Ethical Homes

Jill & Amir Stepak were buyers looking to purchase their first home in D.C, and who wanted an agent who would give them both great information and great perspective while also serving as an advocate for them throughout the process; based on a recommendation from a friend, they chose to work with Ethical Homes, and found exactly what they were looking for in both an agent and a home. Read the rest of this entry »

Melissa B., an expat and first-time buyer, was moving to the D.C. area and had just a few weeks in which to purchase a new home before starting her new job; working with Ethical Homes, she found a condo apartment in downtown D.C. that met all of her needs after just 4 days of searching. Read the rest of this entry »

In a previous article, I gave some rough rules of thumb for estimating monthly mortgage payments; based on feedback from buyers over the last few years, I’ve come up with some simpler ways of getting those estimates, including one trick that makes it easy to see how much your payment will change if your interest rate changes. Read the rest of this entry »

Walt & Diane were past clients whom we had previously helped to find a home in Virginia, and who were now looking for a new home; working with Ethical Homes, they found a great house in suburban Maryland—and we were glad to help them do so, even though we wouldn’t be able to earn a commission on the transaction. Read the rest of this entry »

Greg & Lorena S. were an expat couple looking to make a purchase despite a very unusual financing situation; working with Ethical Homes, they were able to buy a great home with a mortgage that didn’t penalize them for their unique finances. Read the rest of this entry »

Alex and Julia were first-time homebuyers who stumbled across their new home while passing by an open house there; rather than using the seller’s agent to purchase it, they followed a coworker’s advice and turned to Ethical Homes for assistance with their purchase, and ended up saving a bundle by doing so.
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Ethical Homes is happy to offer buyers our Discovery Discount, which can save thousands of dollars for homebuyers who have already found a property that they would like to purchase. Read the rest of this entry »

Mona was a first-time buyer who was looking for a very specific—and very hard-to-find—combination of features in her new home; Ethical Homes helped her to locate the right home for her needs, while helping her overcome more than a few hurdles along the way. Read the rest of this entry »

As part of the most recent Omnibus tax bill, Congress quietly approved making buyer-paid PMI tax-deductible.
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For the attendees of the September 2nd seminar for first-time homebuyers: due to a snafu when AHOME was preparing the packets for this seminar, the wrong pages were included in the packets that you received; as promised, here is all of the relevant info from those handouts (plus a few bonuses for those who took the time to come to this site to get that info).
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Quantico Marine Base is giving away 58 houses to anyone who will take them. Read the rest of this entry »

Recent data from the US Census Bureau indicates that Americans are moving from metropolitan areas to more rural areas. Read the rest of this entry »

In an effort to become more competitive, FHA has made some significant changes to the rules governing loans that they underwrite.

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To date, we’ve only had one negative review from a client. In the spirit of full disclosure and constructive criticism, we’re publishing that critique, as well. Read the rest of this entry »

Trying to figure out what the monthly payment on a loan will be, but don’t have a financial calculator handy? Here are some quick rules of thumb that I’ve come up with that will give you a pretty good estimate of the monthly payment (and what portion of that payment is initially interest) for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (or the initial payments for a 30-year adjustable-rate mortgage). Read the rest of this entry »

The latest news on real estate in the metro DC area. Read the rest of this entry »

The latest news on real estate in the metro DC area. Read the rest of this entry »

The volume of real estate news available on the web has been increasing over the last year, as has the number of clients I’ve been helping to buy and sell homes, and the number of consumers contacting me to request information about things other than local real estate news; as a result, I’ve found myself without the time to adequately respond to every article out there that I want to let consumers know about. Read the rest of this entry »

A recent article in the Washington Post echoes comments that I’ve been making for quite a while on the positive opportunities to be found in Anacostia. Read the rest of this entry »

Every November, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac adjust the limits on loans that they will purchase on the secondary loan market, which in turn set the limits for the “conforming loans” (with the lowest rates) that lenders offer to home buyers. This year, many lenders are increasing their conforming loan limit in advance of Fannie & Freddie’s adjustment. Read the rest of this entry »

Dawne, a homeowner in DC looking to start acquiring investment properties, has this to say about working with Ethical Homes: Read the rest of this entry »

Lots of fun events take place on the Mall, but this is the only one we know of directly related to real estate. Read the rest of this entry »

Every September, the National Association of Realtors makes an effort to remind Realtors of their responsibilities under RESPA, so there’s a certain irony in that month also being when a Coldwell Banker affiliate in Atlanta was hit with a quarter-million-dollar settlement for illegally encouraging their agents to steer clients to a particular settlement company. Read the rest of this entry »

That was the question posed to me recently by a visitor to my website. Read the rest of this entry »

Residents of the Eastern US can now finally check their credit reports for free. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m often asked about interest-only loans, which many buyers in this area are using to purchase new homes; I usually advise strongly against them, but for one recent couple with whom I was working, an interest-only loan actually made a lot of sense. Read the rest of this entry »

Joanne, a first-time buyer who was actually working with another agent in New York, discusses how Ethical Homes still helped guide her past the pitfalls of buying: Read the rest of this entry »

For the attendees of the July 30th seminar for first-time homebuyers: please accept my apologies for the printing issues that prevented me from bringing handouts for the seminar, and for not being able to get to everyone’s questions in the alloted time. Here are the materials from the handouts, plus some other notes; if you still have any questions, feel free to contact me and I’ll answer them. Read the rest of this entry »

The Post discusses how, after discovering widespread violations of building codes in at Clarksburg Town Center, Montgomery County has suspended any new construction projects in that have not yet broken ground, to make sure that all pending projects do comply with the codes. Read the rest of this entry »

Heide was an expat and first-time homebuyer looking for an investment property in which she could eventually live when she returned to the DC area; working with Ethical Homes, she was able to purchase the right home for her from halfway around the world. Read the rest of this entry »

Since 2002, the DC Main Street program has been working to revitalize older, traditional business districts in DC. Read the rest of this entry »

Re-consider the bus. Read the rest of this entry »

Sometimes, being in the top school district isn’t necessarily the best choice for a family with children. Read the rest of this entry »

Although the DC metro area doesn’t get as much sun as other parts of the country and electricity prices are on the low side of the national average, folks are still putting up solar panels for a number of reasons. Read the rest of this entry »

Slowly but surely, the public is figuring out something that should have been obvious to them: in most financial transactions, there are very few people involved in the transaction who share the same interests. Read the rest of this entry »

The Alexandria City Council recently approved a number of changes to their Moderate Income Homeownership Assistance Program (which for some reason they abbreviate MIHP rather than MIHAP). Read the rest of this entry »

This is one of the better overviews of the current national real estate market that I’ve seen in a while—it’s pretty balanced, and offers some good advice and explains the reasoning behind it.

Fannie Mae has announced that it will start buying 40-year loans from banks; Read the rest of this entry »

Why is it in your interests as a buyer to sign an exclusive Buyer-Broker Agreement with your real estate agent in Virginia and the District of Columbia? Read the rest of this entry »

The Denver Post has some helpful info on questions to ask when buying new construction.

I’ve been getting a lot of questions recently from buyers about how shopping around for loans affects their credit score; I’m putting together an article on the topic of choosing a lender that will address this question, but in the interim, you can read Fair Isaacs’ official stance on the topic.