Buy your retirement home now! And move in later.

Dial Down Risk for Retirement

There is certainly no shortage of retirement planning strategies available to individuals who actually take the time to consider them. What most financial experts do agree on is that the closer you are to retirement, the less time you have to recover from a loss. For that reason, many people start dialing down their risk factors as their age increases.

One way to minimize risk is to invest in things that you know and understand. For the majority of homeowners, their largest asset is the equity in their home which they generally have more familiarity than other types of investments.

Buy the home you’d like to retire to today and use it as a rental property. Finance it with a 15 year loan so it will amortize quickly and possibly be paid for at retirement.

Continue living in your current home until you’re ready to move into the home you’ve designated at your retirement home which will not create a taxable event. Prior to moving in, you can rehab the home so that it fits your style and needs exactly.

If you’ve lived in the current home for at least two of the last five years, you can exclude up to $250,000 of gain for single taxpayers and up to $500,000 for married taxpayers. The proceeds could then, be invested for income.

Some of the attractive features of this proposal is that you’re familiar with the operation of a rental due to similarity of owning a home. Most experts agree that home prices will continue to rise and so will rents. The maintenance people that you use for your home can also work on your rental. If you don’t want to deal with tenants that can easily be delegated to a property manager. Low mortgage rates with short terms and high rental values contribute to positive cash flows that will pay for the property.

Obviously, there are many other considerations you’ll want to investigate with your tax and real estate professionals these can get the conversation started.

Do You Need Down Payment Assistance? You May Actually Have it and Don't Realize It.

Saving the down payment may be unnecessarily keeping would-be buyers from getting into a home. They may be unaware that the funds might be available.
The NAR Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers reports that 81% of first-time buyers got all or part of their down payment from savings. Less than 4% said that all or part of the down payment came from a withdrawal in their IRA and 8% from their 401(k) or pension fund. 
Traditional IRAs have a provision for first-time buyers which include anyone who hasn’t owned a home in the previous two years. A person and their spouse, if married, can each withdraw up to $10,000 from their traditional IRA for a first-time home purchase without incurring the 10% early-withdrawal penalty. However, they will have to recognize the withdrawal as income in that tax year. For more information, go to IRS.gov.
Allowable withdrawals from traditional IRAs can be from yourself and your spouse; your or your spouse’s child; your or your spouse’s grandchild or your or your spouse’s parent or ancestor.
Roth IRA owners can withdraw their contributions tax-free and penalty-free at any age for any reason because the contributions were made with post-tax income. After age 59 ½, earnings may be withdrawn as long as the Roth IRA have been in existence for at least five years.
Up to half of the balance of a 401(k) or $50,000, whichever is less, can be borrowed by the owner at any age for any reason without tax or penalty assuming the employer permits it. There can be specific rules for loans from a 401(k) that would determine the repayment; interest is usually charged but goes back into the owner’s account. You can consult with your HR department to find out the specifics.
A risk in borrowing against a 401(k) comes if your employment ends before the loan has been repaid. The loan may have to be repaid as soon as 60 days to keep the loan from being considered a withdrawal and subject to tax and penalty. Even if you continue with the same employer, failure to repay the loan could be considered a withdrawal also.
Your tax professional can provide you specific information on how making a withdrawal from your retirement program might affect you. Additional information can be found on www.IRS.gov.

Prepare Your Credit Score for What You Need.

“It’s not far, if you know the way.” What this expression implies is that you could have a long way to go if you don’t know where you’re going or how to get there. Just like reading a map, there are some definite steps that will improve your success in buying a home in today’s market.

• Know your credit score – the best mortgage rates are available to borrowers with the highest scores. Unless you know what your credit score is at all three major credit bureaus, you don’t really know what rate you’ll have to pay.
• Clean up your credit – it is estimated that about 90% of credit reports have errors. Some are not serious but others could affect a borrower from getting the loan they want. It is your responsibility to know what is on your different reports and correct them if possible. You’re entitled to a free copy of your credit report each year from Experian, Trans Union and Equifax.
• Get pre-approved – Taking the time to make a loan application with a qualified lender even before you start looking at homes will provide peace of mind, make sure that you are looking at the “right” homes and may help you negotiate the best price on the home you select.
• Do your homework – when you find the home that meets your needs and desires, get the home inspected and research the tax assessments, school ratings, crime activity, possible zoning changes and comparable sales in the area. 

Call for a recommendation of a trusted mortgage professional and an inspector.

Tax benefit you or your loves ones should know about.

Special consideration is made by IRS for the sale of a jointly-owned principal residence after the death of a spouse. Surviving spouse may qualify to exclude up to $500,000 of gain instead of the $250,000 exclusion for single people if certain requirements are met.

• The sale needs to take place no more than two years after the date of death of the spouse. 
• Surviving spouse must not have remarried as of the sale date. 
• The home must have been used as a principal residence for two of the last five years prior to the death.  
• The home must have been owned for two of the last five years prior to the death.
• Survivor can count any time when spouse owned the home as time they owned it and any time the home was the spouse’s residence as time when it was their residence.
• Neither spouse may have excluded gain from the sale of another principal residence during the last two years prior to the death.

If you have been widowed in the last two years and have substantial gain in your principal residence, it would be worth investigating the possibilities. Time is a critical factor in qualification. Contact your tax professional for advice about your specific situation. Contact me to find out what your home is worth in today’s market. See IRS Publication 523 – surviving spouse.

Real Estate is in High Demand

Real estate is the overwhelming preferred choice by Americans as identified in a recent survey. With the Dow Jones industrial average reaching record highs, it might be expected that the stock market would be the favored choice but that wasn’t the outcome.
Analysis of the report suggests that the popularity for houses could be that they are tangible assets that you can see where your money is actually invested compared to stocks and bonds which tend to be unclear where the money is invested.
There are several distinct advantages of homes as investments over other popular alternatives.

1. High loan-to-value mortgages available
2. At fixed interest rates
3. For long periods of time
4. On appreciating assets
5. With definite tax advantages
6. And reasonable control.

Another advantage of rental homes is that most people are comfortable with them. It is the same type of property that they live in but used as a rental. They have a tendency to understand the key components such as value, appreciation, rent, maintenance and financing.

Mortgage Rate History

It’s not “if” the rate goes up but “when” the rate goes up; it could make a big difference for some buyers. Freddie Mac predicts that mortgage rates will be at 4.5% a year from now.
If buyers can afford a home with higher interest rates, it means higher payments. Higher payments might mean they won’t have the money to spend on other things like furniture or improvements to the home or an unrelated purchase like a new car.
When the rate moves 0.50% on a $250,000, the payment goes up by $70.66 a month. If it moves 1.00%, the payment goes up by $143.74 per month, each and every month for the entire term of the mortgage which means paying over $50,000 more for the house.
The question facing every borrower in this situation is “How will you feel about having to pay more to live in the same house because you were not ready to commit?”
Then, there’s the borrower who is absolutely maxed out as to what they can qualify for or sometimes, it is a borrower who just refuses to pay a higher payment. When that’s the case, the buyer has to make a larger down payment. In the same example, a 0.50% increase in rate would require $14,873 more in down payment. That could make the purchase impossible or require the buyer to buy a lesser price home that will not have the same amenities.
Mortgage rates have been low for so long that some people think that is what they should be. There are some economists who believe that the economy will not be strong again until mortgage rates are in the 7% range.
To see how this type of scenario might affect you, go to the If the Rate Goes Up calculator.

Real Estate Photos Are Extremely Important

Listing photos may be one of the most important marketing efforts that lead to a potential buyer.
Nearly, all buyers use the Internet during the home search process. They usually start looking at homes online before they contact an agent. It’s far more efficient to screen properties by looking at the pictures that have been posted than to make appointments with each homeowner, drive all over town and waste a lot of time looking at homes that would never meet a buyer’s criteria.

• There needs to be enough pictures of a property to adequately represent the home; most websites allow for at least 24 and more may be needed if it is a large home.
• Take horizontal shots to accommodate the format of most listing websites.
• The pictures should be well-lit so that it is easy to see all of the features of the room. Natural light is preferred over the limitations of flash.
• They should be taken with a wide-angle lens so that you can see the majority of the room in one picture.
• Large rooms can be taken from different angles to give the buyers a different perspective.
• Rooms should be set if not staged prior to taking the pictures so they will give the buyer an idea of what the room might look like with their own things in it.
• Arrange pictures in website to help buyers visualize the floorplan as if walking through it.
• Think about using a tripod; professionals do to absolutely hold the camera still.
• They should definitely not be “photoshopped” to modify factual elements like removing power lines.

Everyone occasionally takes a great picture but it doesn’t make them a photographer. Since the photography can be one of the most important marketing efforts, consider using a professional photographer to show the home to its best advantage.