Home Loan Tax Benefits That You Should Know

With the constant rise in real estate prices, it’s become almost impossible for an individual or a family to purchase a house without the help of a home loan.While many are apprehensive about taking a loan because of the kind of interest rates that they come with, what most people are unaware of are the tax benefits that you can enjoy on home loans. If you’ve got a mortgage on your house, you can avail of benefits and deductions under 3 separate sections of the Income Tax Act.

Deduction Under Section 80C: 

If you’ve taken out a loan to purchase a home for which the construction is complete, and you have the completion certificate, you can enjoy deductions on the amount you pay towards repaying the principal amount of the loan. This clause is only applicable for individuals or Hindu Undivided Families (HUF). The maximum deduction under this section is Rs. 1.5 lakhs. It’s important to remember that deductions will not be valid on any repayments made before the construction is complete.

Even if you haven’t taken a loan to purchase a house, you can still enjoy deductions on the amount that you have paid towards the stamp duty and registration fee of your new home.

Deduction Under Section 24: 

When you’re repaying a loan, you will pay a certain, fixed amount to the lender every month as your Equated Monthly Installment or EMI. Your EMI amount is calculated based on the loan amount, the rate of interest, and the tenure of the loan. Typically, your EMI is made up of a principal repayment amount, and an interest amount. The interest amount that you pay is exempt from tax under Section 24 of the Income Tax Act. You can claim this deduction at the start of the year in which the house’s construction is completed. This benefit is also available if you’ve utilized the loan to repair or reconstruct an existing property.Additionally, if you’ve rented out your home, you can claim for a deduction for the interest amount paid all through the year.

Deduction Under Section 80EE: 

When you apply for a home loan to finance your first-ever house, you can get additional tax benefits on the interest payment sunder this section. To claim this deduction, you will be required to provide a statement from your lender which clearly indicates the total amount payable, your principal amount, and the amount paid towards your interest. The maximum deduction you can claim under this section is Rs. 50,000.

Now that you know about the various deductions and claims you can enjoy when you take out a property loan, you should easily be able to determine which benefits apply to you and which ones don’t. If you’re still having trouble understanding how to figure out the deductions, you can use an online tax benefit calculator. The calculator will help you understand how much money you can save despite the fact that you have to pay interest on the loan amount.

Over the years, home loans in India have helped numerous families find the home of their dreams. With so many additional tax benefits to home loans, it’s getting easier for young individuals to put aside enough money for a down payment and then secure a loan to help themselves find their own little place in the world. So, it’s time to put all your worries to rest, and fill out that application for a loan. Your dreams are counting on it.

How refinancing student loans frees up money for investing or to start your own business

Where can I get more capital? For the investor, startup, or entrepreneur this question is on your mind constantly. In some cases, the answer might be reducing your cash outflow. Plus, the benefits extend beyond just having more money to invest. Let’s find out more.

Monthly expenses

What if you could cut your utility bills in half? What would you do with the savings? While reducing energy consumption is always a good idea, there are limits to how much you can cut back. One of the biggest checks many people write each month is their student loan payment. 

If a significant portion of your monthly income is devoted to paying down student debt, that can increase your debt-to-income (DTI) ratio and make it harder to borrow money to start a business, or buy a car or house. Many graduates with student loan debt even forgo marriage or having children due to the financial strain of their student loans. 

In many cases though, refinancing can remove this limitation. If you were to reduce your monthly student loan payment, you might end up with hundreds or thousands of dollars more to invest each year. 

How refinancing works

When you refinance your student loan, you basically swap your current loan for one with a lower interest rate. The end result is a smaller monthly student loan payment. This lets you free up capital to put towards personal investments or startup projects. An alternate strategy is to keep paying the same monthly payment, but shorten the overall payment terms. This allows you to pay off your debt faster. 

What method you choose depends on your overall investment horizon. If you need the cash now, then lowering your monthly payment is probably best. 

How much refinancing can save you

In many cases, the savings from refinancing student loans at lower interest rates can be substantial. Your savings will depend on how much of an interest rate reduction you can qualify for, and how long you take to pay your loan off.

When you refinance, you may choose to:

● Lower your monthly payments, but take more time to repay your loan. This will lower your DTI, but could increase your overall repayment costs.

● Get the most savings by increasing your monthly payments, paying off your loan faster. This could increase your monthly payment, and your DTI.

● Stay on the same repayment schedule, but with a lower monthly payment and overall repayment costs. 

Borrowers who have used the Credible marketplace to refinance into loans with shorter repayment terms have reduced their interest rate by 1.71 percentage points, and are on track to pay $18,668 less over the life of their new loan, on average. 

Debt-to-Income ratio benefit

Besides freeing up cash, refinancing your student loan may have other benefits. For example, when you apply for a loan, lenders don’t look at your credit score alone. For many lenders your debt-to-income (DTI) ratio is even more important than your FICO score. It’s simple to calculate your DTI ratio; just take your total debt and divide it by your total income. 

When you refinance your student loan, your overall debt burden goes down. This means your DTI improves in the eyes of lenders. So if you need to take out more credit in the future, your chances of getting approved are better after refinancing. Also, the stronger your credit profile, the higher the chance you qualify for lower interest rates. This is a great strategy if you think you might need to inject cash into a future business venture. 

What are your priorities?

For some, investing means buying a property, starting a business, or purchasing stocks. For others, it’s buying a home to invest in your family’s future. No matter what your priorities are, refinancing your student loan can give you more financial freedom.

Big Steps Towards Better Financial Happiness

While money doesn’t explicitly buy happiness, it sure helps when making big decisions. Taking the first steps towards greater financial happiness can be a scary time, but worrying about it will only end with missed opportunities.

But how can the average person achieve such financial contentedness? With the options available nowadays, there are a plethora of opportunities possible for you to take advantage off and work towards that financial freedom that so many crave. Here are just some.

SEARCH FOR SMART INVESTMENTS

There has never been a better time in history than now to get involved in investing. Every day, companies are being founded, and new technologies are being developed that look set to revolutionise and disrupt the way the world works.

By identifying these companies early on through smart and thorough research, you might just be onto a winner. Looking at recent tech trends, and areas of the market that have been neglected will allow you to find the perfect startup to contribute to and reap the rewards once it makes it big.

While nothing is certain when it comes to investments, approaching it intelligently and investing your money wisely opposed to a dangerous and haphazard approach, you might just find the world’s next Google, Netflix, or Apple.

DEVELOP YOUR OWN BUDGET

Budgeting can be a truly dull thing to do and taking a look at your finances often makes you wish you hadn’t bothered. But, to attain more financial freedom and happiness, a proper budgeting plan will almost make it feel like you have generated money out of thin air.

For things like this, it is good to start small. Do you need that Starbucks on the way to work every day? Do you really need to order takeout when you have all this food in the house? Eliminating the small spends early on will set you on the right path towards approaching some of the bigger money drains that you might identify along the way. Once this has been achieved, you will have earned yourself a reward, be it a new gadget or a change of scenery, all because you’ve begun pinching the pennies, instead of throwing them away.

SELL YOUR HOUSE

It might seem like an extreme suggestion at first glance, but the realities of being able to sell your house for cash in today’s market will allow you to explore other avenues in life. Being tied down to a certain location can get monotonous after a while, and choosing to do away with one of those anchors can open up opportunities for you to take advantage of what the world has to offer.

Further benefits of selling your house for cash include not being let down by the buyer, as there is no need for the deal to fall through after getting a loan rejected. This has the potential to set you up nicely for whatever path you choose to take next.

While it pays not to be wholly dependant on financial happiness, choosing some simple (and some not-so-simple) steps will aid you in setting yourself up nicely for the future. You may feel that everything will work itself out, but creating good financial habits now will pay great dividends in the future.

Millennials Preparing for Retirement? Why It Can and Should Be Done

Millennials are in good stead when it comes to saving and planning for their retirement, no matter what anybody or anything may claim. What’s more, they are in such good stead for a number of reasons. To see some of these reasons as well as some Millennial retirement saving tips, make sure to read on.

Millennials have knowledge of the modern world built in and on tap

In order to do something well, especially in regards to finance, you've got to have an understanding of the most up-to-date practices. You've got to have an understanding of how things work and the impact they make. Fortunately, as would be expected, Millennials have knowledge of the modern day in these ways like no other generation, simply because it is their day. This means they have (or should have) knowledge, even if it is just a working knowledge, of the latest financial matters. For instance, Millennials are the generation most likely to know what Bitcoins are, how much they are worth and what they can be used for. And, they can use this knowledge and implement it when it comes to their retirement saving endeavours and specifically their individual retirement accounts (IRAs). They can do this by first checking out this Bitcoin IRA’s review on Huffington Post, then taking the leap and acquiring a Bitcoin (which, at the moment, will cost $8099.99), setting up an IRA and then putting their cryptocurrency into it. 

But, it is a Millennial’s knowledge of Bitcoin in the first place that would set them up for such a venture, or the fact that they can look up information in regards to them, or any other financial matter for that matter, with ease.

Millennials have time on their side

Yep, time is well and truly on the side of the Millennials in regards to a whole host of things, not just retirement planning. In regards to this specifically, however, if they were to take retirement planning seriously now then they would be able to tap into the fact that their money is not only going to grow with interest like no other past generation, but that it has plenty of time to do so, too.

What this means is that any Millennials out there wondering if they should start saving for retirement now should stop wondering, and start doing. Specifically, they should begin contributing to a Roth retirement fund as soon as they can. This is a type of fund that is paid into and contributed to by both he or she who sets up the fund, and any employers they have or will have in the future. And what the proprietor of the fund should do in order to really make the most of it is ensure that they match or beat whatever their employer(s) contribute to it, whenever they do in fact contribute to it. This will see the money, that is tax-free to withdraw upon retirement, grow immeasurably.

Millennials are in a better position than pretty much all in regards to retirement saving. So, if you are a Millennials, don't let this position go to waste! Get yourself retirement ready, and do it soon!

Loan Options For Alternative Situations

Money is what makes the world go round, and learning how to use it and navigate with it can take a lot of practice. When it comes to getting a loan, either for work or your home buying prospects, there’s a lot of variance out there. Looking for this variance, and the kind of options you might be entitled to depending on your situation can be tiring, and very, very confusing. So here’s a quick rundown of some of these alternative loans outside of usual bad credit or unsecured types. 

Usual Personal Loans

A lot of different terms are thrown around when it comes to personal loans, so you need to know the trends. On the nose, a personal loan simply means that the lender of the money does not dictate to you how you can use the money, and it’s completely up to you what you get up to with it. However, that doesn’t mean you should go all out with it, so still be careful with what it is you choose to invest in or purchase.

A personal loan can cover medical expenses, home renovations and repairs, vehicle maintenance when those costs rack up, vacations, and to cover the costs of moving house, just to name a few. This isn’t a comprehensive list, and each option you can use a personal loan for is going to have its own stipulations, so make sure you read up before you take out.

Payday Loans

These are short term loans that have incredibly high interest rates, and that makes them incredibly dangerous. You won’t get very much money out of a payday loan, and they have to be paid back in full when you receive your next wage, unless you’ve negotiated otherwise. 

When it comes to using a payday loan, you have to be sure you can pay it back and still have a little money left over for both yourself and other expenses. Use these wisely, and don’t trick yourself into thinking it’ll be alright to take out an extension; this just makes it more expensive in the long run. 

For Those on Military Service

As a US army veteran, you’re entitled to a few more army benefits than the average person. Of course you’re going to have to fulfil a certain criteria, but if you’re coming out of active service and looking to settle down with your family, you’re practically guaranteed to get a va loan. 

If you don’t need a loan outright that helps you to get on your feet in civilian life, there’s also the va home loans refinance options, which gets you lower mortgage payments per month and reduces interest rates all round. When you know it's there, every little helps can count!

Make sure you know about all the alternatives that are out there for someone like you, no matter your situation. If you need some funding, use loans as a last resort if you can, but also don’t be afraid to take one out!

How to Budget for Home Remodeling

Home remodeling usually starts with a simple fantasy. You may be browsing the pages of a magazine and come across an article or picture that sparks your imagination, and before you know it, you have dreamed up an entirely new look for your home. Unfortunately that’s where the fantasy ends and reality steps in to snap you out of it.

Remodeling is not cheap. It also doesn’t happen instantaneously. Instead, it will cost a significant chunk of your money, and most likely turn your home into a construction site for a good while. But having your home covered in construction dust isn’t a bad problem to have, so to speak, since this means that you are only weeks away from enjoying your home’s new look. So, how do you get from daydream to construction? Here are a few tips for budgeting for your home remodel.

Estimate the costs

To know what you can afford to spend on your home remodel, it helps to have a rough idea of what it will cost. In order to make alterations that will give your house good resale value, it helps to estimate a budget as a percentage of your home’s current value, for example:

● Kitchen: 10-15%

● Master bathroom: 10%

● Second bathroom: 5% 

● Attic/Basement: 10-15%

● Other rooms: 1-3%

● Outside areas: 2-5%

Figure out how much you can spend

Once you know what you should spend, the next step is to find out what you can spend. If you have been saving up, that amount may be enough to cover all or part of what you want to do. If that’s not the case, you will have to apply for some kind of loan.

Request quotations

You need to find out what the job will actually cost, and therefore you need to ask the people who will actually be doing the job. You should get quotations from several contractors. Be sure to vet them properly to make sure they do good work. It will probably be best to ignore the lowest estimates, since you are almost guaranteed to pay more in the end due to overoptimistic costing.

Don’t add more things to your plan

When the job is underway, it may be tempting to think that you might as well add one or two small little changes. These changes can end up costing you a lot, and may cause a budget overrun.

Have a contingency plan

However well you plan, there’s always a chance that things will run over time or over budget. In order to provide for these unforeseen mishaps, it’s best to always add around 20% of the project cost to the budget. But if you are working with a very rigid and finite budget, you will have to adjust the budget downward by 20% in order to have a financial cushion for unforeseen expenses and cost overruns. This should effectively take care of any hidden costs you may not have been aware of when you first drew up your budget.

Home Zone: How Will You Buy Yours?

Buying a home is one of the largest parts of life for a lot of people. Throughout your younger years, this goal will have been driven into you at school, home, and even in your earliest jobs. Of course, though, none of this really prepares you for the day you have to start choosing a home for yourself, and all of the other little bits which go along with it. To help you out with this, this post will be exploring some of the different kinds of mortgage you can get to purchase a new home. With this in mind, it should be a lot easier to get started properly on your own house.

Buy-To-Let

To begin, it’s time to think about a type of loan which is designed for those not looking to live in their new house, but rather those who want someone else to live in it. With a buy-to-let mortgage, you don’t have to worry about weird laws or other issues getting in the way of your plans. Instead, everything will be handled for you, and you just need to find a tenant to fill the space. Of course, this isn’t the right product for everyone, though.

First-Time Buyers

If you’re a first-time buyer, it’s very unlikely that you’ll be buying a house to rent it out, and you won’t need all of the protection which comes with a buy-to-let option. But, there’s still something for you out there. First-time buyer mortgages are designed to start off very small, enabling you to make repayments on a budget. As your family, career, and finances grow, so will the mortgage, slowly costing more until it’s paid off. This is perfect when you’re first starting out in life.

Government Schemes

In some cases, even a first-time buyer mortgage won’t be quite enough, and you’ll need to find an option which takes a bit more of the pressure off. For young families or those with disabilities, your government can often help you here. House-share schemes enable buyers to get their hands on a home for a fraction of its normal cost. You’ll never own the whole place. But, it will still serve as a much better idea than renting someone else’s place.

For The Self-Employed

For some people, money won’t be the issue, and you might have more than you need to get your hands on a good mortgage. But, if you’re self-employed, you have a couple of issues to address, first. Banks will often base the loans they give on an applicant’s current financial standing, including the money you earn. Without a normal job, though, it can be very hard to prove this. Instead, the right options from companies like https://altrua.ca/ won’t put your through this. It will just be a matter of giving them a little bit of your history.

Buying a new home is a very big part of life. For a lot of people, this will mark their transition from childhood to adulthood, and is the start of a new life. Of course, though, you have to do loads of research before delving into an area like mortgages, and you may even want to get some professional help.

Should You Buy That Holiday Home?

Coming into money and knowing how to cope with the newfound wealth are not easy. You could have come into money through inheritance or you could have been gifted a large amount by a relative. Either way, knowing what to do with it is difficult. You will find advice pouring in from all angles about how to invest the money rather than fritter it away. There is advice like this here that tells you all about investing in the stock market and how to manage your money through the rise and fall of the tides there. There are articles that you can find here that float around to tell you the volatility of precious metals as an investment, as opposed to other investments out there. Knowing where to put your money after coming into sudden wealth is overwhelming, but the one investment that people don’t tend to talk much about is the investment in property.

Paying off any debts you have is a good start before you invest in any property. You can’t hope to get a mortgage at the best rate if you have any debt hanging over your head. Once you’ve sorted your debts and invest a little in yourself, you can look ahead and see what is there for you in terms of buying a home of your own. Some like to go down the buy-to-let track, which you read more about in this article. Others like to invest in a home that they can pay off quickly. Then there is the chance you already own your home and would like to invest in another. Here’s where it can get quite exciting! Investments are something that offer a big return, and if you want to invest in another property you can expect to be able to earn some money back off of it. Property is a tangible investment, meaning it’s not going into stocks where you can’t see how it works for you. You can see it and use it and decorate it as much as you like to make it worth more money. If you don’t want to put money into another home in the same place you are in, why not look into international property?

Buying a holiday home is often on the bucket list of those who have the cash to afford mortgages on more than one property. To be able to go between a home you have in your town and close to your job, and then have another you can slide into at any time of the year is a luxury that most cannot manage. Websites such as http://rumahdijual.com/bekasi/apartemen-bekasi-barat can detail properties and costs for homes to invest in in the furthest reaches of the world. To be able to invest in property like that is a privilege, but it will also take a lot of research on your part. Taxes, laws, how often you can get out there to see how your home is fairing are all things you need to consider. Investing in property abroad does, however, have its benefits. Far flung places to visit become far more affordable if you have a home that you own right there, plus, when you aren’t using it you can rent it out and allow it to earn money for you! With the birth of websites like AirBNB, holiday homes abroad are becoming a home away from home for most and if you can earn money from your holiday home, then it’s an investment worth looking into, right?

Investing in international real estate is something that all property developers look into from time to time, but even those out there who have never invested in property abroad before can do it. Property often doesn’t cost a lot to invest in, despite being able to control such a large asset. The one good thing about property is that as places become more popular, the value of the property rises and you get more out of it. People will always need somewhere to live, so property is a useful asset to have in your portfolio. There are some fantastic opportunities to grow wealth outside the country you are living in, but you have to know where to look to get the best advice from the right people. It can seem far cheaper to invest in property abroad than at home, depending on where you look. There is a surge in demand for property and if you look into private accommodation for your vacations, then you will know how popular vacation rentals are in comparison to hotels and package deals. There are some huge advantages to investing abroad in real estate, and we’ve got them for you below:

You Have Control. When you own a home abroad, you are already aware of the laws and rules surrounding what you can and cannot do with your home. You can develop the land you’ve purchased (with permission, of course), invest in the home and upgrade it, advertise it for rent during high season and even sell it on when you want to invest again elsewhere. The control that you have over your investment with property is far easier to hang onto as opposed to precious metals or other investments that aren’t as stable as a property is. The other positive here is that you can work to your own schedule and not someone else’s. Investing abroad may mean you need to look into management companies to check in on it from time to time when you aren’t in the country, so make sure you use a reputable service.

New Currency. Being able to generate a good cash flow in another currency is going to add to your portfolio as an investor. Managing another currency isn’t always the easiest to do, but being able to appreciate other currencies that you may not have much experience of can only mean other companies view you as a serious investor. If you plan to buy and sell property around the world in more than one location, this is a very positive thing for you!

Independence. Unlike other investments, property is a hard asset. This means that it has a value beyond printed money and it’s something that makes you independent from the stock market and other investment opportunities. Once you’ve bought a new property, you can do what you like with it and if you choose to just use it yourself, it’s still worth money when you decide to go ahead and sell it. It doesn’t matter what currency around you is doing, because you will always have something there that’s yours.

It’s Useful. If you buy a property in a remote, up and coming area rather than the centre of a bustling city or town, you may be wondering how you can make money from it. The answer? Land. Land that you buy can be used for agriculture or even forestry while you wait for the right season can help you gain an income. You don’t just have to rely on tourism, either, because as long as you are investing in the property you can rely on the land to work for you!

It’s Fun. Lastly, one of the best reasons to invest in property? It’s fun! You can decorate, renovate and upgrade as you see fit. Like a living version of The Sims, the house is yours to do with what you will – although this hasn’t got the same cheats available! You can use it as a personal vacation home during the year, develop it as a retreat or even offer it out as a property on sites like this one. When you do decide to sell the home, you can gain a lot from it from all the changes you have made over the years.

Property experts can always advise on the best property hotspots out there for you so that you can invest in the right places. The markets, just like where you live, will rise and fall depending on the demand at the time but you can play to that demand. You’re able to find the best bargains on property when the demand is low, meaning that when it peaks and you rent the home out, you will gain far more than you could expect. Managing a property overseas will always come with a language barrier, so before you rent out your property start interviewing bilingual property agents to work with so that you don’t have that issue.

Buying abroad doesn’t have to be difficult, as long as you have done the right research you can avoid any serious issues. Don’t forget, you must pay tax on any rent you receive from your holiday home, so make sure you know the local laws and register yourself appropriately. Property is an adventure and you could make it your future with the right amount of money and the right area.

Money Matters: How To Stop Common Issues Creating Long-Term Financial Damage

Nobody is immune from mistakes in this world, especially when money is involved. While financial health isn’t the most important thing in this life, it’s certainly high on the list. When you do encounter those troubles, though, the key is to stop them becoming major long-term problems.

Those issues can come from a whole host of sources and can occur to varying degrees. Nonetheless, finding a quick solution should always be the goal. Here are some of the most frequent problems, along with what you can do to ensure that they won’t haunt you for years.

#1. Needless Spending

Spending money is a natural part of modern life. However, wasting cash is a habit that will come back to cost you dearly. Even if it doesn’t feel like it right now, it only takes one change of circumstance to put stability in jeopardy. Ignore this at your peril. 

Everyone has different priorities and preferences. Therefore, it would be wrong to say which items do or don’t deserve your money. However, it’s safe to say that spending over the top for simple services like home insurance and gas rates is not good. Using price comparison on those items can have a telling impact.

On a similar note, shopping around for promotional deals and using coupons can cut your monthly expenses too. Apart from anything else, getting value for money will generate a smile. Those savings can be far better spent enjoying your life. If that doesn’t give you an incentive to tighten the purse strings in those areas, nothing will.

#2. Poor Investments

When done right, pumping capital into investments can open up doors to increased personal wealth. Unfortunately, this activity does come with risks. Whether you’re a new investor or an experienced one, minimizing those dangers should be top of the agenda. At the very least, you should take the necessary measures to ensure that any damage can be stopped before it snowballs into serious trouble.

The first step to achieving this goal is to choose investments where the potential loss is at its lowest. Stocks and shares could potentially lose all value overnight, which makes them a bad option. Real estate is a far more sustainable option. Not only because markets tend to follow an upward curve, but also because you’ll have a physical asset at your disposal. This gives you a chance to get out if things go wrong. 

If you’ve been given misleading information from financial advisors, you may be able to fight for compensation.

#3. Career Trouble

Careers are central to deciding financial prosperity. Sadly, many people accept their job for what it is, due to the worry of losing out altogether. In truth, not chasing your full potential could be one of the most damaging things you’ll ever do. 

Nothing in life is more important than your health. When an emergency arises, you won’t be thinking about the costs involved. When it wasn’t your fault, though, you shouldn’t be the one to suffer financially. Experts like Joye Law Firm specialize in helping victims fight for the justice they deserve. This puts people like you in a far stronger position when attempting to take on a perpetrator that won’t openly accept responsibility. 

A successful career isn’t dictated solely by the salary. Still, finding the best paying jobs and knowing that the company appreciates your worth is key for long-term happiness. Do not get it wrong. 

#4. Recklessness 

Financial status is something that is impacted throughout every stage of life. Therefore, failure to take responsibility today could harm your tomorrow too. It’s not all about the money in your bank account either. In truth, credit scores can be equally influential, which is why you must take them seriously. 

Many people ignore the importance of their credit histories for far too long. Unfortunately, a poor credit score could stop you getting a mortgage or borrowing on other assets. Reading advice from specialists at Consolidate Credit can point you in the right direction. Once you start making positive steps, the score should start to see positive impacts in next to no time. It might take a few years to get it back to great health, but all progress is good. 

We are all capable of making silly and simple mistakes. Leaving those issues untreated is easily the worst thing you could do, however. Learn to take action at the earliest stage possible, and the likelihood of suffering long-term damage will be severely reduced.

Stretch The Budget: House Bargain Tips

When you have finally crunched the finances, factored in your moving costs, and got your final figure that you can afford to spend on a new property, the hunt begins. 

This can be a pretty dispiriting time, especially as you find yourself constantly faced with more expensive properties that you would love but just can’t afford. It’s not a pleasant feeling when you feel your budget can’t move and there’s nothing to inspire you that you can afford - so how do you get the absolute most for your money?

Good Neighborhood; Low Price

We all know that where a house is located is as important regarding the purchase price as the actual construction of the property. So perhaps the best suggestion would be to look for lower-priced areas, even if it means sacrificing the things you want in terms of local connections and amenities.

That would work, but it’s always going to feel like a compromise. Instead, look for good neighborhoods such as those on http://www.manausa.com/southwood.php, but that also have more affordable offerings. They do exist; it’s vital you don’t just discount an area because you’re put off by the highest prices of the most expensive properties. Always look for smaller properties that might be able to give you the location that you want, for a price you can afford. 

Time It Right; Make Offers Correctly

The longer that a house has been on the market, the more receptive you will find the owners when it comes to making an offer. 

There is an art to making offers on property that have been on the market for awhile. You will sometimes see advice that suggests you should go in at a low price, but this can actually put the seller’s back up. If you make an offer that is so low to the point of feeling offensive, they’re not going to be receptive to future offers.

Instead, decide what you can afford, then offer around 15% below that. This gives you some room to manoeuvre if they counter-offer, but also should stop the offer being so low that it upsets the seller. You can also be sure that you’re going to be able to afford it should the offer be accepted, so don’t worry about making too high an offer - this is about affordability for you, not just hunting to get a good deal. 

Move At The Right Time Of Year

If you’re able to, try and time your move to coincide with autumn and winter. The property market tends to heat up around spring and summer, as families look to move before the onset of a new school year. If you can be hunting and making offers outside of this peak time, you not only lower the competition for good houses, but you also take advantage of the lower prices. 

At the very least, try and avoid May - according to http://www.huffingtonpost.com/, it’s the best month for sellers - which mean it’s going to be the most expensive time for buyers!

Can Big Spending Ever Be Justified When Times Are Tough?

There are times when you just want to spend some money, even if you know that you can’t really afford to. But is it ever alright to do that? Can you justify splashing the cash when you know that there are other things that it would be wiser for you to spend your money on? Well, if you ask me, there are some exception when a justification is possible. Read on to find out more.

Spending Now Often Means Saving Later

There are some purchases that can be very easily justified because they allow you to save money later. If that’s the case, then it certainly makes sense to push ahead and spend the money now. For example, if you invested in homes for sale when house prices are low, you can make money when they rise again. That’s an example of when spending as an investment makes sense.

However, there are also times when spending money can mean you save unnecessarily problems later on. For example, if your mechanic tells you that you need a new part for your car to protects its engine and make it last longer, you should probably spend that money, even if it’s a large sum. It could mean that you don’t have to spend a fortune on replacing the engine or the car later.

Sometimes, You Have to Spend to Advance in Life

There are other times when you have to spend some money to advance your life chances. This is something that shouldn’t be underestimated either. You will need to make sure that you advance your skills if you want to earn more money from your career in the future. That’s why paying to attend a course or learn a new skill could pay off later.

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to invest in yourself or your future. Many parents make sure that they cover the costs of their children’s education. This allows them to go forward without a mountain of debt dragging them down. It can make sense to spend money in instances like these because quality of life is worth paying for.

You Might be Willing to Suffer Cutbacks in Other Areas

If you’re able to balance your budgets and make sure that everything adds up at the end of the month, there might not be anything at all wrong with spending a little extra money on something big and costly. You just need to make sure that you spend less on other things in other areas of live if you’re going to do that. Is that something you’re prepared for?

Balancing your money and making sure that you know when to spend money and when to tighten the purse strings again is a learning process. You pick up these skills gradually, but if you still haven’t done so, it’s time to change that. You could free yourself up and make it easier to spend money on the things you want to spend money on if you’re capable of balancing your cash in other ways.

Found Your Perfect Home? Consider Your Options First

Shopping for a new home can be a lot of fun. Not only is it exciting to be moving into what will hopefully be your dream family home, looking at different properties is half the fun. Whether you’re looking to buy your very first home, or move into your ‘forever home’, you can often feel as if you know exactly what your perfect home will look like. But do you?

It’s easy to get an idea of what your dream house looks like, but sometimes, this can stem from your background, or the styles of houses available where you grew up. In order to truly understand what your perfect home really looks like, you need to be able to consider your options first. Even if you’re looking to sell your home quickly, so you feel a lot of pressure to find a new house, take some time to look at all kinds of properties before you decide.

Colonial

Dating back to the early 1600s, the houses are some of the most common across the country. Although many different styles of colonial can be found, things like shutters and dormers can often identify a classic colonial design of house. If you’re tempted to buy colonial, here’s what to consider.

The Style

As one of the most popular styles of properties across the States, you’ve probably seen a lot of colonial houses in your lifestyle - you may even be tempted to buy one. They are easily distinguishable from other kinds of house types because of their distinct look. They’re often two or three stories and have a beautiful wooden (or sometimes brick) facade, with a fireplace. Colonial houses are formal looking and often have pretty shutters on the windows.

The Layout

If you’re looking for a home that has great proportions and is often quite symmetrical inside, then a colonial style house will appeal to you. Layout wise, expect to find a very classic interior with the living space and kitchen on the first or ground floor and the bedrooms above. Design wise, each colonial home will be unique as it’s owners, so you’re welcome to decorate as you please.

The Potential

Like many other styles of property, colonial houses can offer you the potential to extend and make it your own. You should find plenty of room to add on to the house at the back or the side. The only difficulty you may experience could be finding the right match for the facade. However, with the right contractor and a bit of research, you should be able to find the materials you need.

Cape Cod

Resembling a British country cottage, cape cod style houses are often wooden fronted and have steep roofs with large chimneys. Often quite small, you’ll find dormer windows for extra space and light. To see if this is the ideal kind of home for you, make sure to think over the below.

The Look

Cape Cod homes date back to the 1600s, but they became particularly popular styles to build in the 1930s. They’re often one story, or one and a half and are easily distinguishable with their high sweeping roofs and large chimneys. The windows are commonly multi-pane, and you’ll probably find dormers too to allow for added space in the home. They’re very sweet looking from the outside and can have that perfect cottage appearance about them.

The Space

Spacewise, cape cod homes are quite small inside. Being single story, everything is often found on one level, including living and sleeping spaces. Historically, there would be no upstairs to the houses, or they’d at least be unfinished and uninhabitable. However, since the original build, you may find that previous owners have made the upper part of the house into a living area. If not, you have the potential to do this yourself.

The Potential

Because many cape cod houses were built with space in the roof, but not living space, you do have the option to create a usable space up in the roof. Or, if a previous owner has already made a start, you can change the look and layout to something more suitable. Then, you’ve also got the option to extend to the side or back if the land permits it.

Ranch

Ranch style homes can be one of two things. First of all, you could actually look to live on a working ranch or ex-working ranch. Secondly, there are a wealth of ranch style homes, popular in suburban areas, that fit the description but are entirely residential. To help you decide, here’s what to consider.

The Design

As you’d expect, ranch style homes are modeled on traditional working ranches. The design first came about in the ‘30s, but it was the ‘50s and ‘60s that made these homes so popular. Whether you opt for an actual working ranch or a lookalike, you’ll find that these properties have ample living space and an attached garage. However, they can come in both single and two-story layouts.

The Floor Plan

The interior is often quite recognizable, and many ranch style homes can have the same look. However, when it comes to the inside, they offer a lot of personalization. They can often be quite a maze inside, which allows you to choose where you’d like your living spaces to be (and what to do with the rest). They can also be quite open-plan, giving you lots of room for potential.

The Potential

And that potential can mean that you get to create the ultimate home of your dreams. When you find a ranch for sale, make sure to look with an open eye. You should be able to spot where additions could make this style of house more profitable, or give you extra space to make it your own. Sometimes, old working ranches can need a lot of work, meaning you’ve got more room for profit.

Apartment

If you live in a city or are looking at moving to a city, then sometimes, it’s an apartment that can steal your heart the most. Often found in incredible buildings, sporting sensational views and coming with excellent facilities, life in an apartment can be top notch. To see if it’s for you, here’s what you need to know.

The Building

Apartments will normally come as a part of a large building, or sometimes just a few. So, when you’re looking at buying an apartment, you’re going to want to check out the building as well as the potential property you’ll love in. Things like the look, security and facilities may be important to you, so bear this in mind when you’re looking. Then, you’re also going to want to consider the style of apartment that’s available too.

The Layout

When it comes to the layout of an apartment, this can be as individual and varied as the building itself. Although many apartments in one block will be very similar, you can often find all kinds of layouts are available. Most apartments will be on one level, but you can also find split level apartments and even ones that come with outside space or large balconies or terraces.

The Worth

Although with most houses, there is often room to extend to the side or back and add extra room, this isn’t always the case with apartments (unless you were to buy multiple and make them into one, of course). However, you can still make money with apartments. If you’re buying in an up and coming neighborhood, or you’re buying a rundown apartment, you have the benefit of adding money to the apartment or the neighborhood increasing in value.

Townhouse

More common in urban areas, houses found in a row are often referred to as townhouses. They usually have three, sometimes two, stories and give you a lot of space - mainly because they were a way of getting a lot of homes built in smaller areas. Think a townhouse is the one? Then read on.

The Area

If you’re looking at buying a townhouse, you might want to consider the area that you’ll be moving into first. As this style of house is often connected to lots of other houses, you’re going to want to make sure that you’re happy with the neighborhood and those that live in it. You’re also going to want to make sure that you’re happy with the outside space that you have.

The Interior

Although you may be lacking for space outside of your townhouse, the interior is as versatile inside as any other house. Town homes often have two or three stories, sometimes more, so you often have plenty of room to play around with. Living spaces tend to spread on the ground and first floors, with sleeping spaces above. Decor wise, you’ll find that previous owners will have added their own taste, which you are always free to change.

The Potential

Because you can’t extend to the side, you may have to consider options for extended behind you, or even up into the roof or down into the basement if you require more space. Alternatively, if you don’t want to add any more room to a townhouse, or you can’t, you can focus on sprucing up run down decor and modernizing the home to add some profit to your purchase.

Do You Need To Sacrifice Money For A Quick Sale? Absolutely Not

So, you’re selling a property and want to get rid of it as soon as possible. This isn’t unusual because most sellers need to flog their current house before they buy another. The problem with selling quickly is that it decreases the overall value. For some reason, buyers think they can wade in and undercut you because it’s in your best interests. Selling is in your best interests, but losing money isn’t. Thankfully, there is no need to sacrifice one for the other with the following tips. Yep, you can have your cake and eat it, too. 

Start A Bidding War

Your first ports of call are companies like West Coast Cash Buyers and Cash PDX. Because they are cash rich, they will take your property off of your hands promptly. Of course, the quote might be lower than you want or need before you sign on the dotted line. The good news is that there is a host of these companies, and they all have to make money. As a result, you can pit one against the other to start a bidding war. Hopefully, that will boost the value of the property enough so as to break even or make a profit. 

Market Effectively 

To begin with, you only want people with cash to apply. Otherwise, you will have to waste time rejecting prospective buyers that never had a chance. But, just asking for cash buyers to submit an application isn’t enough. To attract the big fish, you need let them know that the asking price isn’t flexible. Sure, you will have a number in your head that you’re willing to accept, so the asking price isn’t the be all and end all. Still, you don’t want any jokers offering a fraction of the price. You want to deal with people who have a genuine interest, and advertising the fact is your best option.

Give The House A Makeover

Buyers aren’t going to file a competitive offer is the property doesn’t warrant it in the first place. The house needs to sparkle for people to take it seriously, but it won’t if it looks old and tired. Plus, you want to set a high price, yet you can’t if the property is dilapidated. A fresh coat of paint and a few interior tweaks will make the house shine once again, and attract more offers. After all, people judge a property as soon as they see it from the car windows. Oh, and don’t forget about the garden if you have one. 

Negotiate

No one will offer the asking price because that isn’t how the game works. What they will do is start low and test your resolve. If you break, they will go even lower. It’s a dog eat dog world, and you have to be ready. As a result, you need to learn how to negotiate. Real estate discussions are an art which can make or break a sale. The better you are, the more chance you have of hitting your target price.

What To Do (And Not Do) If You're Made Redundant

A survey conducted in 2015 found that the US workforce is pretty sure about their job security: of those asked, 87% said that it was not too likely or not at all likely that they would lose their job in the next year. This is good, and it is sign that the economy is continuing to improve. The current unemployment rate is 4.4% which is remarkable and is a consequence of the great work of the Obama administration. However, the possibility of being made redundant is always there. While it may seem unnecessarily pessimistic to start planning for redundancy, in the event that it does happen, it is better to be prepared. Besides, few people anticipated the financial crisis of 2008 which led to the unemployment rate to rise to a startling 10% in October of 2009. While, to a degree, you have to be able to deal with the as yet unknown circumstances in which you will find yourself, there are effective ways of dealing with it and ineffective ways. Here are a few tips about what to do if you ever find yourself in that situation: 

The first thing that you should do is carefully assess your position. Was your termination fair? While severance pay is not mandated by law in the United States, many employers do offer it. There is little that you can do if you do not get what you’d hoped for. However, one thing that is guaranteed by law is the procedure that employers have to go through when deciding on who to make redundant. If you think that you have been targeted for a reason besides just a financial consideration, you can sue your former employee or take them to a tribunal. This is obviously quite a risky thing to do as you are staking the legal costs on your winning. In the event that the case is decided against you, you will have wasted both time and money.

If you accept the situation and simply recognize that you have to deal with the new paradigm, you may be thinking about how you will go about supporting yourself. If you have mortgage payments that are too great to meet, you can talk to your bank and explain to them your circumstances. They may be able to work out more lenient arrangements with you. You may want to sell house fast, but this could easily be an overreaction, and depending on the state of the market, you may not be able to sell it for its true worth. A wiser option would be to rent out a room or two and wait for the market to improve again. 

However, your biggest priority should be to find a new job. This is a lot easier said than done. There will be many other people trying to bounce back too. If you do not find something right away, you could try volunteering. This will keep you occupied and allow you to stay in a working mindset. It will also demonstrate the sort of initiative that appeals to prospective employers.

The Bubble Economy Could Put Your Wealth At Risk

The world has been through a series of bubbles since the late 1990s and early 2000s. It started with the Dot-com bubble - a bubble characterized by rapidly inflating technology stocks as a result of the mania around the profitability of the internet. Then we got the housing bubble, fuelled by low interest rates of Ben Bernanke and Alan Greenspan as well as the government’s policy of increasing home ownership. When that bubble crashed, it nearly brought down the entire world economy and put us all into a new Great Depression.

Now some economists think that there’s a new bubble brewing - and this time it’s across the board. Bubbles tend to inflate when the market’s valuation of an asset is unrealistic. In the short term, it seems as if an asset is going to keep on going up in price and investors continue to invest. But in the long run, it always ends badly, and people wind up going broke. During the financial upswing of the last decade before the collapse of Lehman Brothers, investors all believed that the value of housing was going to go up forever. As a result, they lent out vast sums of money to homeowners, using their homes as collateral. Even if they couldn’t afford to make the monthly repayments it didn’t matter: house prices would continue to rise and the bank could simply sell the house to get its money back. Of course, the expectation that house prices would continue rising forever was incorrect. But banks and investors behaved as if they would go up and up regardless.

It’s worth considering for a moment why the last bubble blew up and why we might be in the middle of a new one. The last bubble in the housing market inflated because homeowners were incentivised to buy homes that they couldn’t afford. Low-interest rates ironically made homes less affordable since people were able to take on more debt. When the banks realized that homes weren’t as valuable as they thought they were, they demanded their money back and jacked up the interest rate. This led to a cascade of mortgage repayment defaults and caused bank balance sheets to collapse.

The reason that so many people were plowing their money into the housing market had to do with low-interest rates. Not only did low-interest rates make loans more attractive, but it also made investing in assets besides government bonds and savings accounts more attractive. The price of other assets was, therefore, bid up by investors looking for positive rates of return on their investments.

This sort of behavior is what causes assets to be overvalued. People aren’t investing in them because they are inherently valuable to society and the economy. They’re investing in them because they can’t do anything else to preserve their wealth. They’re forced to dump their money into stocks and other assets, like housing, because these are the only assets generating returns.

We see the effects of this all over the place. The stock market is hitting record highs, partly because of Donald Trump, but partly because people can’t put their money anywhere else. Generally, stock prices only rise if the profitability of the underlying firms goes up. Investors only get paid dividends if companies make greater profits. But this isn’t what is happening in the present situation. Stock prices are going up because the alternatives are so lackluster. And since there is nothing fundamentally driving the rise in stock prices, that’s a worry.

House prices are rocketing too. In fact, the ratio of house prices to income is reaching the same record highs as it did before the financial crisis. With record low-interest rates and continuing policies by the government to expand universal home ownership, prices in cities like San Francisco have hit new highs.

What all this essentially means is that we’re in another bubble. And, ultimately, all bubbles must pop, no matter how much the government or the central bank interferes. Ultimately, markets are the best placed to determine whether or not an asset is overvalued and they’ll react quickly if they think they are.

The question for investors is where to invest in the bubble economy? Long-term investors have few options it seems since so many asset prices are on the rise. The trick to investing in the bubble economy is to find assets that are undervalued relative to those that are overvalued.

Bubble Investment #1: Land

Land has always been a stalwart of investment. In fact, in the middle ages, your wealth was directly correlated with the amount of land you owned. The more land you had, the more peasants you could hire and the more surplus you could extract and sell to the market. In the modern world, the uses of land have changed somewhat. Land in areas ripe for development could be extremely valuable, especially in regions outside of expanding cities. Look out for land for sale in up and coming areas and make strategic investments. Unlike stocks or bond, the value of land cannot ever be completely wiped out, making it a great option when the economy is headed for a crisis.

Bubble Investment #2: Hard Assets

When Donald Trump was on the campaign trail, he warned on several occasions that the stock market was in a bubble. Like many other informed people, he knew that the fundamental performance of many companies simply wasn’t good enough to justify their sky-high valuations. As a result, he warned crowds at his rallies that there was going to be a correction. Since taking office, he’s taken ownership of the behavior of the stock market, saying that the rally is the result of the newfound optimism of businesses following his presidency. Of course, Trump doesn’t really know what’s causing the current bull market: the likely answer is that it’s a combination of both.

But what seems certain is that at some point investors will realize that the value of assets in the stock market is not materializing. And when they do, they’ll start selling stocks and buying up other physical assets, like housing, commodities, and gold. In fact, this is exactly what happened in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. Investors realized that the value of stocks was going to plummet (thanks to the worsening economic outlook) and so they started buying up commodities and hard assets. This caused the price of hard assets to spike, rewarding those investors who’d gotten into the market early.

Bubble Investment #3: Should You Buy Bonds?

In normal times, government bonds are seen as the risk-free asset. No matter what, you’ll get paid. But since the financial crisis, we haven’t been living in normal times. Government debt has surged beyond all expectations, and interest rates have stayed near rock bottom. For investors, this is a problem. Bonds are risky, but the incredibly low yields mean that they’re not being compensated for all this risk.

Governments are effectively insolvent. The value of their taxpayers is actually less than the value of their liabilities. The owe more people money that they are owed. Mathematically, the current situation can’t continue. Either taxes are going to have to go through the roof which will kill economic activity, or people who have been promised money will have to take a haircut. For bond holders, both of these prospects are bad news because it means that the government might not be able to fund all its borrowing. And that is a good reason to want to avoid buying bonds.

Easy Home Improvements That Increase Property Value

Real estate has been named as a safe, long-term investment. People go about this in a number of ways; buying and renting out a block of flats, selling property, or renovating old properties to sell on or rent out. The latter option takes a lot more time and investment, and there is more risk of real estate pitfalls but the results are worth it in the end. You could even use some of the following renovations in your own home if you think you might want to sell in the future.

Go green

It really pays to be green. Some studies estimate that green Houses for sale can fetch up to 35 percent more on the real estate market. Green home improvements can be done in a number of wars; insulating the attic and wall cavities, investing in solar panels, or upgrading to double glazed windows are the most common. The US Green Building Council’s LEED Certification is one way to communicate to buyers that a home is sustainable and green. The green label means a lot to buyers, as it rates your home’s energy efficiency and sustainability across multiple measurements.

Create space

You don’t need to spend money on an extension to create space in a house. Simply knock out a non-structural wall to open up a space and create a sense of flow in the house. If the dining room is a bit on the small side, knocking down a wall into the living room or kitchen creates a much bigger, multipurpose room.

If you don’t like the idea of destroying the building, then you should try repurposing an existing room. A cellar can be transformed into a music room, a bedroom, or even a wine cellar depending on who you’re hoping to sell to.

Light it up

No one wants to live in near darkness, so those small, badly lit rooms at the back of the house aren’t doing you any favours. If expanding the windows doesn’t make a difference, then you must use decorations to light up the room. Hanging mirrors opposite the window will reflect any natural light that makes its way into the room and white paint will make the space look brighter.

Touch up 

Once all your renovations are complete, you should begin adding some finishing touches. Put a fresh coat of paint on the walls, swap out old taps and fixtures for more modern installations, replace any rotting wood, and get rid of any mold you find. 

Landscaping

An immaculate interior won’t do much if the garden looks wild and overgrown. Tangled trees and unkempt bushes can obscure views, darken interiors, and promote mold, so it’s also in the best interests of the future tenants if you prune the trees. Additionally, outdoor spaces have become more desirable as more people opt for staycations instead of going abroad for the summer. A garden with a deck and a water feature will therefore add value to the price of the house.