Lowering Debt Rates for Horse Owners

lowering debt

Here is some important information about lowering debt in Colorado. We all know that horse owners have a lot of financial things to deal with. The last thing you want to worry about is debt when running a dude ranch in Denver. Credit card debt in America is back to levels prior to the recession. The average credit card annual percentage rate, or APR, is just under sixteen percent. This is according to CreditCards.com and the site’s Weekly Credit Card Report, a trusted place to get information from many agents of the real estate business.

Homeowners have an advantage over renters when it comes to conquering debt issues. With a little basic money management, you can take those higher debt rates and replace them with lower debt rates. Credit cards and assets—such as personal cars, boats, motor vehicles, and other personal property—usually have interest rates higher than that of real estate loans.

Lowering Debt Rates

How can you get a low rate of financing? Did you know that borrowing against your home typically can give you the lowest rate of financing of anything else? An advantage of borrowing against a home is that the interest could be tax deductible. You could refinance your home mortgage to take cash out to retire personal debt as one option. Another way to do this would be to secure a home equity line of credit or HELOC.

Qualified mortgage interest includes acquisition debt. This can only be used to buy or improve a principal residence. Of course, this is only up to one hundred thousand dollars of home equity debt and it can be used for any purpose. We would all certainly like to become debt-free, paying the least amount of interest that you possibly can is a great first step to meeting that goal. Owning a home provides an asset that allows for options not available to renters. Seek professional advice from your friends at Colorado Horse Property.

Home Deductibles for Horse Owners

home insurance deductibles

Deductibles are essential homeowner tools and here’s why.

Owning your own home is an amazing thing. You have a lot more control on what goes on in your own home. You are building up equity for your future. Owning your own home as a horse owner is even more amazing. You don’t want to be relying on a landlord when it comes to your animals. However, it is nice to know that someone has you covered in case something happens to your property and this is where deductibles come in.

The idea behind insurance is to that the risk of loss and give it to a company, and all you need to do is pay a premium. Most policies have a deductible. These reduce the amount of the claim. For more information, contact Colorado Horse Property for professional help.

Policyholders often consider higher deductibles to lower the premium. Lower deductibles mean less money out of pocket if a loss occurs but higher premiums. Higher deductibles result in lower premiums, but you bear a more significant part of the loss. Reviewing your deductible is essential. Discuss risks with your property insurance agent so that you’re familiar with the amount. Make any changes that would be appropriate before a claim is made. The FEMA website has information and frequently asked questions about flood insurance.

Retiring Horse Owners

retiring horse owners

Retiring horse owners can sometimes find it hard to relocate. Looking for a horse property is now easier than ever with coloradohorseproperty.comwhich has over 3,500 properties listed in Colorado. So, are looking for an equestrian property for sale for you and your horse? We got you covered. Your retirement is for you to enjoy, not to worry about where you will be living.

Retiring horse owners will find a haven in Colorado.

But let’s be honest—when it comes to making decisions, we spend more time thinking about which cell phone plan we want to buy than we do our own retirements. Take a moment and imagine retiring on your very own horse property. It doesn’t take long to sit down and calculate how much money you will have to put towards your retirement is you keep a close watch on your spending. The average American has the ability to save around thirty thousand dollars over a period of fifteen years.

Using around $35,000 for a 20% down payment and closing costs on a $150,000 rental home could give you all the money you will need for retirement and much more. The $35,000 could grow to $153,302. The rate of return on a rental could be as high as 14.19%. Remember, the same agent at Colorado Horse Property who helped you with your home can help you invest in a rental home.

What About Refinancing?

Photo by Austin Paquette on Unsplash

If you are planning on refinancing your horse property, consider not taking money out of it. I know that might sound ludicrous at first, but there are advantages to this strategy. You could more than likely come out of the deal with a lower rate, allowing you to build equity faster so that you can pay off your home sooner. Also, if you are looking for a horse property for sale in Colorado, contact Colorado Horse Property today and speak with one of our horse-person realtors.

Refinancing Horse Property

Paying off your home sooner than later can be the smartest decision you’ve ever made, especially when it comes to being a homeowner in today’s economic climate. So, if you have the extra cash sitting around, opt into lower rates and avoid the low savings rates being paid by banks these days.

Here’s how it works—Consider the following scenario. You, the homeowner, have made nearly fifty payments of over thirteen hundred dollars, making the current mortgage a five percent for a thirty year loan. Now, consider that you decide to refinance for a rate of fifteen years at a little over three percent. If the homeowner puts in $36,000, their payments will be slightly more but the mortgage will be paid off in fifteen years. At that same point, if they keep the current mortgage, their unpaid balance will be well over one hundred thousand dollars. Talk to your financial adviser to see if a cash-in refinance is the right thing for you.

Let’s Talk Home Lighting

lighting

Getting the right kind of home lighting for your home is essential. Even if you had the nicest home in Colorado, it will not look that way without good home lighting. Fortunately, since the passing of a new energy act in 2017, it is now required that new energy-efficient light bulbs are used. Also, if you are looking for a horse property for sale in Colorado, contact Colorado Horse Property today and speak with one of our horse-person realtors.

Home Lighting

Standard incandescent bulbs do a poor job at lighting up your home. Therefore they are phasing out and eventually will be unavailable. However, you should still shop around when it comes to these new alternative bulbs because they differ considerably in price. For example, LED bulbs are the most efficient but they also cost the most. If you are looking for a bulb that will show off your new Colorado horse property but don’t have a fortune to spend, then CFLs are a less expensive alternative. Keep in mind that the more expensive replacements offer lower operating costs and longer economic life.

If you are making the decision to replace your home lighting, then you should have a plan in place. It could be very expensive to replace all the bulbs in your home at one time. What if most of the bulbs still work? Do you just throw them out? Colorado Horse Property would advice homeowners to only replace the bulbs in the rooms where the lights are used the most such as kitchen, family rooms and bathrooms. Bulbs differ in light output (lumens) as well as color of light.

Paying Off Your Mortgage

Lost Valley Ranch

Paying off your mortgage? Who doesn’t want to get rid of their debt? No long owing money on your home and paying off your mortgage so that you own your home is a huge part of the American Dream. But don’t write that check just yet—there may be conflicting circumstances that will change your mind. Paying off your mortgage early will no doubt leave you with more cash every month, less interest paid, and a great credit score, but there are also negative consequences as well. At Colorado Horse Property we know that everyone’s financial situations are different, so make sure you know the facts before making any decisions.

Paying Off Your Mortgage Pros

  • Paying off your mortgage will leave you with peace of mind knowing that you don’t have a mortgage to worry about.
  • You will save on interest, regardless of your current mortgage rate.
  • You can lower your housing costs, allowing you to save for more important things like retirement.

The Cons

  • You could use the money that you have to pay off your mortgage to pay off other debts that have higher interest rates.
  • Your employer might have a matching retirement plan that would benefit you a lot more.
  • You have more urgent financial needs like emergency fund, life, health and disability insurance. Don’t pay off your mortgage when the money is better used somewhere else.
  • If you believe that high inflation will affect the value of your mortgage then paying off your mortgage could become too expensive. Contact your property adviser for more information on inflation before making a decision.
  • You can invest at a higher rate than your mortgage.
  • You might not qualify for a mortgage currently.

Home Cleaning Tips

Photo by Micah Tindell on Unsplash

Home cleaning tips can help you when life gets away from you sometimes. Routines can be tight, especially if you have a large family to take care of. However, sometimes cleaning doesn’t get enough time in the schedule that it needs. Actually, if you manage your time efficiently, you can take care of your family and your home with less time cleaning up.  Also, if you are looking for a horse property for sale in Colorado, contact Colorado Horse Property today and speak with one of our horse-person realtors.

I’m not talking about throwing the clothes in the washing machine or the dishes in the dishwasher. I’m talking about dusting, which depending on how large your home is can be a difficult thing to do. You have to be committed to your housekeeping strategy and not only cleans away the dust built up in the nooks and crannies of your home but also what causes the dust buildup in the first place. Remember, dust can cause allergies and asthma symptoms so riding it from your home will make everyone happy. Here are a few tips on how to do that. Get help with spots and stains here at Colorado Horse Property.

Home Cleaning Tips

  1. Purifiers/Humidifiers—Humidifiers are known to eliminate static electricity which can hold onto dust and air purifiers circulate the air in your home, capturing dust and other pollutants as it does so.
  2. Vacuuming—If you have carpeting in your home that must be vacuumed, don’t forget to change the bag or emptying the container in your vacuum. Consider vacuuming your floors once a week so that the dust don’t have time to build up. Remember to vacuum under furniture and periodically move appliances to clean behind and underneath. It might seem like a hassle, but by using the proper attachments to your vacuum on upholstered furniture and under cushions can really make a difference.
  3. Planning—Plan on dusting your home at least twice a week. That might sound like a lot, but the more you do it the less there will be to dust every time. Try starting with the tallest items and work your way down. Don’t forget about the small things like picture frames, blinds, baseboards and anything that stands out from the wall. Mopping with a damp mop and dusting with plain water helps hold the dust and is environmentally friendly.
  4. MicrofiberMicrofiber cloths have an electrostatic charge and can attract dust more efficiently than using a regular feather duster. Actually, feather dusters can spread more dust than they collect.
  5. Home Air FiltersFilters on heating and air-conditioning systems hold a lot of dust and should be changed often. This will also increase the efficiency of the units themselves. HEPA filters can improve the overall indoor air quality.

Rental Investments

Tumbling River Ranch

Rental Investments: It is no secret that owning a rental property is a great investment. For one thing, they can offer a higher rate of return than other investments. This can be achieved without having to worry about the stock market. Colorado Horse Property has already compared rentals and mutual funds.

Some people’s main source of income comes from other forms of investment. Investments like certificates of deposit and from bonds at less than two percent. If you are one of them then you will probably be looking for an alternative. The answer is investing in rentalsFind out more about how rentals might complement your current investment plans. You cab contact your real estate professionals at Colorado Horse Property for help. Here are a few more reasons to invest in rentals.

Rental Investments: Reasons to Invest

  • Expenses
    When managing a rental you will come across extra expenses. Your tenant may ring you up and inform you that a bulb has blown. Fixing these issues can cost you some time but not money. Income from the monthly rent contributes to paying these expenses. So, you don’t have to come up with any extra money. Rentals pay for themselves.
  • Economy
    Today’s economy is in the perfect condition to benefit rental owners. Increased rents, and low, non-owner occupied mortgage rates amounts to more money in your pocket and very favorable rates of return.
  • Depreciation/Appreciation
    We all know that values can go up and down and that goes for rental properties. If you stay on top of the expenses that your rentals accrue, appreciation will be achieved as the value of the property goes up.
  • Control
    Rental owners have more control on their invest because of leverage. Leverage can increase the return on investment. They do this by using borrowed funds to control a larger asset.

CLUE Reports

Dressage Riding Skills

CLUE Reports: CLUE is a popular acronym in the industry that stands for Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange. It is a report showing the insurance claims for the past five to seven years on your car and home. The report is created from a database. This is used by insurance companies to evaluate risks. Then they come up with rates. If you are looking for horse Property in Colorado, contact Colorado Horse Property to find an agent that is perfect for you.

CLUE Reports

Since it comes from a human-developed database, rates can be falsely increased by data entry error as well as legitimate claims. Keep a close check on it to ensure that errors have not occurred for your car or home. Fortunately the reports are free and there is even a process that will allow to fix any mistakes you find. You probably don’t want any surprises during the home buying process. If you’re trying to sell your home, why not request the personal property report on your residence? That way they know there’s no hidden damage that you made an insurance claim about but didn’t otherwise disclose.

The claim of the previous seller could impact the price of the premium of a new buyer. Therefore, you can ask for a copy of the comprehensive loss underwriting exchange report on the home you’re interested in buying before writing a contract. The buyer will get the property inspected as a condition of purchase. And yet having the C.L.U.E. report handy is just another way to ensure the buyers. They want to know that they are not buying a property loaded with hidden problems that got passed on to the insurer. For more information on what to look out for when buying a home, check out this home buyers checklist.

Mutual Funds v. Rental Properties

Photo by Larry Costales on Unsplash.

Mutual funds and rental properties are two great ways to make money, but which is more beneficial in the long run? If you are a parent, you have probably already starting stressing over finding the money to send your child to college. In today’s economic climate getting a good job without a college degree is nearly impossible, not to mention how competitive the job market is these days. Now more than ever it is imperative that you start planning now for your kids future. Fortunately, you might be able to find the extra money you might need in someone else’s pocket through rental real estate benefits.  Also, if you are looking for a horse property for sale in Colorado, contact Colorado Horse Property today and speak with one of our horse-person realtors.

Mutual Funds

Owning a rental can definitely be more profitable than a mutual fund and here’s how: Consider that you have $25,000 to invest. Putting that money into a mutual fund paying 5% would earn $1,250 in the first year. But see what happens when you invest that same amount into a rental property. The $25,000 as a 20% down payment to purchase a $125,000 rental home appreciating 3% a year would have gone up by $3,750 or three times that of the mutual fund in the first year. The potential is so much bigger when you invest in rentals.

A mutual fund is not as good because its growth depends solely on the money that you invested in the first place, but rental real estate results in a bigger benefit with the control of a 20% down payment; this is where that “someone else’s pocket” money comes into play. Leverage allows the investor to profit not only from the amount of cash invested but from the value of the investment. And leverage is not the only benefit. You may be saving for your children’s higher education or your own retirement. Using single-family homes as investments are the best investment you can make when compared to mutual funds because homeowners have a better understanding than many other investments. If you decide to invest in a rental property, here is a home buyer list of things to keep in mind.