I am going to share an opinion that I thought might help some of you. My opinion is that a 15 year mortgage is a much better financial decision than a 30 year mortgage. I fully understand that a 15 year mortgage could potentially price you out of being able to buy where you want to buy. The monthly payments will be higher than a 30 year mortgage. What I am looking at when I say this is the full cost of your mortgage.
According to MortgageCalculator.org here is a simple idea of what I am talking about. If you were to buy a $200,000 home and put $5,000 down and get an interest rate at 4%, here is what you would pay over the life of your loan:
Total Payments over 30 Years = $343,595.54
Total Payments over 15 Years = $262,961.71
That is a difference of $80,633.83 over the life of your loan. Again, I fully understand that there will be a difference in payments. On the above 30 year option your monthly payment would be $1,012.21 while it would be $1,523.64 on the 15 year option (plus taxes and insurance for both). I am just saying that you are paying $80,000 less for the same house. Plus, you have 15 years less of payments. Imagine what you could do with an extra $1,500 a month for 15 years of your life.
Again, this is not for everyone. I just believe that not a lot of people understand this, and that some people will be blown away by this.
Now onto current market conditions in Central Iowa:
We are in a different market than we have had over the last few years. At this time of year over the last few years we have seen active listings and pending listings (listings that have been put under contract) be at almost the same level. That is not true this year. As of May 29th, 2019 there are currently 2,655 pending listings and 3,685 active listings.
What does that mean? Buyers are getting more cautious. Sellers are pricing their houses at the top of the market. Those two things combined mean that we are seeing things move a little slower. To be fair, we are only about 200 closed sales behind this time last year. And last year was record breaking. This is not a huge slow down. It is a slow down though.
It means that you need to make sure that you are pricing in line with the market and that you are paying attention to what is happening in your market. Simply, push the easy button and call me. I will give you more information than you know what to do with and I will help you interpret it. Then I will work with you to get you through negotiations and to closing day.
I love doing what I do. I love looking at the market, and I love building relationships with the people that I get to help. Let me know how I can help you. Call me today. You can reach me at 515.639.0047 or RyanLynch@KW.com. I am good at what I do, and I want to help you.
~Ryan Lynch
