Real estate has proven again and again to be an excellent investment, encouraged by the fact that capital gains on its sale can often be avoided completely. While traditional investment vehicles like stocks impose a 15% tax on long-term gains, you can exempt $250,000 (or for joint filers $500,000) of your home sale profit from…
DetailsYou would expect that a successful real estate agent serves many clients, and offers a wide variety of listings to interest a wide variety of buyers. However, when you list your home, you also expect that yours is the most important of all those listings. After all, in your eyes, your home is the hottest…
DetailsAs real estate transactions have become more complex and varied, the types of real estate brokerage arrangements available to the public have changed. Alabama law requires you, the consumer, to be informed about the types of services which real estate salespersons may perform. The purpose of this article is intended to provide buyers and sellers…
DetailsAs a buyer, you may find yourself drifting on an ocean of financing options. As lenders tighten their requirements, there are a few aspects of the loan application of which you should be aware before applying for a mortgage. First, determine whether you are seeking “pre-qualification” or “pre-approval.” What’s the difference? Generally speaking, when you…
DetailsYou might assume that the fewer credit cards you have, the higher your credit score could be. Because of that assumption, some buyers preparing to apply for a home loan mistakenly cancel one or more credit cards. Why would this be a bad idea? It has to do with the ratio of your debt to…
DetailsHuman nature being what it is, none of us can get serious about the idea of buying a house without experiencing at least a few small twinges of worry. What we fear, of course, is making a mistake. And the mistake we tend to fear most is buying a “lemon” – a house that doesn’t…
DetailsTraditionally, real estate agents have emphasized their “selling” prowess as a reason for listing homes with them. Naturally, sellers want their home sold, and an agent who is a successful “salesperson” would appear to be the likely listing candidate. / Today, agents can play a more important role by organizing and attracting the attention of…
DetailsIt’s a common predicament: you need to sell your home and at the same time buy and move into another, possibly in another city. Since it’s not likely that you’ll close on both homes in the same day, how do you proceed? Buy first or sell first? It’s a classic “chicken or the egg” scenario.…
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