Optima Properties' Blog

 If you are in your 20s and 30s and have ever even considered buying a home, you are positioned to take advantage of record low interest rates. Even if you have just graduated with student loan debt, have not saved the traditional 20% down payment, and worry that there are no homes available to p...

   Adjustable rate mortgages are loans with variable interest rates that change according to the market rates, as opposed to fixed rate mortgages, which guarantee a set rate for the entire period of the loan. ARMs may seem like a great idea some years, but in other years, you may wonder what you ...

5 year fixed mortgage could be a new solution to those who want to avoid long-term loans. As traditional lenders advertise 30, 15, or 10-year mortgages, the new idea has been emerging in the credit union industry - it is a 5 year fixed mortgage. While banks and mortgage companies are limited by ...

Your home is more than an investment and a place to live—it also can be a valuable source of tax deductions. For many homeowners, one of the biggest itemized deductions on Form 1040 is the  one for qualified residence interest (commonly called the “mortgage interest deduction”). In the usual situ...

Buying a fixer upper  home comes with some unique advantages. For one, the price point for a fixer upper home  will be lower than a comparable home that is in excellent shape. By paying less for a fixer upper home, you can have more of an opportunity to customize and tailor it to fit your unique ...

If you’re hoping to become a homeowner it is highly likely that you’ll need a mortgage.  Before house-hunting ever begins, it is good to know just how much you can afford to borrow.  All prospective homeowners must go through the process of getting pre-approved to see if they qualify for the loa...

Hurricane season has just begun and will last until the end of November; it is important for homeowners to have an awareness of what their insurance policy covers and what their hurricane deductible is.     This is particularly true for first time homebuyers or for homeowners that have relocated ...

Buying a house is a difficult process — there are large sums of money involved, the transaction costs and hassle of moving mean that you can’t just buy another house if you don’t like the one you end up with. The best you can do is to educate yourself in all aspects of the house hunt, keep a clea...

Lots of people these days are following that motto and trying to live a life of less; less junk, less clutter, less stress and less house. So how do you downsize your world when you’ve spent your life accumulating stuff?   Planning your space before you downsize is essential; downsizing requires ...

  If you’ve been thinking about replacing your water heater soon, you will want to read up on how the new water heater efficiency standards, effective April 16, 2015, will affect your options. The U.S. Department of Energy recently mandated sweeping changes in the energy efficiency standards of t...