Multi-Generational Living – Is a Next Generation Home for You?

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The economy has hit many hard. 

Retirees have seen their investments drop leaving them with less money to pay their living expenses and ever rising medical and prescription costs.

College students struggle to pay their college and living expenses while not going too deeply in student loan debt.

Meanwhile, the so called sandwich generation, those who have elderly parents who need support as well as children that also need support, struggle to make ends meet and take care of both generations while also saving for their own retirement.

Multi-Generational Living:  Coming Back in Style

The idea of generations living together is not new.  One hundred to one hundred and fifty years ago, 3 generations living together was quite common.

Yet, as our society changed and people became more independent, multi-generational living fell out of vogue.  It is no longer necessary, so most people don’t do it.

However, the current economy has changed the most recent housing dynamic. 
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8 Places to Research Your Potential House Before You Buy a Home

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Buying a home is a big deal.  

You don’t want to go into it unprepared.

Before you buy a house, you want to make sure that you are getting the right house for you — and that it’s in the right neighborhood. The steps to buying a house start with thorough research on the topic.

As you research buying a house, here are 8 web sites that can help you narrow the field and find what works best for you:

1. Trulia

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What are Real Estate Closing Costs Made Up Of

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Any time you buy or refinance a house there’s a litany of expenses that go with it.

There are many “hands” in the soup that is a real estate transaction, and each one of them demands some money to do what they do.

If you’ve ever wondered what those charges mean, here’s some inspiration…

What Real Estate Closing Costs are Made Up Of

Lender charges

Here’s a not so well-kept secret: mortgage “lenders” aren’t direct lenders, but middlemen who arrange mortgages then sell them to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, or Ginnie Mae.  In the process, there’s a fee for nearly everything they do.

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11 Ways to Prepare Your Home for Winter, Conserve Energy, and Save Money

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The changing of seasons is the perfect time to check your home’s energy efficiency, especially when much of the country will be facing cold temperatures in a few months (except for those lucky few living in warmer climates).

As temperatures cool, now is the time to make some updates to your home to save energy and efficiency and avoid costly repairs.

Here are 11 ways to prepare your home for winter and conserve energy:

Clean the gutters

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Payoff Mortgage Faster – How Do I Do It? – Four Ways

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Housing Money

Who wouldn’t want to pay off their mortgage faster?  The big question is “how do I do it?”

Whether to pay off your mortgage faster, is an important personal financial decision.

But before one can answer “how do I do it,” you must first ask the questions of “can I do it” and “why should I do it.”

The can-I part reveals if one has the financial ability to put more money aside for bigger and quicker payments.  The why-should-I part involves whether to use the additional money available, alternatively, for investing or consumption purposes since funds borrowed under mortgage probably have a lower interest rate than say credit card debt.

Paying off a mortgage faster also has tax implications on mortgage interest deduction.

If one has the financial means; is willing to forgo any investment opportunity; is prepared to postpone any would-be nice consumption; and has weighed on any tax savings, there are ways that one can consider to pay off a mortgage faster.
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The Pros and Cons to Refinancing Your Mortgage

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Interest rates on mortgages are at all time lows; does that mean you should refinance as soon as possible?

Maybe–and maybe not.

Interest rates may be lower than they’ve ever been, but never has the issue of refinancing been more complicated.  For one thing, it’s harder than ever to qualify for a loan at the best rates, and for another, today we have to consider falling property values which is something that hasn’t existed since the Great Depression.

What are the pros and cons to refinancing your mortgage?

The reasons you SHOULD refinance – Pro

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Financial Freedom Starts with a Low House Payment

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Is achieving financial freedom an important goal in your life?

If it is, don’t follow the conventional wisdom of buying the most expensive house you can afford.

Sure, by buying the biggest house you can afford you can grow into it, live in it longer and maybe even avoid a costly trade up in a few years.  Fair enough.

But when it comes to achieving financial freedom, buying the most expensive house you can afford is the exact opposite of what you want to do.

In fact it can be said that the more expensive your home is the less chance you have of ever attaining financial freedom.

Expensive homes and financial freedom are what you might call “mutually exclusive”—having one reduces your chance of getting the other.

How could that be?

A house determines general consumption patterns

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What is Mortgage Amortization and How Does it Work?

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Paying off a mortgage is an overwhelming task.

A mortgage is a big debt—almost as big as your house—so the best most of us can hope to do is to shorten the term by prepaying as much of the loan that we can as quickly as we’re able.

Why should we want to do that?

Owning your home free and clear is a good place to be.  You’re living in your home with no mortgage payment and that’s when saving money and life in general get easier.

But there’s something more.

The cumulative interest on mortgage loans makes your loan balance even bigger.

A mortgage of $200,000 will require nearly $350,000 in monthly payments over a 30 year period.  Anything you can do to shorten the term can save a lot of money.

What is Mortgage Amortization?

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Should You Buy a Bigger House?

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Because home prices and mortgage interest rates currently are so low, if you are in a stable financial position, now might be a good time to enter the home buyers’ market or sell your current house and buy a bigger one.

Remember all of the McMansions people built and bought before the housing bubble burst?  Perhaps you are tempted to get your own larger, dream home.

The question is, should you?

If you have weathered the current recession and have the funds, those beautiful, large houses that were built just fifteen to twenty years ago may be tempting.  Even if the price on a larger house is one you can afford, think carefully before upsizing.  With an upsize comes many other upsized costs.

Consider the following if you want to buy a bigger house:

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Alternatives to Foreclosure

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If you are concerned that your home might become a foreclosure risk, you are probably casting about for other options.

Foreclosure can impact your credit score, and make it difficult for you to purchase a home in the future — at least for the next two to four years.

When you are trying to avoid foreclosure, you do have some options.

However, it’s important to realize that you will have to meet certain requirements in order to qualify for some of these options.  Additionally, some of your foreclosure alternatives will impact your credit score, even if it isn’t impacted as much as it would be with a foreclosure.

Here are some of your alternatives to foreclosure:

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