Buying a home is a big decision. For many people, it is the biggest financial decision of their whole lives.

So it is only natural that even the most committed prospective buyers may wonder out loud whether to buy now in 2019 or wait until the new year in 2020. Will the housing market be better then? Could they save more money if they wait?

If this sounds like you, you are likely both eager to buy and less eager to part with your hard-earned cash. Here are four key reasons why 2019 is a great year to take that step into homeownership!

Reason 1: Reap the Rewards from End-of-Year Tax Perks

If you are a first-time homebuyer, you likely aren’t aware that both home loans interest and property taxes are considered deductible items on annual tax filings.

In 2017, the federal government passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. This Act legislated some important changes to how and how much homebuyer tax deductions and credits are disbursed.

The biggest tax perks come in the year the house is bought. If you are selling an existing residential property as well, there are also one-time seller tax perks that apply.

According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), you will get all of these perks when you choose to buy in 2019:

• New homeowners still get to exclude capital gains made from the sale of a home.
• New homeowners can still deduct the interest paid on your property equity debt if you reinvest that amount into improvements to your new house.
• For homeowners who make solar-based upgrades, the 2019 tax incentive is 30 percent. The incentive in 2020 will only be four percent.
• New homeowners can deduct a portion of purchasing expenses in the tax year when the property was purchased.

Reason 2: Housing Prices Are Plummeting, But Not For Long

Market analysts are already predicting a housing shortage in 2020. This is great news for sellers, but awful news for buyers.

When available properties are in short supply, buyers can expect more competitions, tougher mortgage negotiations, fewer concessions, and more pressure during the buying process.

The new low when it comes to residential inventory is predicted to hit in early 2020. But right now, with home loan rates remaining attractively low and inventory in ample supply, it is still considered a buyer’s market.

Another key aspect of driving guidance to purchase in 2019 rather than waiting until 2020 is what many realtors are calling the “millennial factor.” The millennial generation is just about to turn 30, and age 30 has historically been the year that many couples’ minds turn to thoughts of property purchases.

With a glut of millennial shoppers (up to five million according to analysts) competing in a marketplace with fewer available properties, 2020 is not going to be a great year for buyers overall.

However, past trends are not always indicative of future trends. In some ways, deciding when to take the plunge into ownership is like gambling – there is such a thing as waiting too long in hopes conditions may get even better than they are today.

Sometimes, instead of holding out for the big jackpot, it is smart to step back and look at the big picture of what today’s market can offer.

Tax deductions, credits and property upgrade incentives that may disappear next year, a glut of new prospective buyers at a time when properties are becoming few and farther between, attractive mortgage rates that are predicted to increase, and other factors all make 2019 an optimal year for buying a new property.

Reason 3: The Time for Low Rate Home Loans Is Now

As a prospective property buyer, your personal credit score is probably at the very top of your mind when it comes time to apply for home loans.

But did you know your personal credit history and credit score is far from the only factors that can influence what your loan interest rate may be?

Loan rates can fluctuate based on a diverse set of ever-changing circumstances, including everything from what is going on in overseas markets to whether it happens to be a presidential election year.

These are influences far outside of any single buyer’s direct control, yet they have the potential to significantly alter the interest rates you are offered.

This is not to say it isn’t important to do everything you can to clean up your credit report, maintain a high credit score, and hold off on other big-ticket purchases in the year you plan to make a property purchase. All of these decisions can also influence the menu of loan rates you are offered!

But once again, it is also vital to take a step back and look at the bigger, broader picture of the national and global economy, including inflation, political climate, terror activity, and more.

In the same way, it is smart to take a step in and evaluate the micro-economy happening in different communities and even individual neighborhoods. Watching developer activity inside a community and in neighboring communities can be indicative of the property’s current and future value in ways that convey increased negotiating power now.

Analyst data that was recently released data indicates interest rates are continuing to decline favorably for residential property buyers. This holds true for both fixed and adjustable-rate loans.

This highlights one historical trend worth looking at more closely: fall typically tends to be a favorable time for housing buyers. If you want to sell, you are likely are trying to offload your property before year-end to reap in the tax breaks described earlier here.

In the same way, if you want to buy, you are probably trying to complete your purchase and get through the sometimes lengthy closing process before the arrival of the winter holiday season.

And while everyone is waiting to see what the new year will bring economically, financially, politically, and environmentally, high rates tend to decline and low rates tend to stay low at least until the turnover into a new year.

All of these factors are creating a type of “perfect storm” for optimal buying conditions right now in fall 2019.

Reason 4: 2020 Is a Presidential Election Year

To say the nation has been going through some growing pains over the last decade or so would be putting it mildly.

With wild swings in healthcare, climate, economy, and politics, even seasoned analysts are learning to take market trends with a grain of salt and scale back on the time frame for future predictions.

This is never more the case than when the country is in a presidential election year. And perhaps no presidential election will bring more controversy than the one upcoming, which has thus far often played out more along the lines of a reality television show than a serious political debate.

Political uncertainties make investors nervous. Nervous investors tend to pull back and hunker down. When investors hunker down, recessions arise. This is likely why market analysts are increasingly predicting the next recession to occur in 2020.

All this points to the fact that if the housing market is to improve at all in 2020, it will do so very, very late in the year after the November presidential elections. This will then coincide with the onset of the winter holidays when the housing market historically tends to fall flat for all concerned until the new year.

This data also plays into the expert prediction of a housing shortage starting in 2020. Along with the explosion of freshly-minted 30-year-old millennial real estate shoppers, which may bring a residential property shortage in its own right, the onset of a recession sends a signal to owners to sit tight and stay in their property rather than list it, further reducing available inventory and spurring competition.

As a prospective house buyer, when you make a smart purchase now, invest in needed or wanted property upgrades to your new abode, rake in the current-year tax incentives and credits for your purchase and upgrades and settle into your new property, 2020 will be a year of calm for you personally – regardless of how the political climate plays out.

Every year and every season has its pros and cons, its upsides and downsides, in terms of reaping potential rewards from selling or buying a residential property. Rather than identifying the single most ideal time to take that house-buying plunge, the smart play is to notice when buying conditions seem more favorable in your own life and in the greater residential property marketplace.

In this way, instead of trying to “play the market” like a gambler hoping for a big win, you are simply identifying the time that feels right for you to buy your beautiful new house. If you are ready now, fall 2019 looks like a great time to buy!

School is back in session. No doubt if you have children, you’ve already done what you can to get them ready for the new semester; getting them back into a more school-oriented sleeping schedule, for example, or perhaps you took them back-to-school shopping. Whatever preparations you made, have you considered how you might make adjustments to your home to help the students in your life with their studies? We have compiled a handful of easy-to-implement suggestions for you and your children to consider using for the school year.

1. Create a designated homework space.

While more and more elementary schools are adopting “no homework” policies, most older grade school ages and middle to high school students will receive homework assignments almost nightly. One way you can help the students in your home keep their focus as they complete their assignments is by creating a designated space for them to complete their work. The space does not have to be ornately decorated, but it’s best to find some place quiet, with good lighting, comfortable seating, and a solid place to write. This may be something you need to create, or it may be a place you already have available in your home, like a kitchen nook or a parent’s office. No matter the space you choose, designating a specific place for completing homework will help you minimize distractions for your child and allow them to focus better.

2. Invest in a whiteboard, cork-board, or chalkboard calendar.

While some families have begun to utilize digital calendars to keep track of upcoming commitments, many families rely on a whiteboard, cork-board, or chalkboard calendar for communicating events in their family. Place your white, cork, or chalkboard in a central location like the refrigerator, keeping chalk, pens, or sticky notes close by so you and your children can add updates as needed. There’s also a bonus to making a physical copy of the calendar over digital: writing important things down with pen and paper (or chalk!) improves your ability to remember them!

3. Declutter your child’s homework space.

Wherever your child or children complete their homework, keeping the space clean and decluttered will help them focus. While some children are more organizationally-inclined than others, it’s easy and fairly inexpensive to declutter a workspace with a quick trip to the dollar store. Purchase a cup for pens and pencils, folders (we suggest at least one per subject), a set of plastic organizing compartments, and whatever else you think will benefit the students in your house.

4. Turn part of your home’s storage into a “supply closet” for your children.

While not everyone has the benefit of an entire closet dedicated to school and art supplies, with a little reorganizing you can try free up at least a shelf or two dedicated just to supplies your children will need throughout the year. Stock it with pens, pencils, extra erasers, notebook paper, a spare binder, folders, glue sticks, crayons, and colored pencils. As your supply runs low, you can have your children utilize the white, chalk, or cork board to let you know which items need replaced. By always having school supplies available, the students in your home can devote more of their attention to their school work.

5. Let them take breaks!

Well done! Mothers, fathers, and caregivers of students, you’ve done your best to give them a space that will help them complete their schoolwork to the best of their ability, but just as important as hard work is the opportunity to relax. After they’ve finished their homework, remind them to unwind (and go ahead and take a break yourself; you’ve certainly earned it!)

Southern Trust Mortgage would like to wish all students the best of luck in this school year!

Buying a home is a huge financial responsibility and, understandably, some families experience a degree of shock as they adjust to homeownership. In order to prepare for homeownership, you may want to consider reevaluating your budget (or making one, if you don’t already have one) to accommodate this life change. Below we’ve collected five tips to help you make and stick to a budget successfully.

1. Calculate your monthly income after taxes.

The first step in creating your budget is to figure out how much money your household brings in monthly. If looking at your check or pay stub, use the figure that shows how much money is being paid to you by your employer after taxes are taken out. It is very important that you do not plan your budget based off the gross income, since the gross amount contains monies that will go towards taxes, insurance, etc.. If you work a job where your income  can fluctuate, such as sales or other commission-based employment, design your budget based off the lowest monthly figure from the past three months rather than a month where your income may be higher. It is better to plan with less and have extra than to plan for more and accidentally go over-budget.

2. Calculate your monthly expenses.

Once you know your monthly income, figure out your monthly expenses. The breakdown of your monthly expenses should include housing, monthly debt payments (such as car payments, student loans, or credit cards), groceries, entertainment, and money to go towards savings, among other items. Depending on your mortgage payment and whether you will have to pay for mortgage insurance, the amount you need to allocate for housing may be less or more than you’re accustomed to.

3. Set a savings goal.

If you haven’t already done so, it’s important to start moving some of your funds into a savings account as soon as possible. While the opinions of financial experts differ as to how much you should have in savings, most agree that the figure to aim for in a savings account is equal to three to six months’ worth of your expenses. Some experts recommend as much as eight months’ worth of savings. Since three to six months’ worth of expenses is several thousand dollars, that task may seem daunting or impossible. If this is the case for you, it may be more palatable to focus on putting a certain dollar amount away every month rather than aiming for one large figure overall. If you save steadily, you’ll be surprised at how quickly your savings will add up. Remember that it’s better to put at least a little money in savings instead of none at all.

4. Revisit your budget every three months.

In order to know if your budget is working out for you, you should check in on your expenses and savings every few months. By taking a look at your budget and comparing data from the past several months, you’ll be able to track your spending patterns and find possible opportunities for saving. Thanks to apps like Mint and Albert and websites like nerdwallet.com, it’s easier than ever to create, track, and stick to the budget you make.

5. Be realistic with your goals and have patience.

Sticking with a budget is hard but worthwhile work that will benefit you greatly in the long run. However, there is always an adjustment period. If you find yourself straying outside of your budget, don’t be critical of yourself; instead, resolve to get back on track as soon as you can. With planning and practice, you’ll adjust to your new budget in no time!

For more information about home mortgages and finding the right loan for your budget, contact us at Southern Trust Mortgage today.