Cheryl Nightingale - Monarch Realty Group, LLC

One excellent way to improve your financial profile is to buy a home of your own. But we won't lie: It's a long and potentially incredibly stressful process, especially when it comes to the dollars and cents of securing a mortgage loan. So how do you navigate the stress of the journey in order to reach Destination Homeowner? There's a lot that's within your control to help ease some of that stress and make the whole thing a little bit easier. If you take a few steps upfront to manage the financial details early, you'll thank yourself on moving day. Get pre-approved for a mortgage Getting your mortgage loan is arguably the most labor-intensive aspect of buying a home. You'll have to submit documents that show your income and expenses, including tax returns, bank statements, paystubs, and more. A mortgage pre-approval is much more involved than its lighter cousin, the mortgage pre-qualification. But a pre-approval will help you understand exactly how

You hear it on the news all the time: "It's a buyer's market," "It's a seller's market," or "The housing market is on the rebound." And while you probably get the gist of what these folks are talking about, having a deeper understanding of the housing market and how it works can help you immensely during the home-buying or selling process.  Let's start with the basics The housing market refers to the general market of houses being bought and sold between buyers and sellers. These houses are either bought or sold directly by owners or indirectly through brokers. Like any market, the housing market is governed by the law of supply and demand. When demand is high and supply is low, the market appreciates. When demand is low and supply is high, the market depreciates. How inventory affects value In the real estate industry, we think of supply and demand in terms of available inventory. You can measure inventory by answering the

Need help finding the right neighborhood for your home search? Here are five factors that should figure prominently in your thinking.  Schools Even if you don't have kids, the quality of the schools in a given neighborhood should be high on your priority list. That's because property values are higher in communities with strong school districts, meaning that your home will appreciate more. That said, you may have to settle for less house due to higher prices. Property Values Independent of school quality, you should look at local trends in home prices to get insight into that community's future. If property values have been in steady decline for a decade, you'll likely face issues when it comes to reselling down the line. Instead, look for up-and-coming neighborhoods where home prices are climbing. Traffic Remember: if you're buying a home, chances are you plan on living there for a long time. Heavy traffic may not seem like a big deal now, but in

You're about to become a first-time homeowner—this is an exciting time! As you begin working with lenders on securing pre-approval for a mortgage, you probably hear some terms when it comes to mortgage interest rates such as "fixed" and "adjustable." To help you make a smart decision, here’s what you need to know about these types of interest rates. Interest Rate 101 An interest rate is the cost of borrowing money. When you borrow money to purchase a home, the interest rate applies to how much the home will cost you with borrowed money rather than saving a lump sum for the entire purchase price. Fixed Interest Rate The most straightforward type of rate is a fixed one. With a fixed interest rate, this means the rate and payments stay the same, regardless of what's happening with the economy. Some homebuyers may be drawn to fixed interest rates since they offer rate security, making for easy budgeting, though it can end up costing more mon

The first time you heard the term, "escrow" you may have been thrown for a loop. While the word may have had you confused the first time, here are some essential things to know about escrow—what it is, what it's used for, and how it works. What Is Escrow? Escrow is a legal notion where money or assets are held by a third-party on behalf of two other parties in the middle of completing a transaction. An escrow company provides two parties the service to make sure everyone does what they say they're going to do. The escrow company acts as a middleman to protect the assets while the home purchasing process is happening.   Applied to real estate transactions—when buying or selling a home, escrow is the trusted third-party, who is someone other than the buyer or seller, who will hold money to make sure you execute the transaction correctly. The key thing to remember here is that the third-party is a trusted party . This is a neutral entity who does