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5 first-time buyer mistakes to avoid
October 6, 2024
If you're a first-time home buyer in this market, how could you go wrong? Nationally, sales prices of existing single-family homes are down nearly 24 percent since their July 2006 peak. Interest rates, recently 4.9 percent for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, are hovering near historic lows. And if that isn't incentive enough, Uncle Sam is offering ...
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How much home can you afford?
September 27, 2024
Before getting starry-eyed house hunting, don't forget that buying a home is a long-term financial commitment, accompanied by closing costs, mortgage payments, taxes and day-to-day maintenance. How can you determine how much buying power you have?
Every first-time homebuyer should follow three easy steps to determine how much home he or she can ...
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Fifty-something first-time buyers
September 5, 2024
Tom Hehir grew up in San Francisco and knew he'd never be able to afford to buy a home there. Even though he has a good job as a management consultant, he watched as the housing bubble took home prices into the stratosphere.
Then the bubble burst and everything changed. Hehir and his partner purchased a three-bedroom, one-bath home in the city's ...
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The death of an American dream
August 22, 2024
It’s a story that is as American as apple pie: a couple with young children decides to settle down, looks for a place outside the city, and borrows to buy their first house.
For Andrea and Raymond Quenneville, the search brought them to the small town of Merrimack, N.H., where they found a yellow colonial-style home with an ample yard and a ...
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Five tips to know before buying
August 17, 2024
Every year thousands of condo buyers call our advisors looking for help out of a sticky situation resulting from a uninformed condo purchase. As the buying season fires up, buyers need to take a few simple steps to avoid disappointment and unanticipated costs. Here are five specific situations buyers have encountered in the past month alone.
1. ...
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Seller refuses to make agreed-upon repairs
July 30, 2024
Q: We were supposed to close on a house a week ago. The day before the scheduled closing, we went out to the house and noticed that the seller did not fix the heating system as we agreed in the contract.
We gave the seller a one-week extension. It is now the day before the revised closing date and he has not yet fixed the problem. Our lease is ...
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Becoming a Homeowner is a Great Move!
July 28, 2024
Are you currently renting and thinking about joining the ranks of homeowners? You should know that in addition to providing numerous financial benefits, buying a home will help improve your quality of life. Not only do homeowners enjoy more freedom, they also have a strong feeling of pride, as well as peace of mind. It’s definitely a worthwhile ...
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Home buyers looking for green element, survey says
July 25, 2024
Environmentally friendly home improvements have become a huge factor in home buyer shopping lists, a new survey suggests, and will likely yield a solid return on investment come selling time.
Almost three quarters (72 per cent) of the 1,266 Canadians asked in the latest Eco Home Survey by real estate company Royal LePage said they will look for ...
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Single Women Buy Homes, Too!
July 22, 2024
Record numbers of single women are buying homes. If you're a single woman who wants to buy a house, the good news is the market is wide open for you. The stats from the Joint Center for Housing Studies say:
•More than one in five home buyers is a single woman.
•Twice as many unmarried women are buying homes than single men.
•Single women ...
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