The Double Comma Club

It's one thing for an expert to tell you what you should do when investing in a home, refinancing, and selling. But when you have an opportunity to hear a real start to finish story from a home buyer to held out for the full must-have list and then successfully purchased a home in the Denver market, you will be riveted. Kara Palffy is Nicole's guest. She's the Business Development Manager at The Rueth Team. Buying her second home, selling the first, and all of the hours required make for the best kind of story. Nicole asks Kara about what she had to do to prep her home, how much they actually got over asking, why they decided to NOT add to their real estate empire and sell their first house instead, and how their goal of staying in this home for many years affected several decisions.

So how old do I have to be, to take advantage of a reverse mortgage? Generally speaking, we say 62 years old because the FHA product, which is the most commonly used program today requires one of the homeowners to be 62. However, we also have non-FHA programs that will allow clients as young as 55 years old to get into a reverse mortgage. Nicole asked Gabe Bodner, Retirement Mortgage Specialist on The Rueth Team, "What's the biggest benefit to a homeowner to want to look into this further? And, what is the advantage to me and why should I look into this right now? If I'm 55 to 65 years old?" I think that we're finally starting to see the transition and the mentality shift between our realtor partners and our financial advisor partners, where they're starting to see that, WOW!, this is such a powerful tool that it shouldn't be utilized and viewed as if I'm running out of money. Then I should look at doing a reverse mortgage. It is now being viewed as a smart financial strategy where we're seeing clients with millions of dollars of assets under management, look at doing a reverse mortgage because of the tax benefits. It is no longer the loan of last resort. This is a smart cash flow tool for anybody looking at tapping into their home equity to preserve their assets under management. Tune in to this 9-minute episode to learn more.

And do you know which is better for you? I don't believe that one of these loan programs is 'better' than the other. However, I do believe that one may work better for YOU. FHA and Conventional Loans each bring something different to the table, thus working better for one type of buyer over the other. You don't need to know the hyper-specifics of each program, that's what we're here for. But it can be helpful to have a basic knowledge and ask your mortgage lender the right questions. Listen to this 7-minute episode of The Double Comma Club, "What is the difference between FHA and conventional loans?" 

It's no secret that the real estate market, ESPECIALLY in Denver, has seen a dramatic increase in home prices. According to CoreLogic, the national median home price grew at an all-time high 18.8% year-over-year in December 2021. Homebuyers are feeling the rise in costs of EVERYTHING, and the increased home prices are not going away anytime soon. The cost of waiting is extreme! It's time to get off the fence and into a home. Be sure you give my team a call and let's come up with a strategy that begins building long-term wealth through real estate.  Nicole goes into details in this 14-minute episode about each of the reasons: 1) Artificially low mortgage rates during the pandemic 2) Low housing supply 3) Millennial household growth 4) Inflationary actions by the FED 5) Building costs & inflation 6) FOMO

You just spent a lot of time, effort, and money getting into your new home... but what's next? There are some important things to take note of in the months following closing day such as: Your first mortgage payment HOA Payments Utilities Home renovations

Buy NOW to have options later. Real estate is still the number one hedge against inflation and the potential to build long-term wealth is still there! Although the real estate market is tough right now, you have to get in in order to build long-term wealth, earn appreciation, use the equity you've built for a renovation or a move up and you can always refinance once things calm down.  Your long-term goals can be achieved through owning a home and we want to help you get there. As always, don't hesitate to reach out if you're ready to start or complete your homebuying journey.

Interest rates just hopped up again! The market today remains an extremely volatile place and is in a constant tug of war with the FED, unemployment rates, inflation, the war and all other factors! So, is it still a good time to buy a home? My answer remains the same as the Denver market continues to build equity, financial security, and supports our highly qualified buyers. Here are a few things you should know heading into this weekend. Here's some history on mortagae rates:

We've again been flooded with headlines on the impending doom of a housing market crash. As homebuyers right now, it can be hard not to fall into the trap of waiting. I get it. There's a flood of information being thrown at you, but this video will help cut through the noise. First, there is NO bubble. We simply have too much demand, insane equity built up in our homes and a HIGHLY QUALIFIED pool of buyers entering the market. Second, a recession is OK. A recession is defined as 2 consecutive months of GDP Decline... that's it. As prices of everything continue to rise, consumers will start to make decisions; spending less, saving more, pushing GDP down. This will allow the supply we all desperately crave to CATCH UP to demand, giving buyers more options! Third, a Refinance is your best friend. We don't know exactly what the market will do tomorrow, or one week from now, or a few months from now! Lock in the here and the now, and start building long-term wealth through real estate. 

A recession is exactly what we need right now. And it's good for housing. So what am I talking about? The two in tenure treasury yield had a small 0.05 spread as March ended. This is on the verge of inverting, which is a high validity recession indicator of five of the last six recessions that were all proceeded by an inversion. However, today we also have incredibly strong labor market. The unemployment number just came out at 3.6%, which is a post-pandemic low. In fact, unemployment has only been lower than 3.6%, three times since 1950 non-farm payroll saw robust 431,000 jobs added, which is alongside 11.3 million job. If you remember an inventory in 2018, when rates pushed above 5%, 1,827, new listings came on the market during March that's a 44% month of a month increase, but more than half of those new listings were scooped up as pendings increased by 1039 and closed homes increased by 941. While more inventory might give buyers a little more breathing room, they are not giving up with more inventory. We have more sales. This additional inventory is partially due to seasonality. I mean, some of it is investors taking their winnings off the table and others are looking at this intense demand and talks of a bubble and wanting to play the timing game. I think as prices rise, high prices are a bit of a cure for high prices. The appreciation much like inflation will slow down, but talks of a bubble assume high prices themselves are the tipping point and they aren't homeownership, equity of 69.2%, a vacancy rate of 1.6% and a high birth rate. 30 to 33 years ago, all starve off the bubble talks 75,000 annual equity gain for an average Colorado. In addition to a 0.01% Colorado foreclosure rate, and a 1.9% 30 day rate tells me that struggling homeowners don't have to sell at a discount just at market,

Will the housing market crash in 2022? Here is your DMAR Real Estate Market Update. The real estate market is INTENSE right now, and news headlines are doing a very good job of scaring us into thinking that we are heading towards a housing bubble burst. But the truth is, there is NO BUBBLE. Yes, interest rates and prices are rising, but the amount of equity and demand we are seeing DOES NOT constitute a bubble ready to burst. If anything, a little slow down in market activity will give supply a chance to catch up, giving homebuyers more options. I encourage you to always take a look at the facts, and keep an open dialogue with yourself, your realtor and your lender on your affordability and expectations in the housing market. Nicole Rueth, The Rueth Team of Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation750 W Hampden Avenue, Suite 500, Englewood, CO 80110303-214-6393  www.TheRuethTeam.com Connect on social media: Follow me on FB: https://www.facebook.com/theruethteam/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/nicolerueth Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-rueth-team-fairway-independent-mortgage/ YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPMdb94tUNMMsUTgdWRMDKw