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First-time home buyer guides, helpful mortgage tips, and easy-to-follow articles to make you a better first-time buyer.

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What Is Retail Sales?
Just Starting
3 min read

What Is Retail Sales?

Retail Sales measures the total revenue collected from retail stores nationwide - physical and digital - in a given…

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The Biden $10,000 First-Time Home Buyer Mortgage Relief Credit
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9 min read

The Biden $10,000 First-Time Home Buyer Mortgage Relief Credit

The $10,000 First-Time Home Buyer Mortgage Relief Credit is a housing bill introduced by President Biden in his State of the Union Address on March…

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What is a Starter Home?
Just Starting
4 min read

What is a Starter Home?

Starter home is a colloquial term for a smaller home with fewer amenities, valued below its county's median home sale…

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What is a Homeowners Association (HOA)?
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3 min read

What is a Homeowners Association (HOA)?

A Homeowners Association, typically called an HOA, is a volunteer organization comprising residents who govern a…

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What is Debt-to-Income?
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4 min read

What is Debt-to-Income?

Debt-to-income ratio (DTI) is a measure of a home buyer's monthly cash flow and capacity to repay a…

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What is a Credit Score?
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4 min read

What is a Credit Score?

A credit score represents the probability that a home buyer will make on-time payments to their mortgage lender for the next 90…

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What is Loan Term?
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3 min read

What is Loan Term?

Loan term is the number of months or years a home buyer's mortgage loan lasts.…

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What is a Prepayment Penalty?
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4 min read

What is a Prepayment Penalty?

A prepayment penalty is a clause in some mortgage contracts that states the home buyer must pay a fee for paying off the mortgage within a specified…

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What is Equity?
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3 min read

What is Equity?

Equity is the financial value a homeowner has in their property, calculated by subtracting the value of remaining mortgage balances from the value of…

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What is a Conventional Mortgage?
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7 min read

What is a Conventional Mortgage?

A conventional mortgage is a home loan backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, the two government agencies that make up the Federal Housing Finance…

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What Is A Condominium?
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4 min read

What Is A Condominium?

A condominium, often shortened to "condo," is a type of residential property in a larger building or complex where each unit is individually owned,…

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What is Existing Home Inventory?
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2 min read

What is Existing Home Inventory?

Existing Home Inventory is the total number of previously owned homes available for sale at a given…

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What is Existing Home Supply?
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3 min read

What is Existing Home Supply?

Existing Home Supply measures the months it would take to sell the complete inventory of existing homes at the current pace of…

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What is Existing Home Sales?
Just Starting
3 min read

What is Existing Home Sales?

Existing Home Sales is a monthly report that counts the number of previously constructed homes, condos, and co-ops sold in the United…

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What is a Multi-Unit Home?
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4 min read

What is a Multi-Unit Home?

A multi-unit home is a residential building divided into multiple housing units, each with a living space, kitchen, and…

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What is For Sale By Owner?
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4 min read

What is For Sale By Owner?

For Sale By Owner (FSBO) is a method of property sale where a homeowner sell their home directly, without the services of a real estate agent or…

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What is Household Income?
Just Starting
3 min read

What is Household Income?

Household income is the combined gross income of all members of a household who are 15 years or older, regardless of whether they are…

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What is Dual Agency?
Just Starting
4 min read

What is Dual Agency?

Dual agency is when the same real estate agent represents the buyer and the seller in the same home purchase…

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