HoustonChronicle.com - Lipman: Tax ceiling depends on home improvement

HoustonChronicle.com - Lipman: Tax ceiling depends on home improvement: "Both my wife and I are 73, and our school taxes have been frozen for some time. We are considering a major renovation to our home. Will this work increase our school taxes? If so, will our taxes be increased by the amount we spend or by the new value of our home?"
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Buying a Home Foreclosures- Buying a home foreclosures makes you generate quick profit. Step-by-step process in buying a home foreclosures for quick cash.

Realty Agents: Don't Ask, Don't Tell

Realty Agents: Don't Ask, Don't Tell: "Real estate stories radiate from the water cooler and cocktail parties like a brush fire out of control. Like early stages of fires, real estate transactions start out manageable, but occasionally real estate consumers fan the flames because of inexperience, and some real estate agents misplace the water buckets. How can consumers be more proactive before the fire starts? By asking qualifying questions of realty agents to determine if they carry a fire extinguisher in their briefcase.

Under license law whom do you have a fiduciary responsibility to?

Ask this question the first time you speak with a real estate agent. In some areas all agents have a fiduciary responsibility to the seller under license law, even if they are working with a buyer. In other areas unless you have a signed buyer representation agreement your agent under law must represent the seller. To add to the confusion, some states require agents to have a fiduciary responsibility to which they bring to the transaction, be it the buyer or the seller."
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Buying a Home Foreclosures- Buying a home foreclosures makes you generate quick profit. Step-by-step process in buying a home foreclosures for quick cash.

3 borrowing misconceptions to avoid

3 borrowing misconceptions to avoid: "Mortgage and home equity borrowers often have misconceptions. Because these misconceptions may cloud decision making, let's take a look at three examples and why they are off-base.
'You don't pay any principal in the early years of a mortgage'
This line is often used to justify the choice of an interest-only mortgage. But this is debunked solely on the basis of the higher monthly payment for a traditional, fully amortizing loan compared to an interest-only loan. A fully amortizing $350,000 loan at 5.75 percent carries a monthly payment of $2,042. An interest-only loan in the same amount, at the same rate, carries a payment of $1,677 -- a difference of $365 each month. So if the interest rate and the loan amount are the same, why the "
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Buying a Home Foreclosures- Buying a home foreclosures makes you generate quick profit. Step-by-step process in buying a home foreclosures for quick cash.

Secrets of selling in a buyers' market - Buying & Selling

Secrets of selling in a buyers' market - Buying & Selling - Times Online: "In a slowing housing market, vendors have to work harder than ever to sell their homes. According to the latest figures from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, sales were down 18% last month compared to August 2004. So how, in a buyers market, can you ensure your home boasts the sold sign and not your neighbours? The first thing is to get the price right, says Stephen Jeffery, a property finder. If your house is the cheapest, vendors will see yours first. Once you have got them in the door, then improve the presentation.
John and Carole Baileys contemporary-style Georgian house, Seedley Barn in Leintwardine, near Ludlow, Shropshire, was, they admit, overpriced. Despite its 15 acres, additional Welsh border cottage and wonderful
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Buying a Home Foreclosures- Buying a home foreclosures makes you generate quick profit. Step-by-step process in buying a home foreclosures for quick cash.

Beware of real estate agent junk fees

Inman Consumer News: "DEAR BOB: You often warn about junk fees in the mortgage industry. What about real estate agent junk fees? I am selling my home with a reputable agent and negotiated a fair sales commission completely in line with the local market. However, the agent is insisting on charging me a $495 'transaction fee.' He justified it by saying it all goes to his assistant for handling the paperwork and the fee is 'in line with the market.' Isn't this profit padding like the junk fees mortgage brokers charge? Shouldn't the agent be responsible for paying his own overhead? This agent's insistence on this fee is extremely annoying Rob P.
DEAR ROB: Unless that outrageously high $495 fee was included in the listing agreement you signed with the realty agent, you are not obligated to pay it when the sale closes."
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Buying a Home Foreclosures- Buying a home foreclosures makes you generate quick profit. Step-by-step process in buying a home foreclosures for quick cash.

Sold on selling your home?

DesMoinesRegister.com: "It's a tempting prospect. Avoid the percentage of sale price charged by a real estate agent. Avoid the real estate business altogether.
Just prop up a sign outside, 'For Sale by Me' and wait for the offers to roll in.

Of course, it's not nearly so simple.
The Internet offers sophisticated sales tools, and the entrepreneurs behind booming Internet real estate service say anyone can use their sites. A few such companies have started recently in the Des Moines area, in addition to national online sites. For SaleByOwner.com reports 'exponential growth,' doubling its site traffic in the past four years"
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Buying a Home Foreclosures- Buying a home foreclosures makes you generate quick profit. Step-by-step process in buying a home foreclosures for quick cash.

Five tips to guide consumers through the home buying process

North Texas e-News: "The Nehemiah Corporation of America (www.nehemiahcorp.org), the nation's leading privately funded provider of down payment assistance, unveiled five tips to guide consumers through the home buying process in today's rising rate environment.
Many new homebuyers are unaware of the impact rising rates can have on the home buying and ownership experience.
The tips address housing decisions, mortgage options and tax issues faced by most buyers. Nehemiah has developed these tips based on its new homeownership education course. "
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Buying a Home Foreclosures- Buying a home foreclosures makes you generate quick profit. Step-by-step process in buying a home foreclosures for quick cash.

Taking Control of Paper Clutter Before Selling Your Home

: "A big psychological barrier stood in the way of an emergency room doctor's plan to move to a new condo. To sell his apartment, he would have to pare down his voluminous collection of books, scientific journals, newspaper articles, catalogs and unsorted mail. 'His place was completely chaotic,' recalls Monica Friel, the owner of a professional organizing company.
It took several days for Friel and a crew of assistants to help sift through the man's collections. But when the job was done, and more than a quarter of his belongings had been tossed, his place looked presentable and he could push forward with his move."
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Buying a Home Foreclosures- Buying a home foreclosures makes you generate quick profit. Step-by-step process in buying a home foreclosures for quick cash.

TIPS FOR WOULD-BE HOMEBUYERS STRUGGLING WITH MONEY ISSUES

uExpress.com: Smart Moves by Ellen James Martin -- (09/07/2005) TIPS FOR WOULD-BE HOMEBUYERS STRUGGLING WITH MONEY ISSUES: "It's no secret that high gas prices are taking a bigger bite out of consumers' wallets, as are expenses tied to health care and education. But that doesn't lessen the zeal many renters have for the idea of owning a home.
'No matter how challenged people are financially, owning a home remains one of the basics -- a first building block in the American dream,' says Sid Davis, author of 'The Survival Guide for Buying a Home.' He says the sacrifices to buy a home can be daunting, but the rewards are substantial."
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Buying a Home Foreclosures- Buying a home foreclosures makes you generate quick profit. Step-by-step process in buying a home foreclosures for quick cash.