Check out the below video presentation by Graham Hill(profile), founder of eco-blog and vlog TreeHugger.com. In this TED video, Graham talks about how Americans have trippled their size of space usage in the past decade or so which leads to more unwanted stuff, increased carbon foot print, lot of spending which leads to more debt and finally reduced happiness.
His Mantra is to live in a space which you really need or get a space where you can put a single item for multipurpose which reduces waste, less spending, more saving and more happiness as well. I surely don’t buy it unless you are going to be bachelor all your life. I know that I shouldn’t have put this video up here in my real estate website and turning away my prospective home buyers. No, obviously thats not my intention. I decided to go ahead and share for few reasons.
Texas is big and we have big ranches and big houses coming up in all parts of Houston even at this economic crunch times. People are looking for bigger house and they upgrade when their family grows. That’s the normal trend. Is it good or bad? It all depends on individual. Take me for example, I am a content person and like to live content and only buy things only when I need them. But I have seen many people things to keep up their want list. People just buy big houses and most of the space are used may be once in a year and never get attention.
Do you really need that big house and spend lot of money by paying interest for 10-15 years. Thats my first and foremost reason. I am not saying don’t buy a house. Just don’t buy a house just for the sake of buying a big one and being proud of it. If you thing you won’t be able to make use of the full space, then don’t bother spending a lot of money even though you can afford it. That money can be put towards kids education, retirement or may be your vacation with family.
Next thing, if you buy a big house, you need foresee future expense. You to buy things to fill up the space and after few years those things get outdated and you just keep buying again and again. Do you really need this periodic spending? Some would say yes but if you think you can buy a decent place and accomodate properly and buy sustainable items with multipurpose usage, that would save money and you can get the full use of the item. Think about it.
At last, Happiness is the key for our living longer. Will you be happy with big house? Yes of course, more space for kids and family but at the same it brings more time to maintain it. It also gives less interaction among family members as per some survey. I heard many say, people live in their island/rooms and don’t bother to interact in those big houses. House is where we grow our by sharing, guiding and enriching each other as a family by mingling and interacting.
Do you think a Big place would make you Happy and at same time help save money and reduce wastage? Just give fore thought before looking for big place in Cinco Ranch or Bridgeland.
Riverstone
A Fort Bend area master-planned community where luxurious homes, water features and resort-style amenities define the landscape, Riverstone is one of Fort Bend County’s most desirable addresses. Riverstone residents enjoy an enviable lifestyle with a superb selection of new homes with Sugar Land and Missouri City addresses. Plus, with varied highway access and an array […]
Sienna
Sienna is a comprehensive 7,000-acre master-planned community. Sienna is more than houses inside one of the top Fort Bend County subdivisions. Neatly tucked between the acclaimed cities of Missouri City and the City of Sugar Land, it is a community in the truest sense of the word. Every effort is made to maintain a sense […]
Bridgeland
Imagine a place with vast open spaces and spectacular sunsets. An 11,400 acre master-planned community in northwest Houston where flocks of waterfowl glide across natural lakes. A refuge from the chaos of your workday. A place where you can find true balance. The new home community of Bridgeland is such a place. Bridgeland attracts and […]
Towne Lake – Master Planned Community, Cypress
Towne Lake reflects its Texas-sized appeal in a 300-acre lake, with beautiful views. Lake coves allow neighbors easy access to the water and to the many amenities and destinations throughout, bonding the community together. Towne Lake Charm is all these things and more, reflected in a community steeped in Texas pride. Caldwell Companies has perfected […]
Cypress Creek Lakes
Cypress Creek Lakes is a beautiful master-planned new home community nestled in the charming Northwest Houston suburb of Cypress, Texas. Mischer Development has carefully designed the 1,600-acre community to respect the natural beauty of the land while developing approximately 2,000 new home sites. Its convenient location on Fry Rd. just off of Highway 290 also […]
Less Space, Less Stuff, More Savings, More Happiness…
In and Out of your Mortgage Payment
In a recent article from Inman news, there was a simple infographics presented to explain the mortgage payment made by homeowners. Many home buyers don’t know the truth until they get closer to buying the house and signing the documents. It is better to take a hard look about PITI breakup now before you buy the house than later. I will explain why later down the post.
Here is that infographics which I modified and edited to give a good look.
Principal, interest, taxes and insurance — stack up in blocks of color to comprise the total payment a borrower is required to make, and the graphic also provides a sample set of numbers for each element pegged to a $269,000 mortgage with a 20 percent down payment.
On the other hand, the 4.54 percent interest rate upon which the graphic is based is quite close to today’s prevailing 4.33 percent rate on a 30-year fixed-rate loan.
The graphic includes one additional module, providing a reality check for today’s homebuyers and refiers who are low on cash or simply want to keep some in their pockets.
Down payments less than 20 percent flick on the PMI switch, meaning that lenders charge an extra, substantial monthly fee for private mortgage insurance. The purpose, To both (a) incent borrowers to put more down, and (b) cover the cost of insurance against the additional risk of default that low-down loans present.
Understanding PITI
It is very important to see whether you would be approved for a loan of the required purchase amount to make a decision to buy now or later. PITI plays a major role in finding that out. Front End ratio which is one type of Debt-to-Income ratio (DTI) is used to find whether a person would be approved by lender or not. Frond-end ratio takes expected PITI amount for the month against the monthly gross income (PITI/Monthly Gross Income) to come up with percentage ratio. This ratio has to be below .28 to get approved for conventional loan. Meaning, your PITI should be less than 28% of your monthly income to get a loan. Also knowing how much down payment is expected of certain down payment helps you to plan save for it and avoid the PMI.
Being a CFP Candidate and Realtor, I strongly recommend my clients to check these figure out to get an understanding of you future mortgage payment and make the right decision to buy or wait it out. Is your realtor smart enough to educate you about this financial obligations in buying a home?
Big Thank you & Happy Thanksgiving 2011
Dear Clients, Readers and Visitors,
A heart filled THANK YOU to all of you who helped and encouraged me in all sort of ways in my Realestate business and day today activites. A special THANK YOU to all my clients who gave me the opportunity to serve and satisfy their real estate needs. I surely appreciate you all trusting me by giving the business. I will stirve to improve on the feedbacks and hope to continue my efforts in my future communcations.
At this time, we should all reflect on our good fortune — we have jobs/income, in these challenging economic times, that is indeed something really big to be thankful to GOD.
May God bless you all and Wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving!!
Have great time with your family and friends.
Compare Texas Sales & Property Tax with other US States
I came across couple of infographics/informative maps shared by my favorite money blogger at mymoneyblog.com. I thought of putting it at my moneyreallymatters.com website but decided to share it here. I might really help to shed some light about Texas Tax obligations compared to others states to prospective home owners and people who are thinking about moving to Texas.
Below is the sales tax comparison map,
As you can see, we rank #11 up on the top of states which charges high sales tax from their residents to satisfy goverment expenses but at the same time we don’t have income tax which is a big plus. You only pay on what you earn not what you make so you can save more money.
Here is the Property Tax Comparison map,
There is no ranking but you can see our Property Taxes are up and above $2000 compared to other states/counties. It is the big chunk of money, we residents pay to get our necessities from County & State. Apart from local sales tax, property taxes are another income source to local government since we don’t have State Income tax. There are pros and cons to having high property tax and no income tax which can feed to another post.
Houston Area Holiday Events Schedule
It’s mid of Nov and you better make plans for the holiday which is fast approaching in few weeks. Next week is Black friday which officially kick starts the Holiday shopping season and holiday events are already starting to happen around the town. Holiday lights and decorations poped up around many areas as soon as the Halloween was over. It seems like Holiday season just kept pushed earlier than previous years or atleast the retailers are starting out early to bring more customers into the stores.
Anyway, to make your life easier, here is the holiday schedule for events happening around Houston. Courtesy from North American Title Company. It doesn’t have Moody Gardens Festival of lights showcase in the list which started Nov 12th and will be every weekend. Click here to check out their schedule.
