Category: Mortgage News

Homeseed is constantly looking for ways to provide value for our clients and industry partners that extends past the transaction. Our goal is to be your trusted advisor for life and provide ample opportunities to engage and communicate with us regarding your home. To help support this goal, we will soon be launching a tool that provides dynamic financial reports to clients about their home or any other potential real estate endeavors.

For most individuals, 83% of wealth comes from real estate at the average age of retirement. Therefore, it is important to provide homeowners with the appropriate tools and the guidance of a Homeseed Loan Advisor to manage wealth through the largest asset they will likely ever own, their home. Our monthly reports will provide you with information regarding your home’s value, financial strategies in connection with your equity position, and plenty of engagement opportunities with your Loan Advisor to help you grow your real estate portfolio and continue to build wealth.

Homeseed is excited to be providing this service to all our clients and partners, even those who have already financed a home through us in the past. We want to empower you to take ownership of managing your wealth in a simple, engaging, and meaningful way. Communicating with our Loan Advisors will also always be a simple click away as well.

Please reach out if you’d like to learn more about this new tool we will be offering. If you also have anyone looking to get pre-approved to purchase a home or refinance, we’d love the opportunity to serve them!

Finding and getting an offer accepted on any home is tough in today’s housing market, but what if you could build your own dream home? You could design it how you want and potentially build your own equity in the process. Either buy land and finance it into the costs of the loan or build on land you already own while using its equity as a down-payment. With a construction loan from Homeseed, there are plenty of options and adjustments available throughout the process as you build your dream home.

“Nothing worth having comes easy” is the mantra to remember when going through the building process. The whole process can be daunting but having a can-do attitude will be your ticket to success. 

Here’s a simplified checklist for the construction process:

1. Research land: location, available utilities, cost for development
2. Research type of home:  layout, cost to build, finishes
3. Research builders: reputation, easy to work with, attention to detail, cost per square foot
4. Research loan options:  which loan option fits your project and financial goals.

Doing your own research will help you prepare for the challenges ahead. Depending on how you like to organize a project, you will want to keep a digital or paper record of all the details and information you discover. Tip: check out the local jurisdiction in the location you are wanting to build for building requirements and costs. Some building departments have super helpful websites as well. 

Getting the financial piece nailed down is one of the early important steps.  Here at Homeseed, we offer Conventional (conforming and Jumbo loan amounts), FHA, VA, and USDA construction loans. Speaking with a loan advisor about your financial goals will help you decide which loan option is best. 

Should you purchase a home now, or should you wait? Like most big decisions in life, answering that question depends on a lot of factors such as the economy, real estate market, finances, and personal life. If you are now in a position to responsibly take on a mortgage payment after considering those factors, and are instead waiting for the absolute lowest price on a home, read on to learn more about why you should act now to avoid the potential cost of waiting.

Low Interest Rates

The average 30-year fixed mortgage interest rate about a year ago was 3.75% according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey. Today’s average comes in at 3.01%. Interest rates for mortgages are currently at all-time lows, and lower interest rates mean greater home affordability for potential home owners. To give you an example, a borrower with a $475,000 loan amount and 3.75% interest rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage would have a monthly principal and interest payment of $2,200. If the same borrower now had today’s lower rate of approximately 3%, their loan amount could increase to $520,000 and they would still have a lower monthly principal and interest payment of $2,192. That’s an increase in purchasing power of $45,000 because of today’s lower interest rates than a year ago. With uncertainty in the economy, there is a potential that interest rates will rise again at any time.

Home Values Continue To Rise

Demand for housing in the Seattle metropolitan area remains very strong and property values continue to appreciate at a fast pace. We’ll use a $500,000 home purchase price and conventional financing to illustrate how home appreciation will require more additional cash at closing. Conventional financing typically requires a minimum 5% down payment. If the home is valued at $500,000 today, that would require a $25,000 down payment. At the current appreciation rates projected by MBS Highway for King County, the same home would be valued at approximately $529,028 in a year and would then require a higher 5% down payment of $26,451. Other monthly costs would also rise accordingly such as mortgage insurance and the principal and interest payment.

Loss In Property Appreciation

In a market with high appreciation rates and rising home values, it can be difficult to out-save the appreciation you would be earning on your home. In our previous example, the $500,000 home would appreciate to an estimated $529,028 after one year in King County. That’s $29,028 in lost appreciation value over a year, or about $2,419 in savings per month.