The Double Comma Club

Spoiler alert: Your real estate agent will not like this tip - not at all. This is only 4 minutes. Take notes. We don't want t spoil the math or the surprise.

How do you start in your 20's investing in real estate? You start with the first one. It's the toughest. Let's think of money in terms of buckets.

• short term expenses

Consider setting up automatic transfers.

1 month of expenses, then the remainder rainy day fund, build this account up first.

To invest in real estate, consider saving $125/month. By the time you graduate college, you can afford to buy a home.

This episode lumps together 4 episodes from the Real Estate Investing playlist on our YouTube channel. Catch these first four short episodes to get started, first with the logic and then to show how even with a modest income you can still build your retirement through real estate.

This 17-minute episode includes:

• Good Buy, or Goodbye?

Be sure to catch part two publishing next week.

----more----

Nicole Rueth

Connect on social media:

Have you doubled your retirement fund this year? No one wants to get to retirement and realize they will run out of money before years. Or if they were honest, they may only have enough saved for a long vacation or small car, but not enough to be secure and continue to live their life as they want. In fact, the median American has only $33,472 saved for retirement. THAT ISN'T ENOUGH Did you know that the average homeowner in America gained $35,000 in appreciation during the last year? Add that to their retirement account and they just doubled their retirement savings. THAT'S the POWER of Real Estate.

Join me every Tuesday at 8 am MT on Facebook and Instagram as I go LIVE to discuss opportunities like this. Money may not buy you happiness but it can create opportunities to create a life you love.

Let's go through some of the facts and fiction of purchasing a brand new home. Let's start out with one that tends to be the main selling point for new builds. You can customize your home and the basic options included and/or upgrade options available. There's no need to pay a contractor after you've closed to redo that pink tile in the bathroom because you participated in the finishes for your home. Because you get to help in the design, new builds tend to feel much more like home right off the bat. So who doesn't want that?

This also means that your home is equipped with the monitored amenities so there's no upgrading needed once you move in, nor do you need to do that deep clean since you're the first homeowner. Another fact is that new builds in today's market can be easier to secure. Once you pick a builder and if they have a home available, you can secure it without competing against multiple buyers or over asking bids. Although finding a builder with a lot available in today's market is a bit harder these days. Colorado has luckily not yet gone to the lottery system for lots like some other states, Arizona. You should also prepare for a longer timeline and slightly higher costs given today's market conditions.

----more----

So let's move on to some myths. While you need to be pre-qualified for a new build, sometimes a year in advance, you don't finalize your loan until 30 or 60 days before getting the keys just like an existing home. This means that you need to play the long game with your lending team. And that could mean updating your loan documents several times along the way. You will still want to ensure that you do not purchase any big items or have a negative report on your credit during that waiting time. You will also typically not lock in an interest rate at the very beginning, but look to lock in closer to that 30 to 60 days before you close.

If today's low rates sound appealing because they are, you might want to consider doing an extended lock, which you can go out as far as nine months before you close. But use caution here because anyone who has lived through home renovations knows that things can get delayed and a finished date is not always guaranteed. And you don't want to be stuck with expensive lock extension fees.

Another myth related to your lending relationship is that you can't use your own lender or that the builder's incentive is so steep that you will need to go with their lender to get it. Well, we have great news for our clients. The Rueth Team is able to match builder's incentives to give our buyers the new build that they're craving and the service levels provided by our lending team.

Our last myth today is that because your home is new, you won't run into any maintenance issues. However, while you should not run into significant issues with things like the foundation or outdated windows or general wear and tear, there's still a possibility of things going skew. Supplies can come in faulty from manufacturers. Installation can be rushed. And of course, with all homes, unexpected things can go wrong. And so while you're less likely to run into them with a new build, just because it's new does not mean it's fault-proof.

New builds are a great option for homeowners that want modern new homes without the hassle of renovations. In today's hot seller's market, they may be easier to find, but many of the larger new build sites are outside of the Denver area, meaning you may have to commute a bit longer as a trade-off. Overall, they're a great option for first-time homebuyers or move-up buyers. So let us know in the comments below what you prefer. Is it a new build or is it purchasing an existing home and looking at renovating? And if you're thinking about a new build, don't forget to give us a call. Nicole Rueth with The Rueth Team of Fairway Mortgage. We look forward to serving you.

The second half of May seemed to open up a bit. But, sorry, it was a false peak. Less inventory came on the market and more buyers went out looking for it. Inventory was down 6% from last month, and down 14% from last year inventory.

6718 homes went under contract, which was up 17% last month, and up 3% from last year.

You have to be ready to pounce, offer 30K over asking, without any contingences and ready to close in 2 weeks.

26% higher close - higher end homes.

We are nowhere near the peak. Same with rates. Rates turned up mid-month.

Author, Speaker, Coach Ryan Leak is back! His book, Chasing Failure has been published. 8 steps to learn self-leadership starting now!

We laughed pretty hard and learned so much! Here are the questions covered:

1. What's it like to be around me?

Nicole gives you three examples as to what a creative lender can do for you. Creative is another word for experienced here. When you simply go with the lowest rate without any other thought to the best financial plan for your longer goal, you are selling yourself short and most likely costing you and your family a lot of money. 

Tune in to hear these quick examples.

Gabe Bodner, Reverse Mortgage specialist at The Rueth Team joins Nicole for this episode.

#1 myth: you give up the title of your house with Reverse Mortgage.

FACT:

#2 myth: you can no longer pass the house to your heirs.

FACT: 

#3 myth: You're losing equity

FACT: Not losing but USING some of your equity.

#4 myth: You have to own your home free and clear

FACT: The existing mortgage balance can be absorbed or paid off.

This should be a loan of last resort. 

Can I use a reverse mortgage for purchase OR a refi?

Listen to Nicole's happy ending story of how one couple retired and bought two income properties wiping out their mortgage and bringing in steady income.

Some additional information you may find helpful.

----more----

Comparison between Home Equity Loan, HELOC, and Reverse Mortgage:

Key Differences

Disbursement

Repayment

Age and Equity Requirements

HELOC: no age requirement and must have at least 20% equity in the home

Tax Advantages

Headlines regularly push the topic of inflation. We usually know it's bad if it goes up, but why? What causes the change, and what industries are affected by it that will affect my life? These are questions answered in this episode. 

So what is inflation? We know it can occur in any product or service including need base expenses and want base expenses. We also know that the Federal Reserve Bank monitors the inflation rates.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) measures what you and I feel at the grocery store, medical care, etc. Inflation rates have moved from 2.5 to 4.16 which is the largest increase since 2008. Food costs are rising twice as fast as pre-COVID. Retail sales are running out of steam after stimulus monies have been spent and sticker shock is settling in. This also pushes interest rates up.

----more----

Could we see them drop slightly in Fall, possibly? Depends on wage inflation and the price of raw materials. 

A more formal definition of inflation is that inflation is the decline of purchasing power of a given currency over time. An educated estimate of the rate at which the decline in purchasing power occurs can be reflected in the increase of an average price level of a basket of selected goods and services in an economy over some period of time. The rise in the general level of prices, often expressed as a percentage, means that a unit of currency effectively buys less than it did in prior periods. Nutshell? Your money is worthless and it will take more of it to buy the same things.

Tune in to this 6 minute episode from Nicole Rueth, at the Rueth Team Fairway Mortgage in Colorado.