Charlie Weiblen's (archwood) Blog

   Maintaining an alarm system can reduce your insurance premiums by ~ 5%. Adding additional smoke detectors in your home can reduce annual premiums by about 10%. Up your deductible and pay a lower rate.  Small claims like broken windows are typically low-cost repairs and can be done cheaper tha...

Because all property values are down, the loss on the property a home owner sells is really only a paper loss because the next property he buys also will be a bargain. While nothing-down loans have disappeared, it is easy to find down-payment assistance for lower-income and first-time home buyer...

Mortgage experts suggest to start the refinancing procedure now, since market rates have aligned to make it such a beneficial time for refinancing.   1. Interest rates continue to hover around all-time lows, making it sensible for anyone carrying a higher rate interest loan to consider refinancin...

Fannie Mae is the country's  largest funding provider for residential loans and due to the economic crash, currently has nearly 50,000 properties in it's inventory.  In order to remove themselves from responsibility of foreclosed properties, Fannie Mae is offering to pay qualified buyers 3.5% in ...

For homeowners that have a FHA-insured mortgage loan, they can now rely on a loss mitigation assistance before they get too far in the hole on their mortgage payments.  Before, this was only an option for those who had already missed payments and not as a preventative measure.  Effective immediat...

With efforts to cut back on gas and heating expenses, consumers are not opting for a solar-paneled method of heating their water and homes.  Just take a couple of panels that resemble skylights, a large water storage tank and some sunlight and voila.... hot water!!!  Contrary to popular belief, y...

 A Centex Home subdivision, Rivermist,  has plenty of residents up in arms and in search of an explanation why the soil has suddently shifted underneath their newly-built homes.  Some have experienced small cracks in their walls, others have 10-foot sections missing from their retaining walls and...

Green-living features are taking over the International Builders' Show, but not all are newcomers to the market.  Several of the products featured are veterans of such a show and are shown consistently in show homes, but have yet to really catch on to the consumer market.   Spray foam insulation:...

Thanks to RISMedia and Generation Mortgage Company we can set you straight on some common misbeliefs about reverse mortgages.  A reverse mortgage enables older homeowners (62+) to convert part of the equity in their homes into tax-free cash without having to sell the home, give up the title or ta...

The IRS has released a new form that home-buyers eligible for the tax credit need to fill out and the processing will begin as early mid-February, in addition to releasing new documentation requirements in order to reduce tax credit fraud.   For those claiming the first-time home buyer tax credit...