Here are six reasons you should own your home instead of renting one:
Happiness - The feeling of owning your own home is unmatched. You can fix it up, make it your own, get a dog, or plant a tree if you want. Doesn't that sound exciting!
Tax Savings - The government rewards homeowners by providing excellent tax benefits. The interest paid on your mortgage and other home-related expenses can generally be deducted from your income.
Appreciation - Home values have a well-documented history of going up over time. This increase becomes equity you can benefit from when you refinance or sell.
Equity - Renting has often been compared to paying 100% interest, but when you own a home and a mortgage is in place, a portion of your payment goes toward the principal balance on your loan. This builds your equity and acts as a savings account.
Roots - People who own rather than rent stay in their homes 4 times longer. This provides an opportunity to get to know your neighbors and connect with your local community.
Education - Research shows children of homeowners earn higher test scores and graduate at a higher percentage than those of renters.
If you are looking to buy or sell your home, call me.

Iveth Caruso
Providing the most professional, dedicated, informative and loyal service you can find in Real Estate!

Dreaming of buying your first home?  The Georgia Dream Home-ownership Program fulfills home-ownership dreams by providing affordable mortgage financing for eligible home buyers. Are you a first time home buyer?  You may be eligible for $15,000 for down-payment, closing costs and prepaid costs to purchase your home.
If you are interested in purchasing a home through the Georgia Dream Program, contact me and I will get you started!

The term due diligence generally refers to any period of time where an asset for sale is examined. In real estate it usually refers to a period of time where a buyer can examine or otherwise consider a property for which they're under contract - and pull out of the transaction if they find something unsatisfactory or undisclosed.

In Georgia, when you enter the due diligence period, in which, the buyer, does all relevant inspections and decide whether or not you would like to proceed with the sale.  The seller is bound to the buyer and cannot enter into other contracts for the sale of the home (except as backup)– but the buyer is free to terminate the contract with no penalty and get the earnest money back.

During this period the buyer should independently verify any information provided by the current owners with a third party source because many owners, even if well-intended, are unaware of certain factors that may affect your decision. Remember, it is the buyer's responsibility to conduct their own research during this period and to verify all information.

During this period, the buyer should schedule the home and termite inspections, order the survey and research information about flood plains, power lines, and zoning. If you are buying a home with an HOA or a condo, make sure that understand the bylaws of the homeowner's or community associations and that you know what the annual or monthly required fees are and what services are included in those fees.

Equally important is to inspect the neighborhood, some things to research during the due diligence period include proximity to any places or facilities that you might find troublesome such as a landfill, prison, cemetery, etc. It’s important to research local schools, crime rates. Additionally, you might also want to find out more information about your potential neighbors, including a violent sex offender search at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation website.

Generally speaking, the most common reason that a buyers terminates a contract during due diligence is that the inspection uncovers an issue that the seller is not willing to fix.  But remember, the buyer can terminate the contract for any reason and they get the earnest money returned.

Don’t be afraid to make an offer in a home, you could be the backup contract but remember, there is a lot of competition in the market right now for homes in the lower price points (especially those purchasing below $150,000) Because simply there are not enough homes listed.

So if you want to beat the competition, it’s highly recommended to present your best offer as quickly as possible, with proof of funds or pre-qualification letter and use the due diligence period to fully investigate it and ensure you want to go forward with the purchase of the property.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or for a free consultation.

Iveth Caruso
Providing the most professional, dedicated, informative and loyal service you can find in Real Estate!

If you don’t think that your FICO® scores are important, think again. The interest rate you can expect to pay for a loan is dependent on these scores. The difference between a FICO® score of 620 and 760 can often be tens of thousands of dollars over the life of your loan. A low score can cost you money each month or even cause the home you want to be unaffordable.
Basically, the higher your FICO® scores the less you can expect to pay for your mortgage loan.  Learn to take control of your FICO® score and save money on your mortgage payments.

FICO scores range from 300 to 850. If all three FICO scores are viewed on the same day they will typically vary between zero and fifty points. The purpose of the score is to predict the likelihood of 90+ day delinquency over the next 24 months. As of (April 2017) data, the national distribution of FICO credit scores is as follows:

FICO Credit Score Tidbits

• Six payments are required on an active loan to generate a FICO score for the first time,
  
• A denied loan request has no impact on a FICO credit score.
• Debit card payment history is not part of a credit score.
• Credit counseling is treated as a neutral factor, neither helping nor harming the FICO score,
• The model is not offended by a large number of credit card accounts.
• A bankruptcy filing is the single worse thing you can do to a FICO credit score,
• Chapters 7, 11 & 12 Bankruptcies will remain on a credit report for ten years, A Chapter 13 Bankruptcy will remain on a credit report for seven years.
• All other negative information on a credit report will remain on the credit bureau for seven years.
  
• In current versions of the FICO score, all authorized user accounts on a credit report are included in the score.
• If you have co-signed for a loan and the account is on your credit report, then it is in your credit score.
• When payments are due on student loans they are part of the credit score calculation. When payments are not due, they are not included in the score.

Payment History
When assigning points gained or lost for payment history information, the FICO score looks at four separate components:

• Frequency
• Severity
• Amount Owed
• How Recent is the Event

Here is how Fair Isaac assigns the severity of a credit problem according to the time it has been on a credit bureau:
Percent Negative Impact
Most recent 12 months                                 93%
Prior 12 to 24 months                                   60%
Prior 24 to 36 months                                   44%
Prior 36 to 48 months                                   33%
Older than 4 years                                        22%
Source: Credit Scores & Credit Reports, Evan Hendricks, Privacy Times, Inc

Capacity is King
Almost as important as how you pay your bills is the amount owed on your various accounts (i.e. capacity), The FICO model considers three separate components of your credit when assigning capacity points=
1. Your installment balances compared to the original loan amounts.
2. Your revolving account balance compared to your revolving credit limit on an account-by-account basis; and
3. Your total revolving account balances compared to your total revolving limits.
By far, the total revolving limits available (#3 above) carries the most potential points and the potential loss of points.
Why does capacity carry so much weight in tie FICO scoring model? Because the FICO model knows that the majority of Americans who go bankrupt charge up their cards to the limits before they file.
In order to understand capacity, you must understand the math problem that determines how this large number of points is gained or lost.
% Revolving          Dollars Available on Total Revolving Accts.
Available               Total Reported Limits on Revolving Accts.

Keys to Capacity Success

• You want your "% of Revolving Available" number to be as high as possible.
• You accomplish this by keeping your revolving balances as low GS possible and your limits as high as possible.
• It is very easy to get all of your capacity points (but it rarely happens).
• Don't close revolving accounts.
• Some HELOC (A Home Equity Line Of Credit ) loans are in the capacity calculation, but some are not.
  
• For scoring purposes, it is better to have small balances on a number of cards than to have a large balance on a single card.
  
• Please note that paying off your balances in full each month does not guarantee a great capacity calculation.
  

Items that Hurt a FICO Score

• Late payments and derogatory public records.
• A low level of "percent available" on individual revolving accounts and total revolving accounts (Le capacity).
• Closing revolving accounts,
• Having a lender lower the limit on a revolving account or not reporting the limit on a revolving account,
• Multiple new revolving accounts in a short period of time.
• Settling a debt for less than the full balance (because the settled date is more recent than the original date).
• Having loans at "second tier" finance companies.

Checking your credit rating before you talk to a lender when purchasing your home will give you time to correct reporting errors and to prepare your score.
I help clients to make informed decisions when pursuing the dream to buy a home. Contact me and we'll get you started!