Great News for Home-Buyers! Mortgage Rates Dip Below 4% Threshold

If you have been worrying about interest rates going up and your dream home becoming un-affordable, take heart!

Borrowing costs sank to the lowest amounts in more than a year as the 30-year-fixed rate mortgage averaged 3.97 percent this week. 

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is at its lowest average since the week of June 20, 2013, when it averaged 3.93 percent.

This is how today's rates look as compared to rates last week and at the same time last year:

	This Week	Last Week	A Year Ago
30-year fixed rate	3.97%	4.12%	4.28%
15-year fixed rate	3.18%	3.30%	3.33%
5-year hybrid ARM	2.92%	3.05%	2.42%
1-year ARM	2.38%	2.42%	2.63%

So... should you go ahead and buy a home? Just do it!

Call me at 803-348-9922 or email me at vsashikant@gmail.com for listings in the Columbia/Lexington area.
Source: Realtor Magazine

Help! I'm shopping for a Home.

No problem. Call me today at 803-348-9922 or email me at vsashikant@gmail.com. I'll walk you through the whole process.

Check out all homes for sale in Columbia and Lexington at www.homesincolumbiasc.net

 

For... all Real Estate matters!

5 Reasons to Buy A Home Now Instead of Spring

Based on prices, mortgage rates and soaring rents, there may have never been a better time in real estate history to purchase a home than right now. Here are five major reasons purchasers should consider buying:

Supply Is Shrinking

With inventory declining in many regions, finding a home of your dreams may become more difficult going forward. There are buyers in more and more markets surprised that there is no longer a large assortment of houses to choose from. The best homes in the best locations sell first. Don’t miss the opportunity to get that ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ buy.

Price Increases Are on the Horizon

Prices are projected to appreciate by over 25% from now to 2018. First home buyers will probably pay more both in price and interest rate if they wait until the spring. Even if you are a move-up buyer, it will wind-up costing you more in net dollars as the home you will buy will appreciate at approximately the same rate as the house you are in now.

Owning a Home Helps Create Family Wealth

Whether you are rent or you own the home you are leaving in, you are paying a mortgage. Either you are paying your mortgage or your landlord’s. The Fed, in a recent study, revealed that the net worth of the average homeowner is 30 times greater than that of a renter.

Interest Rates Are Projected to Rise

The Mortgage Bankers Association, the National Association of Realtors, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have all projected that the 30-year mortgage interest rate will be over 5% by the end of 2014. That is an increase of almost one full point over current rates.

Buy Low, Sell High

We would all agree that, when investing, we want to buy at the lowest price possible and hope to sell at the highest price. Housing can create family wealth as long as we follow this simple principle. Today, real estate is selling ‘low’ compared to where it will be next year. It’s time to buy.

Courtesy: Keeping Matters Current.

Men and Women Differ on Home Buying - But You Knew That, Didn't You?

Men are from Mars, women are from Venus — and that couldn't be more true when it comes to home buying. According to Prudential Real Estate's Consumer Outlook Survey, men and women are quite different when it comes to what they value most about home ownership and the process of buying and selling.

 

Here are key differences:

1. Women enjoy the home search more than men - 87 percent of women versus 77 percent of men saying they like looking at homes.
 

2. Women associate home ownership with "pride," "accomplishment," or "independence," while men tend to associate it with "control over living space" and "more space for my family."

 

We may often find ourselves stuck in the middle as agents, but both sexes say they trust us to be the voice of reason and settle any disagreements among couples. 83 percent of survey respondents say their real estate agent was helpful in moderating an agreement, and 86 percent value the agent's point of view as much as — or more than — their partner's.

 

Both sexes cited "honesty" and "knowledgeable" as the most important traits in a real estate agent. 

 

Men and women tend to take on different responsibilities when it comes to home buying, the survey finds. Men take on more of the financial aspects, while women tended to take the lead on planning aspects, such as neighborhood and school research.

 

Nearly 40 percent of men said they researched banks and secured the mortgage; 42 percent of women said it was their responsibility to manage appointments, and 34 percent took the lead in researching neighborhoods. 

 

When it comes to the most important home features, men and women are mostly in agreement. Both genders ranked "safe neighborhood," "overall condition of home," and "number of bedrooms" the highest. 

 

Source: Prudential Real Estate

4 Tips to determine how much Mortgage you can Afford

The most important part of home ownership is affordability – how much can you afford to pay every month as mortgage comfortably? Here are 4 tips to ensure that home ownership will fit in your budget.

1. The general rule of mortgage affordability:

As a rule of thumb, you can typically afford a home priced two to three times your gross income. For example, if you earn $100,000, you can typically afford a home between $200,000 and $300,000.

2. How much can you put down as down payment?

As an example, if you are buying a home for $100,000, and you have $20,000 saved up for down payment, that means you can put down 20% and your loan is for the remaining 80%.

This means that you will not have to pay private mortgage insurance (typically required by all lenders for down payments less than 20%), which may cost hundreds each month.

The lower your down payment, the higher the loan amount you’ll need to qualify for and the higher your monthly mortgage payment.

3. Consider your overall debt:

Lenders generally follow the 28/41 rule.

Simply put:

·        Your monthly mortgage payment (loan principal, interest, taxes and insurance) should not total more than 28% of your gross annual income.
·        Your overall monthly payments for your mortgage plus all your other bills (car loans, utilities, credit cards, other loans) should not exceed 41% of your gross annual income.

Here’s how that works. If your gross annual income is $100,000, multiply by 28% and then divide by 12 months to arrive at a monthly mortgage payment of $2,333 or less. Next, check the total of all your monthly bills including your potential mortgage and make sure they don’t top 41%, or $3,416 in our example.

4. Use your rent as a mortgage guide:

Multiply your current rent by 1.33 to arrive at a rough estimate of a mortgage payment.

For example: If your rent is $1,500 per month, you should be able to comfortably afford a $2,000 monthly mortgage payment.

This is because of the tax benefits of home ownership. However, if you take the standard deduction, you can’t also deduct mortgage interest payments. Talking to a tax adviser, or using a tax software program to do a “what if” tax return, can help you see your tax situation more clearly.

However, if you’re struggling to keep up with your rent, consider what amount would be comfortable and use that for the calculation instead.

If all this math is making your head spin, simply give me a call (M 803-348-9922). I am not a mortgage loan officer, but I have several good friends who are and I can introduce you to them. They will take your details over the phone and pre-qualify you.

You can also check out the mortgage calculator on my website www.homesincolumbiasc.net – plug in the price of home and interest rate (it’s up to 4.68% for a 30-year fixed mortgage) and you’ll get a monthly mortgage payment (principal and interest).

Courtesy: Realtor Magazine

With rising interest rates, how much will you pay for a $150,000 home this year?

2012 will go down in history as the year when interest rates were the lowest ever - 3.5%!!! And if you are still sitting on that fence waiting for the market to bottom out, well... it is time you jumped off.

 

Several things have been happening:

 

1. The number of homes on the market has dwindled. With demand exceeding supply, naturally home prices have gone up. (That's good news for sellers)

 

2. Mortgage interest rates have gone up substantially and in a very short period of time. 

 

How will this impact my buying power? I thought you'd never ask!

 

Let's say you were looking to buy a home for $150,000 and you had saved up enough money for a 20% down payment so that you did not have to have any PMI, then here's what you will be looking at:

 

Price of home: $150,000

Down payment: 20% or $30,000

Type of Mortgage: 30-year fixed

 

 

(Calculations from Realtor.com mortgage calculator)

 

So, in 2013, for the same priced home, you will pay $69.17 more per month! Or... you will have to buy a $133,000 home for the same monthly payment.

 

It has been predicted by experts that interest rates will dip down a little before they go up again and hit 5%!

 

Isn't it time you called me? I can always be reached on my cell phone at 803-348-9922 or email me at vsashikant@gmail.com.

 

Do check out all homes for sale in Columbia and Lexington at www.homesincolumbiasc.net

 

For... all Real Estate matters!