HARP UPDATES March 2012

We’ve lightly discussed the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) on this blog in the recent past.  To freshen up your mind, HARP was instated to allow for those homeowners who are currently “underwater” to potentially refinance and get themselves into stress-free position regarding their mortgage rates.  HARP is beneficial to countless homeowners but that number… Read more »

How to Find the Best Real Estate Agent in Michigan

When you’re out on the hunt for a new home it’s very likely you’ll encounter situations that could be best assessed with a professional real estate agent.  As a buyer, you have full-access to an agent at no cost to you.  For those of you who don’t know, the seller of the home pays real-estate… Read more »

Finding the Right Home for You

In the last article of our series for homebuyers we went over how to establish an actual dollar amount of what type of home you can not only afford, but will fit into your monthly budget.  This is possibly the most difficult part for first-time homebuyers though.  Attempting to select one home out a list… Read more »

Affordable mortgage refinance through HARP

In conventional mortgage refinance, you should have substantial equity in your home, in order to become eligible for mortgage refinance, but the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) has been aimed at helping the homeowners to refinance their mortgages even if their outstanding balance is more than the current market price of their home. This particular… Read more »

What House Can You Afford?

First-time home-buyers encounter an onslaught of hurdles before they reserve the right to say they truly are home-owners. That is why Riverbank Finance is introducing a new blog series to explain what you can do in-order to prepare yourself for purchasing your first home. Enough jib-jab though. Let’s jump right into things with our very… Read more »

Farm Land Prices up in 2012

With the uncertainty in the economy and the volatility in regular investments like stocks and bonds, investments in commodities and real estate will force farm land prices up in 2012. Compared to only a year ago, farming properties have grown in demand pushing the prices up over 20% in many areas. As wise real estate… Read more »

Home Affordable Refinance Program Updates

There has been some exciting news which was recently released by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  These two government agencies who help support the housing financial system, have announced that they are loosening some of the guidelines on their popular Home Affordable Refinance Program also known as HARP.  This ultimately means that it will be… Read more »

2012 Mortgage Rates | Will Mortgage Rates Remain Low for 2012?

The Federal Reserve has just concluded its final meeting for the 2011 calendar year stating that they plan to keep Fed rates low through mid-2013. This will have a positive effect on mortgage rates in 2012 helping to keep home loan rates low. Mortgage rates have been maintaining near record lows for several months as… Read more »