If you’re looking for a starter home, you probably know some of your criteria already. A starter home is a more affordable and practical stepping stone to eventually owning a larger and more expensive forever home. Even with this concept in mind, it’s hard to know what to look for. Here we’ll go over the biggest things to...

In a home sale, both the buyer and the seller have to pay what are called closing costs. These final expenses include an entire list of taxes, fees and other miscellaneous costs. While sellers usually pay some of the closing costs, buyers still need to prepare for their share of the bill. Here we’ll go over what the...

Image by Jojje from Shutterstock Many people own homes through a mortgage agreement. Traditional mortgages are primarily fully amortized or gradually paid off with regular payments over the lifetime of the loan. Each payment contributes to both the principal and the interest. A balloon mortgage is a short-term home loan with fixed-rate monthly payments that only take care...