Three reasons to refinance a home include lowering the cost of housing, shortening the term of the mortgage to pay it off sooner or to using the equity to accomplish another purpose.
Replacing the mortgage at a lower interest rate, which is entirely possible in today’s market, would reduce the payment. On the other hand, shortening the term of the mortgage could make the payments increase but would allow the home to be paid for sooner. In either case, the equity would not be reduced unless the refinancing costs were rolled into the new mortgage.
Refinancing the home to take money out would increase the mortgage on the property and lower an owner’s equity; careful consideration should be made before doing so.
Mortgage rates are considerably lower than credit card rates and usually lower than short term borrowing like student loans or car loans. For that reason, homeowners will sometimes refinance to payoff higher cost debt.
Some people refinance for more than their curre ...

The soothsayer in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar issued his famous warning “Beware the Ides of March.” Who knew that in 2020, around the middle of March, the world, as we knew it, would force such dramatic changes on us from the Coronavirus.
In America, it has brought our economy to its knees as we sheltered in place for over four months. During this time, changes have affected our lives and many of those changes could be permanent.
Previously, smaller homes were becoming the trend for not only efficiency but upkeep so owners would have more time to do things including travel. Now, travel is minimal and our world, in some respects, is reduced to our home.
For families with children, their home has become a school. With so many people working from home, it has become our office or store or studio. If there is more than one working adult in a home, it needs to have space for each party to work. The home fitness industry is experiencing record sales in exercise equipme. ...

Whether you like to or not, buying and selling a home involves negotiation at all stages of the process. It is not like the retail world where once you decide to purchase, you pay the price. It is easily the most expensive purchase or sale that most people experience and emotions get involved that could affect the negotiations adversely.
The word “home” by itself conjures up emotions and selling a home you’ve lived in for a while could even complicate things more. A real estate professional can separate their emotions from the process to be able to help the one they are representing.
The price of the home, the type of financing and concessions, closing costs, personal property, closing dates and possession are just a few of the many things that can be negotiated in a contract. Since the seller wants to get the most for their house and the buyer wants to pay the least, their objectives are diametrically opposed.
Even after the contract is signed, removing the cont. ...

The National Association of REALTORS® just released the Market Recovery Survey of a random sampling to close to 100,000 members conducted June 24-26, 2020. The following statements are the members’ opinion on various aspects of the recovery to the Covid-19 pandemic as it relates to real estate.
In response to the safety of buyers, sellers and agents, REALTORS® are expecting within the next year to have increased demand for the following technologies used to market properties:
67% – Zoom or other video technology to communicate with clients
66% – virtual tours
63% – live virtual tours conducted by agent using video
60% – virtual open houses
Nine out of ten respondents indicated that some of the buyers have returned to the market or never left the market. Agents currently working with buyers report that slightly more than half of buyer’s timeline has remained the same with about the same level of urgency. 27% believe the buy; ...

The seller can put a price on the home but the value is ultimately, determined by the buyer. Individually, a buyer could pay over market value because they love the location, or the elevation of the home or the proximity to something that is important to them. The shortage of available homes resulting in increased competition among buyers could drive the value higher.

Most experts agree initially pricing it properly will generally result in the highest sales price. If a home starts out too high, it could actually sell for a lower price after it has been on the market for a while. It gives the impression that there must be something “wrong” with the house because it didn’t sell immediately.

So, how does a seller determine what price to put on the home? It has nothing to do with what the seller needs to get out of it. Nor does the price the seller paid for it make any difference now. Even if the seller made considerable improvements, they may not affect the vas ...