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Bonnie Fagoh
January 2001
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How And Why ToPrepay Your Mortgage One of the best ways to have more cash, retire early, and enjoy debt-free living is to prepay your mortgage, an option which even lenders increasingly applaud. We live in a society where home debt is generally mounting. The Consumer Federation of America reported this month that between 1989 and 1999 home equity declined by $1,500, in part because of a greater willingness to increase mortgage debt. But for financial reasons and as a matter of personal preference, many
Mortgage RatesU.S. daily averages as of December 29, 2000:
30 yr. fixed: 6.85%15 yr. fixed: 6.53%1 yr. adj: 6.77%30 yr. jumbo: 7.44%
Get today's rates
people favor a home with less debt. Why wait 30 years to be mortgage-free, they reason, when the same goal can be accomplished years earlier without
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Wondering What Your Home Is Worth?Let me show you.
Use Contrary Timing to Maximize Home Purchase Being contrary can help maximize your home buying efforts. Not the stubborn kind of contrary, but the kind that positions you to purchase outside of the prime home buying time. If you're a first-time buyer or one moving up and want to avoid heavy competition from other buyers, now's the time to hit the market! Why does contrary timing work? It's due to three major factors of market flexibility, negotiating power and interest rates that can work on your behalf during the non-peak home buying season. First, market flexibility. By purchasing after school begins in the fall and prior to it ending in May, competition from other buyers may trim by fifty percent or more. This is vital if you're a first time buyer who needs to ask the seller to help with discount points or closing costs. It's also important if the type of property you desire is scarce and/or desired by move-up buyers since they usually wait until spring to sell their existing home. The second factor on your side in a non-peak market is negotiating power. The longer a house has been on the market, the more potential negotiating power you can wield. Motivated sellers
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Home Inspections: Not Just for Buyers Buying a home without having it professionally inspected first is about as risky as engaging in a game of Russian roulette. But buyers aren't the only folks who can benefit from home inspections. If you're a seller, your knee-jerk reaction to hearing that a home inspection for owners is a good idea might be "Why? I'm afraid the inspector will uncover a hidden problem that will cost me thousands to repair. Or, I'll have to disclose the problem and subsequently bring my asking price down to compensate the buyer for the necessary repairs." Well, actually, there's a good argument that owners are best served by having a home inspected prior to the sale. Why? Because if an inspector seconds your opinion that your home is in good condition, then you've got an excellent marketing tool that should help your Realtor sell your home more quickly and for the highest price possible. Your pre-inspection report is your negotiating tool that gives validity to your asking price. It also places confidence in the minds of prospective buyers, who know that they're not jumping into uncertain territory. Chances are good that a serious prospective buyer would hire his or her own inspector to conduct an investigation of your house, but your report signals to the buyer that you're serious -- that you're so confident in the structural integrity of
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Taking Inventory on SafetyIn Your Home The New Year is a good time to take stock of all kinds of things we tend to put off --our health, our relationships, our spending habits. Whatever needs tweaking seems to get its best start just after that glittering ball drops in Times Square, depending on the time zone in which you live. But how often do we stop to take a look around our house, room by room, and take inventory on just how safe it is? "A good routine to get into on a monthly basis is to check your smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms," says Darrin Deany of Underwriters Laboratories. "You can do so very easily by pushing the button on the front of the unit. If you have battery-powered units, it's also important that you check the batteries. Make sure you put a fresh one in every year." "Smoke alarms definitely save lives," says Deany. "The fact is over the last 25 years, deaths in home fires have decreased steadily. In 1975, the year smoke alarms were introduced there were over 12,000 deaths. Last year, there were less than 3,000." It's a good idea to make up a checklist that includes once or twice-yearly projects, such as making
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Daily News and Advice -->Read about the events shaping the Real Estate market today, find current interest rates, or browse the extensive library of advice and how-to articles written by some of the top experts in Real Estate. Updated each weekday.
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Bonnie Fagoh E-mail: bonniefagoh@century21beggins.com Web: WWW.TAMPACOASTALREALESTATE.COM 813-390-7606
Century 21 Beggins Enterprises813-390-76066542 U. S. Hwy. 41 N.Apollo Beach, FL 33572
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