Harrisonblog

School is starting up here in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County! College students will begin migrating back to the area, some students will start high school, others middle and elementary school, and we can’t forget about those kids going to their first day of Kindergarten. Its probably safe to say that we all hold education to [...]

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The other day we reported that Virginia property taxes fare pretty well compared to the rest of the nation, and now we have more good news — Virginia closing costs are also on the low end of the scale!
Researchers for a new study requested a good faith estimate for a $200,000 loan, assuming a 20% [...]

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Property taxes in Virginia, compared to the rest of the US, are pretty much in the middle, if not on the lower end of the scale. Did you know that according to Credit Sesame, who provides a really cool interactive map of property taxes by state in the US, New Jersey home owners paid an [...]

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As of today at noon, the Home Efficiency Rebate Program is open again, making approximately $5 million available to those who make their existing homes more energy efficient. This seems like a lot of money (which is provided by the Department of Mines, Minerals, and Energy), but it will not last long.
According to the Division [...]

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We all know that scientists have long studied life expectancy rates, but a recent in-depth study has been done on specific areas (i.e. county-by-county) throughout the entire continental United States. The results show that life expectancies can range by as much as a decade or more from coast to coast, depending on the area. Evidently, [...]

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There is a tax credit in Virginia called the Livable Home Tax Credit, which grants up to $5,000 to folks who purchase a new accessible housing unit, or to up to 50% of cost for folks who retrofit an existing residence with accessibility features. (The limit used to be $2,000, but was recently increased to [...]

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You might recall that we posted earlier this year about the Mortgage Interest Deduction and how the current Administration is trying to change this tax deduction that has been in place for over 80 years. Well, as you can imagine, this has stirred up some strong feelings from homeowners. In a recent opinion poll over [...]

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This is the third of a short series of posts about the transfer of property — the first was about title insurance, and the second was about tax aspects. The fourth (and final) post will be about deeds.
After a contract is signed — or ratified — by both parties (seller and buyer), [...]

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A while ago we posted about using solar energy to power your home, and how EMU has been making Virginia history by installing the Commonwealth’s largest solar panel array. Solar energy is a very economical use of resources, and is becoming more and more popular. There have been tax credits available for those going after [...]

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This is the second of a short series of posts about the transfer of property — the first was about title insurance. Other things we’ll look at in this series: deeds, and escrow or closing.
Purchasing a property can be confusing because of all the ins and outs of the process — [...]

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