Welcome to 2021!
Now that the holidays are behind us, What's next...
Tax season!
Why should you think about taxes in January - they are not due until April!
One of your largest assets, your home, is also a giant savings account. There are a few ways you can use the equity in your home.
1) Borrow against your equity (Savings) - Take out a home equity loan for repairs, upgrades, or ???. It is a tax deductable event. Interest Rates are very low.
2) Thinking of moving - its a good idea to know the value of your home so you can plan. Where you might want to go might be determined by how much you will have in cash after the sale. Values have gone up so much in the past few years in our area you might be surprised how much your house will sell for. Zillow can give you an idea but the only way to know how much buyers are paying for homes like yours is to have a real estate professional evaluate your home through the eyes of a buyer. The report is free and you can use it for other purposes. Like Estate Planning or day dreaming about a vacation some day when we can travel again safely.
3) Historically Low Interest rates - Interest rates make it less expense for home owners to access the equity in your home but they also make it possible for home buyers to take advantage of maximizing buying power. This fact is driving demand for homes to its highest level I have seen in 20+ years. This is great news for home owners who want to capture that equity before the market turns around. Anyone who has been around for a while knows that markets move in cycles. I am not suggesting the rela estate market is going to crash like it did in 2008. That was driven by "other" forces. The economy is in general in good shape. However what we do not know is what the long term impact of 2020 will be on the economy. I suspect that rental propoerty owners will likely start to have financial issues if they are not already with the government allowing tenants to stop making rent payments with essentially no consequences. If you own rental propeorty and your tenats have been paying their rent regualrly consider yourself really lucky!
What is a Home Valuation - The home valuation is a snap shot of your homes value today based on what a buyer would likely pay for your home. The best thing is that it is FREE.
Knowing your homes value helps you plan for the future and make decisions based on facts and not what the internet might tell you.