What are your real estate goals?
Don’t say you don’t have any real estate goals. Even if your goal this year is to stay in your home another year, that’s something! For everyone else, think about what you want.
Buy a Home
Are you thinking of buying a home? Doesn’t even have to be this year. Frankly, you could be two to five years out from buying a home, but there are still plenty of things you can do NOW to get ready. (First, of course, is talking with lenders. It may be a few years before you’re ready to buy a home, but there are planning steps you can take now to make it far less stressful when the time comes).
Sell a Home
Maybe a sale is in your future. Whether or not you’re actually planning to move this year, there’s a chance you might. For work, for love, for health reasons, or for family. There are all kinds of reasons to move. Even if you think you’re not going anywhere, it still never hurts to have an accurate, current assessment of your home’s value. Another good idea: periodically clean out and purge things you don’t use anymore. It’ll help tremendously if you do need to make a move, this year or decades down the road.
Investing in Real Estate
Or perhaps you’re all set. Never going to move. But, you’re kind of bored with the stock market and those mutual funds you never pay attention to. Perhaps 2019 is the year you decide to start investing in real estate! Keep in mind, investing in real estate isn’t only about flipping homes like they do on HGTV, or even going the old “rent and hold” route. There are other ways to invest in real estate, like investing in mortgage notes.
Yes, it’s a thing. Yes, it’s totally legal. And yes, you can use your IRA funds to do it. (More on that later).
Or if you’re a Seattleite dreaming of investing in a rental property or flip but Seattle prices got you down, take a look across Elliott Bay at Kitsap County. It’s very affordable and accessible, especially with the new fast ferry that just launched in November. It takes passengers from tiny, quaint little Kingston to Downtown Seattle in less than 40 minutes. To put that into perspective, you’ll spend longer stuck in traffic going from Bellevue to Seattle most days. (And that’s way less scenic than a nice boat ride).
Reach Out
No matter what you have going on, it’s never too soon to start thinking and planning your real estate goals, no matter how small they may seem.
We are always here to help, just drop us a line!