Cheryl Nightingale - Monarch Realty Group, LLC

...even while you’re still renting. If you’re renting your current home and have your eye on making a home purchase in the near or distant future you might be worried that it can’t be done. The good news is that there are some effortless ways to grow your home savings with a little bit of set up and a touch of discipline. 1) Know your goal. The best place to start is knowing how much cash you’ll need and by when. Typically, you should aim to save 5-20 percent of your planned Bourne home purchase price to qualify for a traditional 30-year mortgage. This amount might seem overwhelming at first but, when you break it down into annual, monthly, then weekly goals, it'll start to feel much more manageable. Defining your timeframe goals will help to better understand what would be required of your saving habits on a regular basis. Once you've figured out how much you'd need to save each week, you may wish to re-evaluate your time goals to reflect a more relaxed savin...

If you've seen the Tom Hanks classic movie, "The Money Pit," you know that while it's funny happening to someone else, when your fixer-upper home becomes a money pit, it's more like a horror movie. If you're looking for a new property and considering an underpriced fixer-upper, you could end up with a nightmare full of endless home repairs. Here are some ways to make sure your Bourne home-buying reality doesn't become the stuff of movies and cost you more money than you bargained for. Start With A Solid Foundation One of the most important components of a home, it should stand on a solid foundation: a steel-reinforced, concrete perimeter foundation wall, and footing. The foundation should be straight and square—if you notice leaning or bulging in places, the structure could be compromised. In the basement, check for large cracks or gaps in the foundation walls.  Large, V-shaped cracks could be a sign that the home needs extensive foundation...

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...