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"Conversations With Carrie"
We’ve all heard them, likely to the point where they simply become quip vs. sayings that have actual meaning to us. “Honesty is the best policy”, “The truth will set you free”, “What a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive”. In my opinion, they’re all right on the money and if you don’t follow them when applying for a home loan or as a Loan Officer, structuring a loan, you may not get one or, worse yet, you could get in some serious trouble.
I recently did an intervention. A friend and client asked enough ‘casual questions’ about credit cards and balance transfer offers over lunch one day that my “internal antenna” raised to high alert. I found out that this person had acquired some debt and had gotten – um, “creative” about paying it off.
In my ongoing effort to educate consumers about home loans, buying a home, refinancing a home and why a mortgage professional is an important member of your financial team, I decided some real life examples were the best way to illustrate why it’s important to practice what I preach.
A home loan is a unique purchase for most people and I absolutely recommend a measured approach for choosing your loan officer and the company you work with. A home loan (or home purchase) is definitely not the time to fall into frivolous buying patterns. No matter what type of buyer you are, I’ve got some suggestions that can help.
Football fans will frequently console themselves with the phrase, “It’s only the first quarter” when their team is off to a sluggish start. For a four-quarter football game, that’s probably OK; however, when it comes to ordinary consumers and a four-quarter year, it’s a bad idea to shrug off whatever did – or didn’t – happen in the first quarter.
You might think it’s silly for me to dedicate an edition of Diction-Carrie to a term that basically means “payment,” but there’s a significant amount of confusion around this – especially for those who shop for home loaans and homes online without the assistance of real estate and mortgage professionals. Most people know what the term [...]
There is a serious shortage of inventory in the metro-area housing market. Buyers and real estate agents alike are frustrated. The newly-introduced Minnesota Housing Finance Agency (MHFA) Step Up program has the ability to help home owners who would like to improve their situation but didn’t think they could and bring more homes to the market in price ranges in high demand.
The last few years in real estate have brought about unusual, surprising and difficult circumstances for some people. As time moves forward and adjustments have been made to avoid the perfect storm that led to crises in real estate and mortgage, laws, programs, and innovations have emerged to stimulate market recovery and help regain stability and growth. Falling into the “innovation” category is one of my Realtor partner companies – Total Real Estate Success.
Carrie’s Team Triumph’s are short success stories from the month – highlights of unique situations, client victories and moments worth celebrating!
We didn’t need the Trulia American Dream Survey to tell us that homes priced in first time buyer price ranges are in short supply in MN and there were a lot of multiple offers in that price range in the Minnesota home buying market in 2012. Your home may be in demand, have you thought about a move?
Watch this video for information on the upcoming First Time Home Buyer Class
MN First Time Home Buyer Class
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