Living on the Columbia River

By visiting your local Vancouver Realtor, you can review the unbelievable for sale listings showing homes with breathtaking views of the Columbia River, the City and Mountains.  Homes ranging all the way to upscale luxurious with amenities not seen in many homes anywhere. These are custom designed and custom built homes with features like private theatres, wine rooms, master suite fireplaces,and many outdoor upper end features like retractable pool covers, steam showers, complete outdoor kitchens and more. A visit to your local Vancouver Realtor and looking at the MLS listings will offer many of these beautiful homes that are available right now.

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Some Common Myths About Our Credit

If you are considering purchasing a Vancouver Home or a piece of  Portland Real Estate, be sure you are well informed today about how credit ratings work and are more aware of our own credit rates.

• If we have a lot of cash in the bank and a great income, a great job, we will always qualify for a home loan. No matter how much cash you have, or how much money you make, if you want a mortgage loan, you must meet the lender’s FICO score guidelines, and those guidelines are getting tougher and tougher.
• If we have no late pays and basically no debt that we will not have a problems getting credit. False! Financial responsibility and good credit are two different things completely. Having no credit accounts or debts doesn’t give you good credit, it gives you NO credit.
• Another misconception: By checking your own credit score before filling out an application at the bank, because you can make sure you have no negative surprises. The fact is that the bank or mortgage loan originator must run their own independent of your credit report and it might very well have a different score and other line items that the one you ran on yourself. Another myth: If you have had a foreclosure or a short sale on your record, you will not be able to get any credit for at least 7 years. This depends on your particular circumstances.In some cases your credit score can be rehabilitated enough to secure certain credit.
• Having a short sale show up on your credit report will have less impact than having a foreclosure show up on it. The fact is: Short sales and foreclosures have the same impact on your credit score, according to the credit reporting agencies. There are exceptions and your own particular circumstances can determine which way the agencies will rate you.

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Shopping Around for a Mortgage Loan

When purchasing a new home in Vancouver or the Portland area, be sure you shop around to find the best deal in mortgage loans. Compare all of the costs involved and specifically the origination costs. Those costs can be as little as zero dollars and go all the way up to thousands.

Call Terrie, she  is an experienced Vancouver Real Estate professional for many years and has built relationships with numerous lender in our area. So talk with Terrie and she can guide you to the best Mortgage Bankers in the Vancouver or Portland Area.

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The Pros & Cons of Having a Home on a Corner Lot

Most people look at corner lots as a plus, however even though you might get a bigger sized lot for the same price, it might not be what you want in the long run. Corner lots in Evergreen Highlands have many beautiful corner lots as do many of our other Vancouver neighborhoods. One just needs to make sure you are not on a heavy traffic area.

Pros:

• You could have more parking on a corner lot.
• The lot is much larger.
• You would only have one neighbor on the front side instead of two.
• You would usually have more unobstructed views out your windows.
• Corner lots allow more light to come into the home.

Cons:

• There is more upkeep and maintenance as the total front yard area is usually much bigger.
• There is the problem of people using the sidewalks on either side and then cutting across the yard.
• Traffic noise could be much higher due to having a home basically on two different streets, however if there is stop signs then it might be less.
• Corner lots are not preferred by people who have young children as they usually would rather have larger backyards for the kids to play in.

It really comes down to your own preference and the corner lot and home itself. There are pros and cons and each situation has to be looked at individually. Price of course will play a big part in  the consideration.

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A Word of Caution to my Readers: Be Careful Of What You Post On Those Social Networking Sites

New warnings are coming out about posting too much information about yourself on the popular social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, etc. Whether you are just posting for personal contact or for professional marketing purposes, revealing too much about your personal life, your family, and your business can also provide ammunition to stalkers, thieves, former clients who may be unhappy about your service, or others who wish to cause harm against you. Become familiar with the websites privacy settings before posting anything. Anything you type into your computer can potentially be there for everyone to view, so don’t put any information online that you do not want the world to see.

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