February 2008
Making Your Home Sell Faster With Psychology
February 29, 2008 by MikeRosen · Leave a Comment
When selling a home, understanding a little bit about home buyer psychology can help you move your home more quickly.
After all, what people perceive helps define how they act.
A recent article from RealEstateJournal.com listed several techniques that home seller can use to attract more offers from buyers.
The tips included:
Number Play: $299,999 seems far less expensive [...]
Real Estate Term: Earnest Money
February 26, 2008 by MikeRosen · Leave a Comment
When a buyer and seller reach agreement on a home sale, the buyer typically puts a small amount of money into a trust account.
This up-front deposit is more commonly known as “earnest money”.
A sales contract’s earnest money requirement will vary from contract to contract. It can be as high as 10 percent of the purchase [...]
6 Things To Avoid While Waiting For A Mortgage Approval
February 21, 2008 by MikeRosen · Leave a Comment
When buying a home, there are two stages in the home loan approval process.
Stage 1 starts when a homebuyer submits a mortgage application to his loan officer for a pre-approval.
A pre-approval is a “walk-through” mortgage approval that says — at a given purchase price and downpayment amount — the home loan application will very likely [...]
Spreadsheet Formulas: Calculating Home Payments
February 19, 2008 by MikeRosen · 1 Comment
For a lot of homebuyers, calculating a prospective mortgage payment is an online experience. For example, a search on Google for “mortgage calculator” returns 39 million options.
Some people, however, prefer to plan on their local hard drive using spreadsheets. For these people, the hardest part is often figuring out what formulas to use.
Interest Only Payments
Home [...]
What’s Your After-Tax Mortgage Rate?
February 6, 2008 by MikeRosen · Leave a Comment
Many homeowners are entitled to two major tax deductions — one for annual interest paid on a home loan, and another for real estate tax bills paid to government.
Calculating your approximate tax credit is basic:
Add mortgage interest paid and real estate taxes paid together
Find your marginal tax rate
Multiple your tax bracket by the sum of [...]
Help Your Home Emotionally Connect To Buyers
February 5, 2008 by MikeRosen · Leave a Comment
The end of the Super Bowl kicks off the Real Estate Spring Buying Season.
As home sellers should prepare for the season’s upcoming homebuyers, they could do worse than to watch this four-minute home staging video from Barbara Corcoran.
Barbara offer simple steps that “won’t cost you a lot of money but could make a 10-20 percent [...]
Your Windows Leak Air And Your Chimney Leaks Money
February 4, 2008 by MikeRosen · Leave a Comment
According to ENERGY STAR, properly sealing and insulation a home can save up to 10% on heating and cooling costs.
The government-group Web site focuses on major sources of home air leaks such as basements, attics and near chimneys. These three categories represent close to 80% of a home’s energy loss.
It pays little attention to more [...]
