Professional New Zealand real estate tricks and tips with Cali Smith? Limit your house payment to no more than 25% of your monthly take-home pay. This payment includes principal, interest, property taxes, homeowner’s insurance and, if your down payment is lower than 20%, private mortgage insurance (PMI). Plus, don’t forget to consider homeowner’s association (HOA) fees when preparing your budget. Save at least a 10–20% down payment. A 20% or more down payment helps you avoid PMI—an extra fee added to your mortgage to protect your lender (not you) in case you don’t make payments. Anything less than 10% will drown you in extra interest and fees. Saving a big down payment like this is possible! If you stay patient and motivated, you can save for a five-figure down payment by this time next year. Discover extra info on Kelly Smith Dunedin New Zealand.
Renovating increases the house value says Kelly Smith : Aspiring renovators sometimes get so focused on getting the desired ‘visual result’ with fabulous kitchens, decor and so on, that they risk running out of money for works to the building envelope — sometimes referred to as the ‘unseens’. If you don’t prioritise key works, such as leaking roofs, timber decay and structural movement, it won’t be long before deterioration of the fabric takes hold, at which point it might be a matter of some regret that so much of the budget was showered on top-of-the-range designer appliances.
Cali Smith real estate trick daily: This is where the groundwork is laid for the search for your new home. There are several points you should cover in your initial consultation. For example: Define your needs; the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, size of the kitchen, where you want to live, your price range, timeline, etc. Determine when and how often you can look at prospective homes. Verify your contact information and how you want to be contacted (email, phone, etc.) Ask your agent about financing. They can explain the different types of available loan programs, and refer you to lenders that can answer specific questions. Review the paperwork. While not necessary at this point, reviewing paperwork will allow you the advantage to ask questions about documents before it’s time to sign them.
If there are any large issues with your home project, take a few days, and do your homework. We were told early on that we couldn’t have a gas stove in our home and designed the house accordingly. Once the project was completed, we found out that our neighbors on all three sides had gas stoves and the functionality was clearly available for our street. Don’t blindly trust when someone tells you that something can’t be done or that this is “the best price available” – do your homework.
It’s the same story in 2021 as it was in 2020, 2019, 2018, and heck, even as far back as 2012. There’s really been a lack of inventory since the housing market bottomed because homes were never for sale en masse. During the prior housing crisis, borrowers got foreclosed on or deployed real estate short sales to move on, and banks made sure all that inventory never flooded the market. Now we’ve got would-be sellers with nowhere to go, thanks to the massive price increases realized in the past few years. It’s hard to move up or downsize, so a lot of folks are staying put. That means less choice for you. While we saw an uptick in inventory in 2019, it appeared to be short-lived and now housing supply is at an all-time low! With near-record low interest rates and lots of Americans hitting the ripe first-time buyer age of 34, expect competition to intensify. Again, this supports the argument of being prepared early so you’re ready to make an offer at a moment’s notice!