| |
| |
|
|
Real Estate |
|
Home Sellers Warning for Young Families
If you're thinking about selling your home and moving up, do your homework before offering your home for sale. Read the following story to see what can happen to home sellers who don't do their math. A young family sold their home in California, before they determined how to buy their next house. All they thought about was moving into a larger home for their growing family. Two years before, after this young couple purchased their first home, they bought a minivan with payments and increased their credit card debt with home furnishings purchases. Then, the wife quit working to stay home with their baby. The family still had sufficient money to make all payments on time. They fell in love with a larger new model home in a nearby tract home development. The sales agent convinced them the new home would only cost them another $200 per month. The family had no trouble selling their home. To qualify for the new home mortgage payment, they had to pay off the minivan, student loans, and the credit card debt. Out of their home sale proceeds, these payoffs left less than a 10% down payment for their new home. Because of their changed income and low down payment, they didn't qualify for the new home of their choice. With only 5% down, the couple had to pay higher interest rates on a second to avoid mortgage insurance. Without the wife's second income, the total payment meant that they only qualified for a new mortgage for a home which cost less than the one they sold! Before you put your home on the market, make sure you can buy the home you want. Consider the following financial concerns: Talk to a loan officer and check your credit. Don't get caught after selling your home, when it's too late, to repair any credit issues. Of course, you may have a great down payment from the sale of your home, but other bills like credit card debt, auto loans, and student loans may need to be paid off so you qualify for the new mortgage payments. Find out how much of a monthly payment and the down payment amount you'll need to buy the home of your choice. Do the math. How much can you expect to net from selling your home? 1. Do you have a mortgage prepayment penalty that could eat up a significant amount of your equity? 2. Determine selling commission expenses. Can you sell your home effectively on your own or do you need to pay 6% of your selling price for a real estate agent's expertise? 3. Estimate your closing costs. Ask a local closing or escrow company for an estimated closing cost amount for a home in your price range. 4. How much work does your home need to ready the property for a top-dollar sale? Which upgrades or redecorating expenses make sense financially? Consider all the expenses of selling, determine your actual profit, match that amount to your down payment, and see how much of a home you can buy with your qualified monthly payment amount. After you do your math homework, you'll be ready to think about selling your home. Don't get caught like this young family and be forced into a lesser home. Copyright © 2005 Jeanette J. Fisher - All Rights Reserved Worldwide. Jeanette Fisher helps home owners create homes for glorious living and top-dollar sales. She teaches Design Psychology and real estate investing. Jeanette is the author of many books including "Sell Your Home for Top Dollar--Fast!" and "Credit Help! Get the Credit You Need to Buy Real Estate." For more information on Design Psychology, see http://designpsych.com/ Free Design Psychology for Selling Houses report http://sellfast.info/ "Credit Tips for Mortgage Financing" http://recredithelp.com/
MORE RESOURCES:
Real-Estate - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Home Equity - Don't Spend It on Risky Investments The housing market has exploded in the last five years, and homeowners are finding that the equity in their homes is greater than it has ever been. The equity in a home is the difference between the market value of the home and the amount still owed on it. Buying New Construction...How Do I Begin? The prospect of shopping for a new construction residence can be quite daunting, but the rewards of owning a brand new home out-weight the disadvantages if you know the potential pitfalls. The following are important considerations: Overall Dollar Budget, Location, Cost Per Square Foot, Finishes, Upgrades, Parking and Delivery Date. Why Not To Invest In Bulgarian Property According to research carried out by the Thomson Group, owning a property abroad is now the ambition of over 50% of the British population. Not surprisingly Spain and Cyprus remain the most popular destinations for second home buyers while countries like France, Italy and Portugal continue to grab their fair share of the property investment gold rush!While the usual suspects will always attract the more cautious, risk aversive investor, the most recent generation of property investors can't seem to get enough of what our Eastern European neighbours have to offer. Ten Creative Financing Techniques Do all the creative financing techniques you hear about really work? Yes, actually. They probably have all worked somewhere for someone at least once. Decorating to Sell a House by Meeting Three Key Needs Specific marketing campaigns are no longer just for automobiles and designer clothes. Targeted marketing techniques are now applied to houses that are for sale. Buying an Unfinished Home Maybe Your Answer For the first time "want-to-be" homeowner, purchasing an unfinished new home maybe just the answer. With mortgage interest rates still at record lows, there has not been a better time to purchase a home in decades. Making a First Impression When Selling Your Home So you've decided to take advantage of the booming real estate market and put your house up for sale. As you know, buying a house is the most important purchase a consumer can make. Maintaining Small Town Charm In An Ever-Changing World Virtually any state in the country has the appeal of multiple small towns. Ask almost anyone who lives in small town why they are here and they'll tell you they enjoy the small town feeling while being close to all the conveniences of a larger city. Do You Know What Design/Construct (or Design/Build ) Means? I Think You Should! These real questions on 'How To' build are answered by a US Master Builder and myself from the development viewpoint, after I received them from readers of my e-book, "Residential Development Made Easy."Question 1. Best Time to Buy? Best Time to Sell? When is the best time to buy? When is the best time to sell? I get asked these questions constantly everywhere I go. In short, the answer is that it depends on your individual circumstances. California Home Seller Disclosure Duties Property Condition - Seller's What to Expect During the Inspection Process The Transfer Disclosure Statement (T.D. Boston Real Estate - You Still Have Considerable Control Over the Sale of Your Boston Home Boston real estate is a hot topic. Daily newspaper articles comment on whether or not a bubble exists in the Boston real estate market, when and if it will pop, how interest rates affect the market, why Boston residents are snapping up interest-only loans, and how foreign investors in our treasuries keep interest rates low. Hey Landlord! Is Your Lease Legal? The longer you are a landlord the more you strive to create the perfect lease/rental agreement. Landlords learn in the school of hard-knocks that some tenants are certified trouble makers and we try our best to protect ourselves with a carefully structured restrictive lease. Making it affordable: Nine tips for first time home buyers It seems that everyone loves a good real estate story. The media is filled with reports about soaring property values and home owners of modest means becoming instant millionaires when they sell. Investment Real Estate: An Inexpensive Way To Get Started If you are considering getting involved in investment real estate, let me offer some of the amazing information available in my wealth-building system, Winning the Mortgage Game. In several parts of my system, I outline a strategy for getting started in investing in real estate, without being a landlord. Burn, Baby, Burn! Luxury homes are lots of fun to inspect. Sure, the pay is better too, but mostly it's just fun to see how the other half lives! I also get to meet those people who have reached such a level of financial success that they are buying a home that seems like it could have been a boarding school!One of the fun aspects of inspecting large and expensive homes is seeing furnishing and interior design work at the highest level. Investing In Land Changing social trends point to a huge rise in demand for housing within the next twenty years.With an ageing population and more single people requiring accommodation, it comes as no surprise that the government has ordered planning authorities to find more land to develop, including areas of greenbelt. 10 Tips for Investing in Distressed or Foreclosed Properties 1. Search on the world wide web for distressed or foreclosed properties as a starting point. European Second Home Prices Wilt in Drought Spain and Portugal have suffered one of their worst droughts on record this summer, with consequences from empty swimming pools for the tourist to economic disaster for farmers losing their crops and livestock.Roger Munns, Managing Director of Tribune Properties, predicts that property prices in the two European countries could drop as much as fifteen per cent in some areas as more owners decide to put their villas and apartments on the market. Fixing Houses: Mixing Your Own Paint for Savings and Harmony To make the maximum profit on your investment properties, you'll need to save money wherever you can. One way to save significant amounts of money is to mix your own paint.
|
||||||||||||||