Your First House

Closing Costs

Typical closing costs on your first house can be from $3,000 to $5,000.  Typical Buyer’s closing cost for a $100,000 home (1.5%) are comprised of the following:

1. Notary: $20 per signature per buyer to have signature verified by a notary
2. Homeowners Insurance: $300 to $1,500 depending on the price of the property.
3. Title Insurance: $300 to $1,000 depending on the price of the property.

House Moving Checklist

So you’ve made it through closing and signed your life away to the mortgage company and purchased your new house!  Now the excitement of the move is building and you can’t wait for moving day!  Use this checklist and timeline to make the move go smoothly!

How Escrow Works

An escrow is much like a savings account that you are forced to pay into. You make payments to the escrow company. They hold the money until the payment is due. For example, when you pay your house payment, hundreds of dollars each month are added to your payment. These additional funds don’t go toward your principle or interest payments on your mortgage. This money is put away in your escrow account and used to pay your property taxes and homeowner’s insurance each year.

Steam Clean Your Carpets

After a summer full of kids and outdoor activities, fall and winter can be a great time to bring your carpets and rugs back to life by steam cleaning them.  Steam cleaning can actually prolong the life of your carpet.  Depending on the level of traffic and the area you live in, steam cleaning about once per year should suffice.

You can rent steam cleaners at your local grocery store.  Make sure you pick up the upholstery attachment as it will help you get

Analyze What Is Important To You

Here are 10 things to help you get started analyzing the important things for your first house:

1. proximity to work
2. school district if you have kids
3. how well the landscaping is kept up by your neighbors (this tells a lot about the type of neighborhood you are looking at)

Contesting Your Home Appraisal Value

Can I contest an appraisal?

This is a question many have when buying or after they have bought their first house.  When it comes to the appraisal of your house, what a lot of people don’t understand is that the county does not have a good grasp on the value of your home! You can actually contest the appraisal of your first house, so let’s go into detail on how it is done.

Calculate your REAL interest rate!

When shopping for a mortgage, don’t let the buzz words of things like “points”, “APR” and “amortization” get you distracted.  Many times when dealing with mortgage companies and especially mortgage brokers they like to get you lost in buzz words or what we call “Flimbus Flambus”.  These are things that lead you