Saving for a New Home
My wife and I are saving for a new home in NYC. The only debt we have is a student loan (about $26k left at 3%). We have $47k in the bank and our Household Income (HHI) is about $300k. We owe just under $389k on our current home, on a 30 year mortgage at 4.65%. In the next 2-3 years, we plan on purchasing a new home for our growing family. Does it make sense to make larger principal payments now to have greater equity in our home and lowering our LTV Ratio? Or is it better to have the cash in hand?
While my $$ would be tied up in the house, i feel like there is something to making a large principal payment from a short term ROI perspective. But I am not 100% sure.
The wisest course would be to get the student loan paid off now, and use that payment plus any residual income to start saving like crazy for the new house. You want to have at least a 20% down payment to avoid PMI, and getting rid of the student loan will reduce your debt-to-income ratio, improving your ability to get a new mortgage.
If you plan to sell in the next few years, you would be better off NOT putting extra down toward the mortgage, and instead use that cash to save for the new house. Also, don’t put the savings in anything other than a risk-free savings account (or possible a CD), or you risk losing some of it by the time you are ready yo buy a house (the risk that the market declines in a 2-year period is significant).
One factor you didn’t mention is how much equity you have in the current house. That equity can be used to increase your down payment, but it will require that your purchase in contingent on the closing of the old house, which can complicate the timing of the transactions.
If you can get to 20% with the equity in the house and are comfortable making the sale contingent, then you can save a little interest by putting extra towards the mortgage, but I would not do it if it’s going to put your down payment below 20%.
I think your assessment is right, for short-term benefit I am not aware of any savings vehicles that will come anywhere near that 4.65% savings you’ll realize by making extra principal payments.
If you imagine trying to buy/sell simultaneously, having more equity instead of a cash down payment means you’ll be making offers contingent on the sale of your house, which are less attractive and could make buying more difficult (likely not a huge issue, contingent offers are very common). Likewise, if you predict it will be a seller’s market in NYC in 2-3 years and think you may have difficulty buying a house (if you’re quite particular and don’t see many appealing houses on the market at any given time), then it could be advantageous to save up a 20% down payment and forego the interest savings from extra principal payments. That way you have more flexibility on timing your purchase and aren’t rushed on a home decision.
Alternatively you could just sell first and plan on living in an intermediate house while finding a place to buy, or sell with a leaseback which could give you an extra 60 days to find a place to buy (could still get tight on timing).
If you’re easier going and find many places agreeable, then buying/selling simultaneously shouldn’t be too big of an issue.
Yes, it does, with a few caveats:
Based on your situation I would guess that you will sell your home prior to closing on your new home so you’ll get that equity back right away. Just make sure you have enough cash on hand to pay for moving expenses and other misc closing costs that occur before you sell your existing home.