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Buying a home with extra bedrooms or an Ohana unit with plans on renting them out is a good way to have tenants help pay your mortgage. Or are you planning on buying a property to be used 100% as a rental? What about a vacation rental condo in one of the many resort areas…

These are all wonderful things for us to enrich our lives with, but in the world of homeowner’s insurance, they could create some problems. Let’s first talk about dogs. Did you know that insurance companies have lists of specific breeds that are on a watch list? If you have one of those breeds, it wouldn’t…

Let’s consider the facts: There is significantly more demand for housing than there are units available. The newer, better condition homes are being snatched up. In many cases multiple offers are creating a bidding war where the final purchase price is higher than the list price. What does remain is a lot of inventory of…

Our grandparents knew it, and our parents knew it. But somehow the true power of appreciation is lost in today’s generations. For today’s example I am going to us a very doable scenario for most. Buying a home for $500,000 with a 5% down payment. Yes there are 100% financing programs, and programs that require…

With the continued scarcity of homes listed for sale, what’s often not pounced upon immediately are properties that aren’t in excellent condition. A growing segment of the calls I receive are from people wanting to buy a home with “issues” and want to know if financing will be a problem. The first step is to…

If you are planning on financing a new home to live in, there is good news out there! There are many programs now available to help make that dream a reality. This week we will give an overview of the zero-down 100% financing programs available. Next week we will tackle low-down payment programs. In week…

I want to thank everyone who responded to last week’s article about the new policy of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that will allow in many purchase transactions a waiver from obtaining an appraisal. I wanted to hear from you, both consumers and real estate agents, if you thought this was a good idea. The…

Buy a Home Without an Appraisal – A Good Idea? Both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced that starting September 1st on certain purchase transactions, an appraisal is no longer required. Is this a good idea? That’s the subject of this week’s story. Technology has made some significant inroads into the mortgage industry over the…