Category Archives: Buyers.
FHA and Condos in Charlottesville – Are they Eligible?
Guest post from Matt Hodges with Presidential Mortgage*:
Condominiums are a challenge to finance through FHA. Condominiums had a brief period when lenders overlooked eligibility and approved every loan, as long as the borrower was qualified – that period ended some four years ago.
Today, condominiums are one of the most difficult forms of residential real estate to finance, perhaps with manufactured housing more difficult. Using a search of “Charlottesville” condominiums in the FHA search tool, 19 condominium complexes appear. Hey, good news, right? Not so quick. Eight of those complexes have expired and four more will … Continue reading…
Did You Notice? Search the Charlottesville MLS on your Phone
The MLS search provider for RealCentralVA.com (and thousands of others around the country) recently released a mobile search option for those of you driving around searching for homes in Charlottesville.
It’s simple: go to my search for homes page and you should be given the option to redirect to the mobile-optimized page.
Read those HOA Docs – They Might Give Others Right to Trespass
Finding conversion between two distant stories with one major point:
Lesson #1: Read the HOA Docs and any neighborhood Covenants and Restrictions before you buy a home.
Should an HOA have the ability/right to override the First Amendment?
And here’s the conflict: an HOA’s Covenants and Restrictions may override the First Amendement; are you reading the docs before you buy?
ProPublica has released/aggregated a lot of information on Central Virginia schools. Oddly, neither Greene County nor Nelson County are listed.
What a useful time to remind folks to check your school district before you buy . Redistricting happens. And school districts matter.
Continue reading
Top 5 Questions Home buyers ask
.. And why Realtors can’t answer most of them.
Riffing off of the WSJ’s timely article this morning:
1- Are there kids in this neighborhood?
Look for balls, bikes and playground sets. Despite the fact that most families with kids want to live in neighborhoods with other kids, this is (per my training) deemed to be a Fair Housing Law violation.
2- How are the schools?
Greatschools and School Matters are good starting points, but nothing can replace actually visiting the schools and meeting the principals. We are all customers of the public school system.
3 – What type of people live here?
Many folks want to live with like-minded people, be they other families, medical residents, professors, young professionals, fellow retirees … I just won’t answer these questions. You want demographics without walking the neighborhoods and knocking on doors? Check out the Census’ Fact Finder.
4 – Is this area safe?
Click through to read the rest … Continue reading
