Are you wondering what goals to set financially for 2016? Are you trying to figure out what your big financial plans are for this year? Well let me help give you some direction. Real Estate is the secret for 2016, here in Colorado Springs, we have to lowest home inventory since 1994. What does that mean for you? It means if you have been waiting for the perfect time to sell your home, this is it. Homes are only staying on the for an average on 59 days, as opposed to the 90-180 days that is used to be even a year ago. Also the values of our homes are up, the average price here is $260,000. That’s up 9% from last year, coupled with the lack of homes on the market means you can price your home on the higher end to help increase your return on investment. Warren Buffet has been teaching people to buy low and sell high for years, and that’s exactly what I am encouraging you to do this year. If you don’t have a home to sell don’t fret, rates are low and we have new loan options, including the Family Opportunity loan and the Bond program. The Family Opportunity loans allows adult children to refinance and take equity from their parents’ homes, as an alternative to a reverse mortgage. The Bond program allows access to the home buyer assistance bond, for those of you that want to put 20% down on a home but may need some help bridging the gap.

As many of you know, the best way to own a home is debt free, so for some of you this may be the year you get debt free, working on paying off your unsecured debt. This is the year you say no and pay off car loans, student loans, credit cards, installment payments, store cards, if you’ve got them it time to get rid of them. They are not doing you any favors, in fact you are losing money on them. Let’s make 2016 the year you get rid of all of your depreciating debt and only make appreciating investments. A great example of an appreciating investment is owning a home. The return on investment (or ROI) for home ownership right now is up between 30-40% and growing. Take a 3 bed, 2 bath home here in Stetson Hills, costs about $235,000 to purchase. If you are renting that home, chances are the owner paid more and has a high interest rate, putting rent between $1600-1750. That same home, if you were to purchase it now for $235,000, and have the worst case scenario for loan options with little to no money down, your mortgage payment will be around $1335, a savings of about $300 -$400 a month. Now let’s say we have a better financial situation and you can put down somewhere between 5-20%, that’s drops your mortgage payment to somewhere around $1150. That saves you $500-$600 a month on the same house. Why wouldn’t you choose to make the smart investment and stop paying someone else’s mortgage? If you can do it, this year is shaping up to be the best time to make the leap into homeownership and make great financial decisions in 2016.