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How to plan for unexpected new home costs
Managing Your Money

How to plan for unexpected new home costs

  The housing market has been pretty volatile the past few years, with the median price of homes hovering around $400,698 in March of 2023[i]. If you’ve managed to save up enough cash for a down payment and closing costs, congratulations! Being a first time home-buyer is quite an accomplishment. After the ...

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How your home’s equity can help you create the space of your dreams
Managing Your Money

How your home’s equity can help you create the space of your dreams

 Whether your home is brand new or you’ve lived there for as long as you can remember, chances are you have some thoughts on ways it can be improved. If that’s the case, that would put you in line with the average homeowner. While 58% of homeowners remodeled their places in ...

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The Fed says the housing market needs a ‘correction.’ What does that mean?
Owning a Home

The Fed says the housing market needs a ‘correction.’ What does that mean?

When the Federal Reserve announced it was raising interest rates last week, Chairman Jerome Powell said the housing market needs to go through a “correction.”Powell said home prices rose at an “unsustainably fast level” during the pandemic, as he expressed hope that a housing market correction will make prices affordable ...

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Buying a home can trigger unwanted solicitation. Here’s what you can do about it.
Owning a Home

Buying a home can trigger unwanted solicitation. Here’s what you can do about it.

Buying a home can be exciting and stressful – all in one. That’s why to help you get through it, you find a trusted real estate agent and mortgage consultant to guide you through the journey. But what may surprise you is that other lenders who you’ve never reached out to are ...

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Housing prices are dropping — Yes, a house is still a good investment
Owning a Home

Housing prices are dropping — Yes, a house is still a good investment

Housing prices are dropping.After a prolonged increase in housing prices, signals are now pointing to a cooling-off period. Instead of home buyers getting excited about this possibility, many wonder if buying a house during a recession is still a wise investment.While there are some exceptions, owning a home is still ...

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Why it pays to research a home’s history before buying
Owning a Home

Why it pays to research a home’s history before buying

When Nick Weith and Damien Mordecai bought their Gowanda, New York house in 2020, the Zillow listing read “Built in 1940.” But they knew better.The boxy silhouette. The Second Empire roof. It was clearly Victorian Era. That 1940 date? It had to be a placeholder.After a deep dive into the ...

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