Rent Vs. Own
The Full Guide to Homeownership... or Not
This Could Be Huge!
Buying a home is one of the biggest decisions you'll ever make. We put this guide together to share all the information you need to make the best decision possible.
Should I Rent or Should I Buy...
Answering the Biggest Questions
Pros & Con's
The good, bad and ugly of both sides of the conversation. You should know it all before making a decision.
Choosing to Rent
Knowing that you have a lot of options, make sure you choose the best one for you.
3 Categories of Renters
Find out which category you fall into. Is it by choice?
How to Buy a Home
Not sure what it takes to buy? You're not alone. We'll break down everything you'll need to know.
Breaking Down the Costs of Buying
Answering the question: Where does all my money go? What does it all mean?
Timeline of Equity Growth
We'll paint you a picture of what home ownership looks like over a longer period of time.
Pro's and Con's
Breaking down both renting and owning
Let's start by breaking down the Pro's of each...
Pro's of Renting:
- Flexibility
- Low barrier to entry
- No major repair expenses
There are more benefits to each, but these are the major ones.
Flexibility
Renting allows for much more flexibility than owning. When your lease is up, you are free to move wherever you want. You even have the ability to break your lease to be able to move early if needed.
Low barrier to entry
Renting is an easy process. While moving is never fun, everyone is able to find a place that they can rent. This is not true for owning a home. This is the main reason why the automatic first choice is renting.
As you already know, renting will only require 1-2x the rent upfront as a deposit.
No major repair expenses
There aren't very many things you need to worry about as a renter. The landlord handles the home itself, so you don't need to worry about any major repairs or maintenance expenses. While these are not common expenses, they can be very costly when they come up.
Summary of the Pro's of Renting
A benefit to renting is often a negative of owning and visa versa. When making a decision on what is better for you, looking at your longer term vision is important.
There are tons of different places you can go to see more of the obvious surface level pros and cons of renting vs. buying. I want to share the benefits of each that most people don't consider.
Pro's of Owning:
- Potential to build equity
- Tax Benefits
- Fixed Payment (usually)
- Make it your own
Potential to build equity
Building equity has led to more wealth creation than anything else for the middle class.
Equity = Home Value - Loan Debt
The biggest benefit of homeownership is appreciation. This is also where the biggest risk comes in. Home values have "always gone up" historically, if you look over a long enough time.
For Orange County, home values have gone up an average of 5% every year. That includes major drops, like in 2008. While a 5% gain might not sound like an incredible investment, remember... all the benefits mentioned, are all happening at the same time.
Also, when you're buying a home, you're getting a mortgage. You may be investing 10% of your own money. But the appreciation happens on the entire amount, not just on your cash investment.
Tax benefits
I'll start by saying, that I am not an accountant and this is not tax advice. But seriously, if you're considering buying a home, you should talk to your accountant. Now that I've gotten that out of the way, I'll share a breakdown some tax benefits from owning a home.
Interest paid on a mortgage is tax deductible. This means that you will save money on your taxes every year that you have a mortgage. You may also be able to write off your property taxes.
This is the biggest shock to first time home buyers.
Fixed payment (usually)
If you've been renting for a while, you've likely seen first hand that rents go up. Usually every year, unless you have a landlord that's alseep at the wheel.
When you own your home, your mortgage payment is fixed. Meaning that you'll have that same payment for the next 30 years. This brings stability knowing that you won't have a surprise in your payment.
This is assuming that you take out a 30 year fixed loan, which is what most people do. If you're curious about more details on this, make sure to ask in your Renter Strategy Session.
Make it your own
This may not seem like a big deal, but when you own your home, you can do whatever you want. It is yours. As long as your association (if you're in one) allows it, you're good.
This means more to some than others, but it is a nice feeling to be able to do what you want. Feel free to paint every room a different color... Even though your real estate agent will make you paint it white when you sell 😉
Looking at the benefits may be fun, but let's look at the things you want to be aware of.
Con's of Renting:
- Lack of Stability
- Increased Costs
- No financial benefits
Lack of stability
With the benefit of flexibility, comes the con of a lack in stability. A landlord can choose to sell your home and as a renter, you don't have any say. While your lease keeps you in tact, you now have to deal with a new landlord.
As a renter, you face the reality that the landlord can refuse to renew your lease making you move, potentially without a lot of notice.
Increased costs
Unless you're lucky enough to have a landlord that is asleep at the wheel, you're used to having your rent raised every year. It is standard that rents should increase between 3-6% every year.
Over the span of 10 years, you can expect to see your cost of renting to be significantly higher.
No financial benefits
This is self explanatory, when you are renting you are simply paying for the home while you're living in it. So while this is where most people say renting is bad (especially most realtors), I disagree. Everyone needs housing. It's an expense that everyone has. There is nothing wrong with renting.
There are a ton of reasons why renting could make more sense than owning. I'll cover that more in depth when we talk about the three different categories of renters.
Con's of Owning:
- High barrier to entry
- Moving is harder
- Maintenance and repairs
- Higher risks
High barrier to entry
This is something that I'll cover in much more depth in the section "How to Buy a Home", but I'll share a brief overview. In comparison to rent, the upfront costs of buying are significantly higher. Not only do you need a down payment, you also have closing costs.
You'll need a minimum of 3% down payment, and closing costs are an additional 2-3% of the purchase price. If you're a Military Veteran, you have loan options with 0% down payment, but you'll still have closing costs.
There are a ton of strategies here that we use to save our clients money. I would recommend booking a Renting Strategy Session to go over your situation.
Moving is harder
When you own a home, moving becomes much harder. It isn't as simple as moving at the end of your lease and getting your security deposit back (hopefully). You may need to sell your home to buy your next home. It's also possible that you keep it as a rental property.
Moving for someone that owns their home is a much bigger project than someone who is renting.
Maintenance and repairs
This is the biggest complaint I hear from renters not wanting to own a home. It is definitely something you'll want to take into consideration.
This is more of budgeting conversation than it is a pro-con. Your landlord is making a profit on the property and paying for all the repairs with your rent. It's not that you're not paying for them, you're just not dealing with them.
Higher risk
This is the biggest con to owning that very few people (real estate agents again) talk about. To piggyback on the previous con, it's possible that you find yourself needing to sell and your home is worth less. If it is worth less than you owe on the loan, you're in a really bad situation.
You also have risks of major
This is something that you don't have to worry about as a renter. With this being so important, it's something we discuss at our Renter Strategy Sessions.
Choosing to Rent
By not purchasing a home, you're choosing to rent
There seems to be a negative connotation when it comes it renting. Especially when you consider the term, 'pride of ownership'. Yet, there are definitely some major reasons why renting might make more sense.
In more expensive areas, renting is typically less expensive than owning. Yes, Orange County falls in this category. But, less expensive is relative. Most people will have a budget for housing. That would either be a mortgage payment or a rent payment. In my experience as a real estate agent, I've found this to be true.
When you budget $6,000 per month for housing, you'll be able to rent something much 'nicer' than you'd be able to buy. At least under 'normal' circumstances.
There are a lot of people that choose to live in the 'nicer' home/area, and there is nothing wrong with that.
The trap a lot of renters get into is similar to the trap homebuyers fall into. Spending more than you should. If you're choosing to rent, you're choosing to pass on the benefits of homeownership. Make sure that you're investing into something that will balance that missed opportunity.
Those who say owning is better will show the financial difference between the two. The financial benefits of owning are strong but, there are other ways to invest your money. Just make sure you're not also choosing to do no investing.
Renting allows you to be flexible with your home. You can move every year to a new city without incurring a ton of costs. With flexibility, you trade stability. Knowing that your landlord could choose to sell the property, or raise rents at the end of every contract.
Renting also allows you to ignore the expenses of maintenance. As well as the cost of major repairs when they come up.
Three Categories of Renters
Usually, those who choose to buy have decided that the financial benefits are worth the risk. They often buy a home that isn't as nice as what they could have rented for the same price.
Most of the people that choose to rent fall into one of three different categories.
Category One:
This category of renter has a personal reason that could cause them to need to move in a shorter amount of time. They would prefer to rent so they have the flexibility.
Let's use an example that you're moving to a new area and you're not sure exactly you want to live. This is a perfect reason why renting for a year to explore may be the best option. Especially if you're in a rush to make a decision.
There are a ton of different reasons where this makes sense, yet this is the category with the least people in it.
Category Two:
This category is the second largest and it sounds like...
"I'm saving up down payment to buy"
"I haven't found a home that I like enough to buy"
"I don't have enough for the down payment"
While these are the things that this category says, it's not exactly what they mean. This category is usually one conversation away from changing their mind. There are so many solutions to the questions (and so many others) that are listed above. Those solutions are on the other side of a conversation.
I make content like this to help this category and answer their questions without them having to take that next step.
The other side to this group is waiting to "save" so that they can buy something down the road that they can't afford now. The reality is that they can't afford what they want.
Most first time homebuyers end up buying something that they don't love. They see the bigger picture and are willing to make that sacrifice.
The value of renting 'for now' is much better than buying something that they don't like for most people.
Category Three:
These are the renters by default. They haven’t looked into home ownership as an option. They’re not necessarily choosing to rent, it’s just the obvious first and easiest decision. If you’re in this category, you’re in the right place.
There is nothing wrong with any category. Everyone has to make their choice.
We make sure that all my clients understand the difference so they can make the best choice for them. I do what we call a Renter Strategy Session, where we look at your personal situation.
Our clients walk away knowing...
1) All the costs of owning
2) All the financial benefits
3) A timeline of equity growth
The goal is to give you all the information you need to make the right decision for you. I recommend you fill out the form on this page and book your Renter Strategy Session.
How to Buy a Home
From Considering to Moving in
This will be a packed section, and I'm going to share something I tell all my personal clients when we start working together...
Buying a home is scary, but it's actually a simple process. Once you understand it, you'll feel a lot more comfortable.
Here is the entire home buying process broken down into sections:
1. Starting with a broad search
2. Getting qualified with a lender
3. Window shopping to narrow the search
4. Schedule a Strategy Session with an Onyx Agent
5. Writing offers and negotiating deals
6. Accepted offer and due diligence
7. Move into your new home
I'll share a brief summary of the best way to go through each stage.
Starting with a broad search
We have built our own home search website, SoCalHomesForSale.com
Most people go straight to Zillow, Redfin or Realtor.com to start their search. What they don't realize is that those companies are there to sell your data. Each of those companies are partnered with us to help their clients.
For that reason, we built our own home search website. We update it every 15 minutes directly from the MLS. The best part, when you're asking to our a property or for more information, it goes straight to your Onyx Agent. If you haven't connected with one yet, you should!
On SoCalHomesForSale.com you can create your own saved search. When you do this, make sure to set up daily email alerts so you can stay updated with what is on the market.
Pro-Tip: Keep this search board!! Most times I talk to a home buyer, they've started with too narrowed of a search. You're not looking for the perfect home right off the bat. You're looking to find what you like and don't like.
As you grow that list of things you don't like, you can start eliminating and narrowing that search. Adjust your saved search as needed, or let you Onyx Agent know so they can do it for you.
Getting qualified with a lender
Regardless of where you're at in the process, this should be your next step. The reason this is important, is so that you know what your real comfort zone is with price and payment.
There are so many times where I'm working with someone who has spent a year or more looking at homes that aren't in their comfort zone. Actually more often than not, that comfort zone is actually more than they expected.
Do yourself a favor and start this process earlier than you think you should. You don't need to go get full underwritten, but at least have a lender look over your application.
Window shopping to narrow the search
This is where you take your search out into the field. If you haven't been out looking at houses in person, you're not doing yourself a favor. Houses online look way different than they do in person.
Go out, start driving neighborhoods, attend open houses and narrow that search down. This sounds very self explanatory, yet few people do it. Don't wait until you're 90 days from wanting to be moved in to start this process.
Schedule a Strategy Session with an Onyx Agent
This is where you're really getting ready. I recommend that all our clients book their Strategy Session about 6 months before their desired move date.
The strategy session is where we share three things...
a) What our clients are doing to take advantage of the market
b) Explain the entire home buying process so you feel comfortable
c) How we get your the best deal possible under any circumstances
If you're already within 6 months of wanting to move, you need to go book your Renter Strategy Session. Go fill out the form on this page before you read any further. Let's set you up and get you ready to buy a house.
Writing offers and negotiating deals
This is simply where you start the process of writing offers. When you see a house you really like, enough to buy... you'll know.
Don't overthink this. Lean on the experience of your Onyx Agent. Remember we do this every day. We will give you our unbiased opinion, every time.
Accepted offer and due diligence
Believe it or not, getting your offer accepted is NOT when you're buying the house. After you get your offer accepted, we start our due diligence period, what I call "Homework Phase".
This is where we're learning everything we can about the home so that you feel comfortable. If you find anything you hate, we've negotiated contingency periods for you to change your mind.
Once you remove those contingencies, that is when you're really buying the house.
Move into your new home
Congrats! Now the real fun begins... moving!
Most of the time, this is as deep as an overview will get. So I am going to go way deeper on this for you. This will be a long section with some math, just a warning.
We are going to cover:
- Down Payment Options (20% isn't required)
- Different Loan Options
- How to Negotiate your Deal
Down Payment Options (20% isn't required)
One of the biggest myths in real estate is that you need (or should have) 20% down payment. No part of that is true, most people don't do it.
With our company, the average amount our buyers put as down payment comes out to about 12%. That includes the people who are putting 50%+ down and the buyers coming in with 0% down on a VA loan.
Here are some of the most popular low down payment options and the name of the loan:
0% VA
3% Conventional
3.5% FHA
5% Conventional (Most Popular)
These are listed as the minimum down payment options. You can always put more money down, but these as low as you can go.
Before diving into each of these options, let's talk about something you may have heard of. Mortgage Insurance or PMI (private mortgage insurance) or MIP (mortgage insurance premium). Whatever they want to call it.
Most people I've talked to don't know much about it but they know it's 'bad'.
Mortgage insurance is an assurance to the bank that they'll get their money back. The borrower (you) pay for this insurance. This allows more banks to feel comfortable lending on loans with less than 20% down payment.
One thing most people don't know is that you can get rid of this mortgage insurance. Once your loan is down to 80% of what the home is worth, you can call the lender and have them remove it. You can also refinance down the road and if your loan is less than 80% of the value, you won't have to worry about this.
Term to learn:
Loan to Value (LTV) = Loan Amount / Home Value
Example:
80% LTV = Loan Amount of $800k / Home Value of $1m
At the end of the day, this is a cost of purchasing a home, and we will add it into your payment when finding your comfort zone. Mortgage insurance cost is going to vary, but you can guess that it will be between $100- $600 per month. The larger your loan, the higher the mortgage insurance is.
Now let's cover each of the different loans. Each of these loans is made for a different person...
0% VA
This is only available to Military Veterans. They have the option to put down as much as they want, but they are the only ones with a 0% down payment option.
3% Conventional
This is probably the least popular loan option listed. Mostly because the 5% down payment option brings better rates and terms. Usually if a home buyer has 3% down payment, they could go to 5%. But for the people who can't stretch to 5% down, this is a good option too.
3.5% FHA
The FHA is the Federal Housing Administration. They are NOT a lender, any lender can do an FHA loan. They're government subsidized to make housing more affordable. An FHA loan will allow more people to qualify that can't get approved for a conventional loan. If you have a bit lower credit score, or some negative event in your credit history, this option may make more sense for you.
FHA loans can also come with lower interest rates and lower or no PMI. Yet there is an additional fee called MIP (mortgage insurance premium) of 1.75% of the loan amount. That fee can be financed, but it adds to the amount you're borrowing.
Typically, if you can qualify for a conventional loan, you're better off. Not always, but most of the time.
The FHA has a ton of different loan programs that are more unique so I won't cover them here. You can always as your Onyx Agent in your Renter Strategy Session. If you haven't booked one yet, make sure you fill out the form on this page.
5% Conventional (Most Popular)
The reason that this is the most popular option is because it blends being a very low down payment option, with the best terms of the group. Outside of the VA loan, our Veterans get the best and they earned it.
As mentioned before, if you can qualify and get to a 5% down payment, you'll be in a good position. The only thing that changes from 5% to 19% down is your interest rate can get a bit better because of more down payment. There isn't a massive difference.
We will see clients opting to put 5% down instead of 15% because they would rather keep more cash in their pocket. The difference is that the less money you put down, the higher your monthly payment goes.
I recommend playing with the mortgage calculator at the bottom of this page. See how much of a difference changing your down payment makes.
Different Loan Options
There are only a handful of different loan options out there.
- 30-Year Fixed
- 15-Year Fixed
- Adjustable Rate Mortgages (ARM)
All the different down payment options listed above, can be used with these different loan options.
Think of these as a the loan "products" and the down payment on each product can be different.
The 30-year fixed rate mortgage is the gold standard. This is what 90% of all mortgages are. The only difference between a 15-year and 30 is that you'll pay off the loan in half the time. This means you'll have a much larger payment, so this choice comes down to affordability and budget.
An adjustable rate mortgage or ARM is just as it sounds. They also have a terrible reputation from the past. These loans are usually reserved for a more seasoned or strategic buyer.
When you see an ARM loan it will typically look like 5/1 ARM or 7/1 ARM. What it is telling you is that the first number is how many years the rate is fixed. The second number tells you how often the rate can change after the fixed term.
Example:
5/1 ARM will have a fixed rate for the first 5 years and then every year after that, the rate will adjust. The adjustment is based on where rates are at during that time (in the future). This is why this loan program is not as popular, there is added risk.
Rates could double by the time your fixed term is up and you would be left with a much higher rate. Rates could also come down. Then you would have two options, let your current loan's rate drop or refinance into another loan.
Where this makes the most sense is if you have a short term plan for a home. If you know you're going to be selling within 6 years, a 7/1 ARM could be a good option. Depending on current rates, an ARM will likely have lower rates than a 30-year fixed loan will.
BONUS: There are also "First Time Home Buyer" loans. This is a marketing tactic used my lenders to differentiate themselves.
Most lenders will refer to any low down payment options as "First Time Home Buyer" loans.
How to Negotiate your Deal
This is a subject that scares a lot of people, but I want to make this as simple as possible.
Let's look at this from the eyes of a seller. What ever seller wants to certainty. They want to know that when they make a deal with the buyer, that they're going to close the deal.
Knowing that, we want to put our buyers in the best position to negotiate. This means that we need to give the seller certainty that we are going to close.
I've seen more buyers lose deals over not being prepared than I've seen people lose deals over thousands of dollars.
Making sure the lender you're working with is competitive. I don't mean that your interest rate is good, I mean that they can perform their job on a tight timeline.
There are lenders who take 60 days to close a loan, and there are lenders that take 10. If you're a seller, who do you feel more confident in?
This is another thing that we talk about in our Renter Strategy Session. There are so many different variables, I won't be able to cover them all here.
I see a lot of buyers treat the home buying process as if they're buying from Amazon. Treat this like you're spending over half a million dollars. Make sure the agent you're working with is able to negotiate every angle of the deal. If you're working with an Onyx Agent, you'll be covered.
Summary
Hopefully this gives you a clear understanding of the different loan options. By going through this guide, you're way ahead of your competition.
In the next segment is going to break down what the real costs of owning a home are, including everything that is in the mortgage payment.
Breaking Down the Costs of Buying
Covering what is included in your mortgage payment
As I mentioned above, there are a ton of financial benefits of owning a home. There are also more risks involved. It is easy to overlook the risks, so I want to make sure I lay them out with the benefits.
Let's break down the actual costs of owning a home before talking about the benefits.
There is a term that you'll want to know if you're buying... PITIA.
It stands for...
P - Principle
I - Interest
T - Tax
I - Insurance
A - Association
These will total up to your monthly payment for the home. So you'll have PITIA + Utilities.
If you are renting you have Rent + Utilities.
Principle and interest is what makes up your actual mortgage payment. This is the amount that goes to pay down your loan plus the interest on the loan.
Here are the first two benefits.
P - Principle
1) Principle pay down is like putting money in a savings account. That savings account is your home's equity.
Equity = Value of the home - Loan balance on the home
I - Interest
2) Interest is tax deductible. I can assure you, if you can afford to buy anything in SoCal, you need a tax write-off.
** I AM NOT a CPA... If you're considering buying a home (spending a lot of money) please talk to your accountant. **
This means that money you're paying in interest will lower your taxable income. Which means you'll pay less in income taxes every year. That's a good thing. This can be a LOT of money, which is why I say to talk to your accountant.
T - Taxes
Everyone's favorite topic. We just talked about how you will save in taxes, but here is how you'll be paying taxes also. Property tax in CA is 1% of the home's value. You will be paying this forever.
The only good news here, is that property taxes can also be tax deductible.
** I AM NOT a CPA... If you're considering buying a home (spending a lot of money) please talk to your accountant. **
I - Insurance
Insurance is rather self explanitory, and there isn't a benefit here. This is risk. Your homeowners insurance is to protect you from worst case scenarios. Think of a major leak as an example. There are also extra insurances for natural disasters etc.
I think we all understand insurance, so I won't spend too much time explaining it.
A - Association
This is IF your home is a part of a 'Home Owners Association'. There will be more costs to this as well. This will depend on what you're looking for so I won't cover it here. This isn't a benefit of homeownership, this is a benefit of location.
The biggest benefit of homeownership is appreciation. This is also where the biggest risk comes in. Home values have "always gone up" historically, if you look over a long enough time.
For Orange County, home values have gone up an average of 5% every year. That includes major drops, like in 2008. While a 5% gain might not sound like an incredible investment, remember... all the benefits mentioned, are all happening at the same time.
Also, when you're buying a home, you're getting a mortgage. You may be investing 10% of your own money. But the appreciation happens on the entire amount, not just on your cash investment.
If you're planning on living somewhere for 5+ years, there are a lot of benefits stacking year over year.
Timeline of Equity Growth
Buy and wait, don't wait to buy
Wealth in housing accounts for 10x the amount of wealth held in banks. For as long as we can look back, generation after generation says that if they had known, they would have bought more.
What is equity and how does it actually work?
Term to learn:
Equity = Home Value - Loan Balance
Example:
$300k in Equity = $800k Home Value - $500k Loan Balance
There are three things that attribute to your equity growth.
1) Principle Pay Down
2) Natural Appreciation
3) Forced Appreciation
Principle Pay Down
Every month that you make your mortgage payment, some of that money is paying down you loan balance. This is know as your principle pay down. Think of this like you're putting money in the piggybank. This happens without you thinking about it. Chipping a little away each month at that balance. Over a long period of time, you gain a lot of equity.
There are a few ways to speed up this process. You can change your payments to bi-weekly instead of monthly payments. Banks hate this because it means you're making more than the minimum payment. This leads to you paying off the loan quite a bit faster. About 6 years early to be exact. Do yourself a favor make set this up.
Another option for you to speed this up (you can do both of these) is to add an extra payment toward the principle. Now days most banks will allow you to put an extra amount on your payment. Even increasing the amount by $100 will make a huge difference in the long run.
Natural Appreciation
Regardless of what you think is going to happen with prices, when we look at real estate historically, it goes up. Up and down, but over a long enough period of time, it will go up.
Even those who bought at the worst time ever, right before the 2008 crash... Assuming they're still in that home and haven't refinanced, they would have a home that is almost paid off and worth double what they bought it for. Not bad for the worst timing ever, right?
Home prices appreciate on average at 5% per year. That includes all the major crashes we've seen. It all averages out to 5% per year.
I'll share an example of what this looks like...
Example:
You bought a home for $750k with 5% down payment. Let's see what 5% appreciation over 10 years looks like.
Year 1 - $750,000
Year 2 - $787,500
Year 3 - $826,875
Year 4 - $868,218
Year 5 - $911,630
Year 6 - $957,211
Year 7 - $1,005,071
Year 8 - $1,055,325
Year 9 - $1,108,091
Year 10 - $1,163,496
$413,496 difference over 10 years. Remember that this only shows the appreciation. You've also been making payments for 10 years.
If you followed the advice from above and did bi-weekly payments and added $50 to each payment your loan balance would be $439k
Equity = Home Value - Loan Balance
$724,496 Equity = $1,163,496 - $493,000
That is how powerful homeownership can be. But wait... theres more. We haven't factored in all the tax benefits you've been receiving over this time.
As I mentioned before, I'm not an accountant so I'll give you my personal numbers. I saved about $5,000 per year in taxes from owning my home. That is another $50,000 saved in taxes.
We talk to a lot of home buyers who are trying to perfectly time the market. There is a saying in real estate... "Time in the market beats timing the market".
The best time to buy a house was 10 years ago, and if you're ready, today is the next best option.
Forced Appreciation
I almost decided not to put this into this segment but I decided it was worth it. Forced appreciation is as simple as making your home worth more. This was made famous by all the flipping shows on HGTV. Yet it can be a really powerful way to speed up your wealth building.
Imagine if the house we talked about in the example above was a fixer-upper that you bought for $600k and you fixed it up. You'd have an extra $150k in equity.
This gets incredibly complex, so I won't cover it any further. But if you're willing to do some work on a house, you can definitely build more equity. Just make sure you ask advice from your Onyx Agent because a lot of home owners do improvements that don't add any value. Or at least not as much value as they cost. Always consult with experts before spending a lot of money.
You've made it to the end! Congratulations. I can confidently say that you are 100x ahead of your competition.
If you found this valuable I have two favors to ask... First and most important, that you share it with someone else who might also like it. Also, if you could go to our Google Business Profile and leave an honest review, that would be incredible. Here is the link to leave us a review - click here
Talk soon and thank you for your attention! I know your time is valuable.
PS - As real estate agents, we only get paid when a deal closes. If you want to work with us, the best way to do that is to fill out the form on this page to set up your Renter Strategy Session.
If you're not ready to work with an agent yet, that's no problem. Use the resources we've made for you.
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Bonus: From Home to Investment
Turning your home into an investment is one of the best ways to build wealth. Assuming you're reading this last (you should be) you already understand that power of buying real estate.
Now imagine turning that home that you've build equity in and doing it again. Keeping your current home and turning that into a rental. Having someone else pay it off while you keep all of the benefits of owning it.
Now you're starting this entire process again on another home. Double the appreciation, double the principle pay down, lots more tax benefits + some cash flow from the rental.
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