Why You Need A Realtor!

A licensed real estate professional provides much more than the service of helping you find your ideal home.

Realtors® are expert negotiators with other agents, seasoned financial advisors with customers, and superb navigators around the local neighborhood. They are members of the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) and must abide by a Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice enforced by the NAR. A professional Realtor is your best resource when
buying your home.

Washington DC area Labor Day weekend events

Labor Day weekend in the Washington, DC area is around the corner, and many homeowners and renters are leaving town. Many others of us will stay closer to home and will be looking for fun things to do. My daughter will be performing with her high school marching band in both the Kensington and the Gaithersburg Labor Day parades. I’m not sure what else I’ll be during this long weekend, but I know there will be plenty of fun activities and events to choose from! I’ve compiled a list of some of the local Labor Day events:

FOR SALE: 19171 Roman Way

FOR SALE: 19171 Roman Way, a set on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Large four- or five-bedroom, contemporary home with solarium addition. Beautiful enclosed glass porch. Nice hardwood floors throughout both levels. Main level office/den/library/bedroom - your preference - with full bath attached. Family room with fireplace and doors out to brick patio and fenced yard. Courtyard setting with no maintenance. Four large bedrooms upstairs, also with wood floors. Stunning brickwork on some interior walls and exterior of house.

Welcome to 4907 Wigville Road!

For Home Buyers: 5 Best Websites for Credit Score Information

© 2011, Brandon Cornett. All rights reserved.

If you’re planning to buy a home in the near future, you should know your FICO credit score. In fact, your credit score is one of the three most important factors considered by mortgage lenders (along with your debt and income levels). If your score is high, you’ll have a much better chance of getting approved for a loan. You’ll also qualify for a better interest rate, which could save you thousands of dollars over the life of the loan.

It’s important to check your FICO score early on in the home-buying process, because it takes time to improve a low score. While you’re entitled to a free credit report per year, you’ll have to pay a small fee for the credit score. They are two different things. You can purchase your score from MyFICO.com — this is the company that actually designed the FICO scoring model.

But what if you check your score and find out that it’s low? You could qualify for certain types of loans with a score in 600 range, but you’ll be much better off in the mid- to upper-700 range. The question now becomes: How do I Improve my score? And that brings us to the purpose of this article.