The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) ties a growth rate to mortgage interest rates on HECM credit lines, Resch explained. “With higher rates, the available line of credit grows faster,” Resch told the publication. This is a different result compared with clients who have other kinds of home equity loans, who are seeing available cash proceeds…

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Older Americans from the baby boom generation are increasingly becoming renters after downsizing their existing homes, with experts attributing the move to competition in the broader housing market, according to data from Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS). “Over the decade from 2009 to 2019, the total number of renter households was up…

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Ask most people about the biggest obstacle to buying a home, and hands down, they’ll say it’s scraping together enough money for a down payment and closing costs. But understand a key point: This is not a separate and distinct issue from landing a mortgage. Lenders, after all, like to see clients lay down a…

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Homeowners with a mortgage often hear about the benefits of refinancing—to snag a lower interest rate, reduce their monthly loan payments, and tap into their home equity. The list of advantages is long and enticing. But if you’ve recently refinanced but have seen interest rates drop even further—or start creeping up—you might wonder if you…

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Remember lazy Sunday afternoons when home buyers could leisurely hop from open house to open house, partaking of wine and cheese laid out to reel in more foot traffic—the more the merrier. Much can change in a year. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic, triggering a wave of lockdowns…

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It’s a big question with no easy answer: Should you keep renting, or is it time to think about buying a home? One of the major benefits of being a homeowner is building equity with each mortgage payment, instead of putting money into your landlord’s pocket. But that doesn’t mean buying is always the best…

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If you’re hoping to buy a house with your significant other, it can be easy to get caught up in the fun stuff, like deciding the style of home you’d love (Victorian, midcentury modern, Cape Cod?) and finding the perfect neighborhood (downtown or middle of the woods?). Still, don’t be fooled: The home-buying process is…

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My husband and I recently purchased our first rental property. Over the past few months, we’ve repaired and renovated the 1930s-era home, and are starting to look for tenants. And it turns out, our timing couldn’t be better: The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act made several changes for rental property owners that portend a more…

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The judicious use of a reverse mortgage has the potential to aid those at or near retirement in avoiding exhausting their financial resources while on a fixed income, something that is likely of particular interest to those who are concerned of outliving their resources well after they’ve retired from a career. This is according to…

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