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A Basic Guide To Real Estate, Mortgages & Taxes
Let’s be honest: April 15th is a day of reckoning, the moment when we find out what we really owe for taxes. In households nationwide wallets are drained and many who were rich on the 14th are greatly impoverished by the 16th. But for those with real estate the load is made lighter by tax [...]
11Nov2009 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
Reverse Home Mortgage
With unemployment rising and home values falling it may seem odd that reverse mortgages are so popular. In fact, a reverse mortgage can make a lot of sense for those who have acquired real estate equity over time and now have a a need for cash or income. If you’re at least age 62 and [...]
21Sep2009 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
How Does A Reverse Mortgage Work?
Everyone who finances real estate knows how a “forward” mortgage works so it seems logical that a “reverse” mortgage is just the opposite. That’s somewhat true, but not entirely. A reverse mortgage is a different kind of financial critter, one which requires a little background to understand. With a forward loan you apply for a [...]
21Sep2009 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
Reverse Mortgages Seniors
Some of the most common questions I get concern reverse mortgages — what are they and why are they for seniors? In basic terms, a reverse mortgage is a way to access the equity in your home, the worth built up over the years as you have paid down the original mortgage and as the [...]
21Sep2009 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
September 11th: Terrorist Attacks Meant To Destroy National Values
We all remember such days. We remember where we were when we first heard of the deaths of John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King. We remember when we heard of the Oklahoma City bombing and those who are older surely remember Pearl Harbor. And now, until the end of our lives, we will [...]
11Sep2009 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
Real Estate: Why Do We License Brokers & Agents?
Across the country we license many professions, everyone from barbers to lawyers. There are several basic reasons for such licensure: To protect the public against unethical and incompetent practitioners. To assure that practitioners have certain minimum levels of education and experience. To assure that consumers receive certain minimum levels of service. To define what is [...]
31Aug2009 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
Real Estate: How To Re-Power US Home Sales
Long ago I was a part owner of a company that produced dual-fuel vehicles — they could run on either gasoline or propane with the flip of a switch. We did a lot of fleet conversions and we even supplied fuel for a number of apartment buildings. I also used to write about energy and [...]
28Aug2009 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
Real Estate: Imported Drywall Not Radioactive
It never ends — there’s always some bizarre rumor regarding houses and radioactivity. The latest one concerns the idea that drywall is somehow emitting dangerous levels of radiation. Although skeptics and conspiracy theorists will not be comforted, the government says that such rumors are mush. Indeed, the government has now built a Drywall Information Center. [...]
27Aug2009 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
Mortgages: Which Lenders Are Modifying Loans?
Along with the Treasury announcement yesterday that 230,000 borrowers have started loan modification trials, the government also released figures showing the level of modification activity among leading lenders The government looked at loans that were at least 60 days delinquent and then at the number of mortgage workouts which followed. Leading the league was Lake [...]
5Aug2009 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
Home Prices Up — Can This Be Real?
Bet you haven’t heard this in awhile — U.S. home prices rose. They rose for the month of April by .9 percent nationwide according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s monthly House Price Index (HPI). Let’s not go crazy here, the index is 10.7 percent below its April 2007 peak. That said, in an environment [...]
23Jul2009 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
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