7 Financial and Lifestyle Benefits of Homeownership

Owning a home is a large part of the American dream. According to a 2019 survey conducted by the National Association of REALTORS®, “Approximately 75% of non-homeowners believe homeownership is

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Home Appraisal 101

What is a home appraisal? Is it the assessed value or is it determined during the home inspection? It’s neither. A home appraisal is a qualified third-party’s educated opinion on

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Glossary of Common Mortgage, Loan, and Real Estate Jargon

Diving into the realm of buying/selling a home or applying for loans can be a scary maneuver. There is money on the line and tons of jargon that you don’t

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Why It Matters Where You Get Your Pre-Approval

“Does it matter where I get my pre-approval from?” We get this question quite often.  Here’s our two cents — When sellers review your offer, the lender you choose will

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Recession, Interest Rates, and Real Estate

We pride ourselves on being transparent and sharing up-to-date tips and information. With speculation of a recession on the horizon, we are here to share the statistics to help with

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Keeping Your Documents in Order

As Tax Day has passed, you may have your W-2s, insurance forms, and other paperwork still laying around. Our tip to you is to file that paperwork away in a

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Use Your Tax Refund To Save For A Down Payment

Tax season is in full swing. This means that many local Omahans will be receiving or have already received a tax refund of varying amounts. And we think the best

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What You Need to Know About Omaha Property Taxes

Here at Mortgage Specialists, we’ve been fielding more and more questions about Omaha property taxes than in recent years. We understand why – many Omaha homes have been significantly going

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Refinance to Drop Private Mortgage Insurance

With interest rates hovering near all-time lows for most of 2021, we’ve been receiving a lot of refinancing questions. Refinancing your mortgage is a great option in many situations, including

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Benefits Of Choosing A Local Lender

One of the best things a home buyer can do is shop around for loans. Doing so will help you to be the most informed buyer, and ensure you’re getting

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Questions to Consider Before Buying in a Competitive Housing Market

We’re sure everyone has heard by now – Omaha has a very competitive housing market right now. And it’s not just Omaha, the entire country is experiencing a more competitive

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5 New Construction Home Tips

So, you’re thinking that your next house might be a new construction home. What exactly does that entail? Most of the information online pertains specifically to purchasing an existing home,

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How To Win A Bidding War

The real estate market today is increasingly competitive. And with a competitive market comes bidding wars. With so many bidding wars taking place, we want to take a moment to

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Buyers: You Need A Real Estate Agent

This is a topic we feel strongly about, having worked in the mortgage industry for years. We’ve worked on transactions where the buyer doesn’t have a real estate agent to

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Frequently Asked Mortgage Questions

Here at Mortgage Specialists, one of our favorite aspects of the job is educating our clients on the mortgage process. It isn’t a process that many go through often, so

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Calling All Our Move-Up Buyers

You’ve already successfully bought your first house, enjoyed a few years in it, and now you’re ready to move onto your next home. You’re what we like to call move-up

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