article thumbnail

Appraising Fixer Uppers

Appraisal Today

Appraisers sought to bracket the subject using three comparable sales. Like the bedtime story of Goldilocks and Three Bears, appraisers sought to identify three sales like the porridge Goldilocks finds in the home of the three bears: one hot, one cold, and one just right. The average contract interest rate for 5/1 ARMs decreased to 5.51

article thumbnail

The Complete Guide to Buying a Home As a Government Employee

Raleigh Realty

Build Equity Every time you make a mortgage payment, you build equity in your home. Think of equity as the amount of money your home is worth after what you owe is deducted. When your home value goes up and you start paying off the loan's principal balance, that builds equity.

article thumbnail

Houston Housing Market Forecast: Current Data & 2021 Predictions

Houston Properties

For certain parts of the economy, usually in the upper-income brackets, they didn’t carry a lot of debt and they couldn’t go out to spend their money. Properties are still going under contract. The typical real estate purchase process takes about 4-6 months (including being under contract for ~30-45 days). So, what did they do?