So I've paid off my mortgage, almost. What happens now? [more inside]
posted by buxtonbluecat on Dec 11, 2009 - 8 answers

Title of bank accounts were switched on mortgage disclosure. We were approved with conditions today. Could I be denied a mortgage for this or is this something easy to fix? [more inside]
posted by grablife365 on Dec 8, 2009 - 3 answers

Finally getting ready to start house shopping and planning soon. I have two questions: is the total monthly mortgage payment really 1% of the costs and how crazy am I for wanting to try for a house in this range? [more inside]
posted by grablife365 on Oct 1, 2009 - 27 answers

Can we afford this house in California (just an example)? What "rules of thumb" or other measures should I use to determine what is "affordable"? [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Sep 20, 2009 - 17 answers

I've got some doubts about our current SoCal real estate agent. At first, there didn't seem to be a problem. But recent events have made me wonder if we're wasting his time. [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Aug 8, 2009 - 15 answers

What do you wish you would have known before you sold your house? [more inside]
posted by Twicketface on Jul 6, 2009 - 18 answers

Getting the exterior of my house painted: A dumb investment, given the economy? Or not? [more inside]
posted by anonymous on May 27, 2009 - 12 answers

Why can't you claim the first-time home buyer tax credit if you've purchased the home from a family member? [more inside]
posted by scarykarrey on Apr 30, 2009 - 5 answers

My wife and I need to get out of our house ASAP for reasons both financial and mental-health-related. I've been told we may need to look into a short sale, but researching the process is making my head explode. What, if any, are our options? (more inside, obviously) [more inside]
posted by anthom on Apr 15, 2009 - 16 answers

Why hasn't private mortgage insurance (PMI) softened the blow of the real estate implosion? [more inside]
posted by GatorFan2000 on Apr 6, 2009 - 14 answers

Buying a house soon: is it better to pay down my credit card partially, or pay off a small personal loan? [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Apr 3, 2009 - 5 answers

What are the best ways to find and compare mortgage refi rates and fees? (web sites, or?) [more inside]
posted by msalt on Jan 17, 2009 - 10 answers

Is it insane to buy a house in this market? [more inside]
posted by OmieWise on Dec 30, 2008 - 17 answers

How did you learn how to buy a house? First-time homeowner needs some guidance. [more inside]
posted by sah on Nov 1, 2008 - 25 answers

Just about to make our first ever offer on a house and need advice on terms...help? (lots more detail in click) [more inside]
posted by Kickstart70 on Oct 14, 2008 - 10 answers

Can I get the mortgage tax deduction if a parent transfers their house to me and I begin paying the mortgage without going through an actual sale and real estate agent/commission process? [more inside]
posted by KimikoPi on Oct 4, 2008 - 5 answers

Is it really that much better to pay off a mortgage in bi-monthly payments rather than once-a-month payments? [more inside]
posted by Spyder's Game on Oct 4, 2008 - 13 answers

Under financial pressure. My house isn't selling. I want to avoid foreclosure and don't care about making a profit. It's the original mortgage; a 30-year fixed at 5.5% in good condition (attractive older house and well maintained) in a decent neighborhood (property values steady as those in more expensive neighborhoods fall). [more inside]
posted by CollectiveMind on Oct 1, 2008 - 7 answers

How late is too late to negotiate with mortgage broker for fees? And how can I track mortgage interest rates to get a better rate before closing? [more inside]
posted by Amizu on Sep 19, 2008 - 5 answers

Can I sell my place if I'm on a repayment plan for its mortgage? [more inside]
posted by hamster on Feb 14, 2008 - 2 answers

What do I need to know about getting my house into the Long Term Rental market? [more inside]
posted by ZackTM on Feb 6, 2008 - 7 answers

My wife and I want to buy a house in the Boston area, but have almost no down payment...maybe $10K. We both have good credit (725 and above) and make about $110K, together. What are my options to buy a house? [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Dec 21, 2007 - 26 answers

Home finance question - sell my house first or make an offer first? Much more inside... [more inside]
posted by ShakeyFingers on Oct 16, 2007 - 10 answers

Is there any legal document or process I can do to relinquish any interest in a house that I've technically owned for two years? Please see explanation. Sorry it's long. [more inside]
posted by stevyb on Oct 1, 2007 - 10 answers

Someone died. Does her family have to keep paying the mortgage payments? Does interest keep accruing? Can they rent it out during this period? There was no will. (This is in California.) [more inside]
posted by salvia on Jul 22, 2007 - 9 answers

Mortgage Filter: My wife and I are looking for homes in the greater DC area and found what we think might be one of the best mortgage deals in the country. Of course, you can imagine that we are incredibly skeptical. More after the jump. [more inside]
posted by roundrock on May 6, 2007 - 4 answers

Is this the worst possible time to become first-time home owners in Portland, Ore., even though we found what looks like a pretty good deal on a condo? This sort of thing scares me, but we just found a place that we like and that seems very reasonably priced. [more inside]
posted by croutonsupafreak on Apr 2, 2007 - 26 answers

Three friends from college bought a house together to live in and for investment reasons 2 years ago. We have all invested different amounts of $ into the house and are now trying to figure out the % ownership we each have so when we go to sell we can fairly split up the profits. Any ideas... [more inside]
posted by retro88 on Aug 14, 2006 - 19 answers

Does it make any sense to take out a second trust deed on a house you're trying to sell? [more inside]
posted by languagehat on Jun 5, 2006 - 12 answers

Will a child face social stigma for living in a condo? [more inside]
posted by acoutu on Apr 28, 2006 - 35 answers

How can I Build Credit Quickly? And will taking a small loan out and paying it off way ahead of schedule be good or bad for my credit score? [more inside]
posted by ZackTM on Mar 30, 2006 - 14 answers

I'm about to buy my first house and I'm shopping around for a mortgage. The best deal so far is a mortgage where the lender pays for the mortgage insurance. I'm aware of using 80/XX loans to avoid paying PMI but I've never come across Lender Paid PMI. What exactly is it and what's the catch? [more inside]
posted by schwa on Feb 21, 2006 - 7 answers

I'd like to buy an inexpensive, second home (a summer place) in either New Hampshire or Maine. Someplace we can go for vacations/weekends with the kids. But I have no idea how to go about finding such a place, or what options there are for paying for it. Any suggestions?
posted by GernBlandston on Jan 24, 2006 - 6 answers

Interest only or fully-amortized mortgage? [much more inside] [more inside]
posted by kdern on Oct 4, 2005 - 10 answers

Question from a first-time house seller. My wife and I recently bought our second home without having sold the first. Although we and our agent feel that the house for sale is priced extremely reasonably and appropriately, it's been on the market for five months now. We have the financial capacity to continue paying for both houses indefinitely, with no need for a bridge loan, so that's not the issue per se. The question is, however, at what point does this process become an unacceptably bad deal, financially, and how do I calculate that? Or has it passed that point already? In other words, do the past five months of payments on the first house essentially represent money down the drain? Say each monthly payment on the house that hasn't sold (including mortgage, taxes, insurance, and utilities) comes to $2K. Does that effectively mean we might just as well have set the price $10K less five months ago? In which case we should be dropping the price now, and each month from now on, in an effort to stop the bleeding? I don't notice other sellers dropping their prices with every month that goes by, but the fact remains that since we've only owned the house for four years, we're building up practically no equity each month to "recover" when it finally sells. So it seems like the money's just evaporating. Maybe we get to deduct the taxes and interest from our income tax (or maybe not), but even if we do, it seems to me that there has to be a mathematical point at which it becomes pure damage control. And we may already be well past that point. I know we're not the only people who've ever been in the position of carrying two houses for a few months--it must happen all the time--I'm just not sure what the conventional wisdom is on handling the situation. Any advice would be appreciated.
posted by azaner on Aug 9, 2005 - 14 answers

A friend of mine has just taken on a large amount of debt since splitting with his girlfriend. What can he do to keep on top of it? [more inside]
posted by jeresig on Aug 8, 2005 - 20 answers

How do I know if I am getting the best home loan available to me? [more inside]
posted by eggerspretty on Jun 29, 2005 - 9 answers

So yesterday my wife — Ms. We're-Not-Moving — found a house closer to Portland that she loves. We both love it. The only offer we can make, though, is contingent upon selling our home, which we hadn't even considered until yesterday. Help! Does anyone have experience with this kind of thing? What can we do to make a contingency offer more attractive? What about bridge loans? Anyone have experience with those? I need advice on hurried real estate transactions (other than "don't do them").
posted by jdroth on May 6, 2004 - 10 answers

Having bought a house, I'm now faced with paying a mortgage. You save a few bucks (and the effort of remembering to mail a check each month) if you have the payments deducted automatically from your bank account; is there any reason I shouldn't do this (assuming I keep enough of a balance to cover it)?
posted by languagehat on Jan 2, 2004 - 12 answers