Category Archives: Buying a Home

Merlin has a precise vision of the Denver Metro market and how it can benefit each of his clients. His unique ability to work closely and listen attentively with buyers and sellers, allows him to understand your goals and identify your best opportunities; all within a manageable time frame that fits your specific needs. Merlin understands that real estate may be the biggest investment of your life. That is why education of the market, dedicated service, and attention to detail is Merlin’s promise, and using his experience and professionalism to […]

Real estate agents and brokers say turmoil in financial markets is planting doubts in the minds of some would-be homebuyers even as it signals opportunity for others. Plunging stock prices initially sparked by Friday’s downgrade of the U.S.’s long-term debt rating and reinforced by lingering fears of a European debt crisis don’t necessarily signal that the U.S. is headed into a “double dip” recession. So far, investor flight to the relative safety of bonds and mortgage-backed securities that fund most home loans has pushed the cost of borrowing down — […]

That depends largely on your income. Experts suggest your mortgage payment be no more than 28-35% percent of your monthly income. This income-debt ratio is the percentage of your monthly income dedicated to making your monthly mortgage payment. If you want to maximize your home buying potential, you can assume that more of your income will be tied up in your monthly mortgage payment. Let’s assume your gross income is a $100,000 a year and you have $20,000 for a down payment. You conservatively elect to spend 28% of your […]

U.S. home prices rose 0.7% in June from May, according to a home price index released Wednesday, although some of that increase is probably the result of seasonal variations. The home price index, which includes so-called distressed properties, fell by 6.8% in June when compared with the same month last year, according to Santa Ana research firm CoreLogic. Excluding foreclosures and other distressed properties, prices were up 1.5% in June over May. They fell 1.1% when compared with June 2010. Distressed sales include foreclosure properties as well as short sales, […]

More home owners who want to trade in their current home to buy a larger one are holding off, feeling trapped by a sluggish housing market and the loss of equity in their current home, The Los Angeles Times reports. “Potential move-up buyers … are largely sitting on the sidelines these days, leaving a key part of the housing market stuck in neutral,” The Los Angeles Times‘ article notes. “The promise of rising prices and upward mobility, once a powerful force in the American housing narrative, has been all but […]

Texas is the one state to experience both a 3% annual job growth rate for the year ending in June and relatively stable home prices the same month. The latest Monthly Review of the Texas Economy reports Texas had “robust” job growth for the year ending in June. The state’s private sector added 251,900 jobs, with an annual growth rate of 3%, according to Dr. Ali Anari, a research economist with the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University. When looking at jobs from a national perspective, the nation’s private […]

We’ve been reading a lot about investors purchasing a large number of properties with cash.  As L has pointed out, many investors have pulled out of equities and are looking for “safer” places to put their money. Thanks to Fannie Mae now though, investors can buy a house with cash, wait a few months, then do a 100% cash out refi. Check this out: Fannie Mae has rolled out new guidelines so that investors who’ve recently purchased a home for cash can now recoup a large portion of their investment […]

Tighter lending standards by banks are disqualifying potential home buyers and preventing them from buying homes, at least according to analysts who point to that reason behind the second-quarter home ownership rate falling to its lowest level since 1998. The home ownership rate stood at 65.9 percent in June, its lowest in 13 years, the U.S. Census Bureau reports. “Tight underwriting standards and the lack of a down payment are keeping a big chunk of buyers out of the market and other people are being displaced by foreclosures,” Wayne Yamano, […]

The housing market may be getting a little tighter in a couple of months. The bureaucrats working on enacting some of the provisions of the Dodd-Frank reforms have interpreted the loosely written laws to require homes that qualify for the best interest rates to have a minimum of a 20 percent down payment. That sound you just heard is agents across the country gulping in panic. The homes that have a 20 percent down payment will get the best interest rates, those buyers that do not have 20 percent to […]

Realty brokers say a recent uptick in contract cancellations is surprising and worrisome. Financing issues are among the causes, and economic worries and low-ball appraisals are also busting up deals. Are home buyers walking away in droves from the contracts they’ve signed? Or are they essentially fouling out of the game, unable to close deals because of financing and credit issues? Whatever the answer, this much appears to be certain: Exceptionally large numbers of signed real estate contracts fell apart last month, failing to close escrow. According to the National […]