Gratitude is the inward feeling of kindness received. Thankfulness is the natural impulse to express that feeling. Thanksgiving is the following of that impulse — Henry Van Dyke
Thank You – Yajnesh Rai
Home Buying Tips: How Do I Know If I Am Ready To Buy A Home? : Home : Realty Today
Home buying is a very big decision, not only does it impact your current finances, it also impacts your future budget especially if a mortgage is involved.
So how do you know if you are already ready to buy a home? Here are a few guidelines:
1. Presence of a Stable Income
If you have a job or a business, that would make you one step nearer to qualifying for home ownership. Although of course, this money source should have been present for about 2 to 3 years for it to be called reliable. If you do not have a stable income source, it’s better to wait a bit and assess your financial future before you jump into home ownership.
2. Payment Records
The best way to know if you are ready to buy a home and spend for your mortgage is by looking at your payment records. If you have been able to pay for your current bills without difficulty, you may have the right discipline to pay for your home on a monthly basis, just as long as you have spare budget for that.
3. Outstanding Debts
If you have lots of outstanding debts, adding a new one may be a bad idea, especially if you know that adding a new bill may affect your financial status. Although of cours, a financial assessment would tell you if you are capable of adding a new monthly debt or not. However, if you have zero to little monthly dues, then it would be easier to tell that you are indeed ready for a mortgage. So as a conclusion, it’s better to decrease debts before entering home ownership.
4. DP Budget
Down payment is a big part of mortgage. So if you have not saved up for it yet, then it’s better to start with that first before mortgage application. That way, you will be fully ready to drop cash when you apply for a home loan.
5. All Additional Costs
Aside from the down payment, there are many costs that come with home ownership. So you must have saved up a good amount of cash to say that you can now own a home. Costs include: all closing costs for the initial application: and continuous home repairs.
Overall, the best way to determine your qualification for home ownership, or adding one more monthly debt in general, is to do an accounting of your income, and by asking for a pro’s advice.
Even as the holidays approach, you still can buy a home this year – The Orange County Register
With Thanksgiving around the corner, Hanukah beginning a week after, and Christmas only four weeks away, despite all the fun, food, and celebrations, if you have your focus laser beam tight, you can buy a house before the end of 2015.
But why in the world would you want to take any time away from your cherished Holiday traditions – including deep frying a Turducken, hosting a marathon game of Risk, standing in store lines at zero dark thirty on Black Friday, or marching with the Brief Case Drill Team in the Occasional Pasadena Doo Dah Parade – to buy a house?
Here are a couple reasons I can think of that might get your boots on the ground, pounding the local pavements as you deploy from your Realtor’s car, searching for the right house and getting into a time-sucking battle of counter offers until you make a deal.
Taxes: Buying a house triggers a “taxable event” that may give you some tax advantages for your 2015 return, if you close before the end of this year.
Check with your tax professional to see which of your closing costs can be deducted from your taxable income. And as far as I know, for 2016, your mortgage interest paid on your primary residence still qualifies as a tax deduction. This is another point for you to confirm with your tax professional.
Look at you – winning this year and all of next year! Motivated now?
Mortgage Interest Rates: Are you a gambler? There you are, needing a bigger place for yourself, your spouse or significant other, your kids, their kids and your sister (one definition of the modern family).
How long are you going to wait out the impending increase in mortgage interest rates, which will erode your buying power? Because as mortgage interest rates rise, your qualifying loan amount typically decreases. You might choose to leave the Risk marathon, pick up your Pre-Approval letter and go find a house to buy for your “clan.”
Motivated Sellers: If you can take your eye off the Turducken for just a few minutes and study the stats of the homes you’re actually interested in owning, you might see a trend toward a higher number of days on the market in your target zone.
Do you think the owner of a house that’s been listed for sale for 220 days might be motivated to respond to your offer, even if it is as low as your respectable Realtor will let you go? It’s worth a try.
Thirty Day Escrow: Despite the implementation of new lending guidelines, savvy lenders can and are accommodating 30 day escrows. Which means yes, you can buy a house before the end of 2015! So grab your brief case and get going!
Staging Your Home Helps It Sell 73% Faster, On Average
Staged Homes Sell 73% Faster
With current mortgage rates low and rent on the rise, the math has shifted for the nation’s renters. It’s more affordable to own a home than to rent one in many U.S. cities.
As a result, demand for homes has been high. Home prices are up more than five percent since last year, and values have recovered from last decade’s downturn in-full.
More than 6 million homes will sell this year, and even more homes are forecast to sell in the 2016 housing market.
For home sellers, this is excellent news — it’s easier to command high prices when the housing market expands. However, there’s another way to increase your home’s value as well.
Through a process known as “home staging”, sellers can invest a little bit of money into their sale and earn themselves a huge, huge return.
Furthermore, according to the Real Estate Staging Association, homes which are staged before going on the market sell 73% faster, on average, than their non-staged counterparts.
Click to see today’s rates (Nov 20th, 2015)
What Is Home Staging?
The real estate market is competitive and sellers should always be looking for ways to gain an edge over the competition.
One way to “beat the competition” is to sell your home on the cheap.
A lower sale price versus comparable homes will attract offers from buyers, no doubt, but you’ll net less cash than if you had priced your home at its actual market value.
Another way to make your home stand out is to make expensive home improvements prior to listing for sale.
Replacing your home’s kitchen or bathrooms can add to the property’s value, but making renovations can cost tens of thousands of dollars. There’s also no guarantee your improvements will attract buyers.
A third, and often better, approach is to “stage” your home for sale.
Many homeowners are familiar with the concept of home staging, thanks to reality television. Home staging is the art of preparing a home for sale.
Via home staging, you aim to improve the flow of your home, to eliminate clutter, and to make your home appear bigger and brighter.
A professional home stager is an expert in the art of preparing homes for sale.
And, because most buyers now begin their home searches online, having your home professional staged appropriately can be crucial toward that first step of attracting an interested buyer.
An non-staged home can present worse in photographs as compared to a staged one. Staged homes are often more likely to get a walk-through.
Click to see today’s rates (Nov 20th, 2015)
How Much Does Home Staging Cost?
There are two ways by which professional home stagers charge their clients. Some charge by the hour on a consultant basis; and others charge a flat rate for their time.
All will charge for “materials” required during the home staging process, which may include temporary furniture, artwork, and home accessories.
Estimates are provided free-of-charge.
The median cost to stage a home is $675; and, depending on the size of home and the extent of the work, fees can be lower or higher.
Don’t shrug this off. Home staging is an investment in the sale of your home. It’s not uncommon for a several hundred dollar investment to yield a several thousand dollar return.
Plus, if staging helps your home to present better online, it will be worth every penny you pay. You can’t sell your home, after all, if nobody comes to see it. This is true no matter what your home’s asking price.
A good home stager will do a cost-benefit analysis to help you understand your options. Consider everything presented.
Some Home Staging Idea Yield Big Returns
The concept behind staging a home for sale is to help present the property in its best light, figuratively and literally.
Even simple, inexpensive staging can result in big bumps to your sale price.
- Painting: New paint can mask home odors while insanely brightening a room
- Carpeting: New carpet — even low-grade carpet — can make a room look clean and inviting
- Decluttering: Removing “junk” from rooms, closets, and cupboards adds immediate appeal and gives the illusion of more space
You should also make repairs or replace items in your home which are broken, worn out, or in obvious need of an update.
For example, electrical outlet covers are inexpensive and should be replaced wherever needed; as should door stops and door handles which appear to be old.
Remember: A home buyer will look at the “little things” in your home and, if those items are neglected, the buyer will wonder what else is in disrepair.
Consider re-caulking your kitchens and bathrooms, too. Bright caulk gives the appearance of cleanliness, which can help to sell your home.
5 Mortgage Tips for First-Time Home Buyers
Buying a house entails a ton of work. It is a serious commitment that merits a great deal of planning and preparation to ensure that all aspects are precisely what, where, and how they should be. Furthermore, if you are purchasing a house for the first-time, you will likely need a mortgage. In fact, before even perusing online real estate listings and attending open houses, one should audit his/her mortgage options.
Prepare Your Financial Records
Expect to produce documents, beginning with an X amount of years’ worth of income tax returns and monthly bank statements. Fortunately, you can find copies of the latter in your bank’s website. Simply log in to your account and print the Account Statement, which is usually in PDF format. Banks or private lenders will want a valid proof of income that implies the borrower’s financial stability. Any outstanding debt should also be reported.
Use a Mortgage Calculator
If you have no clue as to how much your mortgage rates will cost, using an FHA mortgage calculator is the fastest and simplest way to put a solid number on it. The calculator can identify the lowest down payment and the highest FHA mortgage rate that is allowed when buying a property. It also generates an estimate of your closing expenses.
Consult a Mortgage Officer
A mortgage officer can help you identify any unidentified and unresolved credit issues that could restrict you from getting approved for a mortgage. Moreover, a mortgage officer can advise you regarding which properties you should focus your search based on specific factors like budget and family size.
Settle Your Debt First
Wiping the slate clean is an important step towards securing a mortgage for your house. Banks and private lenders look at your debt-to-income ratio. A high ratio could raise red flags from the bank’s perspective, so it is best to settle any outstanding debt beforehand.
Develop Good Credit Practices
Late payments or insufficient payments on your loans can lower your credit score considerably. This can make applying for a home mortgage difficult and/or more expensive. Keep in mind that once an unpaid bill or loan gets sent to collections, it will take a long period of time for your credit scores to recover from the damage.
Buying a home can be an exciting process and a dream come true for many individuals and families. However, without any knowledge of how mortgage works, it can also be a financial landmine. Use the five tips above to simplify home-buying and make the right choices every step of the way.
Rents Will Stay High for Years, Experts Say | Zillow Blog
Like a lot of people, Mark Stevenson has had it with rent prices.
His Walnut Creek, CA apartment complex raised the rent last year, and he recently learned that his 1-bedroom unit is headed up another $351, to $1,830 a month.
“Here’s my dilemma: Renew a 12-month rental lease complete with a 24 percent mugging, or buy a condo,” Stevenson said. “I’m looking to buy now.”
That could be a good financial bet, given the findings from Zillow’s latest Home Price Expectations Survey. A panel of more than 100 experts predicted:
- U.S. home values will rise 4.4 percent in 2015, to a median value of $187,040.
- Median U.S. home values will exceed their pre-recession peak of $196,400 by May 2017.
- 51 percent expect rental affordability will not improve for at least two years.
Already, renting is half as affordable as buying, something Danville, CA broker Kevin Kieffer of Keller Williams Realty hears about all the time.
“‘My landlord is getting ready to hike the rent by $200, and I’ve got to buy:’ Since 2001, I haven’t heard that more consistently than I am now,” Kieffer said.
The issue is basic economics: Demand is outstripping supply.
“Vacancy rates on rental units in the fourth quarter were down to 7 percent, the lowest in more than 20 years,” said David W. Berson, chief economist for Nationwide Insurance.
The squeeze could continue for years, said Berson, who participated in the survey.
Rents will rise as millennials strike out on their own — but not all of them will rent. “If a larger share start to move toward [buying], the rent increase will not be quite as rapid,” he said.
The situation is worse in some places than in others.
In Dallas, for example, a renter making the median household income spends 27.7 percent of it on rent. In Chicago, it’s 31.5 percent; in New York, 40.5 percent and in Los Angeles, 47.9 percent.
More than half of the survey panelists who had an opinion said the market will correct the nation’s soaring rents, requiring no government intervention.
“Uncle Sam can certainly do a lot, but I worry we’ve become too accustomed to automatically seeking federal assistance for housing issues big and small, instead of trusting markets to correct themselves and without waiting to see the impact of decisions made at a local level,” said Zillow Chief Economist Stan Humphries.
What does that mean for the average renter deciding whether to buy?
Homeownership certainly isn’t for everyone. Renters should consider how much they have in savings, how long they expect to live there and other factors — but they shouldn’t expect a break on rents.
What’s The Smartest Move: Pay Off Mortgage Or Invest The Money? – Forbes
Retiring your home loan sounds like a great idea. So does investing for your future. If you don’t have enough money to do both – and a lot of people don’t – which do you go for? AdviceIQ Network member Jason Lina, lead advisor at Resource Planning Group in Atlanta, tells us how to figure that out:
Should you invest with your spare cash or pay off your mortgage early? As with most financial planning decisions, the answer is not black and white.
One of the most common questions facing families is whether to accelerate mortgage payments or to borrow as much as possible, make minimum debt payments and save for retirement.
In a world without emotional or behavioral biases where we all rationally evaluate the economics and make choices based on probability-weighted outcomes, the math points to investing over debt elimination.
Yet the mortgage decision is rarely ever this simple. It depends on your specific situation – your tax rate, portfolio allocation, credit history, propensity to save and risk tolerance.
From a purely quantitative standpoint, the economic benefit to maintaining a mortgage and investing the difference is significant for most homeowners over the past several decades.
To help understand the economics of the mortgage decision, we test two scenarios: 1) a family uses $200,000 of savings for a home, and invests each month an amount that would otherwise be the mortgage payment (less the tax deduction), and 2) a family invests $200,000 in stocks and bonds while borrowing the same amount on a 30-year mortgage.
Over the course of 42 years, the family that borrows sees a positive outcome in 97% of the time, which is important for major matters like your retirement. The only period when paying cash would be better was between May and December 1981, when the mortgage rates ranged between 16.4% and 18.5%. If we allowed for refinancing, the mortgage-and-invest approach would be favorable at all time.
Mortgage Tips: How To Compare Mortgages From Different Lenders : Home : Realty Today
Buying your new home is a very big financial step, especially if a mortgage financing is needed. The best way to determine if you are getting the best mortgage deal, is to look around. But with so many lenders to choose from, you may find it tough to pick one. So here are some tips in comparing mortgage deals from different lenders so you can be one step nearer to choosing a good mortgage provider.
Compare Interest Rates
The biggest factor in every mortgage transaction is the interest rate, so this should be your first basis in looking for the best lender. While most providers tend to compete when it comes to rates, you can find that there are different discounts offered by the lenders basing on your credit history. Keep in mind that lenders can also adjust their rates depending on your mortgage term and how much down payment you are willing to drop.
Closing Costs
While your main focus is probably on the monthly payments, you may also wanna calculate how much you will spend initially. The closing costs are necessary to complete your mortgage application and every lender may have different sets of fees that you need to pay for, so the closing costs can vary. Make sure that you include these costs when comparing mortgage deals.
Early Payment Penalties
Lastly, what you wanna do is to watch out for early payment penalties, as these can be a major source of headache later on if you want to get your loan paid off faster. The best mortgage is the type that allows you to pay for the principal at any time without being penalized. But depending on your other criteria, you may need to do a more thorough research before you can find a deal like this.
Holiday season could be perfect time to sell your home
There is truth to the old adage that real estate sales are seasonal and things slow a little during the holidays. If you are thinking about selling your home, you can gain an advantage on your competition in the weeks ahead.
Every year, prospective sellers struggle with the question “Do I list now or wait until after New Year’s?” The answer depends on your unique situation and motivation to sell, but there are some good reasons to act now.
As a result of strong summer and fall sales, the inventory of available homes remains at low levels. This is especially true of low price ranges across Middle Tennessee. That makes this holiday season a prime time to list and sell your home.
Our team’s internal research is trending a steady flow of buyers who are looking to purchase now, while interest rates remain near record lows. Buyers are out there looking for their new homes.
Good reasons to list now
There are at least five good reasons to list your home for sale during the holidays:
1. Many houses show better when decorated for the holidays — especially when they’re professionally staged. The sights, sounds and smells of the holidays appeal to our emotions and will attract buyers to your home. This is my favorite reason, so it always goes at the top of the list.
2. Lookers during the holidays are serious buyers! Most of us are too busy to window-shop during this time of year. If your home is showing, odds are it will sell. Today’s buyers are hoping to buy quickly and maybe move in before the new year.
3. Realistically, if it’s not under contract by now, it probably won’t close until sometime in January. You can pack up your holiday decorations and pack to move at the same time.
4. The number of available listings declines during the last few months of the year. Serious buyers have fewer houses to choose from. Less competition should result in a quicker sale and more money for you.
5. Just the opposite might occur in January and February. As the supply of available homes begins to build, there will be more homes competing for attention. More homes to choose from could mean less money for those who wait to sell.
There are a few reasons to delay listing until after the holidays. We all know that the holidays are a busy time and the reality of preparing your home for sale could be overwhelming. That’s one reason why we offer market-ready and staging services to our clients.
The biggest obstacle might be overcoming the perceived disruption of showing your home during the holidays. There is a solution to this one, too. You can actively market your home, but restrict showings on those special days or at specific times that could potentially interrupt your holiday plans.
Mortgage Rate Drop Gives Rise to Credit Union Substitution of Financial
For every one percentage point increase in mortgage rates, a buyer’s maximum home purchase price falls by approximately 11 percent.
“Any time mortgage rates go up, it will affect buyers’ purchasing power, especially first-time buyers”, said Andy Emery, president of the RealSource Board of Realtors in Waldwick and a Coldwell Banker agent in Ridgewood.
Fixed mortgage rates increased for the week ending November 12 amid continued market expectations of a possible rate increase by the Federal Reserve and following a stronger-than-expected jobs report, according to Freddie Mac’s latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey.
The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.20 percent this week, up from 3.09 percent in the prior week. The report says that a year ago sellers cited the fear of rising home prices and interest rates as a prime motivator for selling their home and buying another.
Refinance applications, which are highly rate-sensitive, fell 2 percent from the previous week, seasonally adjusted, but are 4 percent higher than one year ago, when rates were slightly lower.
To calculate average mortgage rates, Freddie Mac surveys lenders across the country at the beginning of each week. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 3.20%. According to their forecast, the average rate for a 30-year home loan will hit 4% between now and the end of 2015. This past quarter of 2015, credit unions seem to be substituting traditional financial lending institutions such as commercial and investment banks in provision of home loans and mortgages. “Janet Yellen referred to a December rate hike as a “live possibility” if incoming information supports it. The October jobs report to be released this Friday will be one crucial factor influencing the [Federal Reserve’s] decision”.
Prediction: Mortgage Rates Above 4% by the End of 2015?
It’s been a tough two weeks for mortgage rate shoppers. But these predictions are still only guesses. This week the panelists are mixed with 45% predicting mortgage rates to increase further and 45% expecting mortgage rates will remain more or less unchanged over the next week. This is because, when mortgage rates climb, a buyer is restricted to a smaller mortgage for the same monthly payment.