Tag: Money

Closing Costs When Buying a Home

On September 15, 2021

In Finance, Investing, Real Estate, Welcome

Many individuals save for a down payment for their future home, but they might not be aware of the fact that this isn’t the only money that they need to have when they close on it. Most homeowners have to pay closing costs as well. Here’s a little bit more information about closing costs and some ways to lessen them.

What’s Included

Closing costs tend to be about 4% of the purchase price of a home. This amount can vary slightly. Closing costs tend to include things like origination fees associated with the loan, title insurance, attorney fees, and closing fees. For many sellers, the amount they have to pay in closing costs can equate to thousands of dollars. Buyers will receive an itemized list of their closing costs before their actual closing date. This will allow them to see how much each item is that they have to pay for. Fortunately, they may be able to get some help paying for their closing costs.

Getting Assistance

There are a few different ways that buyers can lessen the amount of money that they have to bring to the table during their closing. In some instances, sellers may actually pay the closing costs themselves. This is common for sellers whose house has been for sale for a long time. There also are a variety of grants available that may be used to pay for closing costs if certain requirements are met. Buyers might also be able to roll their closing costs into the loan of the home. While they still will have to pay all of the closing costs, they may end up being more affordable for those that are limited on cash as they can pay them over the life of the loan.

Buying a home can come with a lot of expenses before the buyer even gets the keys to the house. Fortunately, there are some ways that buyers can get assistance paying for closing costs. It’s best for buyers to be upfront with their realtor and mortgage broker about how much they can afford to pay upfront. They can use this information to help the buyer find a few different ways to make closing costs a little more affordable for them.

What to Consider When Investing in Real Estate with a Partner

By W Darrow Fiedler

On August 19, 2016

In Finance, Investing, News

Investing in real estate is a great way to add to your investment portfolio by securing a physical property that will net you returns in the future. Even so, the prospect of buying an investment property can be daunting for many people, which makes it much more appealing for a lot of first-time investors to go into their first deal with a partner. A partnership helps defray the cost of the investment, and it also provides a buffer for error by distributing responsibility across multiple parties, instead of just one. Still, there are a few aspects of partnerships in real estate investing that can be troublesome if both parties are not knowledgeable about potential pitfalls. Here are three aspects of real estate investing partnerships to be aware of before signing on the dotted line.

1) Who will supervise and pay for work on the property? Part of investing in real estate is often performing standard renovations to make sure that the property nets the highest amount of revenue when it gets put on the market. Before you put money down, have a frank discussion with your potential business partner about whose responsibility it will be to handle the work on the property – who is paying for it, who is supervising it, and who is completing the punch list once it has been completed. This conversation will help to inform both parties about their individual responsibilities, and it will save you an uncomfortable discussion later on if and when important details fall through the cracks.

2) How are you splitting equity? Presumably, the intention of investing in real estate is to increase its value and net greater returns on the property over time. It’s important to mutually agree on a split in equity before the property makes it to the market; if you wait until afterwards, you’ll automatically increase the likelihood that you’ll end up having an acrimonious, partnership-ending conflict over the split in equity later on, which could cost you not only a business partner, but also a significant amount of money.

3) What will you do if one party wants to leave the partnership? As with any business, it’s important to draw up a contract between both parties that clearly and irrefutably outlines what the terms of the agreement are and what will happen if one person decides that they no longer want to be involved in the ownership of the property. If you have a contract in place, then there will be no miscommunication about the roles and responsibilities of each person down the line, and there will be no conflict when one person decides to disengage, because you’ll already have a plan in place for this exact situation and others like it.

While it can be challenging to invest in real estate with a partner, it can also be infinitely more rewarding and significantly more lucrative. So, then, as long as you go into your business arrangement with open eyes and clear guidelines for the functions and division of labor for your business, you will set yourself – and your business partner – up for success in the rewarding world of real estate investing.

Co-Founder of PayPal Launches New Credit Startup

By W Darrow Fiedler

On April 14, 2016

In Finance, News

Max Levchin, one of the co-founders of Paypal, has announced that he has raised an impressive $425 million of funding for his newest venture, Affirm, the mission of which is to replace credit cards with micro-loans at a point of sale.

The startup’s service, which is called “Buy With Affirm,” allows shoppers to pay forgoods online in a series of monthly installments, in lieu of one lump-sum payment that is often beyond the customer’s means. By submitting your name, cell phone number, birthday and the last four digits of your social security number, you can apply for membership, at which point Affirm’s algorithm considers a number of variables – like the regularity with which you receive paychecks and how liquid your finances are – to determine how much risk is associated with your finances and whether you are a suitable candidate to receive Affirm’s micro-loans.

With Affirm, PayPal co-founder Max Levchin is hoping to disrupt the credit industry completely.

Describing the motivation behind his new company’s mission to Fortune Magazine, Levchin pointed to the fact that many Millennials not only feel no sense of loyalty towards their banks, but actually possess a marked distrust of large financial institutions. This was shown in a research study conducted by Viacom Media, in which 10,000 Millennials were polled about Big Finance and agreed across the board that all four of the biggest banking brands were on their list of the ten least-loved brands in the USA. Levchin’s solution, then, is to provide these Millennials with a banking alternative that offers increased transparency, in addition to assistance paying off larger amounts of money.

Since Affirm’s launch, the number of merchants they’re partnered with has increased steadily. Last year, they were only used by 100 merchants, and this year, they are used by 700. According to Levchin, users are also hopping on the Affirm bandwagon in impressive numbers, and many are coming back again after their first use.

Clearly, some heavy-hitting investors agree with Levchin that when it comes to Millennial banking and credit, something’s got to give. Founders Fund, Affirm’s newest investor, just contributed $100 million to the company’s financial backing, and they have already received investments from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Spark Capital, Khosla Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz and Jeffries.

It will be interesting to see if Levchin is successful in doing for credit what PayPal did for online payments; only time will tell.