Real Estate

Buying A Home Versus Renting A Home

Onias Derilus · October 9, 2020 · Leave a Comment

There are obvious benefits of owning a home such as pride of ownership, status symbol, creation of asset and wealth, privacy, and feeling of freedom to customize according to your own liking. However, buying a home is a massive financial decision involving lots of money and a long commitment to a lender. Therefore, large numbers of individuals and families continue to live on rent. Here are the pros and cons of both owning a home and renting.

Pros of renting

You pay small amount of money up front and enjoy living in a home
You have no responsibilities towards upkeep and maintenance of the rented home
You can easily move out and rent another home. Relocation is easy when you get a better job in another city.

Cons of renting

Landlord can increase the rent every year
Moving from one place to another can be difficult and costly
You have less privacy and little freedom of personalizing the space

Pros of buying a home

Pride of ownership
Lots of privacy
Freedom to update and renovate according to requirements
No one can kick you out of your home
You’ll enjoy the equity even if you cannot pay mortgage under financial stress
Ownership is a form of forced saving which allows you to create wealth
You enjoy tax deductions when filing income tax returns
Your home grows in value over a period
You become rent-free after you have paid the mortgage

Cons of buying

Relocation becomes very difficult. You cannot move to a new place because of your commitment to the lender.
You need large amount of money to pay for down payment

While buying a home has many advantages, buying or continuing to live on rent is totally dependent upon your circumstances. If you think you have settled in your life and earning enough to easily afford the EMIs to a lender, it is certainly prudent to try and buy a home for your family. On the other hand, if you are young and still hoping for a better job and career, it is advisable to live in a rented place. You can always think of buying when you have found a good paying job and started on your family.

Top 10 Reasons to Work with a Real Estate Agent or Broker

Onias Derilus · July 24, 2020 · Leave a Comment

1. Real Estate Experience

Working with a real estate agent or broker provides you with insights that can only be gained from the licensure process and a high volume of transactions. Because they have experienced a variety of legal and contractual situations, your agent or broker can help provide guidance no matter what comes up during the course of your transaction.

2. Market Knowledge

Because they know so much about the local market, real estate agents and brokers are better able to identify the trends and developments that impact price and days on market in a neighborhood. They know the latest information on schools, crime statistics, and recent sales, so they can help buyers find the perfect home or help sellers properly position their property for sale.

3. Staging and Popular Updates

Need to get a home sold? By working with a great listing agent, you’ll learn what current buyers in your market are looking for so you can make the updates, upgrades, and changes that get them through the door. In addition, many agents and brokers offer staging services to help your home look its best at every showing.

4. Pricing Insight

Because they understand the market, including the sale prices and circumstances of recent and current comparable properties in the area, your real estate agent or broker can help sellers properly price their properties for a timely sale. For buyers, your real estate agent or broker can help you formulate your offer price so that you get the best possible deal on your home purchase.

5. Market Conditions

Your agent or broker knows the current data and market trends that affect price and days on market. That means that they can give you the most timely and relevant advice as you are making decisions, marketing a property, or negotiating an offer.

6. Professional Networking

Because they are connected to a wide-ranging professional network, you real estate agent or broker has contacts who can help you find off-market or pre-market listings, can provide market insights, and can help you get your deals to the closing table.

7. Professional Negotiations

Don’t go it alone when negotiating pricing or repairs. Your agent or broker can act as a buffer to streamline negotiations and can provide the insights that underpin and support your negotiating position.

8. Contract Insights

Because they understand the ins and outs of contract language, your real estate professional can help you understand the various details of your sales contract and help you formalize details of your deal in contractual language. In addition, your agent or broker can help you understand what addenda and contingencies you need to ensure that every detail of your transaction goes smoothly.

9. Transaction Coordination

By scheduling, coordinating, and streamlining the entire process, your real estate professional ensures that every deadline and every detail of your transaction is taken care of. From the initial offer to the closing table, effective transaction coordination is the key to a successful home sale or purchase.

10. Affiliated Professional Referrals

Need a title agent, lender, real estate attorney, or even a great mover? Your real estate agent or broker knows everyone in town and can provide professional referrals that help you accomplish all of your real estate goals.

Sou Sou (aka SuSu, Kob Sol, Reso, Eso) Money Savings Clubs Explained

Onias Derilus · June 15, 2020 · Leave a Comment

What is Sou Sou or SuSu money savings? Sou Sou or SuSu money pools, whichever way you prefer to call it, is quite popular in the African and Carribean cultures and it’s the process of formulating a group of individuals usually with someone in charge to control the pool and the participants who are willing to pull in funds on a consistent basis (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly and etc) together and formulate what the participants call to be a form of savings via their Sou Sou aka SuSu Money Savings Club.

Who’s it for? And what’s the purpose?
In my Haitian culture, I’ve watched my parents, family members, church members participate in this type of savings club which I never really thought was an actual thing that’s known to many cultures. In creole, they call it “reso,” “eso,” or “kob sol” and it was not until I was working with my clients on a real estate transaction that they had to tell the underwriters that these funds came from what they have known it to be which is “sol” money.

After much research in our ability to explain to the underwriters what this type of savings club is to be, we’ve found out that it’s actually done in many cultures and mortgage underwriters will actually allow you to use your “sou sou” savings funds to purchase a home.

How does it work?
Let’s say there’s a group of 26 individuals who would like to start this and the basis is that they will each contribute $200 every two weeks. This scenario would take a duration of a complete year to complete but every two weeks, someone in the pull will cash out and every $200 that is collected from each individual will sum up together to equal $5200 all together. The person in charge will be responsible to collect and disburse the funds to the appropriate person. The roster will be set from the beginning of the event and everyone will know which hand aka which week they’ll be cashing out beforehand.

How is it determined who gets cashed out every two weeks?
The calendar is set from the beginning and it’s a first come, first go basis. Each participant will tell the person in charge which hand they’d like to have. It’s always very interesting to me to see that some people would like to cash out at the very end, some prefer right in the middle and some would like to cash out from the very beginning and hold the responsibility of paying it back bi-weekly. Getting your hand from the very beginning, in my opinion, is the best way to get an interest free loan and bring less risk to you.

The Pros & Cons:
Pros: The participants in these savings clubs tend to feel that it would be hard for them to save consistently and this type of savings club will give them a sense of responsibility that they must carry out.

Cons: Now there isn’t anything that guarantees that everyone in the pool will come through consistently or be held responsible if they don’t but from my experience, everyone ALWAYS comes through. There’s no credit check to join, there’s no credit report to review and it’s all PURE TRUST in each individual within the group that they will make their guaranteed contribution on the basis that is set.