YOUR REALTOR

Your Realtor and his/her Company

Not all Realtors are the same. We each take different approaches to the marketing of your home. These range from as basic as placing the home on the MLS system and hoping it will sell, to Realtors who actively market the home through newspaper advertising and the Internet. You will likely have a positive Real Estate experience if you pick a Realtor who meets the following criteria:

Personality. It's hard to work with an agent you don't like. You won't trust him/her, and the entire experience will be a difficult one. You have enough on your mind without having to argue and bicker with your agent. No matter how good an agent is… if you don't like each other, then it won't be a good experience.

Availability. Having a full time Realtor (or a team of them) is vital to the successful sale of your home. If your Realtor isn't available to sell your house because he/she's "working a day job", then how committed is that Realtor to you?

Work Ethic. Just like any other professional in your life, you need a Realtor who is organized, professional, and hard working. Have you ever seen a lawyer show up for a case in sweat pants and a t-shirt? Or a doctor say; "I'm sorry, I can't deliver your baby because I have a 4:00 t-off time"? How about an accountant who can't manage his own finances? You should be able to expect the same level of professionalism from the agent you choose to represent you.

By having a professional Realtor working on your behalf, your entire experience will be more positive.

GENERAL TYPES OF MORTGAGES

Most loans fall into three major categories: fixed-rate, adjustable-rate, and hybrid loans that combine features of both.

Fixed-rate mortgages
As the name implies, a fixed-rate mortgage carries the same interest rate for the life of the loan. Traditionally, fixed-rate mortgages have been the most popular choice among homeowners, because the fixed monthly payment is easy to plan and budget for, and can help protect against inflation. Fixed-rate mortgages are most common in 30-year and 15-year terms, but recently more lenders have begun offering 20-year and 40-year loans.


Adjustable-rate mortgages (ARM)
Adjustable-rate mortgages differ from fixed-rate mortgages in that the interest rate and monthly payment can change over the life of the loan. This is because the interest rate for an ARM is tied to an index (such as Treasury Securities) that may rise or fall over time. In order to protect against dramatic increases in the rate, ARM loans usually have caps that limit the rate from rising above a certain amount between adjustments (i.e. no more than 2 percent a year), as well as a ceiling on how much the rate can go up during the life of the loan (i.e. no more than 6 percent). With these protections and low introductory rates, ARM loans have become the most widely accepted alternative to fixed-rate mortgages.


Hybrid loans
Hybrid loans combine features of both fixed-rate and adjustable-rate mortgages. Typically, a hybrid loan may start with a fixed-rate for a certain length of time, and then later convert to an adjustable-rate mortgage. However, be sure to check with your lender and find out how much the rate may increase after the conversion, as some hybrid loans do not have interest rate caps for the first adjustment period.
Other hybrid loans may start with a fixed interest rate for several years, and then later change to another (usually higher) fixed interest rate for the remainder of the loan term. Lenders frequently charge a lower introductory interest rate for hybrid loans vs. a traditional fixed-rate mortgage, which makes hybrid loans attractive to homeowners who desire the stability of a fixed-rate, but only plan to stay in their properties for a short time.

INCREASE OF TAX BASE

Editorial: Dallas homeowners’ tax burden continues to rise
If you live in Dallas, you're justified in dancing a quiet jig over the growth of the city's tax base. The 4.4% increase announced this week is no great shakes next to the stratospheric growth of some suburban communities, or even the 9.5% bump recorded by Fort Worth. But it's a big improvement over the past few years, when Dallas struggled to avoid slipping into negative numbers as it did in the late '80s and early '90s. The one nagging cause for concern is submerged in the overall numbers: The percentage of total city taxes paid by homeowners continued to rise while the percentage paid by businesses continued to shrink. That's a trend that goes back at least 20 years. In 1985, commercial real estate was 51% of the city's tax base and residential real estate was 31%. (The rest is what's called business personal property, which includes office equipment, inventories and the like. That share has remained relatively constant.) This year, commercial real estate is 37% of the tax base, and residential real estate is 46%. That's a big shift. It isn't necessarily disastrous, but if you're a homeowner, it's worrisome.

SOURCE: Dallas Morning News

What I can't understand is why cities can't plan and budget according to the growth in the tax base, instead of raising taxes and inhibiting the growth of that tax base! What mental condition is it that requires city, county and state governments to do the very thing that is inimical to its own growth and existence!

As an example of that disastrous thought process, the state of Connecticut just instituted a 16% death tax on estates over two million dollars, which will send wealthy people scurrying out of Connecticut to places like Florida - which has no death tax! Why would Connecticut wish to drive wealthy people out of the state?