Compelling Real Estate News – Newsletter – December 2020

It’s a great time to buy a home, so now is the time to start lining up resources to help you make a down payment. There’s plenty of assistance available if both you and the home you want to buy meet eligibility requirements.

While most programs are designed for first-time and/or low-income homebuyers, some are reserved for workforce personnel such as teachers, firefighters and police or for those who meet other criteria for the community.

According to TheMortgageReports.com, there are four types of down payment assistance:

• Grants which don’t have to be repaid
• Loans (second mortgages) that have to be repaid
• Loans (second mortgages) that can be deferred until the property is sold
• Loans (second mortgages) that are forgiven over a period of time

The gold standard in down payments is a minimum of 20 percent, but you can put as little as three percent down through Freddie Mac’s Home Possible® or HomeOne federally guaranteed mortgages. You’ll have to pay private mortgage insurance until your home reaches 20 percent equity, either through making mortgage payments to reduce the principle, or through the increased market value of your home over time.

The Veterans Administration provides certificates of eligibility for veterans to present to their mortgage lender that may entitle them to a mortgage with little or no down payment required.

Check for assistance programs and grants in your state beginning with Hud.gov and FHA.com. These programs will typically require minimum credit scores of 580 and a 3.5 percent down payment.

If you’re buying or selling a home, the concept of fair market value is important. Each home, even if it were built identically to its neighbors, is unique. Variables such as physical condition, improvements or damages, location and overall desirability can each affect the perceived value of any property.

According to Smartasset.com, fair market value is the price a property would sell for in an open and competitive market where the buyer and seller each have adequate information of relevant facts. Buyers and sellers must act in their own interests and not be compelled by outside forces. They must agree to the price without coercion as well as give each other a reasonable time period to complete the transaction.

So how do buyers and sellers agree to fair market values? Since there’s no exact figure to begin with, most people rely on a lender’s appraisal of a given property. The appraisal utilizes information from tax records, recently recorded sales of properties, and comparable homes for sale as provided by the local real estate multiple listing service. Your Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices network professional can also provide you with a comparable market analysis of homes similar to yours based on recent closed sales, pending sales and current listing prices.

Keep in mind that these professionals are providing you with an educated starting point. You won’t know the true fair market value of your home until it’s offered on the open market and you reach an agreement with a willing buyer or seller.

How do professional chefs consistently recreate great food with such confidence? They use an industry art perfected in the finest restaurants called sous vide, and you can easily try it in your kitchen.

Sous vide simply means “cooking under vacuum” in French. How it works is that the food to be prepared is vacuum-sealed in a reusable container, then immersed into a “water bath” until done to the correct temperature. Cooking sous vide is a slower preparation method, making it ideal for fish, vegetables and tougher cuts of meat. You’ll use less oil, fat, and salt and the food will retain more nutrients for a healthier lifestyle.

You don’t need much in the way of equipment and can start with immersible ziplock freezer bags, mason jars or silicone cooking pouches and a pot to hold the water. But you’ll get more uniform results with a standalone immersion circulator designed for home chefs, such as the Anova Precision Cooker. It clamps onto the side of any pot to circulate the water and regulate the temperature. There are countertop appliances approximately the size of a microwave also include the water bath or water oven. Some home chefs get their own vacuum sealing system, such as the Miele vacuum drawer, to get the air out of each seal for longer-lasting freshness.

While there’s nothing new about submerging a sealed packet of food into water, sous vide techniques allow you to cook, freeze and reheat food with the ease of a master chef.