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View Portland Real Estate News / Buy and Sell Wisely
Portland Fixed or Adjustable?
The fixed rate mortgages offer Portland real estate buyers peace of mind with predictable monthly payments. Taxes may go up but the principle and interest will remain fixed throughout the life of the loan. When interest rates were rising rapidly in the late 1970s, lenders came up with ARMs or Adjustable Rate Mortgages. With an ARM, the borrower assumes the risk of rising interest rates. Both have their advantages and disadvantages.
Fixed Rate Loans in Portland
Advantages: As indicated earlier, predictability is the biggest incentive for choosing a fixed-rate loan for your Portland real estate mortgage.
Disadvantages: Fixed rate loans usually come with higher interest than the start up interest rate on a fixed loan. Down payments for your Portland on conventional, fixed-rate loans are usually higher than the down payment required for an ARM.
Portland Real Estate...Homeowners Insurance
Portland real estate Insurance costs can vary by hundreds of dollars depending on the insurance company from which you buy your policy. There are different types of policies that differ in the amount of coverage they provide. The most popular type is called HO-3. This kind of policy offers Area property protection and liability insurance. Portland real estate or property protection means that you will be reimbursed for losses or damages to the house and its contents. Liability Insurance protects you against personal liability, medical payments for injuries to others and damage to other people’s property. There are policies with more extensive coverage and are usually called “deluxe” or “executive” policies. If you do major remodeling to your home, make sure you upgrade your coverage. If you have an office in your home, you might want to consider special insurance for your computer equipment.
Bitten by the Portland Home Improvement Bug?
Money isn’t everything however so that if the most important consideration for remaining in your Portland home happens to be the school where your children attend or the proximity to your work or to a particularly attractive recreational opportunity then remodeling may be the best option. On the other hand, if the idea of having your Portland house torn up for weeks at a time makes your blood run cold, it really doesn’t matter how much money you might make turning a fixer-upper into a model home. You will be far better off selling the home you have and moving to a home that better fits your needs.
Buying a Portland Fixer-Upper
This, of course, depends on the condition of the Portland home and the estimated cost of the repairs you must make. Portland real estate in a good neighborhood that is priced about 25% lower than others that are in good shape may be a good deal if it simply needs cosmetic or minor structural repairs. If the house is a gut job, that is the entire inside will be torn out and rebuilt the 25% rule may work and may not so estimate your costs as closely as possible.
Shopping by neighborhood makes good sense when considering the purchase of a fixer upper. As a buyer, the more you know about the Portland homes in a particular area the better able you are when it comes time to judge whether or not a home your are considering meets the financial parameters you are looking for.
Tips for Buying or Selling Portland
Most experienced real estate agents and brokers already have Websites that showcase their local MLS data so your Portland can show up online as soon as it is listed. On the other hand, if you are selling on your own it will take time or a considerable advertising budget to get your individual Portland property to show up on the major search engines where prospective buyers will find it. You could tap into one of the several For Sale by Owner Websites but that would limit your market of buyers.
Buying real estate in Portland is also much easier when you work with a real estate agent who knows the area and the market. While there is a great deal of information online about real estate asking prices, it is not always so easy to find out what a property actually sold for. And even then, specific terms of a sale often make a difference in how to interpret the sales price.
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