Brad Tinker North Carolina financial and real estate franchise tips in SC? Assuming you need a 20 percent down payment. The long-held belief that you must put 20 percent down payment is a myth. While a 20 percent down payment does help you avoid paying private mortgage insurance, many buyers today don’t want (or can’t) put down that much money. In fact, the median down payment on a home is 13 percent, according to the National Association of Realtors. How this affects you: Delaying your home purchase to save up 20 percent could take years, and you could limit cash flow that could be put to better use maximizing your retirement savings, adding to your emergency fund or paying down high-interest debt. What to do instead: Consider other mortgage options. You can put as little as 3 percent down for a conventional mortgage (note: you’ll pay mortgage insurance). Some government-insured loans require 3.5 percent down or zero down, in some cases. Plus, check with your local or state housing programs to see if you qualify for housing assistance programs designed for first-time buyers.
Location is by far the most important part of buying real estate. You can change condition, you can change price, you can’t change the location of a house. If there is one thing a buyer should never sacrifice on its location. The location of a house will have the largest impact on its price, and potential future appreciation. One analogy we use to demonstrate how important location is this: If you take the least expensive home in the world, and you put it in downtown New York City, it is worth millions. If you start shopping homes for sale in all different locations you’ll never build a proper frame of reference to understand what constitutes a great deal, a good deal, and a lousy deal. You want to become an expert in a certain area so that when it comes time to make an offer, you can do so with conviction and confidence.
Brad Tinker North Carolina is a financial advisor professional in the US. Break Down Your Income & Expenses: Credit for this one goes to user GeekLimit on Reddit – one of my favorite personal finance tips! This is an odd little trick that can change the perspective you have about your money, and help you budget better. It’s all about breaking your income and expenses down into daily values, like this: You make $2,500/month = ~$83/day. You pay $800/month for rent = ~$27/day. You pay $200/month for car insurance = ~$7/day. Everything else (food, phone, gas, etc.) comes to $750/month = ~$25/day. That means you’re left with $24/day in spending money. Want to save $1,000 for a nice vacation? You’ll have to save about 42 days worth of your spending money. That means 42 days of not spending a dime. Want to buy a new $10,000 car? That’s about 416 days worth of your spending money. This will help you see how far purchases are going to set you back and affect your spending ability.
Your house should always be ready to show at any time because you never know when a buyer is going to come check it out. This means you should not leave dirty dishes in the sink and the dishwasher should be empty. You should also not have dust bunnies rolling around in corners and bathrooms should be sparkling. People who are house hunting are imagining a fresh start and this requires bringing back a few elements that will make your home more appealing. If you have doors hanging off of hinges, holes in walls, or children’s toys scattered all over the yard and in the living room, this is a huge turnoff for buyers because it gives the impression that you do not care about the existing condition of the home.
Develop A Mortgage Shopping Cart. One of the biggest decisions to make before putting a contract on a home is how to finance the purchase. Lenders aggressively compete for your mortgage business in a variety of ways. Today, you can apply for a loan over the Internet or even use a mortgage broker to shop for your loan with hundreds of lenders. When choosing a lender, compare fixed rates to fixed rates, not fixed rates to ARM’s, etc. Create a chart that lists different types of loans, fees, and at least five mortgage providers (including a mortgage broker). Find more info at Brad Tinker.