Your
Heights Home
Welcome once again to our monthly
column on topics relevant to home ownership in our neighborhood. It is hoped
that this column will generate topics from you specific to home ownership and
home investing. My name is Holly Durfee and I will
attempt to answer your inquiries in a question and answer format.
Dear Holly: I have noticed in the paper that the Prime Rate has dropped
twice in the last 2 months. Is it time to consider refinancing? Tammie V.
Dear Tammie V.- Years ago when there were only a few
mortgage products and those all revolved around fixed rates for 30 years, the
answer would come quick. Today, not so fast! You need an expert to assess the
product you have versus the one you are getting into. For some, home equity
line payments have dropped and primary mortgage payments have been unaffected.
For others: vice a versa. Many home loans are not tied to the Prime Rate; they
are tied to the Libor in
Thought this month you might be
interested in a little history of the town you live in.
At the turn of the last century
the southwestern corner of town where we live was a vast wilderness. What few
town residents there were, were settled almost exclusively at the northeastern
corner of town. In 1901, a local family named Ziegler, who lived very near the
new
Schools, like the real estate
market are local. You and I really don’t care to send our small children
to another town for an education any more than we much care about home prices
in towns we don’t live in. Today our children ride a school bus instead
of a school boat yet we still value a sense of community. The Heights is a
vibrant neighborhood in the town of
Market Update: 42 Houses listed for sale with real estate companies, 6
houses under contract.
It is a tough market but every month, at least 3+ houses sell. So
it’s not impossible, you are not trapped. If you are planning to buy
another home after the sale of your present home, the “number” you
get for your house is just a “number” if you are shopping in the
local market or a similar market. If I decide I want to buy down to a smaller
house and my target is to cash out $50,000 from my current house, I need to
look till I find a house, townhouse or condo which will sell for approximately $50,000 less than what
I think I will realistically get for my current house. It really doesn’t
matter what the sale & purchase prices are as long as they are $50,000
apart. If I wanted to move up to a bigger house and I only wanted to finance
$75,000 more than I currently do, I would look for homes I can get into for the
total of: my current equity + my current loan + $75,000. Is this system
perfect? No, it requires almost simultaneous negotiation so you don’t
sell too low and buy too high. However, being too focused on your sale could be
causing you to be unmotivated and not willing to negotiate. Perhaps in
considering this possibility you will come up with other options that will get
the job done sooner.
Till Next month- Happy Holidays.
Holly M. Durfee is a real estate Broker
Associate at RE/