Real Estate Search Direct

If you want a home that is exactly what you are looking for, one of the best ways to get it is to have a house built according to house plans of your choice.

It can be quite expensive to hire an architect for custom house plans, but there are many low cost or even free alternatives available.  Are you interested in free house plans?

You can even get free house plans with green designs.   Although green buildings may be more expensive to build, the energy and water savings over the long term will outweigh the initial cost.  And you will be creating less of a burden on the environment at the same time.

It is hard to find existing homes that are environmentally responsible, so if you feel your need to do your part for the environment you should consider building a new green home.

Green homes are homes that are designed to be energy efficient, conserve water and use materials with less impact on the environment.

They also may have some health benefits to those living in them.

If you are looking for a new home and are interested in providing a healthier environment for our children and their children to live in consider having a new green home built.

For more real estate tips and information get the free homebuyer course

Allen Davis
RealEstateSearchDirect.com

Comments (3) May 29 2009

A lot of people who are interested in buying a house get stuck when they come to the point: “I want to buy a new house. How much can I afford?“

Do you know how much you can afford on a home?  Do you know how to determine how much you can afford? 

There are actually two components to figuring out how much you can afford.  First of all, you need to  know how much money you can afford to pay at closing.  This will consist of two parts:  the down payment, and the closing costs.

The down payment is what you will actually pay towards the purchase price of the home.  In the current credit environment, it is unlikely that you can get a 0% down loan unless you qualify for VA benefits.  The lender will want to see that you have some of your own money invested in the home so you will be less likely to default on the loan.

Closing costs consist of various fees and expenses involved in the purchase transaction.  Many of the closing costs are fees charged by the lender.  There are also title insurance, escrow or attorney fees, taxes and transfer fees.  But can you get someone else to pay your closing costs?

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Comments (0) May 28 2009

In this economy many people are facing foreclosure.  You may know someone going through the foreclosure process.  Foreclosures seem to be everywhere, lately.

I could tell you story after story about people who have been in foreclosure, but first there is something I have to get off my chest.

I haven’t been very open with you.  I have been keeping my personal life out of my blog.  But I want you to be able to trust me, and for that to
happen you have to get to know the real me.  It’s time for me to come
clean.  Do you want to hear my dirty secret?

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Comments (0) May 25 2009

Shopping for a mortgage can be confusing, especially for first time home buyers.  There are so many unfamiliar terms and even the basic concepts of a mortgage that aren’t commonly used in your life before buying a home.

If you want to be sure you are getting the right mortgage, you need to understand all the terms and conditions of the contract.  If you are unfamiliar with mortgages, you should start by learning how your mortgage payment will be calculated.  Amortizations spreadsheets are a great tool for this purpose.

You may be wondering, “How can amortization spreadsheets help you understand your mortgage options?
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Comments (1) May 20 2009

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With the current economic crisis, everyone is looking to the government to save the day. There’s a lot of talk about the economic stimulus package in detail. 

Everyone is blaming everyone else for the economic situation, but nobody is willing to accept personal responsibility.  In the long run, you are the only one who has to pay the consequences for your personal finances.  Do you have a plan to get through these tough economic times?

Many people have taken all their money out of the stock market and similar investments in order to prevent loss of value.  But is keeping cash in the bank or burying it a safe alternative? 
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Comments (0) May 19 2009

Are you interested in buying a mobile home?  If so, you may have found that many mortgage lenders do not deal with mobile homes.  This is because a mobile home loan is not handled the same as other real estate loans.  A mobile home loan is more like a car loan than a mortgage.  So where can you find mobile home lenders?

Mo Bill Buyer, learned from his brother, Homer, that buying your own home rather than renting was a strategy many successful people used for building wealth.  But Moe Bill Buyer couldn’t afford to pay as much as his brother.  He found that all he could afford was a used mobile home.

Mo Bill  asked Homer where he was getting the loan for his home purchase, but Homer’s lender did not deal with used mobile homes.
Mo Bill went to his local bank for a loan, but they wouldn’t lend him the money either.  He finally turned to the internet and searched for mobile home lenders.  What do you think Mo Bill found?
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Comments (2) May 15 2009

Have you been waiting for the right time to buy a house?  Does an $8000 tax credit sound like a good incentive to buy now?  Many factors in the real estate market are convincing people to get into a new home this year.

Homer Buyer was convinced that the record low interest rates combined with the $8000 tax credit make it a great time to buy.

Homer wanted to buy, but coming up with a large enough down payment was his biggest challenge.  When he learned about the tax credit being offered to first time home buyers he thought it might be of some help.  Can the $8000 help you buy a home? 

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Comments (8) May 14 2009

Mobile homes are often a more  affordable option for the first time home buyer.  If you are considering buying a home, but can’t seem to make the numbers work out, you might find mobile homes more in your price range.

My brother, David, bought a mobile home as the first home he owned.  When he decided to buy a home, he didn’t make a lot of money.  He worked in a school district warehouse moving boxes from place to place.  In Southern California it was very difficult to buy a home on his income.

David bought a one bedroom single wide mobile home in a trailer park just across the street from the LA County Fairgrounds parking lot.

I remember I used to visit him there when I was still renting an apartment.  I would go there when I needed a place to work on my car because the apartment management didn’t allow me to do it in the parking lot.  David was a big help when it came to cars, too.

His mobile home was not new and was not fancy, but he owned it.  He had taken the leap from being a renter to a home owner.  This may not seem like a big step to some, but it makes a big difference in mindset.

If you are wondering if the first time home buyer tax credit is available for mobile homes, the answer is yes.  But remember it is only for 10 percent of the purchase price so homes under $80,000 will not qualify for the full $8,000 maximum credit available.

Even if you are only able to get a $5,000 credit on a $50,000 purchase that is an extra five grand in your pocket.

Mobile homes are treated differently than other home sales in some ways.  Some things you may want to be aware of when considering a mobile home purchase are:

• Used mobile homes are usually sold with seller financing because most lenders won’t finance them.
• Mobile home manufacturers offer financing on new mobile homes.
• They are often referred to as “manufactured homes”.
• Mobile homes can be on rented spaces in a mobile home park or on land which is sold with the mobile home.
• Mobile homes can depreciate more than single family residence (SFR) properties, especially in parks.
• It may be more difficult to sell a mobile home unless you offer seller financing to the buyer.
• An additional expense to consider may be the lot rent for mobile homes in rented spaces.
• Mobile homes are usually in two widths: single-wide (14 foot) or double-wide (28 foot).

You can find more information about buying mobile homes in the Manufactured Home Buyer’s Handbook

Comments (5) May 12 2009