{"id":6525,"date":"2020-12-22T11:00:26","date_gmt":"2020-12-22T11:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.sfloridaluxuryhomes.com\/?p=6525"},"modified":"2020-12-22T11:00:26","modified_gmt":"2020-12-22T11:00:26","slug":"the-difference-a-year-makes-for-homeownership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.sfloridaluxuryhomes.com\/?p=6525","title":{"rendered":"The Difference a Year Makes for Homeownership"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"358\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.sfloridaluxuryhomes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/20201222-KCM-Share-1-549x300-1.jpg\" class=\"webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image\" alt=\"The Difference a Year Makes for Homeownership | Simplifying The Market\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"display: block; margin-bottom: 5px; clear:both;max-width: 100%;\" link_thumbnail=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.sfloridaluxuryhomes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/20201222-KCM-Share-1-549x300-1.jpg 549w, https:\/\/files.simplifyingthemarket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/18155854\/20201222-KCM-Share-1.jpg 750w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 549px) 100vw, 549px\"><\/p>\n<p>Over the past year, mortgage rates have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.simplifyingthemarket.com\/2020\/11\/19\/will-mortgage-rates-remain-low-next-year\/?a=616460-ab6caa3a6a8f085fc17c865a33a506b4\">fallen<\/a> more than a full percentage point, hitting a new historic low 15 times. This is a great driver for homeownership, as today&rsquo;s low rates provide consumers with some significant benefits. Here&rsquo;s a look at three of them.<span id=\"more-43598\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>1. Move-up or Downsize: <\/strong>One option is to consider moving into a new home, putting the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.simplifyingthemarket.com\/2020\/12\/17\/homeowner-equity-increases-an-astonishing-1-trillion\/?a=616460-ab6caa3a6a8f085fc17c865a33a506b4\">equity<\/a>&nbsp;you&rsquo;ve likely gained in your current house toward a down payment on a new one that better meets your needs &ndash; something that&rsquo;s truly a perfect fit, especially if your lifestyle has changed this year.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2. Become a First-Time Homebuyer: <\/strong>There are many financial and non-financial benefits to owning a home, and the most important thing is to first decide when the time is right for you. You have to determine that on your own, but know that now is a great time to buy if you&rsquo;re considering it. Just take a look at the&nbsp;cost of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.simplifyingthemarket.com\/2020\/08\/28\/the-cost-of-renting-vs-buying-a-home-infographic-4\/?a=616460-ab6caa3a6a8f085fc17c865a33a506b4\">renting vs. buying<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>3. Refinance: <\/strong>If you already own a home, you may decide you&rsquo;re going to refinance. It&rsquo;s one way to lock in a lower monthly payment and save more over time. However, it also means paying upfront closing costs, too. If you want to take this route, you have to answer the question:&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.simplifyingthemarket.com\/2020\/03\/25\/is-now-a-good-time-to-refinance-my-home\/?a=616460-ab6caa3a6a8f085fc17c865a33a506b4\">Should I refinance my home?<\/a><\/p>\n<h4><strong>Why 2020 Was a Great Year for Homeownership<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Last year, the average mortgage rate was&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.freddiemac.com\/pmms\/archive.html?year=2019\">3.93%<\/a> (substantially higher than it is&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/freddiemac.gcs-web.com\/node\/21696\/pdf\">today<\/a>). If you waited for a better time to make a move, market conditions have improved significantly. Today&rsquo;s low mortgage rates are a huge <a href=\"https:\/\/www.simplifyingthemarket.com\/2020\/12\/02\/with-home-values-surging-is-it-still-affordable-to-buy-right-now\/?a=616460-ab6caa3a6a8f085fc17c865a33a506b4\">perk<\/a> for buyers, so it&rsquo;s a great time to get more for your money and consider a new home.<\/p>\n<p>The chart below shows how much you would save per month based on today&rsquo;s rates compared to what you would have paid if you purchased a home exactly one year ago, depending on how much you finance:<a href=\"https:\/\/blog.sfloridaluxuryhomes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/20201222-MEM-Eng-1.jpg\" data-rel=\"lightbox-image-0\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\" title=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-43600\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.sfloridaluxuryhomes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/20201222-MEM-Eng-1.jpg\" alt=\"The Difference a Year Makes for Homeownership | Simplifying The Market\" width=\"650\" height=\"488\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.sfloridaluxuryhomes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/20201222-MEM-Eng-1.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/files.simplifyingthemarket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/18123146\/20201222-MEM-Eng-1-400x300.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Bottom Line<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>If you&rsquo;ve been waiting since last year to make your move into homeownership or to find a house that better meets your needs, today&rsquo;s low mortgage rates may be just what you need to get the process going. Let&rsquo;s connect today to discuss how you may benefit from the current rates.<\/p>\n<p>Content previously posted on Keeping Current Matters<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"358\" src=\"https:\/\/files.simplifyingthemarket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/18155854\/20201222-KCM-Share-1-549x300.jpg\" class=\"webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image\" alt=\"The Difference a Year Makes for Homeownership | Simplifying The Market\" style=\"margin-bottom: 5px;clear:both;max-width: 100%\">Over the past year, mortgage rates have fallen more than a full percentage point, hitting a new historic low 15 times. This is a great driver for homeownership, as today&rsquo;s low rates provide consumers with some significant benefits. Here&rsquo;s a look at three of them. 1. Move-up or Downsize: One option is to consider moving [&hellip;]<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"bgseo_title":"","bgseo_description":"","bgseo_robots_index":"","bgseo_robots_follow":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,88,84,86,118,89,125],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","category-first-time-home-buyers","category-for-buyers","category-housing-market-updates","category-interest-rates","category-move-up-buyers","category-rent-vs-buy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.sfloridaluxuryhomes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.sfloridaluxuryhomes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.sfloridaluxuryhomes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.sfloridaluxuryhomes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.sfloridaluxuryhomes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.sfloridaluxuryhomes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6525\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.sfloridaluxuryhomes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.sfloridaluxuryhomes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.sfloridaluxuryhomes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}