‘The Big Move’ is a MarketWatch column that looks at things and real estate, from navigating the search for a new home to applying for a mortgage.
Do you have a question about buying or selling a home? Want to know where your next move should be? Email Jacob Passy at TheBigMove@marketwatch.com.
I lived in my house for 40 years. I live on 5.25 acres, and I went to town to divide the land into a subdivision and you had to pass.
I love where I live, but the house is getting older and the kids are gone. I am a 58 year old nurse. I pay $ 800 a month in property taxes plus my mortgage, which together is $ 2,500 a month.
I was offered a pretty good sum to sell my house for $ 500,000 over two years ago. I had another house that I liked and was going to buy, so I wanted to sell it. But sales fell on my house, so I had to move away from the house I wanted to buy.
Now there are no homes for sale and I didn’t find anything I like. So I have to rent until I find something. Should I do that? Or just wait until more homes come on the market and sell when I find something? I probably wouldn’t get that much but houses wouldn’t be expensive to buy either. Not everything out?
It would be nice to spend the money, go on vacation and not have to work so hard. But I also don’t want to be stuck in a rent that pays as much as I did when I was at my house and I wouldn’t be happy because I’m renting g in a place I don’t want to live.
I love my home where I live! But property taxes are too expensive, and I’m approaching retirement and have to sell. I still owe money on my home and will not pay them before retirement unless I move.
Homeowners ’costs are rising rapidly across the country, so you’re not alone in feeling burdened.
A recent study by property data firm Attom Data Solutions found that for the average family, owning a home was only accessible in 41% of counties nationwide. In other words, in the other 59% of counties across the county, the average family will need to spend more than a third of their living wage on housing costs, including mortgage payments and taxes. on the property.
Many vendors are in the exact same boat as you. They were selling by heart – if they could find a home to buy. Home inventory for sale is a record low, and this is creating something out of a vicious cycle. Home sellers are reluctant to put their properties on the market because there is almost no guarantee that they will have a place to live once the sale is completed.
Leasing may seem like a one-way ticket to savings, but that’s not certain. You don’t say where you live, but there’s a decent chance it’s not so cheap to rent. In fact, rents in suburban and rural areas have risen sharply amid the pandemic as families have sought more space to live outside the big cities. A separate report from Attom Data Solutions found that owning a three-bedroom house (at the average house price) is cheaper than renting a three-bedroom house in almost two-thirds of the country. .
There are other disadvantages to renting, for sure. You have no control over the cost of your future housing, so while you may be able to afford the rent for the first year there is nothing to stop the landlord from hiring you when you go to renovate. And when you own a home, you are building on a valuable financial asset.
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A recent study found that home ownership is still more affordable than renting about nearly two-thirds of the U.S., despite rising house prices.
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With the lease, any money you spend will not come back to you. Even if you have lower monthly expenses, many are riding on what you do with that savings. Ideally, you invest it or hide it for a rainy day, and don’t spend it.
You’re not helpless, though. Given how low mortgage rates are still – despite rising in recent weeks – I suggest to see if refinancing was right for you. But given how long you’ve been in your home and the fact that you’re still working to pay off a mortgage, I’ll assume you’ve refinanced a bit recently.
It doesn’t say what you did after I went to your local government to subdivide your land, but if it’s there, I consider selling it. Because you have a mortgage, however, this is not necessarily a simple process.
When the land is subdivided, you need to get written consent from the lender or servicer of the underlying mortgage for the property, said Tom Trott, a branch manager with Embrace Home Loans in Maryland.
“This requirement is in most mortgages and standard language in the act of trust of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,” Trott said. To sell a portion of the property, you will need the permission of the lender. But if this is hard to come by, you still have options.
“If we assume they couldn’t get timely approval, then another option would be to conduct the sale and refinance the remaining balance at the same time,” Trott said.
