by rtdosen | Sep 28, 2015 | Ryan Dosen Real Estate Articles
Home Buying Process Starts with a Major Decision By Ryan Dosen The first step in your home buying process isn’t driving around your ideal neighborhood looking for “For Sale” signs. It isn’t going online to run a search on the latest properties to hit the market. It isn’t sitting down with your Realtor to discuss the best homes in the area. It isn’t getting pre-approved for a mortgage. It may actually be choosing your college major. Of course, not everyone will go to college. Nor do they need to in order to buy a home. And of course, different people will take different paths with the same college degree, some more lucrative than others. But the bottom line is that, on average, your choice of degree puts you on a path to generally make a certain amount of money. Your choices and work ethic can certainly alter your path and future income, but the fact remains that your choice of college degree significantly impacts your future income and the home(s) you will eventually purchase. It is in this way that your choice of college degree could be said to be the first step in your home buying process. This is all very logical and unsurprising; however, most 18-year olds are probably not thinking specifically about buying a home when they are choosing a major. College Majors and Home Affordability More than 300 college degrees were analyzed by PayScale and Realtor.com, and engineering majors dominate the top of the list of incomes and mid-career (10+ years) maximum affordable home prices. Petroleum engineers sit at the top of the mountain with...
by rtdosen | Sep 25, 2015 | Ryan Dosen Real Estate Articles
Yearly Do-It-Yourself Home Inspections Pay Big Dividends By Ryan Dosen Home inspections aren’t just for home buyers. Failure to perform yearly inspections on your own home is a mistake that can cost you big time down the road, especially when it comes time to sell. Like most problems in life, issues with your home are best dealt with early on and while they’re still small. Performing a brief yearly inspection of some of your home’s most common and easily examined problem areas will put you way ahead of the curve and in prime position to minimize the impact and cost of the inevitable toll that nature and life will take on your home. Easy Do-It-Yourself Home Inspections You’re probably not a home inspector. You may not know how to test your home’s electrical system. You likely don’t have the knowledge or tools necessary for performing a hydraulic load test on your home’s septic system. There are many items in your home that you’re probably not going to be able to assess on your own. But that’s no reason to avoid inspecting your home altogether. Especially when it comes to water intrusion, there are many simple inspections that you can perform on your own that will help you protect your most valuable asset. Exterior Inspections Timothy Dahl of Lifehacker.com recommends a yearly visual inspection of your home’s exterior and the usual suspect problem areas, perhaps with the aid of a pair of binoculars. Dahl recommends checking your downspouts and gutters for cracks, clogs, and damaged elbows, as runoff can get into your foundation and cause water damage. Dahl further...
by rtdosen | Sep 4, 2015 | Ryan Dosen Real Estate Articles
The Mortgage Industry’s Race Problem By Ryan Dosen Racial discrimination in mortgage lending is apparently still a problem. Strides have been made and much attention has been paid to the issue, especially since the release of the Boston Fed’s well-known study back in 1992. However, according to a recent study, black borrowers still pay higher rates on their mortgages than comparable white borrowers. The Study Ping Cheng, Ph.D., professor of finance at Florida Atlantic University, led this recent study on potential racial discrimination in mortgage lending. Cheng’s report, “Racial Discrepancy in Mortgage Interest Rates,” reveals that “black borrowers on average pay about 29 basis points more than comparable white borrowers.” This means that black borrowers’ interest rates are, on average, 0.29 percent higher than the rates paid by comparable white borrowers. Cheng’s study also found that “rate disparity mainly occurs to young borrowers with low education as well as those borrowers whose income and credit disqualify them from prime lending rates.” Subprime borrowers with lower credit qualifications certainly have to pay higher rates than buyers with excellent credit, but Cheng’s numbers show that lenders are being even harder on black subprime borrowers. The study concludes by stating that, “while the racial disparity in mortgage rates is widespread between black and white borrowers, it is the more financially vulnerable black women who suffer the most.” Black women, according to the study, are charged an average of 57.36 basis points more than comparable white borrowers. Based upon today’s current rates, this means that, on average, black women may be paying an $80 premium on monthly payments for a $250,000 mortgage. ...
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