Take a look at our Need To Know tab!

At LDSREalEstate.info we provide information to make the best and most informed decisions when you buy or sell your home. In the Need to Know tab at the top of our site, we have many articles to help make sure that you are prepared and aware of each aspect of buying a home!

Each section of Need to Know provides information about a variety of topics. Below is a brief preview of each of the topics under Need To Know. Take a look!

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Why “For Sale By Owner” Can Make Things Harder

You may hear of reasons that some people like to sell (or buy) their home without an agent. However, this can often cause many problems you may not anticipate when starting the process. Below are only five of the reasons from Keeping Current Matters for why avoiding FSBO (For Sale By Owner) is going to save you a lot of headaches when selling (or buying) a home:

1. Too Many People to Negotiate With

Here is a only a partial list of some of the people you will need to be prepared to negotiate with in the event of FSBO: Read more

10 Ways to Save While Winterizing Your Home

When Jack Frost comes knocking, you’re not going to want to let him in.. But keeping the cold out of your house can sometimes be a little pricey. From an article in Business Insider, below are 10 ways to save on winterizing your home.

  1. Protect from drafts! Using a draft snake to place under your door will allow you to keep the warm air in your house, while keeping the cold air out. The U.S. Department of Energy claims that drafts can be attributed 5-30% of energy use per year. Read more

The Future of Reverse Mortgages, and Why You Might Act Now

Reverse mortgages are going to be a less appealing way to contribute to retirement, due to recent changes by the Trump Administration.  If you have been considering a reverse mortgage, the time to act may be now. Richard Eisenberg discusses upcoming changes in this Forbes article.

Starting October 2nd, the following changes will be placed into affect.

Changes Coming to Reverse Mortgages:

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A Caution on Home Prices and Debt

A Caution to home buyers from CNNMoney:

Rising housing costs are putting a major squeeze on Americans.

Nearly 39 million households can’t afford their housing, according to the annual State of the Nation’s Housing Report from Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies.

Experts generally advise budgeting about 30% of monthly income for rent or mortgage costs. But millions of Americans are far exceeding that guideline.

One-third of households in 2015 were ‘cost burdened,’ meaning they spend 30% or more of their incomes to cover housing costs. Of that group, nearly 19 million are paying more than 50% of their income to cover their housing needs.

When so much of your paycheck is going toward keeping a roof over your head, it forces sacrifices in other budget areas, including food, health care and transportation.

LDSAgents.com note—What this article does not say is that many people finance homes using income generated by both partners working. Not only does this put stress on a family, but if one wage earner suddenly cannot work for some reason, finances can get stretched very quickly. We advise our readers to consider the advice of LDS leaders and be watchful about taking on too much debt.

Changing Your Mind About a Mortgage

Once you have put down earnest money on a house, are you locked in with no options? It actually depends on how your contract is written.

Many Generation Xers and Millennials are increasingly remorseful about their home purchases. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal points to a survey by Nerdwallet.com in January that revealed, “nearly half (49%) of homeowners who responded said they would do something differently if they had to go through the process again.” Read more

Should You Downsize in Retirement?

Make sure downsizing is right for you before you take the leap.

Let’s face it: the word downsizing often conjures up images of loss or failure. But what if the definition of downsizing in retirement really means a step up: freedom from hassles and overhead with the flexibility to do and be more of what you want in this next stage of your life?

Here are five things to consider before you put up the “for sale” sign: Read more