Summit Realty Group's Blog

Home owners who choose to default on their mortgage even though they can afford the monthly payments can expect to take a significant hit to their creditworthiness, some credit rating firms say. A record of the default — initially as much as 200 points — stays on a credit report for seven years. ...

The healthcare reform law passed earlier this year includes a little-discussed tax on some forms of real estate transactions. The tax, which supports Medicare, potentially affects couples with adjusted gross incomes greater than $250,000 a year and singles with incomes above $200,000. Existing ho...

Fannie Mae intends to file lawsuits against so-called strategic defaulters and force them to wait seven years before obtaining another mortgage backed by the organization. But experts wonder how the firm will determine which home owners defaulted strategically. Experts also question whether the p...

The Kaplan Thaler Group, a New York-based advertising agency, in cooperation with the Ad Council, has created a pro bono campaign to persuade home owners to learn about the federal government's program for helping troubled home owners modify their home mortgage. The Ad Council will distribute the...

Up to 180,000 home buyers will lose their tax credit through no fault of their own if Congress fails to pass an extension to the home buyer tax credit by June 30 when the closing deadline expires. Included in that number are thousands of home buyers in every state of the union, from 390 in Wyomin...

There are several ways for real estate agents to market themselves without spending a lot of time, money, and effort. Here are just a few: • To keep your name and contact information visible to prospects, replace paper business cards with business card magnets. • Add magnets to direct mail pieces...

Garden improvements don’t have to dig your clients into a deep financial hole. Help them plant a lush yet dirt-cheap garden by passing along 10 tips for saving money in the garden. 1. Understand your land. Before shelling out money for new plants, look at what has thrived and what has died in you...

The new financial overhaul law that President Obama signed into law is still being dissected, but some regulations that affect home buying and mortgages have already been defined. Here are the key tenets: • Lenders must prove that borrowers can afford their mortgages. Government guarantees will b...

The most recession-proof cities didn’t see home prices surge in the first place. I have identified 21 large metro areas that have enjoyed robust economies and stable labor and housing markets in the last few years. Most of these cities have some general characteristics in common. They didn't expe...

Paying off an underwater mortgage and buying a better home could be the best tactic in this troubled market. "If you are trading up, what better time than when interest rates are at record lows and the cost of the trade-up is much less than it used to be?" says Christopher J. Mayer, a Columbia Bu...