Tips | Raleigh Real Estate News

Coolest site to use for your home search

HotPads.com is awesome! It’s a map-based real estate search tool showing homes for sale and for rent. It’s pretty sleek, moves fast and even suggests similar homes to ones you like.

I have never been a fan of Realtor.com or Homes.com. Those site are more about selling advertisements to real estate agents than anything else. It has [...]

Managing your credit make buying a home easier

I’ve heard that only 1 in 7 home buyers is able to qualify for a mortgage. I don’t know if that’s just around Raleigh or what, but that’s a pretty serious number. If you have issues on your report, don’t duck and run. Problems aren’t that hard to solve, the hard part is sticking with it [...]

Discuss more than houses with your agent

HGTV’s popular show Property Virgin’s website provides some good advice for new home buyers. Try this tip when you are shopping for a home around Raleigh: [...]

Want to buy a foreclosure? Do your homework.

Some great advice about how to buy foreclosure in the Raleigh, NC area. [...]

Credit Counseling: Get serious and don't get burned

Don’t be afraid of credit counselors, be informed. If you need help, do your research and get references first. They don’t make the debt go away, they help you manage it. [...]

Make more money by selling your home faster

Raleigh’s housing market has performed better than many other parts of the country. But, that doesn’t mean that Raleigh is not a buyer’s market! A couple of years ago you could list your home for sale and then wait for the market to come to you. Sometimes simply waiting long enough would net you a higher [...]

Property Listing to Pending Ratio

A property Listing to Pending Ratio is a tool that we have used to help understand the real estate market around Raleigh over the past 2 years. It’s a simple calculation of how many homes came on the market in a certain month vs. home many went under contract as pending. The difficult part is downloading [...]

FICO: Credit score advice for home buyers

FICO, or Fair Isaac Corporation, is the leading credit scoring system provider. Mortgage lenders obviously rely on your credit score as a large part of their approval process and I want to share some tips with you that I have learned over the years:

What’s in your credit score? Payment history (35%), amounts owed (30%), length of history [...]

Location or house? Which philosophy is better in Raleigh?

Location, location, location. You’ve probably heard it before and if not, you will. Location is a leading factor driving real estate values everywhere you turn, not just around Raleigh. What happens if you can’t find the house you need or want in the location you want? Should you sacrifice your house or location?

Many real estate agents [...]

FHA 203k Loans: Buy it, fix it and finance it all in one

I read a great news article on RISMedia earlier and if you are considering a home purchase, you MUST read this:

Changing the Way People Buy Homes: Using the 203k Program to Purchase ‘Dream Homes’

In many cases, homes that would qualify for the 203k loan are in nice areas but have aesthetic problems. This program—because the home [...]