Spring Prep Tips for Homeowners

Published: March 26, 2024 As we head into spring, preparing your home for the season's challenges is essential, especially with seasonal rain and thunderstorms on the way.  With that in mind, here are six insights to safeguard your home against seasonal fluctuations. 1. Roof readiness Inspect your roof for signs of winter damage. Look for loose or missing shingles that might give way under heavy...

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LTV Ratio, Explained

Published: March 21, 2024   We wanted to provide some information on a term we are asked about quite frequently by clients, friends, and family: loan-to-value ratio (LTV).  At face value, LTV can seem like a complicated subject, but it’s actually quite simple once you dig a bit deeper.  We encourage you to review this information and file it away for further reference when you or someone in...

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Long-Term Benefits of Buying a Home

Published: February 14, 2024 In our team's experience working with clients, we've learned that the appeal of buying a home is much more than the monetary investment. It offers a sense of security and stability and a future of endless possibilities -- whether your home is perfect as-is or more of a fixer-upper that has you wanting to do some remodeling. We thought we'd share with you today just a...

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What is a Home Appraisal?

Published: February 8, 2024 Recently, we have been receiving a lot of questions from homebuyers about how the home appraisal fits into the mortgage process.  We often see people getting appraisal mixed up with the inspection process, so to get ahead of any confusion, we wanted to share some clarifying information. What is a home appraisal? A home appraisal is an unbiased estimate of the true (or...

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5 Highest ROI Home Improvement Projects

Published: February 20, 2024  As mortgage rates remain high, more and more homeowners are tapping into their home equity to finance renovations or pay off debt. In fact, home equity loans increased by 50% in 2022 compared to two years earlier.  That said, if you’re in the planning stages of a home renovation, you might be interested to see which projects have the best return in 2023. Here are...

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What to look for: Mortgage Lender

Published: January 3, 2024 Many of the new clients who come to us are inundated with all sorts of lending offers, be it online, through print ads, or some other medium. Amid all of this, it can be really hard for them to figure out who to choose as a mortgage lender, especially given how important a purchase like a home is. That’s why we wanted to offer some guidance on choosing the right...

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What to know about HELOCs

Published: November 7, 2023 What is a Home Equity Line of Credit? A HELOC acts like a credit card tied to your home's equity, offering a revolving credit line for significant home expenses. Keep in mind this type of loan uses your home as collateral, which carries risks. Benefits of HELOCs. HELOCs' annual percentage rate (APR) can be very close to (and even higher) than current mortgage rates,...

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