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An overview of title insurance when it comes to owning a home.

When you buy your home, you receive a deed, which shows that the seller transferred their legal ownership to you. Legal ownership is called the “title.” Title insurance protects you in case there is any legal trouble down the line.

Title insurance is crucial when it comes to completing your home purchase. It protects you and the lender from the possibility that your seller (or previous sellers) don’t have total ownership of the house and/or property. If they don’t, they may not be able to transfer full ownership over—but title insurance prevents that from happening.

A couple of questions to ask about title insurance include “is the seller pushing a specific title company?” or “who do…

One thing that ultimately influences your mortgage rate is your credit score.

For first time home buyers, many aspects of home buying can seem daunting. We’re here to explain how your credit affects what mortgage rate you may be given once you decide to buy a home.

One thing that ultimately influences your mortgage rate is your credit score. Basically, the easiest thing to remember is: the higher your credit score, the lower interest rate on your mortgage.

A high credit score not only guarantees a lower mortgage rate, but sometimes it depends on whether you can get a home loan at all. Buyers below a FICO score of 620 have a miniscule chance of securing a mortgage, so step one to getting a home loan and low mortgage rate is working on that credit…

If you're starting to save on a down payment for your home, you’ll want to build credit in the meantime. To get your credit report 100 percent ready to go, here are simple tips and tricks.

It's important to remember your credit report and credit score aren’t the same—but they’re definitely similar. Your credit report is your history of all the borrowing you’ve done but your credit score is the number that represents it.

To get your credit report in tip-top shape before home buying, here are some ideas for you to consider:

• Spread out time between other big loans and a mortgage. If you’ve recently taken out a car loan, student loans or anything similar, you’ll want to hold off on those applications.

• Building credit isn’t hard.…

DC Open Doors Program offers first-time and repeat home buyers a Down Payment Assistance Loan that does not need to be paid back.

DC’s Housing Finance Agency, or the DCHFA, reconfigured its DC Bonds program called “DC Open Doors,” for new first time home buyer assistance, four years ago this summer. The program, which has given over $200 million in down payments for homes in the city, is now even more accessible. Those working in DC who want to live downtown but have trouble making the down payment can utilize this program.

The program and its funding are available to first time home buyers and repeat home buyers. The DC Open Doors Program is constructed around what’s called a “Down Payment Assistance Loan,” one that doesn’t have to be paid back.…

Home loan programs that are offered for teachers in Washington, DC.

If you're a teacher in the D.C. area, did you know there are home loan programs available for you? There are many incentives too! Programs involve up to $800 in reduced closing costs for teachers and discounted real estate agent fees—combined with the discounted closing costs you can get up to $1,600 in credits while closing.

There’s priority loan processing and donations to your school. Up to $400 in donations can be given to your preferred school program. Teachers can even choose what particular program they want to give to—music, arts, science lab, you name it!

There’s also homes for heroes programs, or discounts of up to 25 percent of your realtor fee when you’re buying and…

The pros and cons of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loan.

At times homebuying can get overwhelming, especially when it comes to loans. We’re here to make things easier for you by sharing the pros and cons of FHA loans.

FHA loans are government insured loans from the Federal Housing Administration. This means FHA guarantees your loan but doesn’t actually lend out the money. When you take out loans, they need to be with FHA approved lenders. Some benefits of FHA loans include less down payment required, more forgiving debt to income ratio and less restrictions on bankruptcy and foreclosure.

One of the main advantages of an FHA loan is that a very large down payment is unnecessary. Loans can be as low as 3.5 percent, which is great for…

The District of Columbia Association of REALTORS®(DCAR) announced the First-Time Homebuyer Tax Benefit has been passed and funded by the DC Council. The First-Time Homebuyer Tax Benefit allows first time home buyers in DC to pay a .725% recordation tax on homes no more than $625,000 that earn less that 180% AMI beginning this October.

So what exactly does that mean?

First let’s talk about the recordation tax. Recordation tax is part of various closing costs and based on the purchase price. If the sale price is $399,999 or less than the DC transfer and recordation tax rate is 1.1%. Sales of $400,000 and above are taxed at the rate of 1.45%. For example, if you bought a $250,000 home in DC, the buyer and seller would each pay $2,750 in DC transfer…

Condominium Warranty Regulations is a program in DC that helps protect buyers of newly constructed condominiums.

Condominium Warranty Regulations, a program launched a few years ago in D.C. aims to protect buyers of newly constructed condominiums. It stays in effect for two years after the settlement date of the first condo in the new building. What happens is 10 percent of the total cost of construction is put aside as a condo warranty bond. The Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA) and your respective condo association can ask for money from it to aid in structural issues to your unit that may come up.

It is important to remember a couple key pointers, when buying a brand new condo, especially given the amount of real estate that…

DC Council introduced a bill that will exempt owner-occupied, single family homes from TOPA laws with certain parameters.

The 1980 Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA) was created out of the Rental Housing Conversation and Sale Act. It is designed to restrict owner rights and provide benefits to tenants.  The benefits for tenants include the option to purchase as well as the ability to assign their right to purchase to a third party.

If you are considering buying a property that is tenant occupied or if you are thinking about renting your property out, you need to familiarize yourself with the Washington DC Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act.  The process can be a challenge to navigate, so it is strongly recommended that you hire an agent or an…