First Things First

If you are making a particular meal for the first time, it is essential to have a recipe so that it turns out the way it should.  Knowing the ingredients and preparation can guide you through the process.

Buying a home is really no different than making a new recipe.  There are certain things that need to be done, many of which should occur in a particular order to save time, money, effort and disappointment. 

Your first inclination may be to start searching the Internet for homes and schedule some showings or possibly visit open houses.  Even though this is very gratifying, it shouldn't be done until you have gone through the preliminaries.

Buying a home for the first-time implies you haven't been through the process before and even though, you may have a rough idea of what needs to be done, selecting the right agent in the beginning will give you the benefit of years of personal and professional experience that can help you avoid some of the common mistakes made when buying a home.

This agent can direct you to find the other team members that are required like the lender, title company, inspectors and others.  Each member of the team has an important role to play that if not done correctly, could cause delays and possibly, jeopardize the transaction.

An important step is getting pre-approved so that you'll know exactly what price mortgage and home you'll qualify for.  This may even allow you to lock-in a mortgage rate before you contract for a home.  The pre-approval could also prove very helpful in negotiating with the seller by removing some of the doubt in their mind regarding an unknown buyer.  Another advantage to pre-approval is that if you are competing with multiple offers, you have the advantage of being more of a known commodity.

You'll need to assemble some documents for the lender including pay stubs from the past two months, W-2's from last year, proof of additional income, tax returns for the past two years, bank statements for the last three months, list of all open credit accounts and balances, copy of driver's license and history of residence for past two years.

Buying a home is one of the most important decisions in your life and it should be done with care and research.  When all the things are done in the right order, finding the "right" home is just like following a recipe.  For more information, download this Buyers Guide that includes great information to help you through the process.

More Time at Home

We are all spending more time at home and will probably need to continue to do so for a while longer.  Depending on the makeup of your family, your home is now a home office, a gym, a virtual classroom and considerably more meals have been prepared in your kitchens in the past six months than normal.

Some businesses have undergone a metamorphosis that has shown them that maybe they do not need the big commercial spaces for their employees.  They realize that they can be just as productive with their work force offsite which will cut expenses.

If this scenario sounds familiar, it may be worth exploring what moving would look like for your situation.  To analyze the options, you will need to know what your home is worth and what the net proceeds will be after selling it.

You will need to know what homes are available with the amenities you are looking for together with the prices and mortgage money.  Depending on the interest rate on your current mortgage, there may not be much difference in payment for a larger mortgage at today's incredibly low rates.

Another option that some homeowners are considering is to not reinvest all the proceeds from the sale of their existing home into the new home.  They are reserving some of the cash as a contingency fund for the unexpected. This strategy is providing peace of mind in uncertain times.

It is said that an investor is faced with three decisions every day: buy, sell, or hold.  The equity in a home represents, for most people, their largest investment asset.  While it is an asset, it is also an amenity.

Prudential thinking would insist on protecting your investments, but it would also suggest that you would evaluate alternatives to avoid missing opportunities.  Having the facts available will make the options clearer and possibly, the decisions will become obvious.

We are available to help you assemble the information you need to consider what is best for you.

Moving "Down" in an "Up" Market

Selling a home and buying a lower priced home that meets your current needs can be to your advantage in an "Up" market like the current one with low inventory.  The advantage is that you can maximize the price for the home you're selling and not have to reinvest it all in your replacement.

Just to illustrate the point, let's say there is a 10% premium in the sales price of a home currently.  If you're selling a home for $750,000, it would be $75,000.  If you replaced the home with a $500,000 home, the premium would be $50,000 which means you're $25,000 ahead.

Let's further assume that your home is debt free so that when you sell it, you have a large cash equity.  Instead of paying cash for the replacement home, get an 80% loan at today's low interest rates and reinvest the proceeds to supplement your retirement.

You may be able to get as low as a 2.5% mortgage and earn significantly more on the proceeds in other investments.

Home prices are up significantly over last year and they're selling on average in three weeks.  Inventory is down and there is less competition for your home than normal which can lead to a higher price.  Closed sales increased 9% from August to September according to a Zillow report.

Moving down in an "up" market may be to your advantage.  It could lower your cost of housing by saving on property taxes, insurance, utilities and maintenance while being able to take cash out of your home to reinvest in your retirement.

 You'll be using "other people's money" to free up your equity that you can reinvest at a rate higher than you'll be paying on your mortgage.  The difference would be profit.

To explore this opportunity, give me a call and we'll look at your numbers.

Cutting Your Housing Costs in Half

Cutting the price will generally bring buyers of anything out of the woodwork that were not serious before.  Some renters could easily lower their monthly cost of housing by half or more by purchasing a home with all the financial benefits that come with it.

The most obvious thing in today's market is that the mortgage payment could be less than the rent the tenants are paying.  With mortgage rates hovering around 3%, this is a major factor of the savings.

The two other major contributing factors are appreciation and amortization of the mortgage, neither of which benefit tenants continuing to pay rent.  According to the FHFA House Price Index, home prices rose 5.4% from July 2019 to July 2020.  There were 400,000 less homes on the market during the summer of 2020 than the previous summer which is influencing appreciation.

With each payment a homeowner makes on their mortgage, a portion is used to reduce the principal amount owed.  This is like a savings account for the owner because it lowers their unpaid balance and increases their equity.

The equity becomes an asset that can be accessed by doing a cash-out refinance or a home equity line of credit once the equity has reached 80% loan-to-value.

A $300,000 home purchased with an FHA loan at 3% for 30 years would have a payment of approximately $2,013 including principal and interest, taxes, insurance, and mortgage insurance premium.  If the tenant were paying $2,400 in rent, this would be a savings of almost $400 a month.

The monthly principal reduction would average $500 a month for the first year which would lower the net cost of housing.  The other major item to consider would be the appreciation.  Assuming, in this example, the home was appreciating at 3% annually, the monthly appreciation in the first year would be $750 which would further lower the cost of housing.

Rent	$2,400
Total House Payment	$2,013
Less Monthly Principal Reduction	$513
Less Monthly Appreciation	$750
Plus Estimated Monthly Maintenance	$200
Net Cost of Housing	$950

 

In this example, it would cost over $1,400 per month more to rent than to own.

A different approach to this would be that the equity in this home in seven years would be $121,579 based on appreciation and principal reduction.  If the same person continues to rent, there would be no equity build-up.

If you're curious as to how much you could cut your housing cost, go to the Rent vs. Own or contact your real estate professional.