Latest Real Estate Market News

One of the most common questions that buyers have is: What is mortgage insurance and when do I have to get it? In our podcast we sat down with Elena Boland, of Wholesale Mortage, to learn more details. Mortgage insurance is essentially an insurance against loss, paid as a monthly fee when putting anything less than 20% down on most loan types. These fees are paid into entities such as government reserves or private mortgage insurance reserves that help pay for foreclosures or back up any losses for banks.

Finding a place to live can be a daunting task. So many things go through your head when you make this decision. The first is probably “Should I buy a house or keep renting?”

Your home is likely to be your single largest asset, and deciding to buy is a big decision - perhaps the biggest financial one of your life. With our years of experience in the local Reno-Sparks Real Estate Market, we have many tips and insights to share with our clients. If you are getting ready to start house hunting for your next home, here are some tips that we have found to be beneficial for our buyers:

With mortgage rates doubling in the last 12 months, buyers are scrambling to find lower-rate options to buy a home. One option is an adjustable-rate mortgage, also known as ARMs. An adjustable-rate mortgage is a home loan with an interest rate that can fluctuate periodically based on the performance of a specific benchmark. ARMs generally have caps that limit how much the interest rate and/or payments can rise per year or over the lifetime of the loan.

When searching for your next home, there are many decisions to make. From location, size,  and price to type of home. For many, a condominium or townhouse is a great fit. But did you know that a condo and townhouse are considered different home types? From the amenities and the structure to the way title companies view these two property types, there are some very distinct differences. In this blog we will look at the definitions of Condominium and Townhouse.

Your REALTOR® should be many things - helpful, knowledgeable, experienced, confident, and ready and willing to help guide you on your new-home-buying-journey. You and your  REALTOR® will be spending a lot of time together searching for your dream home so you will want to be sure she or he is the right person. . 

Even with the recent changes in the real estate market, there are many important and financially beneficial reasons to own your own home. Sometimes those reasons are unknown or often overlooked by potential buyers. In this blog I have put together a list of seven reasons to own your own home.

Living in the high desert makes us vulnerable to several types of flooding including 100-year and 500-year floods, flash flooding, and closed-basin flooding. Washoe County has several areas that are particularly susceptible to flooding including the floodway and floodplain of the Truckee River and its tributaries, including Steamboat Creek and Dry Creek in eastern Reno and southern Sparks.

Therefore, it is critical that you know where the flood zones are to protect your property and your family from these events. I have put together a short video to help walk you through the easy steps to check if a home you are interested in purchasing in Washoe County is in a Flood Zone. 

Whether you are purchasing your first home or you have purchased a home in the past, there are many things to know about securing a home loan—from the current rates to the terms and conditions and the types of available loans for your situation. We have put together a list of important loan and lending terms in this blog post to help you get a head start on understanding the different aspects of this crucial piece of the home buying process.