If home prices in your area are rising and you’re worrying about ever becoming a homeowner, stop and think.

Remember all the families who lost their homes after the real estate bubble burst? Many of them were in over their heads, simply because they got in a panic and purchased when they should have waited.

So what should you do? First, consider your options. To do that, you need to evaluate your financial position as it stands today.

Look at how much you have saved and how much you have coming in each month.

The safest, least expensive way to purchase a home with a mortgage is to make a down payment of 20% of the purchase price. That eliminates the need for mortgage insurance and lowers your monthly payment. You can get a loan with as little as 3% down – but should you?

After making a down payment, you should have reserve funds to cover not only closing costs and moving expenses, but unexpected repairs to your new house. Things do happen.

The rule of thumb is that you should spend no more than 25% of your monthly take-home pay on your mortgage payment. Whether you should spend that much depends upon your income and your other obligations. Remember also that you should continue putting money aside – for home maintenance and for your future.

Remember that when a lender qualifies you for a specific amount, he or she doesn’t know your lifestyle and doesn’t know about your family obligations. Use your own common sense and good judgement.

Now that you’ve looked at your situation – should you (or can you) buy the home of your dreams right now?

If the answer is no, consider these three options:

First and most obvious – keep saving.

Make sure you and your spouse are in agreement, then work to pay off any outstanding debts and put more away toward your down payment.

At the same time, work on ways to increase your own income. With a bit of extra effort could you get a promotion and a raise in pay? Do you have a side business you could spend more time on and cause it to grow? Could you take a second job part-time to gain those down payment funds?

How about reducing the outlay? Would it be worth skipping that concert or dinner out to put an extra $200 in the down payment fund? Do you really need that new swimsuit this season? Can you live without those new shoes, a new golf club, or the latest iPad?

A few lifestyle changes can build that fund faster than you might think.

If you’re determined to buy now…

Re- think what you really must have.

REALTORS® today report that most buyers – even first-time buyers – are looking for homes that appear sparkling new. They want move-in ready, with all the latest upgrades including commercial kitchen equipment in nz. They want fresh paint, new flooring, and a landscaped yard.

As a result, there’s extreme demand for houses that fit the description. Quite often there are bidding wars and the selling prices rise beyond the asking prices.

Meanwhile, perfectly good homes that need a little work are often ignored – and their prices reflect it.

For the difference in the price – and in your monthly mortgage payment – you could afford to make those upgrades yourself, a little at a time. The bonus to that is you’d be the one choosing the materials and colors, and the house would become uniquely yours.

Follow these guidelines to make a smart investment in a “less than perfect” home:

• Choose a neighborhood with rising values
• Look for a neighborhood with good schools – even if you don’t have children
• Buy the least expensive house in the best neighborhood you can afford
• Get a home inspection to make sure there are no major repair expenses lurking behind the walls, ceilings, or floors.

Choose a real estate agent who understands your goal and will work with you to achieve it.

Finally, widen your search.

Talk with your real estate professional about prices in various areas. Naturally you’ll need to consider travel time and expense to work, but it may save you big dollars to buy in the suburbs rather than the city.

This is especially true if property taxes within the city are high.

In some cases, the reverse is true. So ask your agent: “Is it cheaper to own a home in the city or the suburbs?”

And – what if you chose an entirely different city? Does your employment offer opportunities for relocation? If not, would your skills make it easy for you to find new employment somewhere else?

Housing in the top metro areas in the U.S. is going up in price due to low inventory levels. Other cities which might be just as attractive to you and yours still have affordable prices.

Choose a real estate pro to help make your housing dreams come true.

Now is not the time to take pity on a struggling agent – it’s the time to choose someone with experience and the skills to help you achieve your goals.

• Look for an agent who knows the market and will share his or her knowledge with you – so you know which areas are improving, which are declining, and which offer the best buys.
• Look for an agent with proven negotiating skills.
• Look for an agent with strong connections in the industry – he or she is the one who knows about properties even before they are offered to the general public.
• Look for an agent who can and will explain every detail of a contract to you, who will answer your calls promptly, and who will monitor your transaction from offer through closing.
• Look for an agent who will take pride and pleasure in handing you the keys to your new home.

Talking with a lender is a wise first move…

If you’re ready to learn your current homebuyer status, contact the Mike Clover group at Homewood Mortgage.

We’ll be happy to go over your finances with you and let you know what you qualify for today. If it turns out that the time is right, we’ll get you pre-approved so you can move forward with confidence. We’ll even give you a list of experienced, enthusiastic REALTORS® if you haven’t already made your choice.

Call the Mike Clover Group at 800-223-7409

Mortgage Banker

Getting a mortgage loan isn’t mysterious, but it is a step by step process.

Step one: Shop for your mortgage.

All loans and all lenders are not alike. They offer different interest rates, different closing costs, and different terms.  In addition, some lenders are attentive to your needs, keep you fully informed, and assist you in fixing any flaws in your application or your credit rating. Others are not.

So choose your lender and learn about the different loan programs as your first step toward home ownership.

Step two: Get mortgage pre-approval.

One of the biggest mistakes potential home buyers make is finding a home before finding a mortgage.

This is a huge mistake because in today’s market, it means those homebuyers will likely lose out on their first choice. Most sellers today aren’t willing to wait until NorCal Home Buyers find a lender and become approved for a mortgage loan.

Note that pre-approval is far different from pre-qualification. Pre-qualification can happen with a phone call – and it means nothing.

During the pre-approval process your lender will check your credit, verify your debts, income, and employment, and do preliminary underwriting. To apply for pre-approval, you’ll need to provide the lender with the same information as you would if you were ready to purchase immediately.

What you’ll need to provide? Austin Tenant Advisors has the answers:

• Pay-stubs for the past 30 days, showing year-to-date income
• Two years of W-2 forms from your employer or employers
• Two years of federal tax returns
• Two months’ statements or a quarterly statement of all your checking and savings accounts, as well as any CD’s, IRA’s, stocks, or bonds.
• A list of all real estate currently owned.
• Two years’ history of your current home mortgage – or two years’ information on your status as a tenant, including the name and contact information for your landlord.
• If your down payment is coming from your parents as a gift, you’ll need to provide a letter that clearly states the money is a gift, not a loan.

Step 3: Go find that home!

Once you’re approved and know how much you can spend, go find that home. Choose a buyer’s agent who will guide you to homes you can afford and who will advise you about making reasonable offers.

Once you come to an agreement with a home seller, notify your lender and take him or her a copy of your purchase agreement.

You may want to pause at this point for a home inspection, since the results might lead to a re-negotiation or cause you to change your mind entirely.

Once you’re sure you’re ready to go forward, your lender will order an appraisal, just to make sure that the collateral you’ll be offering for your mortgage loan has enough value to cover your outstanding balance.

The appraiser will look the house over thoroughly, then compare it to similar homes that have sold recently in the same or similar neighborhoods. When the real estate agents have done a good job at pricing, the appraiser’s value will be very close to the price you’ve agreed to pay.

However, markets do change, so the appraisal could come in higher or lower. If it’s higher, congratulations, you’ve just gotten some instant equity. If it’s lower, you and the seller will have three choices:

• Challenge the appraisal or get a second opinion.
• Reduce the selling price.
• Cancel the agreement.

If you want any form of assistance in finding the right home for you based on your need, then click on the following URL – https://www.us-florida-property-management.com/.

The final steps: A title report and a last-minute check on your eligibility

When you purchase a home you “take title” to that home and it becomes the collateral in case you should default on the loan. Naturally, the bank needs proof that you will have clear ownership.

A title report starts with proof that the seller has the right to transfer the title to you and that there are no clouds on the title. A cloud could be an unpaid lien for work performed on the house, a tax lien, a claim of ownership from a 3^rd party, or any number of other problems.

The title company, after doing a complete records search, will issue title insurance wherein they assume the liability for claims they may have missed during the search. You will pay for a title insurance policy that covers the lender. The seller will pay for a policy protecting you (which is not required but is recommended).

Make sure to get the insurance papers read by expert attorneys from law firms such as Cohen Law Group just to make sure that there are no loopholes or additional clauses in it that may entitle you to pay any form of additional money in the future.

And finally – the last-minute check on you.

Many a buyer has found his or her hopes of home ownership dashed at the last minute because they didn’t listen to their lender and their agent when they said “Do nothing to change your financial status until after your loan has closed and funded.”

We’ve seen buyers purchase a new car or new furniture, obtain a new credit card, make reservations for a dream vacation, empty out a savings account, co-sign a loan for a family member, change jobs, or quit their job – just days before their loan was scheduled to close. As a result, their financial status changed and they were no longer eligible for the loan.

Do you want to buy a home?

If you’re not sure whether your credit rating and income will allow you to purchase, get in touch with us at Homewood Mortgage – the Mike Clover Group. We’ll be glad to answer your questions and do a pre-approval to let you know exactly where you stand.

Call the Mike Clover Group at 800-223-7409.

A Federal Reserve survey showed that nearly half of all Americans could not cover a $400 emergency without borrowing from someone, selling something, or putting the expense on a credit card.

That means that nearly half of all Americans aren’t saving any money.

Why aren’t Americans saving?

There are two primary reasons:

• They aren’t earning enough to do more than cover basic needs.
• Saving isn’t as important to them as instant gratification. It simply isn’t a priority.

It’s true that some folks barely earn enough to put a roof over their heads and food on the table. Some of them are getting by through careful spending and some are going farther into debt on credit cards each month.

Far more Americans do earn enough to save, but it isn’t a priority. They’d rather go out to dinner and a movie, buy new clothes, own the latest iPhone, or drive a new car.

It really isn’t safe to live that way, because those $400 – or $4,000 – emergencies do come along. When you have no money set aside, you are forced to borrow, usually on high-interest credit cards. And then the spiral into crippling debt begins.

And what about those future expenditures? Your savings can have any purpose you wish – retirement, college for the kids, a down payment on a home – or a bigger home, a new car, or a dream vacation.

You know you need to save, but how?

You might think you don’t earn enough money to begin saving, but the odds are – you do. The secret to finding that money is budgeting.

Have you heard of zero-based budgeting?

A zero-based budget is one in which your income minus your outgo equals zero. You plan how you will spend every last dollar.

Begin with those fixed expenses such as housing, insurance, and the power bill. Then include a figure for necessary spending, such as food and gasoline. Next assign an amount to savings before you decide how the remainder will be spent. And do decide. Assign a purpose to every one of those dollars.

That doesn’t mean you must spend it all – if your budget allows $200 for new clothes and you decide you don’t really need them, you have more to add to savings – perhaps for some more enticing purchase in the future.

Making a budget sounds intimidating, but it really isn’t. Money-guru Dave Ramsey  says his favorite budget app is Every Dollar. The Every Dollar program prompts you to remember all of those miscellaneous expenditures, so you don’t forget a thing. With it you can set up your money plan in about 10 minutes. The basic program is free, so there’s no reason not to get started today.

You can also take advantage of a free trial that connects to your bank account and uploads your transactions. It also lets you track your expenditures on the go, so you won’t be tempted to exceed your budget in any category.

It’s never too late to take control of your money – and the sooner you do take control, the sooner you’ll have more money to control.

Myth #1: I don’t need to budget because I keep track of what I’m spending.

Keeping track of what you’ve spent is looking backwards. Making a budget is looking forward – it’s planning ahead so you’ll have money later for things you want to do or have.

Looking back at how you’ve spent your money is a good first step in preparing a budget. You can see where you spend the most and where you might exert a little control over your spending in order to save for a vacation, a down payment on a house – or retirement.

Myth #2: I’m too young to be concerned about retirement.

No, if you’re out in the world, working for a living, you are not too young. The truth is, the younger you are when you start, the easier it will be.

Step one: Get out of debt.

Step two: Create an emergency fund of three to six months’ worth of living expenses.

Step three: Look into retirement plans, putting money into IRA’s, etc.

Myth #3: Unless you have extremely wealthy parents who will pay your way, student loans are necessary to go to college.

The truth is, you absolutely can get a college education without going into debt. It’s not easy, but it will be worth the effort to begin your working life without that burden.

Look into college-specific aids and grants or federal and state grants. Work hard and earn scholarships. Get a part-time job during the school year and work full-time during the summer.

Myth #4: Car payments are simply a way of life.

No, they’re not. Driving a new car is a luxury and a status symbol – not a necessity. According to Experian Automotive, the average car payment today is $500 per month – which means $6,000 per year to own an “asset” that loses value each and every month.

For $6,000 you can buy a nice used car – one that will get you where you want to go just as easily as a $40,000 SUV.

A friend of mine told about wanting to trade-in her car that still had a year or two left on the payments. Even though she’d gotten a low interest rate, the car dealers all told her the car would “never be worth what you owe.” She decided to prove them wrong, and kept driving it for a couple of years after it was paid off. It was still worth several thousand dollars.

Myth #5: Debt is a tool.

This is a truth for some people, but a myth for most. Entrepreneurs who use debt to acquire assets that appreciate in value and generate a cash flow do use it as a tool. This is only after doing all the calculations – and sometimes even then they make a mistake.

Myth #6: Credit Cards are always evil.

No, not at all. Credit cards CAN be a tool and can even save you money, IF you use them correctly.

Credit cards can be a tool for bookkeeping, as they keep track of all your expenditures. Some even send you a year-end report categorizing all those expenditures. As long as they are paid in full each month, they’re a good tool.

Get a credit card with a good cash rewards program; use it for everyday expenses such as groceries and gasoline – then pay the bill in full each month. In a few months’ time you’ll have substantial cash coming back – which you can deposit directly into a savings or retirement account.

They can also be a safety net for times when an unexpected but necessary expense comes along – say when the furnace blows up and the temperature outside is ten degrees.

Credit cards are evil when mis-used.

When used for non-necessary expenses and you carry a balance from month to month, they’re a tool of destruction, eroding your income through interest charges.

Thousands of people overspend each Christmas, then make payments throughout the year on the gifts they gave. Go back to Myth #1 and make a budget. Put away enough each month to pay for those gifts as you buy them and you’ll save hundreds of dollars in interest charges each year.

Myth #7: Loaning money to family members is a duty or an obligation – and it shows you care.

The truth is – lending money to family members is a terrible idea. Quite often it doesn’t get paid back, and it does nothing but cause hard feelings.

A friend of mine told about lending her brother-in-law $1,200, which he never repaid. Did she and her husband feel resentful when the brother bought a new car, took an expensive vacation, or wined and dined his girlfriends every Saturday night? You bet they did. That loan caused a permanent rift between the brothers. They haven’t even spoken to each other in twenty years.

If a family member needs help and you can afford to provide it, make the money a gift.

Avoid the money myths and manage your money wisely – your future will thank you!

Mortgage Banker

Homewood Mortgage,LLC

O: 469.621.8484

C: 469.438.5587

F: 972.767.4370

18170 Dallas Parkway

Ste. 304

Dallas, TX 75287

NMLS# 234770

When you offer your home for sale you want the highest selling price possible, right?

National Association of REALTORS surveys show that buyers will pay from 1% to 5% more for a house that’s been staged.

Why would they do that? Most likely because when a home has been  staged they can see its full potential. They can envision their own furnishings in the home and can imagine themselves living there. That’s nearly impossible to do when a house is over-full, cluttered, or overly reflective of the current owner’s individual style and tastes.

In addition, many of today’s buyers want a home that’s move-in-ready. They don’t want to clean, paint, or do any fix-up. Just call New Zealand Van Lines Ltd and move right away.

Related posts: best cheap roomba alternatives.
What should I do before sell my house fast orlando?

Here are 6 ways you can make your home appeal to the widest variety of home buyers:

One: De-clutter relentlessly. Pack up all your off-season clothing, toys, and tools and put them in storage. Then attack your linen closets, kitchen cupboards, and other storage spaces – both in the home and the garage. Think about the new garage door installation, if required.

Keep only the things you use regularly. Store the things you want to keep for later use and donate the rest. While you’re at it, get rid of all those dried-up cans of paint, empty containers, and anything else that should have been put in the trash long ago.

Do you have too much furniture or furniture you never use? Either donate it or put it in storage.

Organize and put away everything you have left. Follow the old saw “A place for everything and everything in its place.”

Cost: Zero, unless you hire someone to help or have to pay a dump fee.

Two: Clean everything – from the floor to the ceiling. Get that vacuum out and attack the whole house, including the corners, then scrub all the “scrubbable” surfaces. Wash or dry clean the curtains/drapes. Shampoo the carpets and upholstered furniture. Use a good wood cleaner such as Murphy’s Oil Soap on varnished wood furniture.

Thorough cleaning is a huge job, so you might want to invest in help for a day or two. At an estimated $15 per hour for cleaning services, it’s well worth the cost.

Cost: That depends upon the size of your house and how much of the work you’ll do yourself.

Three: Neutralize. Your decorating flair might be a bit too extreme for most buyers, especially if you lean toward dark colors or a different color in every room. Buy light coloured roller blinds for the windows to make the rooms feel larger. Re-paint the rooms in one of this season’s most popular neutrals. While white is making a comeback, soft greys, pale blues, and pale sage are also considered neutral today.

Cost: Of course it depends upon the size of your house and how many rooms need a new coat of paint and new blinds. Roller blinds cost about $30 per window and one gallon, which should cover about 400 square feet, costs from $30 to $40 per gallon. However, if you plan ahead and watch for sales at the major hardware chains, it’s sometimes on sale at two for the price of one. Roller blinds cost about $30 per window

Four: Now that you’ve de-cluttered and repainted, take a long hard look at your spaces. First, re-arrange the furniture you’re keeping in the house. Then reclaim areas of the house that had been turned into toy repositories or catch-all spaces. What’s the “highest and best use” of those newly open spaces? Stage them to suggest those purposes.

Cost: Zero, unless you hire a stager.

Five: Turn the master bedroom into an inviting, relaxing retreat. Move out the exercise equipment. Purchase a new comforter set, curtains, and perhaps matching lamps for the nightstands. Make the master bath look like a spa with huge, fluffy towels, matching bath rugs and shower curtain, and a silk flower arrangement. Switch out your out-dated faucet and drawer/cabinet pulls. Visit the following to more from Shower-Enclosure.org how you can improve your bathing experience.

Cost: This will depend upon your taste and your shopping acumen. But remember, that comforter and those towels, bath rugs, etc. will be going with you to your next home. You should be able to replace the faucet and drawer/cabinet pulls for well under $150.

Six: Wow them with curb appeal. Rent a power washer and clean the whole house. Then repaint the doors and any window/door trim that is cracked or peeling. If your porch light is sadly dated, replace it with one of the new styles.

Invest in a new, cheerful door mat and arrange some pots of brightly colored flowers near the front entry.

Finish the job by mowing the lawn, trimming the hedges, weeding the flower beds, and applying a fresh layer of mulch.

Cost: Rent a power washer for about $60 per day. A gallon of paint is approximately $30. A new porch light should run $40 to $60, and a bag of mulch is about $30.

As you’ve seen, making your house show-ready takes more effort than expense, but you should be able to complete any of these projects in 3 days or less and $300 or less.

Before you decide where you spend your money, consult with your real estate professional. He or she will be able to tell you what today’s buyers are looking for and thus direct you to the most profitable projects.

Read related: Solar Panel Installation From NRG Upgrade.

Most wealthy people invest in real estate – not just homes for themselves and their families, but investment properties, both residential and commercial.

Then, they take advantage of tax strategies that many don’t even know exist. Here are just a few of their money-saving tax strategies.

Nothing is entirely personal.

Smart investors who own vacation properties turn them into rental properties when not in use. This allows them to deduct the ordinary expenses of owing a home: taxes, insurance, repairs, and mortgage interest. Once you need to sell this property quickly, it is possible to look for some local companies, like Coastal House Savers, that can buy it fast and pay the full cost at once. If you’re in the UK, TheAdvisory has a brilliant article on selling your home quickly as well.

They also take advantage of “safe harbors” when it comes to deductions. Under the rules, a capital improvement of more than $2,500 must be added to the cost of the property and depreciated out over the life of the improvement. Therefore, if a roof replacement costs $4,500, only 1/25 could be deducted each year.

According to the guidelines publish by a real estate brokerage Sea Pines, it would appear that under “safe harbor” the owner can instead break that replacement out into its components: labor and materials and deduct up to $2,500 of each. If materials are $2,400 and labor is $2,100, the owner gets to deduct the entire amount as an expense in the year incurred.

Caution: You do need a tax expert helping you with this one, because there are rules to follow if you personally use the property for more than 14 days during the year.

Depreciation.

Just as a trucking company can depreciate the cost of their vehicles over time, investment property owners can depreciate the cost of their real estate holdings. (Buildings only, not land.)

The IRS judges the life of a single family home to be 27.5 years, often providing a deduction that exceeds the rental income. Non-residential rental property is depreciated over 39 years.

Here’s how it works: Say you purchase a rental home for $200,000, and after deducting mortgage payments and other expenses, you realize a cash flow of $12,000. According to the IRS the depreciation deduction should be about $16,000 for the first few years, so you end up showing a tax loss of $4,000 to offset your other income for the year.

Note that depreciation does involve some specific calculations, so you do need your tax accountant.

Also read: The Appeal of the Semi-Custom Home and Seller Lead Hacks.

The interesting thing about depreciation is that as long as you maintain the property, it is only a “paper loss.” The IRS calculates that the property will have no value after 27.5 years, while in truth it will most probably be worth far more than you paid for it.

That could be a problem, were it not for the 1031 exchange.

When it’s time to sell that property, the gains you made through depreciation could come back to bite you through capital gains tax – if not for the 1031 exchange.

Trending: Condos for sale in Toronto.

Under this rule, you can sell your investment property at a profit and move the proceeds directly into another property while deferring the tax liability.

The rules for a 1031 exchange are strict, so this is a move that needs to be planned well in advance. After selling your initial property you must leave the proceeds with a qualified intermediary while you identify the replacement property, which must be of equal or greater value. You have 90 days in which to identify the replacement – not 91! Then you must close on that purchase within 180 days.

The benefits lie in following the rules – you don’t personally touch that money from the sale and you absolutely adhere to the deadlines.

Your heirs will benefit.

When you pass away the property you leave will be valued as of the day of your death, not as of the day you purchased it. Thus, your heirs will be able to sell that property for full value without paying capital gains tax.

There are more than one ways to ensure that your heir benefits out of your property. One such way is to repair and replace damaged roof of your house so that your heir do not have to fret over them. Contact a residential roofing company in Aurora CO to get essential roof repairs done at affordable prices.

Need some cash to make a down payment on another investment?

Take out a Home Equity Line of Credit on your appreciated investment property. You pay no income tax on the money you borrow, and you can keep on growing your investment Philippines portfolio.

The Tax Benefits of Purchasing a Home

You know that owning your home gives you freedoms you don’t have as a tenant. You also know that when you make payments on your home you’re building a financial nest egg in the form of equity – and when you pay rent you’re building that nest egg for a landlord.

Did you know that owning your home can also reduce the number of dollars you pay in Federal and State income taxes? It does so by giving you six different Schedule A deductions.

– Read related: How Do I Sell My San Antonio Home Fast?

The first and largest deductions are mortgage interest and interest on a home equity line of credit, if the money was used to make improvements or repairs to your home. Because of the way these loans are amortized, the first few years you’re paying almost all interest, so this deduction is most valuable to you in the first years after your home purchase (or refinance).

Non-homeowners often don’t itemize their income tax deductions, opting instead to take the standard deduction because their other deductible expenses are less. (This year, the standard deduction for a married couple under 65 years of age is $12,600.)

Your end-of-year mortgage statement will tell you how much you paid in interest in 2016. Your Home Equity Line of Credit lender will send a similar statement.

Even if these two together don’t add up to the standard deduction, don’t stop here. There are more deductions…

Your property taxes. These are often paid by your lender through an escrow account, so take another look at that year end statement to see how much was paid in 2016. Add that amount to the interest you paid.

Private mortgage insurance. If you put less than 20% down when you purchased your home, you’re probably paying for private mortgage insurance (PMI). This costs from 0.3% to 1.15 of your mortgage balance, so check that statement yet again. How much will you save? Every situation is a little bit different, but as an example: If you make $100,000 per year and made a 5% down payment on your $200,000 home, you’re paying about $1,500 per year – and this year it’s still deductible. This deduction is set to expire, so unless Congress renews it, 2016 is the last year for this deduction.

Home Improvements to Age in Place or accommodate a handicapped family member. Should you need to install a wheelchair ramp or grab bars, widen a doorway or hall, lower cabinets, install wheelchair accessible fixtures, modify door hardware, or even grade the exterior ground to allow access for yourself, your spouse, or a dependent, you can deduct the amount by which the cost of the improvements exceeds the increase in your home’s value. Consult with your REALTOR® and/or a local appraiser to determine this value.

The apparent “catch” to this deduction is that you must reduce your deduction by 10% of your adjusted gross income (or 7.5% if you’re over 65). However, they don’t stand alone. These expenses are added to those for doctors, dentists, medications, health insurance, and even travel to and from your medical providers.

Energy-efficient upgrades. With the exception of the credit for solar panels, which runs through 2019, this is another deduction that is set to expire with the 2016 tax year. Under the Renewable Energy Efficiency Property Credit, you can claim a credit for up to 30% of the cost of solar panels and wind turbines. You can also claim a tax credit of up to $500 for the installation of new San Diego HVAC systems, energy-efficient windows and storm doors, water heaters, etc. The EZWindowSolutions.com website may be a good solution. This one is an actual credit against the taxes you owe, so read the instructions for IRS form 5695 to see if any improvements you made in 2016 qualify.

Your home office. If you actually do work at home and have a set-aside space in which to do so, you can take a deduction on Schedule C. You can claim up to 300 square feet of your home as office space, as long as you follow the rules. Talk this one over with your tax accountant to be sure you “get it right.”
Schedule C deductions, by the way, are even more fun than itemized deductions on Schedule A. That’s because you’re reducing your business income, and thus reducing the dollars you’ll owe for Self-employment tax.

By the time you add these homeownership deductions to those for medical expenses, charitable contributions, job expenses, and other miscellaneous deductions, owning your home could save you thousands of dollars on April 15.

Mortgage Banker

Just because you missed the rock-bottom interest rates doesn’t mean you shouldn’t consider a refinance. Rates are still historically low, so you can potentially put hundreds of dollars back in your pocket each month.

But… you need to be careful. Responding to an ad in the newspaper, on TV, or in your mailbox could lead you to a refinance rip-off.

First – be skeptical of advertised rates.

No lender can tell you what YOUR rate will be until he or she has checked your credit and verified things such as your employment and your debt to income ratios.

The advertised rates are always best-case scenario – the rates offered to people with excellent credit, breakout trading indicators, a good income, money in the bank, and a nice down payment.

Shop for that loan.

Unless you have absolute faith in your current lender, do shop around. Different lenders have different programs available to them – and different lenders impose different fees.

In fact, some lenders have what are commonly called “junk fees.” These are fees added to pad your closing costs and increase the lender’s profits. They can come wrapped up in “nonrecurring closing costs,” which include processing and underwriting fees, credit reports, title fees, and origination fees.

The bottom line: You need to compare both rates and fees in order to learn the true cost of a refinance. And, unfortunately, you need to check with all your chosen lenders on the same day. This is because rates fluctuate from day to day. If you check with Lender A on Tuesday and don’t apply with Lender B until Friday, you may not be comparing apples to apples.

Has a lender offered you a “No-cost” refinance?

If so, beware. Remember that nothing is really free. Someone has to pay, and in the case of a refinance, that someone will be you.

All it means is that the lender is hiding the fees somewhere else – as in a higher interest rate.

The only way to know which lender is offering you the best deal is to do all the calculations – figure out your total up-front costs, the down payment required, and the monthly payment.

Do explore all your options.

Ask your lender to show you all the programs you qualify for and to show you the merits of each. For instance, if you’re not planning to stay in your home indefinitely, an adjustable rate mortgage might be the best choice because the interest rate will be exceptionally low in the first few years.

And, while a 30-year fixed rate mortgage might be the safest in many ways, if you can afford higher payments, you might save thousands of dollars by choosing a 15-year mortgage. Remember, since a large portion of each payment goes to interest, the payment on a 15-year loan won’t be double the payment on a 30-year loan.

Last but not least – Consider service.

While dollars spent or saved will be your primary concern, service is also important. Choose a lender who will answer all of your questions in detail, return your phone calls promptly, and take the time to help you explore all of your options. Remember that you may need to call the lender with a future issue, so choose someone who is always willing to take time for you and treat you and your money with care and respect.

Don’t ever commit to working with a lender who tries to intimidate you, ignores your calls, brushes aside your questions, or “talks down” to you.

Here at Homewood Mortgage, the Mike Clover Group, we pride ourselves on offering the best rates and terms available in Texas. We enjoy talking with our clients and making sure that you’re fully informed about every detail regarding your mortgage loan. That’s probably why our clients come back again and again – and why real estate agents all over Texas refer clients to us.

So if you’re ready to consider a refinance, get in touch. We’d love to help you explore your options.

Call us at 800-223-7409