7 Reasons to Own Your Home

1. Tax breaks. The U.S. Tax Code lets you deduct the interest you pay on your mortgage, your property taxes, as well as some of the costs involved in buying your home.

2. Appreciation. Real estate has long-term, stable growth in value. While year-to-year fluctuations are normal, median existing-home sale prices have increased on average 6.5 percent each year from 1972 through 2005, and increased 88.5 percent over the last 10 years, according to the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®. In addition, the number of U.S. households is expected to rise 15 percent over the next decade, creating continued high demand for housing.

3. Equity. Money paid for rent is money that you’ll never see again, but mortgage payments let you build equity ownership interest in your home.

4. Savings. Building equity in your home is a ready-made savings plan. And when you sell, you can generally take up to $250,000 ($500,000 for a married couple) as gain without owing any federal income tax.

5. Predictability. Unlike rent, your fixed-mortgage payments don’t rise over the years so your housing costs may actually decline as you own the home longer. However, keep in mind that property taxes and insurance costs will increase.

6. Freedom. The home is yours. You can decorate any way you want and benefit from your investment for as long as you own the home.

7. Stability. Remaining in one neighborhood for several years gives you a chance to participate in community activities, lets you and your family establish lasting friendships, and offers your children the benefit of educational continuity.

Online resources: To calculate whether buying is the best financial option for you, use the “Buy vs. Rent” calculator at www.GinnieMae.gov.

When it comes to selecting a Realtor there are many questions that need to be answered.  The first one is simply where to start.

Personal referrals are the best.  Ask your friends if they have any Realtors they have done business with. What did they like or dislike about them.  What can they recall that the Realtor or Agent did to market their house that possibly seemed above and beyond?

If you can get no referrals the next calculated step would be to pick up your Sunday paper and look to see what company has the most homes for sale.  You may also research on the Internet by simply doing a GOOGLE search for Real Estate Companies in your area.

If you are coming from another town you may stop in to your local brokerage and ask them if they have a referral network with any agencies located in the town you are looking to move to.

Contact the selected companies and ask them about how they educate their Realtors. Look for a company that holds regularly scheduled structured classes.  It is important to work with well trained professionals that are kept up to date on industry changes and the latest marketing techniques.

Ask about their fee schedule, are they percentage based or flat rate. Look for the upcoming article ”Percentage vs. Flat Rate”

The largest company may not always be the right one for you, however when you are starting with no information it is a calculated step to making an informed decision rather than simply throwing a dart at the phone book.

  Set up appointments to interview at least three Realtors preferably from different companies with quality training.

 If you do not feel comfortable with any of them, keep interviewing even different ones from the same company until you find the one for you. 

 The time you spend interviewing today will pay off tomorrow. 

If you enjoyed this article look for the up coming “How to interview a Realtor” what to look for and questions to ask also “Percentage vs. Flat Rate” Which one may be right for you and how might it affect the sale of your property.  You can have these and more automatically delivered to your inbox by signing up for our free updates located in the top right corner.

So you have decided to find a new home, you have searched every housing site you can find on the internet, looked through every news paper and magazine that you can find and you have found the homes you want to see.

You have met with your lender and been prequalified for your purchase, sat down and preplanned your budget with your comfort zone along with your maximum comfort amount and now you call your Realtor; add a few others he knew about and you are out the door to preview.

This is the exciting part, driving around seeing new parts of town or a whole new town if you are not from here. Walking through new and amazing houses all with thoughts of making them yours!

Now a great Realtor will do their best to show you only five to six properties per day. This is not to build your anticipation. It is to allow you to digest every thing that you have seen in this day and make a calm and well thought decision before moving on to more properties.

One of the best things that you can do at the end of each day is to take the properties that you have seen and treat them like and eye exam. Better 1 or better 2 now better 2 or better 3….Eliminating choices down to no more than 2. The same with day 2, 3, 4 however many days it takes to view all that you have chosen. By the end of your shopping bonanza you have found one that you like.

Now it is time to make an offer. This is the emotional part. All the time and emotions that have built up from the moment you decided to buy until now have a magical way of clouding the mind when it comes to finance.

The seller is asking $155,000 for this property. The bank has qualified you for a loan of this size however, when you worked out your budget you know that within your budget for closing costs and monthly payments your decided comfort range maximum is $149,000. So you offer $147,000 and the seller counters with $152,000. What do you do?

This is where the emotion kicks in to really high gear. “all that time invested in shopping”” I just know we would never find another like it”” It’s only $5000.00 more and the bank said we could afford it”. BOOOM this is where the bomb hits the ground. Right after that last thought!

Banks look at numbers and guidelines. Good banks will even get to know you on a personal level and help you plan your budget, explaining to you that just because you are qualified for an amount does not mean that it is in your best interest to spend that amount.

It’s time to stop, breath, down shift the emotions and Know Your Limits!

Purchasing real estate is an investment, not only a huge financial investment but also an investment in your family’s future and should always be treated as such. Struggling to make payments or simply spending that extra cash that you used prior to take family outings will have a negative effect on your finances and happiness.

Know your limits, once you have found your maximum comfort number stay below it or be prepaired to walk away.

The extra time spent finding the PERFECT property that not only meets your personal needs but also your financial needs will yield the best return on investment you could ask for.