Visit Our Website Download Our App

4 Financial Benefits of Owning a Home

Owning a home provides many benefits, and here some some of the key financial advantages homeownership offers.

Looking for a home loan?  Start a mortgage application
Owning a home brings with it many benefits, but there are four specific financial advantages you should know about if you’re thinking of making the jump to homeownership: 
  1. You will have a fixed mortgage cost instead of rental costs that could rise from month to month. This means you won’t have to worry about your landlord deciding to raise your rent and giving you a deadline to start paying it before they find a new renter. 
  2. Owning a home builds equity, which means you can build money over time just by making your monthly mortgage payment and living in your house over the years. This is especially true in our Denver market, which is appreciating at an astronomical rate—some people have been able to gain as much as $80,000 in one year. 
  3. You can build wealth without paying capital gains. 
  4. A mortgage can act as a forced savings account. As you pay your monthly mortgage, some of that goes toward your interest and some of it goes toward paying down the balance. Over time, though, you’re paying off your house, and that acts as a savings account. 
Owning a home gives you more opportunities to make more money.
Overall, homeowners can put themselves into a better wealth category because you’re giving yourself more opportunity to make money. Studies have shown that people who own homes have 45x greater wealth than those who rent. This makes all the sense in the world to me because I equate renting with taking your money and flushing it down the toilet. 

Some people claim that renting eliminates certain other costs like paying taxes or making repairs to the property, but don’t be fooled into thinking that renting is cheaper. You can be sure that landlords add those kinds of costs into the overall rent. 

The bottom line is that owning a home has always been a better option than renting. If you have any questions about the benefits of homeownership or you’re thinking about buying or selling a home in our market, don’t hesitate to contact me. I’d love to help you out.
Labels:
Location: Greenwood Village, CO, USA

Separating Mortgage Fact From Fiction

Have you received a letter with an offer that seemed too good to be true? Today I wanted to clear the air to separate fact from fiction when it comes to these types of offers.

Looking for a home loan?  Start a mortgage application
I'm joined today by VP Regional Underwriting Manager, Scott Strong, to help me separate fact from fiction in the world of mortgages. 

Have you ever received a letter in the mail that says you're pre-approved, pre-selected, don't need an appraisal, and that you can get up to 95% cash out? These are the kinds of things we want to discuss to help keep you from wasting your time and having your credit pulled unnecessarily. 

We're currently not aware of any FHA or conventional loans that offer cash out up to 95% of appraised value. It's simply fake! Now, some programs will allow you to bypass an appraisal. FHA loans typically streamline, so you don't need an appraisal, but not all loans are like this. When you do a streamline, there are costs associated with it. 
There's no such thing as getting something for nothing.
When you see 'zero closing cost options available,' know that there are actually some. However, this typically happens on a case-by-case basis, so you need to meet with your Loan Officer. It doesn't really have anything to do with underwriting. The same typically goes when you see something like 'no application fees.'

I always tell my clients that there's no such thing as getting something for nothing. Somewhere along the line in a loan, you're going to pay for it. I don't want anything to be hidden from clients, so I want you to be very well informed. We don't want you to get suckered into a bad deal for lack of asking the right questions—talk to your loan professional to get the facts.

If you have any questions I can help you with, please don't hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I'd be happy to help however I can. 
Labels:
Location: Greenwood Village, CO, USA

Why Work With Fairway Independent Mortgage?

Why work with my team at Fairway Independent Mortgage? I could give you thousands of reasons, but today I wanted to focus on some of the biggest benefits you'll see by working with us.

Looking for a home loan?  Start a mortgage application
Why use Fairway Independent Mortgage? There are thousands of reasons I could tell you, but today I wanted to focus on some of the most important ones.

  1. Ease of transaction: Dealing with lenders and banks can be tough because of all the documentation you have to deal with and the fact that sometimes, there's just no communication. With our team, we care about you and we know what it feels like to be on the other side of it. 
  2. In-house underwriting: Out of 502 branches of Fairway, our team has a designated regional underwriter in-house with a team of six people. If we have a question, we don't have to send it to Wisconsin or anything; we can just walk down the hall and speak to our underwriters. If you know anything about underwriting and getting loans approved, you know having them in-house is amazing.
  3. We offer a 20-day close guarantee: If you get into a competitive situation and you're dealing with someone who is looking for a buyer who can close fast on the house, we guarantee a 20-day close. If we don't close in 20 days, we offer $100 dollars toward your closing costs for each day after.
    4. If we don't close your loan in 20 days, we'll pay $100 per day extra toward your closing costs.
  4. We have a team: It's not just me trying to do everything; we have a team of six people who will guide you on the path to homeownership. It's a journey that changes, which means you need guides.
  5. Over-the-top service: We're not satisfied unless you're satisfied. If we have to work late or be here early to ensure your deal is done, we will. We won't sacrifice service on any loan. We want to be the team that you refer to family and friends.
  6. I'm a military mortgage specialist: I'm very good at VA loans and I love helping our veterans out, and I've also become a reverse mortgage specialist. That means I can help seniors make better choices with their homes to give them a better life. We also support the American Warrior Initiative, and I personally support C-CORP, which helps people who need food in our community. A percentage of each loan I close goes to each of the charities I support because I believe in them wholeheartedly. 

If you have any other questions about why you should work with us, I could talk to you for hours. Just give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to helping you!
Labels:
Location: Greenwood Village, CO, USA

How Our New Mobile App Makes Your Life Easier

We’ve launched a new mobile app that will benefit both our clients and our real estate partners. Here’s how you can benefit by downloading it.

Looking for a home loan?  Start a mortgage application
Have you heard the exciting news? We’ve just recently launched our new Fairway Now mobile app.

It’s our goal to give our clients the best experience possible and give our real estate partners the best tools to help their clients. With the release of this app, we’re doing both.

If you’re one of our real estate partners, you can enhance client relationships, stay ahead of the competition, and increase the speed of your transactions. This app reduces the time it takes to close a loan by 20% by being able to take pictures of your loan documents and allowing your clients to communicate with us anytime, anyplace. This app also offers a co-branding option which allows you to stay in front of your clients and gives them your information anytime they need it. 
Imagine what this app can do for you
In today’s environment, homebuyers demand a robust mobile experience. If you’re a homebuyer, here’s what you can expect to be able to do:

  • Apply for a loan in less than 10 minutes without the use of a computer.
  • Track your loan progress with real time push notifications.
  • One-click call or text your loan officer or real estate agent.
  • Scan documents securely by taking a picture with your smartphone.
  • Calculate realistic monthly payments with calculators that I provide.

This game-changing app will take us to the next level. We already close loans in 20 days or less—imagine what this app can do for you. 

To download this app, simply click this link and follow the instructions. 

If you have any questions about this app or have an idea for our next video blog, feel free to call, email, or text me. I look forward to giving you the information you need. 
Labels:
Location: Greenwood Village, CO, USA

What to Expect From the 2017 Real Estate Market


What will happen in the 2017 real estate market? No one has a crystal ball, but I do have a few predictions to share with you today.

Looking for a home loan?  Start a mortgage application

 What can you expect from the 2017 real estate market?

One thing that you can count on is that interest rates will go up this year. Since 2010, we have been in a marketplace where you can borrow discounted money, so plan on rates going up a bit. That said, back in 1982, interest rates were at 17%, so going from 3.8% to 4.1% is not a big deal. That is just a $60 increase in your monthly payment, so relax and focus on your home buying process.

The good news is that areas like Denver, Dallas, Florida, Washington, and Oregon will see great appreciation this year. When I say great appreciation, I mean anywhere from 8% to 10%. This is great news for those who already own homes and those who are entering the market.

Home prices still have room to grow. Due to some of the great changes in the mortgage industry, we are not in a housing bubble like we were back in 2007. These days, Fido the dog cannot get approved for a mortgage, so we won’t hit the major, crazy bubble that everyone is worried about.
We are not approaching another crazy real estate bubble.
Now, we saw some of this last year but in 2017, millennials will hit the real estate market in a major way. They have been saving money, studying the home buying process, and figuring out what they need to do in order to successfully purchase a home.

One great thing about working with millennials is that they are incredibly tech savvy. They are downloading apps, like mine, to search for homes. They can even download, sign, and submit documents directly to me so that I can send them a pre-approval right away. Many home buyers can learn a lot from millennials.

If you have any other questions about the 2017 real estate market or if you are interested in my app, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I would be happy to help you!
Labels:
Location: Greenwood Village, CO, USA

5 Habits to Start Now if You Want to Buy a Home in 2017

If you want to buy a home in 2017, here are the five habits you need to develop right now.

Looking for a home loan?  Start a mortgage application

What are the five best habits you need to start now to buy a home in 2017?

1. Automate your savings. The best way to save money is to not see it. It’s just like having a 401(k) plan or insurance plan that withdraws from your check automatically—if you don’t see it, you won’t spend it. 

2. Pay attention to your credit—keep it clean or build it up. If you need to build it up, a loan officer should be able to tell you what to do, whether that involves keeping your balances low or making your payments on time. As stated above, a great way to make your payments on time is to automate them.

3. Live on a budget. This can be a tough one for some folks, but if you don’t know how to limit your finances, there’s no way you’re ever going to save for a house.


“
The best way to save money is to not see it.

”


4. Learn how to fix things around the house. If you don’t know how to be your own handyman, start studying. When you buy your home—even if it’s brand new—I guarantee that there will be a ton of things you’ll need to fix yourself. 

5. Be prepared to pounce. In other words, be ready to make an offer! The only way to do that is by having everything in order. Start working with your loan officer to determine what you’re qualified for. Know everything you need to make your offer the one that’s going to be taken. In our market, you’ll need to be prepared. 

If you have any questions about this topic or are interested in buying or selling, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’d be happy to help. 
Labels:
Location: Greenwood Village, CO, USA
Subscribe to: Comments ( Atom )