Our housing market has certainly been complicated, to say the least. Costs are higher than ever and market inventory is lower, leading to frustration for many who are on the lookout for their perfect home.
To take the hassle out of buying for their customers, Fieldstone Homes have partnered with First Colony Mortgage. This coupling means a lot for prospective home buyers — giving them the guidance they need to make a decision and saving them the money needed to thrive.
Nicea met up with First Colony Mortgage to learn their expert-approved market strategies and to tour through one of Fieldstone’s immaculate new home models.
1. Buy down your rate – PermanentlyAccording to Blake, this is a way to pay money upfront to get a lower interest rate — essentially to save money in the long term. This option is perfect for those who have a little extra spending cash right now.
“Fieldstone is giving some amazing incentives,” says Blake Bench with First Colony Mortgage. “So we buy down the rate, lower the monthly payment, and everybody is a little bit happier with that housing expense.”
2. Buy down your rate – Temporarily
Much less common, but still effective, is buying down rates temporarily. This allows homeowners to slowly transition into their monthly payments over several years.
According to Blake: “You get to [kind of] ease into your mortgage payment. Get used to the budget. Get used to the payment. Then it slowly works its way back to what the payment would be.”
3. Buy out your mortgage insurance
Many tend to cringe when they hear mortgage insurance. It can be a difficult expense for many homeowners to swallow, especially as they’re working to build a new home. Blake says there’s a better solution — buying out your insurance.
Blake says, “rather than paying $150 a month for your mortgage insurance, we can take some of this incentive money and just buy that out forever. You never pay mortgage insurance ever again — and lower your monthly payment.”
4. Use incentive money to pay off closing costs
On occasion, builders can provide homeowners with additional incentive money for purchasing their homes. Blake suggests using this money to pay off your closing costs on that home, then use your savings to pay off any higher interest debt.
“This is money that the builder is giving you to make this a more positive experience and to make the home more affordable for you and your family,” Blake remarked.
5. Use savings to purchase upgrades
Building a new home can be a costly endeavor as we want them to be perfect. Once all is constructed and you still have extra savings, Blake suggests using those savings to upgrade a new home with features you’ve always dreamt of.
“You’re building this new home — you want it to be yours and everything you wanted it to be.”
