First Time Home Buyers
A home is an investment. When you rent, you write your monthly check and that money is gone forever. But when you own your home, you can deduct the cost of your mortgage loan interest from your federal income taxes, and usually from your state taxes. This will save you a lot each year, because the interest you pay will make up most of your monthly payment for most of the years of your mortgage. You can also deduct the property taxes you pay as a homeowner. In addition, the value of your home may go up over the years. Finally, you’ll enjoy having something that’s all yours – a home where your own personal style will tell the world who you are.
Are you a first time home buyer? Congratulations! You want to purchase your first home and right about now you probably have discovered that there is a lot to learn. The more research you do up front the less likely you will experience Buyers Remorse when you do find the perfect Buffalo home.
Are you considering taking advantage of the Tax Credit? This tax credit expires April 30, 2010 and you will need to start by getting your finances in order.
There are tons of resources on this site for your use in deciding important aspects of the purchase of a home including:
How Buyers Can Save Money (and aggravation) on their home purchase
Choices too much for today’s home buyers?
Show me how to own a home!
Excellent reasons to not purchase a Home
Erie County First-time Home Buyer Program
Why you should pre-qualify for a mortgage before you start your WNY home search!
I happened upon an interesting program the other day that I thought might be of interest to some Buffalo home buyers. Making Houses Homes program is a resource to those Buffalo communities and residents to improve and assist buyers who purchase in certain target areas. [Continue]
Buyers Remorse – Do you have it? What did we just do? It is a question that many 1st time home buyers and even people that are moving from one home to another ask themselves. They suddenly find themselves very worried about the future that it is going to take 30 years to pay off [Continue]
You are considering a home purchase but you are lost and confused. You can't seem to find the answers you need to start the process. The most important thing to remember is that you can't purchase a home unless you can purchase a home with cash or qualify for a mortgage. So to start the process, you must begin with your finances... [Continue]
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are publicly-owned agencies overseen by the Federal Government. Fannie and Freddie have very simple and direct mission statements: To make sure that mortgage monies are available to homeowners who are looking for cost-effective home loans. Western New York homeowners do not borrow directly from these agencies. Instead, [Continue]
What is Private Mortgage Insurance PMI is extra insurance that lenders require from most home buyers who obtain loans that are more than 80 percent of their new home’s value. In other words, buyers with less than a 20 percent down payment are normally required to pay PMI. Why do homeowners get saddled with private [Continue]
Recently we wrote an article about getting ready to apply for a mortgage. And a question came up from a reader that caught me off guard “What is a Credit Score?” and then the next question that sprang up was “why is it so important?” Well I found this video from CreditDVD, which does an [Continue]
In today's market, the affordable housing prices, large inventories of homes available and low mortgage rates provide a great opportunity to many first time home buyers. [Continue]
Are you ready to buy your first North Tonawanda home? It can be a scary time and the process can be intimidating. First you have to decide how much you can afford, and then you need to decide where you want to live. There are hundreds of decisions that can make even the most experienced [Continue]
Let's talk about FHA - Federal Housing Administration a little bit today. An agency of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Its main activity is the insuring of residential mortgage loans made by private lenders. The FHA sets standards for construction and underwriting but does not lend money or plan or construct housing. [Continue]
It is great fun for many Western New York buyers to search for the perfect home in WNY. They visit open houses, call listing agents to see homes that they find on the Internet. Many buyers mistake this as being in their best interest. But exactly who is that agent that they are calling loyal [Continue]
You have to admit it is a fair question. You are talking about your financial health and no matter if you are a 1st time home buyer or someone moving up into their next home, it is a daunting decision. Here are a couple of indications that you are ready to purchase a Western New York home. [Continue]
As of May 1, 2010 This Program No Longer Exists The Government is giving away free money! At least for the next 95 days you might be eligible for a tax credit of $6,500 or $8,000! Everyone is aware of the Tax Credit for 1st time home buyers. So how does this affect current home [Continue]
Where’s the Refund? First-time home buyers who bought as long ago as last winter are still waiting for their $8,000 tax refund. As of mid-September, more than 1.4 million taxpayers had requested the credit by amending their federal tax returns. The IRS announced in October that it expects 5.1 million claims by year-end. That count [Continue]
As of May 1, 2010, This credit is no longer available. Now that the President has signed the bill into law there are many who have some questions if they are eligible. There has been much discussion with the changes to the Tax Credit. The extension is part of a $24 billion economic stimulus bill [Continue]
Updated: November 6, 2009 Tax Credit Help Center But Buffalo Realtors are saying it is so on Facebook! The last couple of days I have seen tweets and posts on Facebook that the Tax Credit has been extended and encouraging people to call the poster about buying a Buffalo home. But there is a problem… [Continue]
The property information being provided is for consumers' personal, non-commercial use and may not be used for any purpose other than to identify prospective properties consumers may be interested in purchasing.
