Once you have purchased your home, your life often changes. Children arrive. College expenses come up. Renovations or improvements are needed. Life happens.
There are many reasons a person may find themselves in need of some cash? Expenses, improvements, investments… some times we need access to cash and now is the time to look at your home differently. When you bought (and financed) your home some time ago, you probably looked at your home as a beautiful place to live, sleep, reside, and raise a family. Now, after you have grown into the home, its time to change the way you look at your home. Yes, it is still a place to live and feel secure. But now is the time to see your home for what it is…The single largest financial asset you may ever own.
Why is it easy to look at your 401k or IRAs as financial assets but not your home? It is an asset and as such, you should treat it as an asset. Now that means taking care of it, but it also means utilizing the asset financially to better yourself. You must be prudent and fiscally smart with it, but you should use it as the asset that it is. So why would you want to refinance a house? There could be many reasons.
You may be on a 30 yr loan now and want to shorten the term so as to reduce the interest you will pay. You may be on a shorter term and need to extend the term so as to alter your cash flow situation (lower payment) There are many ways to change the terms. Ask us and we can discuss your goals and talk about options.
Many scenarios would fit this description… You have a sudden expense. You have college expenses. You have some repairs needed or you want to improve the home. Any of these needs would be a great reason to discuss the option of refinancing.
Are you fully funding your retirement? Should you be doing more but are unable to do so because of cash flow? Could a refinance help with that? Possibly. But just like the choices you make in investing real cash in a 401k or IRA, Making good choices/decisions here are very important.
Be smart, be careful, but most of all, be educated. And that is where we come in. Let us help you navigate the variables before you decide. The first step in this entire process is a simple step. Its very important, but it is simple. It is time to start thinking of your home the way the IRS looks at your home, or the way any savvy business looks at anything it owns… It is a financial resource that you must guard. But you need to view it as a resource and use what it provides.
When meeting with a Financial Advisor/professional, they will usually start a meeting by having you take a brief test. This test will grade your personal “risk tolerance.” And if you ask any good financial planner, they will likely advise you to “diversify” your investments, no matter what level of risk you have chosen. Remember, your home is an investment. It has a value. It has operating costs, but it also can create a “rate of return” for you. Our plan is to help you “determine” your risk tolerance and then offer ideas on how you can maximize your rate of return on the Single Largest Asset you own (Probably. if not first, your home is the second largest asset you own behind your retirement).
Once you have discussed your options and decided a refinance would fit your needs, the next step is to talk with us about how to structure the loan. This is usually determined in large part by what your intended GOAL is. After that, we are ready to help you thru the process.
