location, but have you considered the impact of possible environmental hazards? In areas where they are most pronounced—environmental hazards such as poor air quality can and do have an effect on… Read More
In many ways, today’s shifting housing market resembles the real estate climate of the 1980’s, according to Freddie Mac. The company’s November Insight & Outlook report examines the changes in mortgage servicing, discusses some of the factors that produced them since the housing crisis, and looks at the highly influential role the 55+ age cohort… Read More
