Archive for April, 2010
Adjustable Rate and Interest Only Mortgages: The Basics
April 5th, 2010 categories: Mortgage & Finance, PODCASTS
EPISODE 34 – REAL ESTATE IN CHANTILLY
If you are a Chantilly or Northern Virginia area home buyer, and you are shopping for the right mortgage, you need to know the basics about adjustable rate and interest only mortgages.
Getting stuck with the wrong mortgage program can be a mistake that will take years to recover from. Basic knowledge about the type of programs available is critical. And these two types of loans have contributed a great deal to the mortgage woes that we are currently working through. Robert A, Martinson points out that these loan options can have their place, but it is very important that you don’t go in this direction unless you have a very specific set of needs and circumstances, and you understand the risks associated with these loans.
By the way, if you are shopping for a mortgage loan program, feel free to contact Kathy for several referrals.
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A Spring Cleaning Checklist also good to prep home for sale
April 3rd, 2010 categories: Home Life, Seller Strategies
Spring is a season where some Chantilly homeowners, like others across the nation, take advantage of the ritual of Spring Cleaning to get their homes organized.
People have different ways of approaching the task. For some it is an hour or two of just getting rid of accumulated clutter. Others spend days to really do a major overhaul.
Whether you have the short or thorough approach, or none at all, you may find the Martha Stewart 9-step Spring Cleaning Organizer well worth a few minutes of your time.
Most of the suggestions can be handled with common household cleaning items, but there are a few things that are not as common.
If you are thinking of selling your Chantilly or Northern Virginia area home, there is a lot on this list that would be useful in the preparation process of getting your home ready for sale.
Take a look…it will make the process a lot more organized and probably save you time. And if you are preping your home for sale, you may be interested in getting actual sold prices of other homes in your community, and you can do that at Market Snapshot.
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National Home Prices Lower Broadly, But One Size Does Not Fit All
April 2nd, 2010 categories: Buyer Strategies, Mortgage & Finance, Seller Strategies
If you are looking at home value stats – and I can understand if you would rather not think much about it given all that we have been through in the housing market in the last few years – but if you take a look now and then, you will note that home values fell again in January, according to the Federal Home Finance Agency’s Home Price Index. They reported values were down 0.6 percent, on average.
Here is something a little more specific:
- Values in the Mountain states rose 2.0%
- Values in the Pacific states were flat
- Values in the East North Central states fell 1.8%
This does not tell us much about local communities like Chantilly, South Riding, Centreville or the other communities here in the Western Fairfax and Loudoun area. But I do like to keep an eye on national stats, so we share them from time to time here at realestateinchantilly.com and hope you find them of interest. You can get actual sold prices in any local community by using Market Snapshot and that will give you about as localized information as you can get.
Of course, use any of our Property Search tools to see what is on the market in your area of interest as well.
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