Size matters...In your home's value

  Today I am talking about the value of your home and one of the many things that affect that. There are some simple things you can do to make sure you get the most money for your home. Have your home measured by a licensed appraiser before it hits the market. You see the tax man does not measure the home and only takes the builders word for it. I spoke with an appraiser about measuring homes and he said in all the homes that he measured he found that 95% of the homes had a wrong square footage, sometimes by as much as 250 square feet. That would affect the value of the home drastically. If you would like to talk about what you need to do before you list your home to sell just give me a call, 469-835-0540  

Have a great day

P.S. If you want a comparative market analysis of your home then click the link to the right "Whats your home worth"

Appraisal Time Bomb!?

After the appraisal is complete for a government backed secured loan there will be another check on the appraisal report. This check will expand the number of comparable sales and possibly negatively affect the appraised value. As your Realtor it is my job to keep you informed. Take a look at a full explanation here. As with all changes in real estate we will have to wait and see...

Appraisal Time Bomb

Harvard’s 5 Financial Reasons to Buy a Home

November 17, 2014 in For Buyers    

              

Eric Belsky is Managing Director of the Joint Center of Housing Studies at Harvard University. He also currently serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Housing Research and Housing Policy Debate. Last year, he released a paper on homeownership - The Dream Lives On: the Future of Homeownership in America. In his paper, Belsky reveals five financial reasons people should consider buying a home.
Here are the five reasons, each followed by an excerpt from the study:

1.) Housing is typically the one leveraged investment available.

“Few households are interested in borrowing money to buy stocks and bonds and few lenders are willing to lend them the money. As a result, homeownership allows households to amplify any appreciation on the value of their homes by a leverage factor. Even a hefty 20 percent down payment results in a leverage factor of five so that every percentage point rise in the value of the home is a 5 percent return on their equity. With many buyers putting 10 percent or less down, their leverage factor is 10 or more.”

2.) You're paying for housing whether you own or rent. 

“Homeowners pay debt service to pay down their own principal while households that rent pay down the principal of a landlord.”

3.) Owning is usually a form of “forced savings”.

“Since many people have trouble saving and have to make a housing payment one way or the other, owning a home can overcome people’s tendency to defer savings to another day.”

4.) There are substantial tax benefits to owning.

“Homeowners are able to deduct mortgage interest and property taxes from income...On top of all this, capital gains up to $250,000 are excluded from income for single filers and up to $500,000 for married couples if they sell their homes for a gain.”

5.) Owning is a hedge against inflation.

“Housing costs and rents have tended over most time periods to go up at or higher than the rate of inflation, making owning an attractive proposition.”

Bottom Line

We realize that homeownership makes sense for many Americans for an assortment of social and family reasons. It also makes sense financially.

Don't Wait! Move Up to the Home You Always Wanted

Don’t Wait! Move Up to the Home You Always Wanted

Posted: 13 Oct 2014 04:00 AM PDT

Now that the housing market has stabilized, more and more homeowners are considering moving up to the home they have always dreamed of. Prices are still below those of a few years ago and interest rates are still below 5%.

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Don't get priced out of your 'Dream Home'... pay attention to interest rates. #KCM2014
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However, sellers should realize that waiting to make the move while mortgage rates are increasing probably doesn’t make sense. As rates increase, the price of the house you can buy will decrease.

Here is a chart detailing this point:

Best tool on the internet to search for homes with your phone.

Don’t Get Caught in the ‘Renter’s Trap’

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Don’t Get Caught in the ‘Renter’s Trap’ In a recent press release, Zillow stated that the affordability of the nation’s rental inventory is currently much worse than affordability of the country’s home sale inventory. The release revealed two things: 1.    Nationally, renters signing a lease at the end of the second quarter paid 29.5% of their income to rent 2.    U.S. home buyers at the end of the second quarter could expect to pay 15.3% of their incomes to a mortgage on the typical home Furthermore, renters pay more than the average of 24.9% that was paid in the pre-bubble period while buyers actually pay far less than the 22.1% share homeowners devoted to mortgages in the pre-bubble days. Don’t Become Trapped If you are currently renting you could get caught up in a cycle where increasing rents continue to make it impossible for you to save for a necessary down payment. Zillow Chief Economist Dr. Stan Humphries explains: "The affordability of for-sale homes remains strong, which is encouraging for those buyers that can save for a down payment and capitalize on low mortgage interest rates… As rents keep rising, along with interest rates and home values, saving for a down payment and attaining homeownership becomes that much more difficult for millions of current renters.”   Know Your Options Perhaps you already have saved enough to buy your first home. HousingWire recently reported that analysts at Nomura believe: “It’s not that Millennials and other potential homebuyers aren’t qualified in terms of their credit scores or in how much they have saved for their down payment. It’s that they think they’re not qualified or they think that they don’t have a big enough down payment.” (emphasis added) Freddie Mac came out with comments on this exact issue: 1.    A person “can get a conforming, conventional mortgage with a down payment of as little as 5 percent (sometimes with as little as 3 percent coming out of their own pockets)”. 2.    Freddie Mac's purchase of mortgages with down payments under 10 percent more than quadrupled between 2009 and 2013. 3.    More than one in five borrowers who took out conforming, conventional mortgages in 2014 put down 10 percent or less. Bottom Line Don’t get caught in the trap so many renters are currently in. If you are ready and willing to buy a home, find out if you are able. Have a professional help you determine if you are eligible to get a mortgage.

Happy Buyers! Congratulations on your new home!