Today I wanted to take a step back and begin a discussion about buying a home. Purchasing a home is a very uplifting emotional experience to say the least. What I found in the past is clients would ask me how much they qualify for, I would provide them with a price range, clients would purchase a home near the upper end of the price range, and then as the home appreciated in value, clients would refinance the home during the next 3-5yrs to payout other higher interest rate debt they have accumulated.
What I am seeing today is the price appreciation of the home is not there anymore and the value has either remained unchanged from the purchase price or moved up or down just slightly. Add to this the Federal Government Stress Test on mortgage files has made the qualifying process a bit of a challenge. It appears the end result is that clients are carrying more high interest rate debt than ever before.
I'm wondering if now, more than ever, is the time for home buyers to think more about what they can afford in terms of a mortgage payment and purchase price of a home rather than what is the maximum they can qualify for? Example, if you are renting for $1,200/m now and are not able to save much, even if you qualified for a mortgage payment of $1,400/m which would provide you a higher priced home compared to a mortgage payment on a home for $1,200/m, what is the wise decision?
I would be more than happy to discuss your answer to this question.#TalktoaMortgageBroker #timewellspent #KevinMroczek#experiencecounts