Think you can't afford a home? Are real estate prices in your area out of control? Will the mortgage payments be too high? The White House thinks it may have a solution: A 50-year mortgage! The idea came about during a discussion between President Trump and federal housing official Bill Pulte. It was made public... Continue Reading →

Becoming a homeowner isn’t getting any easier. According to new research by the National Association of Realtors, the median age of a first-time homebuyer in now 38 years old. That's up from 35 years old in 2023- and 29-years old back in the 1980s. Why the growing delay? The answer could be attributed to many... Continue Reading →

September 18th marked a major shift in monetary policy for the U.S. when the Federal Reserve announced it would finally start lowering interest rates. Known as the Fed “pivot”, their first reduction was a whopping 50 points - cutting the federal funds rate down from the 5.25% - 5.50% range to 4.75% - 5.00%. Although... Continue Reading →

Following the Federal Reserve’s annual economic conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Chairman Jerome Powell said something that much of the financial world has been waiting to hear, “The time has come for policy to adjust.” Translation: Interest rates are about to start coming down! Ever since inflation peaked in 2022, the Fed has been on... Continue Reading →

If you’ve ever sold your home, then you know that the closing process can be painful - not just because of the mountain of paperwork you have to sign, but because of all the money that gets deducted from your equity check after all is said and done. Going forward, that’s about to change! As... Continue Reading →

People always say that money doesn’t just fall out of the sky. But every once in a while - whether it's a bonus from work, an inheritance, or even lotto winnings - it does!  Receiving an unplanned sum of money like this is referred to as a windfall. Although there is no set amount to... Continue Reading →

You may already be familiar with some of the more popular debt payoff strategies like the debt snowball and debt avalanche method. But have you ever heard of the debt snowflake method? This isn’t just another cute name for what appears to be a winter-themed string of tools for eliminating your outstanding balances. Unlike the... Continue Reading →

Chances are that if you’ve ever shopped for a new appliance, furniture set, the latest cell phone, or just about any major purchase of more than $1,000, you might have been offered the opportunity to finance it with a 0% APR.  These types of deals can be very tempting since they quickly reduce a large... Continue Reading →

Is it still possible to find a mortgage with an interest rate as low as 3%? With APRs creeping into the 7 and 8 percent territory for new conventional loans, unless you bought a house before 2022 then that ship has sailed.  However, you may be surprised to learn that there’s a special arrangement where... Continue Reading →

For the past few decades, consumers have been somewhat limited as to how often they can see what's in their credit history. As a matter of fact, it wasn't until the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 that you could actually request a credit report for free from each of the three major... Continue Reading →