Many Americans have considered moving in the last few years. Some are lucky enough to work remotely, others may be lured by housing prices. If you are considering moving here are seven things to consider.

1. Housing and Cost of Living: Research the cost of housing, groceries, utilities, and other expenses in the area to ensure that you can afford to live there.
2. Job market: If you are moving for a job, make sure it is secure and that there are other job opportunities available in the area.
3. Education: If you have children, consider the quality of the schools in the area. You may also want to consider the availability of higher education institutions if you or a family member plans to continue your education.
4. Safety: Research the crime rate in the area and consider the overall safety of the neighborhood.
5. Climate: Think about whether the climate of the new area is one that you can tolerate.
6. Amenities: Consider what types of amenities are important to you and whether the new area offers them. This might include things like libraries, parks, recreation centers, shopping, and dining.
7 Quality of life: Think about what is important to you in terms of your overall quality of life, and whether the new area offers those things.

As we say goodbye to 2022, if you are planning on buying a home in 2023 here are 5 things to do.
Put Savings In A High-Yield Account
If you are planning on buying you will need your money to be “liquid” or relatively easy to access for a down payment.
Check Your Credit
You may have heard this before but it’s important, so we’ll say it again. Review your credit report to make sure there are not any errors or attempts at identity theft that can erroneously lower your credit score.
Down Payment or Closing Costs Assistance
It’s a good idea to check to see if you qualify for down payment or closing cost assistance or grants.
Monitor Your Market
Real estate is local as they say so keep an eye on the areas you are looking to buy to see if there are trends in prices and inventory
Get Preapproved
You can fill out our approval qualifier on our website and we’ll help you see how much you can qualify for and pre-approval, this will help you to know you’re buying range.

From Our Family To Yours
We wish you and your family a safe and happy holiday with plenty of good food and cheer!

As 2022 comes to end its a good idea to do a year end financial checkup.
1. Review your budget and savings plan
Analyze your spending and saving for the year. Your savings might not have gone to plan this year and that’s ok – focus on replenishing your emergency fund first if needed and recalibrate plan for 2023 if needed.
2. Maximize Retirement Plan Contributions
If you participate in a 401k make sure you maximize contributions before the December 31 deadline, you have until April for Roth contributions
3. Review Your Insurance Coverage
Check your insurance coverage in many parts of the country housing prices went up, make sure you home is covered under current market prices. Also check your liability coverage and consider getting an umbrella liability policy that covers all your assets, you can get a million dollar policy for a few hundred dollars a year!
4. Health Savings Account
Make sure you contribute to your health savings account (if needed) as there are great tax benefits. Also check to see if you need to reimburse yourself from the account for out of pocket payments you made during the year!
5. Charitable Contributions
Finally remember to give if you can! Even if you don’t itemize your returns you can still deduct up to $300 for charitable contributions!

While there have been some strong headwinds for the housing market this year, we’ve seen some room for optimism recently. Specifically, three pieces of positive news for home buyers. The first is that after a sharp run up in interest rates, we have seen rates fall sharply in the last two weeks after hitting a high in October.
The second piece is a softening of home prices. We are seeing a deceleration of rising prices and price points are not written in stone at this point.
Finally, there is higher housing inventory today, so home buyers have options!
If you are thinking about a purchase now or after the holidays, be sure to fill out our home purchase wizard on our website and we can see what best fits your needs!

The FHA announced the new loan limits for 2023 this week. The 2023 base line limit for single family homes in most areas is $472,030 an increase of over $50,000 from the previous limit. In high-cost areas the limit is actually over $1 million dollars for the first time!
The limits vary based on property type and area the single family home is the most common loan type, requirements vary but generally you’ll need a 580 credit score and a down payment of at least 3.5%. Call us or file out our online analyzer on our website and we can get you specific figures for your situation.

We often hear mortgage and real estate terms and we recognize the term and have a general idea what it is, but here is a detailed explanation of what home equity really means. In the simplest terms home equity is how much of your home you own. So if your home is valued at $500,000 and you have a mortgage balance of $300,000 then you have $200,000 in home equity. If your home’s value appreciated and you have more home equity then you can use the equity for thins like a home equity line of credit (HELOC) or if the mortgage is paid off you may also consider a reverse mortgage. In any case if you’re curious about your equity and options schedule a consultation with us and we can review your options.

Economic reports last week gave signs that inflation may finally be slowing down. As a result, mortgage rates dropped significantly, Freddie Mac reported, the 30-year fixed-rate dropped to an average of 6.61% down from 7.08% the week before. This was the largest weekly drop in over 40 years, since 1981.
Freddie Mac economist Sam Khater noted, “while the decline in mortgage rates is welcome news, inflation remains elevated, there is still a long road ahead for the housing market.”
If you are considering buying, please contact us regarding pre-qualifying or a rate lock. Fill out our quick pre-qual app on our website to get started.

As a military family you may be accustomed to moving often and not having a permanent address. Just as soon as you feel settled in, you may receive orders to move, so here are some tips to help with buying and selling for military families.
Active service personnel receive Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) which varies on location, pay grade and number of dependencies, which they can use for renting or buying. Buying a home may offer lower monthly payments and the chance of appreciation, but if you think there is a good chance you will be transferred in the next couple of years, you may want to rent as you would be looking at having to recoup buying and selling costs.
If you do think you are in a stable situation you can be eligible for a VA loan which has benefits like no down payment or PMI payments, as such it maybe a good alternative if you are struggling with making the down payment.
Be sure to check with us on to see what best fits your needs in your unique situation and of course we are thankful to all of the military families for their service and sacrifice.

We’re often surprised that many homeowners don’t know about second mortgages.
First a second mortgage is like the name says, a loan in addition to your primary mortgage, that allows you to borrow money using your home as collateral and the first mortgage is not yet paid off. The second mortgage also like the name says, is second to the original mortgage. In case of default, the first mortgage is paid off first. As such the interest rates are generally higher than first mortgages but amounts borrowed are usually much lower, as well (of course you will need to have equity in your home to qualify for a second mortgage).
One benefit of a second mortgage is getting money needed for expenses, such as tuition or renovations at an interest rate that while higher than first mortgages is much lower than credit card interest rates.
Most second mortgages are in the type of a home equity loan or a home equity line of credit (HELOC). The home equity loan is a lump sum payment of money that is then paid off monthly like your first mortgage.
HELOCs are more like a credit card where you will be approved for a line of credit based on the equity in your home and then you can borrower against that.
If you are interested in learning more file out our loan analyzer on our website or call and we can analyze your situation to see what best fits your needs!