Archive for the ‘Real Estate’ Category

Know your limitations when you do it yourself

Friday, March 19th, 2010

Doing things yourself, especially home repairs, can be a big money saver.  The main reason it can be a big money-saver, of course, is because you're putting your own labor into the job rather than paying someone else to do it for you. I didn't say that it's definitely a big ...

Woe to the lender who guesses wrong

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

The standard Settlement Statement, the HUD-1, just got a makeover this December.  The extra page is an extra burden on lenders to get the Good Faith Estimate right the first time. Last week at the closing for our new house, we got a small bonus courtesy of the new requirements.  The ...

So what are lenders using as criteria today for mortgage qualification?

Saturday, February 6th, 2010

I've been talking about some things related to the home purchase we're doing now.  One of the conditions of purchasing our new home was ability to get financing.  Since I couldn't buy with cash, I needed to apply for a mortgage.  What I couldn't do was make the purchase contingent ...

$150k plus $700/month for 175 square feet

Wednesday, December 16th, 2009

Makes me wonder:  If I were to ask a New Yorker about the real estate collapse, they might tell me, "Real estate what?" Tough Money Love commented on Zaarath and Christopher Prokop's postage-stamp real estate purchase: a 175-square-foot "microstudio" apartment, secured for the cool price of $150,000 plus a $700+/month maintenance ...