There’s the classic scene from a cartoon in which one of the main characters turns down an alley in a sketchy part of town only to find that it’s a dead end.  Just before the main character turns around to leave, he sees projected on the wall at the end of the alley the shadow […]

With a recent announcement from MGIC, a leader in the mortgage insurance industry, it could very well be possible in the coming months that you can get a conventional loan on a 3- or 4-unit property with only 5% down if the property is your primary residence.  Yes, you read that correctly! Right now, there’s […]

We use and hear the term “don’t put the cart before the horse” quite often whenever someone is doing something out of order.  In the real estate world, there’s a similar saying that REALLY needs to catch on and be found on the lips of everyone and their dog (you know, for those who have […]

There’s an old song by The Clash called “Should I Stay or Should I Go?” that has a very fitting line for so many in the potential homebuyers pool, and it goes like this: “This indecision’s bugging me.”  I’m not talking about indecision that results when you’re faced with having to choose between going to […]

The good folks at BMO Harris Bank recently commissioned a company called Pollara to conduct a study of projected home-buying habits for potential buyers.  Here are just a few of their findings – interesting stuff! Among likely first-time buyers, 80% plan to get pre-approved before making an offer and 10% are already pre-approved Approximately four […]