Real Estate Search Direct

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

Do you dread creating a budget?  If you are preparing to buy a home, you may be wondering if personal finance budgeting is necessary. 

Ivana Newhouse didn’t pay much attention to her spending habits.  She felt that it would be too much of a burden on her lifestyle to keep track of the occasional mocha latté and a round of drinks at the bar with her girlfriends after work. 

Ivana felt if she kept track of her bank balance, she knew whether or not she could afford to buy that new pair of shoes on sale.  But in the long run, she didn’t know how much she was spending on what.

Ivana and her fiancé, Homer, were planning to buy a house when they were married.  Homer asked Ivana to create a list of all her income and expenses in order to come up with a financial plan for their future. 

Homer felt that without a plan it would be difficult to achieve financial goals to maintain the lifestyle they wanted.  Homer was not just interested in what they could afford today, but also in their long term financial situation. After all, isn’t buying a house a long term financial commitment?

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Comments (7) Apr 27 2009

Are you trying to figure out how to afford to buy a house?  Does an $8000 gift from the government sound like it might help? 

Are you interested in getting the first time home buyer tax credit to help you buy a home?  Are you wondering how you can use the first time home buyer tax credit to make buying a home more affordable?

Homer Buyer was feeling this way.  He was engaged and planned to buy a home for him and his fiancée to live in after their wedding.

Homer and his fiancée wanted to have children so they wanted to buy a house big enough to raise them.  They didn’t want to have to sell to upgrade their home in an uncertain economy.  They wanted to buy something that they could live with for a long time.

The problem was that they weren’t sure if they could afford the down payment for a house of that size.  Homer thought the first time home buyer tax credit sounded like a great way to help afford it.

When Homer got some more information on the tax credit, he was less hopeful. He found that he could not use the tax credit as part of the down payment. As a matter of fact, the deal had to close before he could apply for the tax credit.  How was this supposed to help him afford a home?
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Comments (7) Apr 25 2009

When you are shopping for a loan it is important to know how much the loan will cost overall.  That is where a Loan Amortization Calculator comes in handy.  Have you ever used a loan amortization calculator?

Homer Buyer was looking for a mortgage when he found that there were several different options available.  He thought  a loan was a loan so he didn’t know he would have so many choices. 

One lender offered him an Adjustable Rate Mortgage and another offered a 30 year fixed.  Homer had a hard time getting a handle on the differences between the loans. 

He knew that it was important to understand his mortgage.  Do you know how he knew this?

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Comments (1) Apr 21 2009

If you want a home that is distinguished from all others in your area, you may consider a custom built home.  In building a unique home, you should start by selecting a house plan.  Are you interested in unique house plans?

While Ivana Newhouse was searching to buy a home, she saw so many tract homes where there were only a few models in each neighborhood.  One house looked just like the next and a mirror image of the one across the street.

Ivana wanted something with more personality.  As a matter of fact, she wanted her home to have her personality written all over it, but she just couldn’t find anything in the area that suited her. 

Ivana did find a lot for sale with a beautiful view and close to everything that mattered to her (shopping, church, parks, and lake access.)  The only thing it was missing was a house.  Ivana decided then and there that she would find some unique house plans and build her home on that lot.

If you are looking for house plans, check out The COOL house plans company.

Allen Davis
RealEstateSearchDirect.com

Comments (4) Apr 20 2009

Interest rates are the lowest they have been in decades, but how do you know you are getting the best rate possible?  How do you know what the current best mortgage interest rate is? 

When Homer Buyer was shopping for a mortgage to buy his house, he went to several lenders and received quotes.  He had never got a mortgage before, so he wasn’t too sure about all the terminology. 

The lenders seemed to speak a different language.  One lender had a 5/1 ARM with a 4.9% interest rate and an APR of 5.2% and 1.5 points.  Another had a 30 year fixed with 2 points with an interest rate of 4.65% and an APR of 5.3%.  Which one is the better deal?

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Comments (0) Apr 19 2009

With all the taxpayers money the government is throwing around, shouldn’t the common folk get a piece of the pie instead of giving it all away in bonuses to corporate executives?  Is there a bailout bill for home buyers?

Will it really help the economy to make sure that CEOs don’t have to give up buying their fourth Rolls Royce?  Or would it be better to help people getting a financial start to buy their home?

Of the hundreds of billions in bailout money, there is very little to help people really struggling with economic hardship.  There is one measure that helps first time home buyers.  The federal government is offering a tax credit of up to $8000 on the purchase of a home. 

Since today is tax day, this is a good time to think about what it would be like to have to pay $8000 less on your federal income tax.  So what if you don’t owe any tax?

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Comments (2) Apr 15 2009

If you want to figure out how much you can borrow you might want to check out a calculator for mortgage payment.
If you know what you can afford to pay monthly and you know what you can afford for a down payment, does that mean you know how much you can pay for a house?

Usually a house is listed for a lump sum price, not a down payment and monthly payments.  If you don’t have the lump sum to pay, you will need to get a loan to pay for the house.  This makes it possible to put a down payment and then monthly payments for a period usually 15 to 30 years.

But it can be hard to understand how a lender comes up with the payment amount on a certain loan amount.  This can be figured out with a calculator for mortgage payment.

The calculator lets you enter the sale price of the home, the down payment percentage, the length of the mortgage term and the interest rate.  It will calculate the monthly payment from these figures

You can then increase or decrease the sale price of the home to find the maximum you can afford to pay for a home and stay within your monthly budget.

You see foreclosures for sale in the news and probably in your neighborhood because people weren’t able to afford their monthly payments.  It is important to make sure your mortgage will be affordable.
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Comments (6) Apr 11 2009