In this episode of Coffee with Waymark, Hanifa shares some exciting personal news: she purchased her first home! She shares the key factors that guided her decision and tips that you can take away to be thorough and thoughtful in the home-buying process.
Topics discussed:
Renting vs. Buying Tips
Home Ownership
Personal Finance
Transcript:
Hello everyone and welcome to another Coffee with Waymark. On today's episode I have some very exciting personal news to share with you all. If you watched Brendan's recent money clip for YouTube short, by the way if you haven't watched it I highly suggest checking them out. They're little snippets of information that are really helpful and they're only a minute long so definitely check them out.
But going off of his most recent one, he talked about some things to consider when deciding if you want to buy or rent a home. We have decided to buy our first home and we're actually in it right now. We're really excited about embarking on this home ownership journey. And I just wanted to come on here and talk to you about a couple of things that I took, or we took into consideration when making this decision.
The first thing we looked at is how much we're paying for rent and how much we would be paying that out over the next five years. After crunching the numbers, we found out that we would be paying around $200,000 in rent. So obviously a crazy number. We thought, okay, buying obviously makes sense, right?
Another thing to take into consideration is interest rates. Interest rates are really high right now. And I know prices home prices in New England, especially are really high right now. Arizona is a little bit cheaper, a little less expensive, but they're still up there, I would say. We wanted to live in a safe neighborhood, a neighborhood where they would be younger families, smaller families, and we found that Gilbert would fit into that ideal scenario. We looked at homes in Gilbert that fit within our budget, that fit within how much money we wanted to spend as far as a down payment, as far as how much we wanted to invest in this first home. And we also took a look at different lenders. I cannot stress how important it is to look into different lenders and not just go with the first person or the first vote that you get, just because that might not be the lowest vote , or lowest amount you can get.
Highly recommend looking into different lenders, looking into bigger banks and credit unions, just doing your research and making sure that you are getting the best deal for you. Another thing we took into consideration is how long we would be staying here and if eventually we could sell this house.
Gilbert is a growing neighborhood. It's a growing city and a lot of people and small families that are living here and other houses within the area are priced definitely a little more higher than our current house. We took a look at that and saw that there is definitely potential to increase the value of this home, especially with doing small repairs and just fixing up general things.
That's one thing to take into consideration is if you want to do the repairs yourself or if you want to pay someone to do those repairs. All of that comes into how much money you're going to be spending on the house in the next few years, or over the next however long you choose to stay in that house.
A lot of people think it's just, "Oh, I just made the down payment and I'm all set." But there's definitely a lot more that goes into it, including closing costs, property taxes, home insurance, if there's an HOA. Those are some expenses you might want to look into as well, as well as utilities.
But overall, when we crunched the numbers, it just made sense to us to buy something versus renting. And like I said, we're really excited to embark on this home ownership journey. And I'm sure I'll be keeping you guys posted with little bits of information along the way, but excited to embark on this journey with you guys.
Hanifa is Client Services Manager for the Waymark team, handling client intake, scheduling, back-office support services, systems management, and various financial report generation. She excels at client relationship management and advisor process facilitation. Her passion for helping clients reach their financial goals is driven by a desire to make a tangible impact on their lives beyond money.
Prior to joining Waymark, Hanifa earned a BSBA in finance and management and an MBA in finance from the University of Massachusetts Lowell. She has extensive experience in the finance industry with positions in both big companies like Putnam Investments and smaller credit unions in her hometown of Dracut, MA. While originally from Uganda, Hanifa has lived in Dracut since she was 4 years old and recently moved across the country to Arizona. Her relocation was inspired by her love for outdoor activities, such as hiking and golfing, which she is now able to participate in year-round while maintaining a strong commitment to staying fit and active.
Drawing on her financial expertise and her life journey from Uganda to Dracut and now Arizona, Hanifa's commitment to enhancing clients' financial well-being, along with her passion for an active and purposeful life, remains the driving force behind her mission, exemplifying Waymark's dedication to excellence and holistic well-being.
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The opinions voiced in this video are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual.
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