With so many incentives to buy a home, now is by no doubt, the time to buy. With lenders tightening their guidelines, you might want to be sure you have your finances in check.
With brand new federal regulations, this will help you understand how it will benefit you and tame your credit card debt. The bad news, is because of this government intervention you might have already seen a rise in your interest rates. This is from Red Book Magazine
1. They can’t raise interest rates on debt you’ve already racked up. They can if you are more than 60 days late on these payments. So pay your cards on time!
2. If your card charges you different interest rates (say, 14% for existing balances, and 2% for balance transfers), they must apply your payments to the debt carrying the highest rates first. So the faster you pay it off, the more money you save.
3. They can’t raise your rates if they find out you’ve been late on other credit cards or loans. This doesn’t mean you credit score will not be affected, which can eventually lead to higher interest rates. Your best bet is just to pay it on time.
4. You can no longer go over your credit limit and be charged the subsequent fees- unless you notify your credit card company in writing that you’d like to spend more than your limit. So don’t spend more than your limit.
5. They will tell you on your bill how long it will take to pay off your debt and how much it will cost you, including interest, if you pay only the minimum each month. This will be an eye opener, and a hard lesson for many. Pay more than the minimum or you could possible pay on this card longer than your house mortgage.
6. Those under 21years old won’t be able to get a credit card unless they show proof of income or get an adult to cosign. I think this is the smartest law of all! When I was in college, you would sign your life away for a free t-shirt or can coozie. All adults over the age of 21 take note…DON’T COSIGN
- The down payment assistance available is $7,000.
- To qualify for the Forgivable down payment option, a 1 person household’s income in YORK County cannot exceed $37,250 and $42,550 for a 2 person household.
- Must live in the home 5 years in order for the loan to be completely forgiven.
- The Home price is up to $208,000 in YORK county.
- 640 minimum credit score
- The interest rate is 5.125% on a 30 yr fixed rate.
Call me or email me for more information on this program. sharon@SharonSellsCarolina.com
Filed under Announcements, Fort Mill SC, Home Buyers, Real Estate Tools, Rock Hill SC, Tega Cay SC by 
The Charlotte Observer has a pretty cool tool that lets you see what the real estate values in certain areas have done over the past 8 years. If you’re curious to see what your home prices have done, definitely check it out.
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/661/story/501993.html
Unfortunately, the don’t list on Rock Hill SC or Fort Mill SC areas. At least not yet. 
Filed under Carolina Real Estate, Charlotte NC, Market Trends, Real Estate Research, Real Estate Tools by
In a trend that has been happening for some time now, people looking to either buy or sell real estate (and not just in the Rock Hill SC or Fort Mill SC areas) continue to go online to conduct much of their research before making any decisions. With the increased usage by most of the Internet, it should not really come as a suprise that so many people go online to check out neighborhoods, find and research real estate agents, and even ‘hunt for houses’ before actually going out to ‘hunt for houses’.
The Internet makes it so convenient to pinpoint an area, look for homes that meet a specified criteria, and then get all the nitty-gritty details on the homes. Of course that same can be said for getting information on a real estate agent, or a school district, or any other of the countless reasons why people buy a particular home.
And to help your job of finding information about the real estate markets in Rock Hill SC, Fort Mill SC, Tega Cay SC, Lancaster County SC, or even Charlotte NC easier, I’ve got several tools on my website to help you with your real estate searches.
- FREE Guide to Buying or Selling Your Home in the Rock Hill SC, Fort Mill SC, or Charlotte NC areas – you can sign up at anytime
- Search For Homes Online – this link will take you to the MLS website where you can enter your specific criteria for the home you seek
- Hot NEW Listings – this lists some of the new listings either I have or my associates have on the market
- Hiring A Real Estate Agent – It used to be we were a dime a dozen, but even though market conditions have forced many out of the business you still need to be careful when selecting a real estate agent. The right real estate agent will save you countless headaches and thousands of dollars on a bad transaction. Grab my FREE guide to selecting the right real estate agent for you.
And if you ever can’t find what you’re looking for on my website or someone elses, please feel free to CONTACT ME directly and I’ll do everything possible to resolve you concern immediately.
While there are lots of GREAT sites available online that will give you all sorts of information about your particular real estate market, what’s going on in the community, how the schools rate, what the median price is for homes for sale, etc., one of the most comprehensive sites I’ve found is the Realtor.com website.
You simply enter the neighborhood or zip code you want to get information for and viola….it spits out a pretty comprehensive report for you.
In fact, here’s the one for Rock Hill, SC or zipcode 29732:
Realtor.com Rock Hill, SC Report
I’m currently working on providing much of the same information here on my website, but in the meantime, I definitely encourage you to check out the Realtor.com site.
Filed under Real Estate Research, Real Estate Tools, Rock Hill SC by
