Imagine shopping around, from dealer to dealer, for a second car and paying $6,450 for
it. Then, the following week you read on-line that there is a program for a person in your situation where such a car is FREE! You would not have to pay even $1.00 for that car. What would you do? Do you really think that auto dealer is going to refund your money? Do you think any of them will fess up to not knowing about such a program?
This is what I deal with often – not in cars but Veteran’s Benefits. Many so-called VA Lenders fail to ask one simple question of every Veteran. “Do you receive any disability pay from the VA?” The failure to ask that question costs disabled Vets thousands of dollars unnecessarily.
Let’s say a Vet buys a $300,000 home and uses their Eligibility for a no-down VA. If that Vet receives disability pay, he/she does NOT have to pay the “VA Funding Fee”. A first time user of their VA Home Loan benefit has a Funding Fee of 2.15% of the VA Loan amount. So, our $300,000 sales price and VA Loan amount would have a $6,450 Funding Fee as part of the Veteran’s costs. HOWEVER, if the Lender asks that question and does the proper paperwork for the disabled Vet, the Veteran’s Administration will waive that $6,450 VA Funding Fee. Good news for the 267,318 disabled CA vets (3,268,045 nationally).
“It’s who you know that makes all the difference in the world”. That is true. But even if your Uncle Bob is an auto dealer, if he doesn’t know that your situation has benefits we have to tweak the slogan: “It’s not just who you know but what they know that counts”.
Do you know of any such situations? I’d love to hear from you.
‘Houston…the Eagle has landed’. I enjoyed recently the celebration of the Lunar landing. Let’s change the wording to fit our times: “Buyers, we’ve landed, and are now lifting off”.
Home values in San Jose, Morgan Hill, Gilroy, Hollister and San Juan Bautista “have landed” at the bottom of their value slide and are beginning to “lift off” that bottom. We are not going to see these prices again for a very, very long time, if ever again.
Here’s the affect of waiting to buy a home: A home listed today for $350,000 and goes up 5.0% in value will then be worth $367,500. A buyer who waited and then buys this home will need $985 MORE CASH and $268/mth MORE INCOME to qualify for this same home.
If the interest rate is at 6.0% (vs. the 5.0% used above) when the buyer decides to purchase this increased-value-home, their income will need to be $843/mth. HIGHER to qualify!
Some prospective home buyers may be calling out: “Houston, we’ve got a problem“. The erosion of their purchasing power may make them permanent renters.
My crystal ball recommends that those who want to buy a home climb on board NOW while they can. What does yours forcast?
In a Hollister listing interview the inevitable question came up and I gave the answer I have heard myself offer more and more lately.
The question: “How much of a commission do you charge”?
The answer: “If your competing homes for sale are offering 2.5 or 3.0% to the selling office you should offer at least 3.0%. The first sale you need to make is the Selling Agent’s interest in showing your home. You want to do everything possible to encourage those agents to enthusiastically promote your home. If you instruct me to collect a lower commission, half of which goes to the Selling Agent, they will see that lower commission when searching for homes to show their buyers. We want to ENCOURAGE them to show your home. A lower commission being offered by you while competing homes are offering more will be discouraging to them.
“The home will sell itself – once the agent and their prospective buyers actually tour your home. We just need to do all we can to make your home appealing to the prospective buyers AND their agent”.
This answer seems to resonate as a new thought with most sellers and typically the issue is settled. Now! If we could just find a buyer for this nice, upper-end home! Anyone want a producing vineyard and nice home in the Spring Grove Area of Hollister?
Greatly Reduce Your Homeowner’s Insurance Premium
Talk to homeowners and most will tell you they have never had a claim against their homeowner’s insurance. So, their deductible remains low and their premium stays high.
We were in this group until one day we started talking about reducing our housing expenses. We asked ourselves how much we could afford to pay should we have a claim. The amount was higher than our homeowner’s deductible. We called our insurance agent for a quote with a new, higher deductible. WOW! It was a big savings! we sharpened the pencil and began shopping for insurance with a sizable deductible. We ended up reducing our insurance premium by nearly $500 a year ($1,300 down to $820). And guess what? We still haven’t had a claim.
Get Your Tax Refund in Every Pay Check
Did you get an income tax refund this year? Last year? Why not get your refund in every paycheck? Here’s how: Ask your tax preparer what your actual tax liability is and divide that by the number of your pay periods (52, 26, 12 etc.). Ask your preparer for a new W4 form. Then stroll into your Human Resources office and announce that you want them to ONLY withhold $X for Fed. Taxes and $Y for State Taxes (the amount of your actual tax liability per pay period). A few employers will allow you to withhold a percentage for Fed. and another for State. Most will struggle with how many exemptions you have to claim to achieve the dollar amount. Fill our your W4 and happily hand it over to HR. No matter how they end up doing it you will bring home much more of your check every payday! For example, if you got a $2,600 tax refund and get paid every week you could take home $50 MORE EVERY WEEK or $215 MORE EVERY MONTH! At the end of the year you break even – you won’t owe any additional taxes and YOU have had your refund left in your pocket every payday during the year. Pretty cool! (Be sure to coordinate this with your tax preparer).
Let’s see, what could you do with another, say, $255 CASH each month?
