St Louis Home Buyers
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The $10,000 St Louis
Home Buyer Challenge
Before You Buy A Home,
I’ll Show You How To
Save Over $10,000.
No Gimmicks, No Obligation
If you are buying a home for sale in St Louis, you are perhaps making your largest investment of your life. Like any investment, small changes in how you structure your offer can save you Tens of Thousands of Dollars. Wealth comes in all sizes and a Mortgage Wealth Manager can assist you in determining how to best structure your offer to buy a home that will maximize your wealth in your home. While the majority of mortgage professionals in St Louis only provide you a loan, my role as a Mortgage Wealth Manager is to provide you a means to meet your financial goals, whether that is to save money over the long-term, reduce your monthly payments, be debt free or move up to a larger home than you previously thought possible. If you are looking at a home for Sale in St Louis, I will show you how to save serious dollars in a safe a secure manner. Before you ever begin the home buying process, it is important to understand that small adjustment can have great impact on your financial well being. Take my challenge. Call or email today.
Wise Choices in the St Louis Home Market
By · CommentsYour strategy is probably like most other who are buying a home for sale in St Louis. Your strategy is simple and on the surface seems to make sense, but chances are it will cost your family tens of thousands of dollars. For most St Louis home buyers their strategy is to find a home for sale that meets their needs and negotiate the lowest sales price possible. Once they have an accepted sales contract, they find a lender that has the lowest combination of 
interest rate and closing fees. The strategy appears to make sense and it does, at least if your strategy is short-term. The problem is, most people do NOT buy a home for the short-term and the strategy they choose will cost them the silent death of thousands of dollars in lost return. To make a wise choice in buying a home, you have to ask the simple question,”What is the best option for me? Should I negotiate the lowest sales price, interest rate and closing cost possible or should I be willing to pay a slightly higher sales price in exchange for the seller paying discount points which will lower my interest rate over the life of the loan? “ As a nineteen year veteran to the mortgage industry, I can assure this; one option will cost you tens of thousands of dollars and the other option will save you tens of thousands of dollars and it is not the same for every buyer. If you are buyer and looking at a home for sale in St Louis, make the wise choice and learn what option works best for you. Look at a side by side comparison of all options and consider which option works best for you.
When Hypocrisy Makes Cents and a Lot of Dollars Too!!!
By · CommentsI am a St Louis based mortgage professional who does not like debt. I know it sounds strange when you consider that part of my job is helping my clients buy and finance a home. It is even more strange when you consider that I often advise my clients to borrower more money so to they can eventually owe less. Is it hypocrisy, do I contradict myself or is it just good advice.
Before I get in to the heart of the matter, let me make a few things clear (or at least try to). Though I may not like debt, a mortgage is a necessary component to becoming a home owner for most people. With the exception of living with mom and dad all your life or shacking up on a friends couch, the only two practical choices are to rent or to buy. From strictly a financial standpoint, when you compare at the benefits of renting versus owning a home, it almost always make sense to buy. So if the better option is to buy a home and a necessary component to buying a home is a mortgage, then the whole matter comes down to how do you best manage your mortgage to create the greatest benefit for yourself?
I could go into a lot of detail here, but I am going to do my best to make this very simple and to the point. There a two components to a mortgage as it relates to a debt.; the principal and the interest. Principal is OK, interest is bad. Why is principal OK? Though it is best to owe nothing, at least when you are paying the principal, you are paying money that was already given to you and it is not a cost. Think of it this way. Someone loans you $150. You pay them back $150. The cost to you is zero. You are only paying back what was already given to you. Interest, on the other hand, is a cost to you and you want your interest rate to be as low as possible. One of the best ways to keep your interest rate low is to have the seller paying discount points to lower your rate. As long as you do not plan to move out of the home in a short period of time, it even makes sense if you were to borrower or pay a bit more for the home in exchange for the lower interest rate. The bottom line, this practice may save you tens of thousand of dollars. A side note though, it could also cost a buyer tens of thousand is it is VERY important to compare both options and see what works best for you. If you are in the market for a home for sale in St Louis, you must know that this is not a customary practice. It is important to work with an agent who understand the process asking the seller to pay points and how best to present it to a seller. Happy Shopping.
A Mortgage Wealth Manager
By · CommentsWealth comes in all forms and shapes and is a relative term, but one common denominator is that most peoples wealth is tied up in their home (or at least it used to).
If you are buying a home in St Louis and your strategy is to work with an Real Estate agent to find you a home and to work with lender to provide you loan, you could lose $10,000-$45,000 on your new home. Before you ever start the home buying process, consult with a Mortgage Wealth Manager who provide you with the tools to make slight adjustment that can save you $10,000′s on your next home.
Guard your nest….it is your greatest asset.
Win at Selling a Home in St Louis
By · CommentsIn a recent report by the Federal Reserve reported a slight economic improvement in all Federal Reserve districts EXCEPT THE ST LOUIS District, which is reported as “soft.” With an overall weak economy in St Louis and an ever increasing number of homes being foreclosed on, it is difficult to see a silver lining for anyone trying to sell a home in St Louis.
Tough times often cause us to look at things from a different prospective. The same can be said for selling your home. Not long ago the strategy was to put your house on the market and let the bidding war begin. That was then- when it was a seller’s market. Today, home buyers are in control and can often name their price or walk down the street to next home listed for sale.
So how does a home seller win? Well first look at the motives of a buyer. During a seller’s market, the buyer’s motive was get an offer in as quickly as possible and high as possible before someone else stepped in and bought the home out from under them. Today, though, to put it in simple terms, a buyer’s motive is to buy their home for the least amount possible or to boil down further, a buyer wants to lower their monthly payment or recognize an greater overall savings over time.
While other sellers are “taking a bath” and negotiating on a sales price, smart sellers should consider ways that not only meet the needs of a buyer, but save themselves some serious cash too. Seller paid discount points is an excellent way to achieve to this objective. While seller paid discount points (one discount point is equal to 1% of the loan amount) are not typical in the St Louis home market, they are very typical in other parts of the country. Why is a seller concession a win-win situation for a buyer and a seller? First, look at a typical transaction involving a price reduction. In this example, let’s say the buyer and seller negotiated a $25,000 reduction in the purchase price of the home. The cost to the seller is $25,000 and the savings to the buyer is about $107 per month. On the other hand, if the seller were to pay discount points to the buyer they could lower their interest rate by as much as a full 1%. This would be a cost to the seller of about $16,800 (savings of $8,200) and the savings to the buyer would improve to $166 per month. Not only will the seller reduce their monthly payment by nearly $60, the discount points paid by the seller, is an allowable deduction for the buyer the year the home is purchased (please seek the advice of a qualified tax account regarding specific deductibility). Also, if managed right, the buyer could actually owe less on the home in the next ten years. Does that sound like a win- win to 
you?
A word of caution, not every buyer and every seller will benefit under this premise. It is important to seek the advice of a qualified expert who has the technology to analysis options for both the buyer and seller. In some cases, this option can actually cost a buyer more money than it saves.
Market Trends-Homes for Sale in St Louis
By · Comments2010 looks to be an interesting year if you are buying or selling a home in St Louis MO. On a national level, there are three things that should impact the price of homes for sale in St Louis. Three programs that federal government has used to prop up real estate values will likely come to a screeching halt sometime around the end of the first quarter. First, the 
Home Buyer Tax Credit for first time and existing home owners will expire on April 1, 2010 (with closing to take place before July 1 2010). Next, the Federal Reserve’s purchase of Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS) is scheduled to come to an end. There is some indication this program may continue, but nothing seems certain at this point. Should the government decided to no longer purchase MBS’s, then look for mortgage rates to go up and go up fast. Last but not least, the government has worked very hard to reduce the number of foreclosures, however their ability to do so may be coming to an end and so look for the number of foreclosure to spike dramatically sometime in the second half of 2010. So what does this mean for if looking to buy or sale a home in Saint Louis MO? According to Trulia Real Estate Search, www.trulia.com, property values are still declining and the number of homes for sale in the Saint Louis MO metropolitan area is on the rise even since the beginning of 2010. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate in St Louis City reached 10.5% in December 2009 and 9.1% in St Louis County. It doesn’t take a degree in economics to figure out that less demand and greater supply can only lead to further deterioration of property values of homes for sale in St Louis. This will be bad news for many homeowners; however, if you are in the market and want to buy home for sale in St Louis, you could be in the eye of a perfect storm.
OK…I am not just talking about buying homes “for sale in Saint Louis,” I am talking about buying a home with the greatest financial gain ( PLEASE don’t think it is all about negotiating the lowest sales price). Since a house is a home AND an investment, how do you purchase home and reap the greatest financial gain. 
The five steps are:
- Meet with a Mortgage Wealth Manager to determine you qualifications for a mortgage, your credit score and which program best meets your needs. Even if you know you are well qualified, not all programs allow the same seller concision’s (the amount seller can pay towards your loan) as others. This is a necessary component of developing a sound strategy. In addition, even though you have never missed a payment, your credit score may be low and preventing you from receiving the best rate available. A true qualified Mortgage Manager will have the ability to tell you specifically what can be done to raise your credit score to the desired amount.
- Based on your specific needs and the programs available to you, determine a strategy to best structure any offer on a home. There is an over abundant amount of homes for sale in St Louis and seller are willing to get creative. Leverage that creativity and reap the long term benefits.
- Meet with a qualified Real Estate agent that provide property detail and determine a fair price. The real estate market in Saint Louis MO is unique, in that price for homes for sale can vary greatly depending on the municipality, school district, parish and subdivision and it is important to work with full time agent who knows your market.
- Once you have found a home and determine a fair price, work directly with the Mortgage Wealth Manager to implement your strategy during the negotiation process. Because the mortgage market can change daily, what a seller will need/can contribute may be limited by the daily market fluctuations. Note: This is the importance of meeting with a Mortgage Manager and as most mortgage professionals will be unwilling to do this.
- Once the terms of the loan, seller concessions and sales price are place, work with the Mortgage Wealth Manager to determine the best way to allocate payments/proceeds etc.
Most homes for sale in St Louis are purchase without any strategy and most buyers walk away from Tens of Thousands of Dollars. For more information on working with a Mortgage Wealth Manager, Register Below:
Are you thinking of buying a house? Homes for Sale in St Louis are plentiful and well priced. The question is, should you buy now or wait to see if values go lower?
For many prospective home buyers and sellers, everything seems to evolve around the value of homes. If you are considering buying a home, you wonder if you should wait in anticipation of values going down. With the government’s homeowners tax incentives schedule to expire and the prospect of many more foreclosed homes coming on the market, there are valid reasons to think values will come down even further. Another issue for many prospective home buyers occurs when a buyer has a house to sell and they worry about not receiving enough for their home. The old saying being between a rock and hard place comes to mind.
Though property values are important, the ability to purchase homes for sale in Saint Louis will more likely be impacted by the prospect of rising interest rates than property values. At the end of March, the federal government has indicated they will no longer purchase mortgage backed securities, which has been a key factor in maintain the today’s current low rates. Prior to the feds acquisition of mortgage backed securities, interest rates were in the 6% range and many experts, including those in our own government believe rates could rise to as high as 8% on a 30 year fixed mortgage. Even if property values are unchanged, an increase in interest rate will have substantial impact on one’s ability to qualify and greatly impact the overall cost of home ownership. If you are considering buying home for sale in St Louis, the question you need to answer is it better to take advantage of today’s low rates, knowing they are likely to go up or is it better to wait for property values to come down. My suggestion is to consult with a qualified Mortgage Wealth Manager who can run an analysis of both options and determine which is best for you. If you in the market and seriously looking at homes for sale in St Louis., it is never a good idea to make a decision based on a gut feel and I recommend each prospective home buyer compare the advantages of buying in today’s market, versus the advantages of waiting.
Are There Too Many Homes For Sale In St Louis
By · CommentsThere are a lot of Homes for Sale in St Louis. Many buyers think it is a great opportunity to steal a home at a ridiculously low price. While prices of homes for sale in the St Louis market are down, the “steals” are not as prevalent as many might think. Granted there are situations in which sellers are forced to sell their home, most seller are still not inclined to let their home sell below market price. While it appears the everything favors the buyer in today’s market, there are plenty of opportunities to create a win-win situation for both the buyer and seller. While both a seller and a buyer are prepared to negotiate a lower sales price, rarely does either party consider the benefit or even the possibility of negotiating a lower interest rate. While it is true that the market controls interest rates, the seller can pay discount points to lower the buyers interest rate by as much as a full 1% over the market rate. For the seller, this often result in a less concession than a sales price reduction and final sales price after negotiation. On an average home for sale in St Louis, a price reduction results in less than a $100 reduction in a monthly payment for a buyer. However, if a buyer elects to have the seller pay discount points instead of or in combination of reducing the sales price, the buyer may save several $100 on their monthly payment. When that monthly savings is added back into the monthly payment, the buyer can easily save $10,000′s over the life of their loan. While asking the seller to pay discount points is often a better option for most buyers, it can be costly for others. Since the amount of points a seller can pay for a buyer can vary depending on the buyers qualification and can vary day to day based on market conditions, it imperative for both buyers and seller to see a qualified mortgage consultant that can map a strategy to create the greatest benefit for all. Despite the overabundance of homes for sale in the St Louis market, it is a great time for a buyer and for the move up seller. Mortgage rates are currently low (but likely to increase by years end) and prices are down. Like any investment, be smart and develop a sound strategy for maximum benefit.
Hey Everyone,
If you are looking a Home for Sale In St Louis, this is an open forum for everyone. Though I have two areas of expertise, which is contract negotiation, specifically I analyze all options for my client to determine the best way to structure their offer and second, I am a nineteen year veteran to the mortgage industry. I work with real estate agents, real estate attorneys and title companies and will invite them to participate any area that is outside my scope. Again, if you are looking for Homes for Sale in St Louis MO, there are key things to do before starting down that path and I invite you to send me your questions.
