Check Out Your Neighbor's Open House, Your Not Nosey, Your Smart

An open house attracts many people who come for different reasons. They may be buyers looking in your neighborhood, real estate brokers looking to list your home, or even the guy down the block who is curious. In my neighborhood if there is an open house you are sure to see me there. You may call me nosy, but I believe that taking a look provides me with a lot of good information if someday I decide to sell my own home.

The first thing I look for in a neighbors home is what home improvements or upgrades they have made. This information can be help you decide what home improvements you should maybe do first. One improvement may be your roof, if your neighbors mostly have all new roofs and yours is showing it's age, maybe that is one of the first things you change. When selling your home, a new roof verse an old roof may make all the difference in which house gets sold first. Seeing the upgrades your neighbors have made will keep you from overdoing it on your own upgrades. You don't want to over build or over upgrade in your neighborhood. Also seeing other homes will also give you ideas on things you never thought of to help improve your own home.

If you are planning to move in the near future, seeing other homes for sale will give you close view of your competition. You are competing for buyers when your neighbors house is also for sale. You will see what their homes appeal is and you can compare their home value with your own home. Looking at other home improvements can also let you know what features to advertise in your own home when you are ready to put your home for sale. Checking out a open house will give you ideas how to make your home stand out above the competition.

At these open house Realtors and real estate agents will be present. You will be able to ask questions and pick their brains and maybe learn a thing or two. See if the Realtor is actively marketing the home, being active in engaging prospective buyers. Some Realtors use your open house to market other homes they have for sale and not yours. This will help you weed out the bad ones and zero in on the good ones.

You may feel embarrassed at going to a neighbors open house, don't feel bad. The more people that see an open house is good for the seller, because it helps the word get out and helps sell the home. If the sellers are there they may appreciate some honest feedback about the house. So it's a good thing for you and the seller that you are there.

Next time there is an open house on your street be sure sure to stop by. You are going to learn something that will help you, when it's time to sell your house.

What Economic Slowdown? $43.5 Million Dollars Worth Of Rubble

Many people are still deeply hurting, from our current economic situation, yours truly included. Income is down and expenses are rising. But not all of us are suffering. There are a few people doing pretty well.

With real estate prices at an all time low it's time to do some buying. Thats what one hedge fund billionaire David Tepper did. He bought a little fixer upper in Sagaponack, Long Island. He paid $43.5 million dollars for the 6,000 square foot ocean front estate on 6.5 sandy acres.

What's the first thing you do? Well, if you're hedge fund billionaire David Tepper, you tear the thing down -- along with the guesthouse, swimming pool and tennis court -- to build an even bigger mansion.

According to Southampton Patch, Tepper bought the home last year from ex-wife of former New Jersey governor Jon Corzine, in the area's most expensive transaction of 2010. In April, he got a permit for the demolition, and yesterday, the site was finally cleared.

The new house will be about twice the size, with ocean views from every room, "a sunken tennis court, three-car garage, a widow's walk, second-floor decks including one with a Jacuzzi, and a covered porch," reports Hamptons Curbed, quoting the minutes from a recent town board meeting at which the construction was reviewed.

Is Cosigning A Car Loan Really So Bad?

Image by roger4336 via FlickrWe all know that cosigning a loan is just asking for trouble. Your taking a big risk that the person you are cosigning for will leave you holding the bag. When the bank doesn't approve an individual for a loan the bank is saying plainly that they believe the person is not financially or personally able to pay it back. Why can't people who are tempted to cosign a loan, for a freind or relative, be as calculating as that?

I have written before about my daughters car problems and need for replacing her car. The car has 210,000 miles on it and it's time. Yet the car continues to live on and won't die. She and her boyfriend have purchased a 2006 Chevy Cobalt. It's in great shape and has low mileage. It was a really great choice.

Then why am I bringing all this up? Well, they have bad credit, when they financed it they got a very high interest rate. It's 18% interest. The payments are high and a lot of money is going to interest. I want to help.

I feel if I refinance the car as a cosigner I could get their rate down to 5%. It would be a big help in getting the payment way down. But then that would go against the no cosigning rule.

If I did do it, would there be a chance they wouldn't pay it. Yes, there always is a they could lose their income and be unable to pay and also by their track record not pay their debts. I would then be on the hook for the note. Is it worth it to take the chance? Would it destroy the relationship?

What are the odds they would default. According to the FTC, depending on the type of the loan, as many as three out of four primary borrowers default on their obligations, leaving the cosigner to pay. This is, after all, why they need a cosigner: they're not good credit risks, either because they have too much debt already, or because they don't pay their bills on time.

This is their first real excursion into the world of credit for almost 10 years. They are learning first hand the result of messing up your credit. Sure the downside of bad credit is having the worst possible interest rates when borrowing money. But this is a great lesson and it will leave a bad taste in the mouth for many years to come. It's something they will never forget and hopefully never repeat. My intervention may circumvent this life lesson and postpone learning a hard truth.

You're not really helping someone if you assist them to take on a large car loan when they have had historical trouble paying their bills, or to refinance their debt without attacking the spending that brought on the debt in the first place. "Helping" people to avoid dealing with their problems isn't much help at all. It feels terrible to say no, and the person will probably be hurt when you do. It may sour the relationship. But keep in mind that however bad it feels, and however much the relationship suffers, this is nothing compared to the bad feelings and relationship problems that you will encounter if you become their chief creditor.

Five Reasons A Mortgage May Be Declined By A Lender

Preparing and filing all of the required paperwork in an effort to get a mortgage for your family’s new home is an enormous task, only to wait for some banker to call you to inform that the financial institution has decided to turn you down. It might seem flat out unfair and difficult to understand why you’ve been denied. As time has passed by, financial institutions seem to have become increasingly strict on who they are willing to lend their money to. Because of this, consumers need to be prepared. You need to understand how the lending process works and how you can best put yourself in a position to be approved for your mortgage. Here are five tips how.

1) Too much credit already used

It’s important to understand how financial institutions view existing consumer debt when considering a mortgage. A general rule of thumb is that an individual’s housing costs should account for no more than 33% of their gross income. Consumer debt should account for no more than 5% on top of that. When an individual’s consumer debt exceeds the 5% figure, it cuts into the 33% that is allowed on housing costs. For example, if your consumer debt accounts for 9% of your gross income, a financial institution may only approve a mortgage that account for no more than 29% of your gross income. So what does this all mean? Keep your credit cards under control to keep that consumer debt down.

2) Change of Employment

Changing jobs can increase the difficulty in getting your mortgage approved. The reason for this is that financial institutions are looking for consistency in your earnings. Specifically, they would like to see 2+ years of financial consistency. There are exceptions to this, however, such as individuals who are moving to higher paying positions in the same or a very similar field. Perhaps the most fatal job change mistake people can make during the mortgage process is transitioning from a salaried position to self employment as they now have zero financial consistency to offer on the loan application. Not surprisingly, the self-employed and those who work sales based jobs that rely heavily on commission are those who find it the most difficult to get accepted for a mortgage.

3) Your credit score is fluctuating

Because of the length of time is can take while shopping the housing market, it may be a matter of several months between filling out your credit application and finalizing the loan. Because of this it’s natural to expect that the financial institution may perform several checks on your credit. You want to be sure nothing happens that might cause it to go down during the process, causing you stress and complications. Make sure all of your payments are made on time during the application time period and also avoid opening any further lines of credit. For good measure, also be sure to request your credit report from all of the refutable agencies and check for any inaccuracies before beginning the mortgage process.

4) Mortgage payments are missed

To piggy back off of reason 3 a bit, it is extremely crucial that you do not miss any of your significant payments while applying for your new mortgage. The last thing you want to do is make the financial institutions start viewing you as a credit risk. If you have a current mortgage it is imperative that you pay it on time. If you are having issues paying your current mortgage you should discuss options with the mortgage holder to have it amended.

5) Missing the obvious

Lastly, be sure not to miss the obvious. When going through the application process be sure you read every form intently and understand what you are filling out. Make sure all of your information is accurate and complete. Double check and then triple check your work. This is an extremely important process so you will need to pay extra attention to detail.

Bio

This author of this guest post is Andrew Potter who is the director of My Online Estate Agent. My Online Estate Agent is a UK based low cost estate agent which allows sellers to advertise on Rightmove, Zoopla, Primelocation and Find a Property.