by Jackie Beck

If you were going to buy real estate as an investment property, would you buy a house or a condo?

Here’s the deal: I’m looking to spend about $75K max on real estate, so that puts me squarely in the range of condo or major foreclosure deal. Read the rest of this entry »

by Jackie Beck

While there are plenty of mistakes that can be made during the process of buying a home, there’s one big mistake that many people make — often without even realizing it — after the purchase is complete.

First-time homebuyers are especially prone to this mistake, but experienced homebuyers aren’t off the hook either. Read the rest of this entry »

by Jackie Beck

Buying your first home can be a confusing and intimidating process at first. And that’s only natural, since you’ll probably be spending more money than you’ve ever seen in your life. But keep a few things in mind, and the it can be relatively painless. Here are four things to know before buying your first home.  
Read the rest of this entry »

by Jackie Beck

There are plenty of expenses associated with owning a home. Unfortunately, many of those expenses don’t become obvious until after you’ve bought your first house or condo. That why it’s important to take into account the true cost of owning a home before making the decision to buy. Here are a few hidden expenses to consider. Read the rest of this entry »

by Jackie Beck

You’ve probably heard the expression, “Ready, fire, aim!” before. It makes us laugh a little, because of course we know that it should really be “Ready, aim, fire!”. Sadly, the reality is that it’s often neither of those things.

Instead, we go with “Ready, fire!” — which is at least better than never getting to “fire!” at all. Read the rest of this entry »

by Jackie Beck

It took some time, but our mortgage refinance is done. It was a TRUE no-cost refinance, which don’t come around very often. We really did not pay a penny for it or anything associated with it. The last time we got a no-cost refi was in 2008. Read the rest of this entry »