Ask any real estate agent and they will tell you a similar sad story. The seller, whose home just hit the market, received an offer which was less than the list price, but felt secure their home would sell quickly and countered for more. For whatever reason, the buyer did not continue to negotiate and moved on. After a week or two and no other offers, the seller instructed the listing agent to contact the buyer's agent and say that the seller had reconsidered and would now accept their original offer. However, the initial enthusiasm the buyer had was gone and they were looking elsewhere. This is a story that frequently happens across America, in all price ranges. The lesson to be learned is that sometimes, the first offer is the best. Consider the rationale, a home is fresh on the market and buyers, especially the ones who have lost bids on other homes, act quickly to hopefully avoid some of the competition. When an offer is not accepted, it voids the original offer and, in … Continue reading...
The Dynamics of Home Equity
For many people, their home is their largest asset and their best performing investment. The equity in a home is the difference in what it is worth and what is owed. Two dynamics, appreciation and unpaid balance, work in concert to make homeowner's equity grow. It can be said that you appreciate the fact that your home is your best financial investment. It is also ironic that the appreciation, the increase in value, is what causes it to be your best financial investment. In a one-year period, the increase in value divided by the beginning value will determine the rate of appreciation for the year. News stories and articles, frequently, report statistics on appreciation for the month, the year or longer. In many cases, a national appreciation is mentioned but the local appreciation is more reflective of an individual property. The National Association of REALTORS® reports "The median existing-home price2 for all housing types in June was $363,300, up 23.4% from June 2020 … Continue reading...
Doing Nothing is Costing Something
It has been said that more money has been lost due to indecisions than ever was due to making the wrong decisions. Many times, the larger the decision, the more likely procrastination comes into play and doing nothing will cost something. Buying a home is certainly one of the biggest decisions people make. Careful consideration and planning are necessary steps leading to a prudent decision. Considering today's market that includes a global pandemic, financial volatility, and rapidly rising home prices, it is understandable that many people thinking about a home purchase are in a wait and see posture. However, there is a cost connected to waiting and it may be a lot more than you think. The recent Home Price Expectation Survey 2021 Quarter two estimated appreciation rates will average just under 5% annual for the next five years. It expects prices to increase by 8% in the next one year. Being a renter or even putting off moving to a larger home, could keep you from enjoying the … Continue reading...
Property Inheritance
Stepped-up basis is an incredible benefit to people who inherit property. Not only do they receive the property itself, the basis or cost value of the property becomes the fair market value at the time of the decedent's death. This avoids recognizing the gain between the decedent's cost and what it is worth when it is inherited. If a person had purchased a home for $100,000 and 20-years later when they died, it was worth $500,000, there would be a potential gain in the property of $400,000. However, because of a tax provision called step-up tax basis, the person inheriting the property will have a basis of the fair market value at the time of death. The recipient could sell the property for $500,000 and have no taxable gain on the sale. A formal appraisal is the most reliable and defensible estimate of fair market value at the time of the decedent's death. There will be a fee of several hundred dollars for the appraisal. Another alternative is to get a broker's opinion of … Continue reading...
Less to Own than to Rent
The question is "financially speaking, are you better off owning than renting in the long term?" Renting a home has advantages. It is usually a short-term commitment from year to year and the landlord is responsible for the repairs. Owning a home with today's low mortgage rates, the total house payment could easily be less than what the rent would be on a comparable home. Once you assume ownership, you will have the responsibility of the repairs and possibly, a homeowner's association fee. Many times, an initial benefit of owing a home includes the ability to deduct property taxes and qualified interest on the mortgage. With the increase of the standard deduction and a limit of $10,000 on state and local taxes, it is estimated that 90% of homeowners do not itemize their deductions to consider property tax and mortgage interest. This comparison will not consider them. There are two very significant benefits that contribute to a home being an excellent investment and they are … Continue reading...
Are You Covered?
A home warranty is a service contract that protects your home's appliances and some systems from repairs or possible replacements. A convenient benefit of a home warranty is that when you report an item, they will assign a service provider to evaluate whether it should be repaired or replaced without the owner having to act like a middleman. Homeowner's insurance is required by most mortgage lenders when there is an outstanding loan. This coverage protects the structure and the dwelling and the homeowner's personal property from named occurrences like theft, natural disaster, or accident. Homeowner's insurance does not cover the systems and appliances for repairs or replacements due to normal wear. The fees for home warranties can vary based on deductibles and how much of the risk the homeowner is willing to accept. Additional items can be included to the standard coverage to include pool, spa, additional refrigerators, septic tanks, and other items. There may also be some … Continue reading...
Thoughts on Credit and Getting a Mortgage
Credit plays a huge role in getting a mortgage because it is a variable that helps the lender determine the likelihood that the loan will be repaid on a timely basis. Credit bureaus evaluate people's credit worthiness using a FICO score. The higher the score the better the borrower's credit. The mortgage rate charged to a borrower depends on their credit score. There is an inverse relationship between credit score and interest rate changed. The higher the score the lower the rate and the lower the score, the higher the rate. Two separate buyers with the same income, purchasing the same price home may both be approved by the lender, but they may be charged different interest rates based on their credit scores. You could save thousands of dollars over the life of a loan by improving your credit score by just a few points. A $350,000 mortgage at 3.5% has a principal and interest payment of $1,571.66. By improving your credit score to qualify for a 3% rate, it would save $96.04 a … Continue reading...
First Love, Second Wife or Third REALTOR
There is a story of a real estate agent's prayer: "Dear Lord, if I can't be someone's first love, or second wife, at least, please let me be their third REALTOR®." In a normal market with a balanced supply of sellers and buyers, this describes the preference that it might be better to be the third listing agent to help the seller after they became more realistic about their list price. In today's market, it might have more to do with buyers because of the increased competition, their chance of having an accepted offer is greatly reduced and it is only after they have lost several that they become more aggressive in the negotiations. Competition for homes being sold has greatly increased over the previous two years, according to a recent REALTORS® Confidence Index Survey from NAR. In April of 2021, there were nearly five offers for every home sold which increased from two offers in 2019 and 2020. Utah reported the highest number of offers per home sold with seven while Arizona, … Continue reading...
Simple Rates of Return
Looking for a simple way to determine if a rental property will give you the rate of return you want? This modified annual property operating data may be just what you've been looking for. There are many different rates of return that investor's consider to determine whether a property will generate the yield that they expect. Sometimes the simplest of calculations can tell you whether you want it or not and if you get the other things like tax advantages and appreciation, it just makes it that much better. The first yield we will look at is commonly called the Cash-on-Cash rate of return. It is calculated by dividing the initial investment, usually down payment and closing costs, into the Cash Flow Before Tax. To arrive at Net Operating Income, it is simply taking the gross scheduled income, less vacancy allowance and all operating expenses. From that is deducted the annual debt service which is the principal and interest payment times twelve. The remaining amount is referred … Continue reading...
Is a Home Inventory Necessary?
Most homeowners have insurance on their home that additionally, gives them coverage on their personal property. That is the first level of peace of mind to know that it is available to you if there is an unfortunate need for it from a burglary, fire, or some other insured circumstance. Personal property is handled slightly different than real property. The claims adjustor could start by asking you for a list of the things lost. You are allowed to reconstruct it but there is a distinct possibility that you'll forget things, sometimes for months or years after the claim was settled. An interesting exercise would be for you to visualize two rooms, possibly, the kitchen and main living area. Without being in the room, create a list of all the personal items in plain sight and those in the closets and cabinets. When you're through with the list, go into each room to check to see what kind of things were not on your list and what the value of those items amounted to. It could be … Continue reading...