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The Long-Term Benefits of Homeownership: Why Buying a Home Is a Smart Investment

The decision to buy a home is one of the most significant financial investments you will make in your lifetime. While renting might seem like a more convenient and affordable option, homeownership offers numerous long-term benefits that can greatly outweigh the initial costs.

Even in a market like this one, where prices are high and so are the interest rates, it can still be in your best interests to go with ownership versus renting, as we will see. In this blog post, I want to explore the advantages of buying a home and explain why it is a smart investment for your future.

  1. Building Equity

One of the most significant benefits of homeownership is the opportunity to build equity. Unlike renting, where your monthly payments contribute to your landlord’s mortgage, owning a home allows you to build equity with each mortgage payment you make. Over time, this equity can be used to finance other investments, such as home improvements, education, or even the purchase of a second property.

  1. Appreciation

Historically, real estate has been a stable and appreciating asset. While the rate of appreciation varies depending on factors like location and market conditions, homeowners can generally expect their property to increase in value over time. This appreciation can provide a significant return on investment when it comes time to sell, allowing you to capitalize on the growth in your home’s value.

  1. Tax Benefits

Owning a home comes with several tax benefits that can help offset the costs of homeownership. Mortgage interest and property taxes are typically tax-deductible, which can result in significant savings come tax season. Additionally, homeowners may be eligible for other tax breaks, such as deductions for home office expenses or energy-efficient upgrades.

  1. Stability and Predictability

Renting often comes with uncertainty, as landlords can choose to raise rents or decide not to renew a lease. Homeownership, on the other hand, provides a sense of stability and predictability. Fixed-rate mortgages offer a consistent monthly payment, allowing you to budget more effectively and avoid the stress of potential rent increases. Additionally, owning a home gives you the freedom to make long-term decisions about your living space, without worrying about the constraints of a lease agreement.

  1. Personalization and Pride of Ownership

Homeownership allows you to truly make a space your own. Unlike renting, where you may be limited in your ability to make changes to your living space, owning a home gives you the freedom to personalize and customize your environment to suit your tastes and needs. This sense of pride and ownership can lead to a greater connection to your community and a deeper sense of satisfaction with your living situation.

  1. Forced Savings

Paying a mortgage each month can serve as a form of forced savings, helping you to build long-term wealth. As you pay down your mortgage, you are effectively investing in an asset that will continue to appreciate in value. This forced savings can provide a financial cushion and help you achieve long-term financial goals, such as retirement or funding your children’s education.

Is Buying the Right Choice, Right Now?

While the initial costs of homeownership may seem daunting, the long-term benefits usually far outweigh the short-term expenses. Building equity, appreciating value, and enjoying the stability and personalization that come with owning a home can provide a solid foundation for your financial future. Making a smart investment in homeownership, is one way to secure your financial future—plus, you’ll enjoy the many benefits that come with owning your own home!

Ready to Find Your Dream Home?

Click here to search for your perfect home or investment property

I hope you’ll reach out personally–I’d love to meet you and help you find what you’re looking for!

I will be happy to set you up with a no-obligation search that will send by email properties that meet your unique search criteria. And, of course, I’m always here to show properties, answer questions, and provide a market analysis of your current home, if you like.

Here to serve you,

Doug

Doug Lawrence

Managing Broker

Keller Williams West Sound

253.341.5287

dlawrence@kw.com

What’s Your Home Worth These Days?

Do you know what your home is worth? I mean, do you really know its accurate value in today’s market? Based on the last few years of activity, and recent interest rate hikes, homeowners have good reason for uncertainty, but also for optimism.

House values can be determined in several ways. There is the tax assessed value, which is the formula your local government entity uses to determine the taxation value of your house and land. Then there is the market value determined via a professional consultation with a licensed real estate professional (that’s me), which factors in square footage, amenities, location, and, most importantly, what similar houses have sold for within a reasonable distance from your home.

With the availability of real estate search engines like Zillow and Red Fin, and our increasing reliance on technology, there is a general assumption that the app on your phone is accurate. Not necessarily. I used my own house as a test case and was surprised, although not really, to find a more than $100,000 spread between four different real estate apps.

Most apps rely on algorhythms and public records to determine house values. Depending on their public record source, the information will vary based on the accuracy of the record. I’m sure this contributed to the erroneous values assessed to my own house, considering that, between the various reports, there was up to a 1000-square foot difference in the stated size of my house!

It’s important to remember that these discrepancies exist. If I were a seller, I would obviously want to sell my house for the highest price possible. And if I were a buyer, I would want to purchase for the lowest price. In the case of my home’s online assessed value, that could be a $100,000 discrepancy! That’s why, when it comes to determining your house’s value, it’s imperative that you enlist the help of a real estate professional to be your expert advisor.

What I do for both my sellers and my buyers is to systematically assess a home’s true value. This takes into consideration:

  • location
  • size of house and property
  • number of bedrooms and bathrooms
  • overall condition of the house and property
  • age of the home
  • degree of finish
  • energy source and heating/air conditioning
  • fireplace and if so, what kind
  • kind(s) of flooring
  • number of covered parking spaces

All of these factors and more go into a systematic process of determining the value of the home you want to sell or purchase.

So back to my original question: Do you know what your home is worth? Perhaps you are pausing now before answering, because you realize the answer isn’t necessarily found in an app or an assumption. That’s where your local real estate professional can be an invaluable asset. Call for an APP-ointment today; it’s the most accurate real estate “app” at your disposal!

Doug Lawrence is a licensed real estate broker with Keller Williams West Sound in Gig Harbor, Washington. His mantra, both personally and professionally, is “love where you live!” He is an avid fan of the beautiful Pacific Northwest and enjoys helping people find their perfect fit. You can reach him at dlawrence@kw.com or text at 253.341.5287

Home Improvement: What Can You DIY?

Did you know there are a ton of things you can do to improve the value, quality, and livability of your home–without having to call in (or pay for) a professional?  That’s the point of DIY – “Do It Yourself!”

For some, this is no problem. For others, who may feel like they are all thumbs when it comes to “hands on” or creativity, it might not feel that easy.

Well I’m here to tell you it is! (Or it can be, anyway.) Just pick your projects carefully. Don’t start with remodeling the bathroom if you’ve never DIY’d before. But I’d say that, from decorative crafts to furniture to gardening, nothing is out of reach for the committed Do-It-Yourselfer.

If you’re looking to save money on home improvements, DIY is definitely the way to go. But even if money if no option, DIYing can provide a tremendous amount of satisfaction in self-sufficiency, creativity, and even therapy as you hone your skills.

For me, DIY is my creative outlet. Over the years, I’ve enjoyed building my woodshop, adding to my collection of tools and slowly but surely taking over the garage. (I can proudly say it’s the one place in the household that’s “all mine.”)

If DIY is something you’d like to try your hand at (or improve your skills with), here are some good websites that can provide encouragement and how-tos: *

1. April Wilkerson

This is my personal favorite–April is an engaging, creative individual who makes tackling any DIY or home construction project with a can-do attitude and a sense of fun. Check out her YouTube channel for inspiration and how-tos.

2. Instructables

Like many of the resources on this lister, Instructables is made by DIYers, for DIYers. That means nearly all the project plans and instructions are contributed by members of the community. Most Instructables feature clear instructions with plenty of pictures, along with detailed parts and materials lists. The active community offers suggestions and variations via lively comments beneath each project. If you can follow a recipe, you can follow an Instructable.

3. Make:

Make: is a quarterly print journal and a webzine. Each themed journal is stuffed with clever DIY projects for tinkerers of various skill levels. The website also includes a store, “The Maker Shed,” with books, journals and plenty of starter kits, perfect for beginning gizmo DIYers.

4. Apartment Therapy

“Saving the world, one room at a time” is Apartment Therapy’s official slogan, but it could also be “high design for small budgets.” The website features tips and advice for every room of an apartment or house, and lots of DIY projects for clever storage and sharp décor. The how-tos aren’t quite as thorough as those found on Instructables, but the projects are a little more polished.

5. Ana White

Ana White features a giant collection of furniture project plans from DIY doyenne Ana White and members of the community. Projects are sorted by type, skill level, style and room. Ana’s plans are typically detailed and well-illustrated. Contributor plans can be less refined in presentation, but still easy to follow. DIYers who make something following plans from the site are encouraged to share their results, too. They are often even more impressive than the originals.

6. The Family Handyman

The Family Handyman features simple projects and DIY home maintenance tips and advice. While the website offers plenty of how-tos and information, you’ll need a subscription (digital or print) to unlock all of the magazine’s instructions and resources.

7. Mother Earth News

From baking bread to solar rooftops, Mother Earth News has been covering the DIY scene in print and online for decades. The site and magazine feature lots of tips and advice about sustainable living, from growing and preserving food, to living off the grid. DIY projects range from sundials to solar food dehydrators.

What are some DIY projects you’ve tackled?  I’d love to hear! And if you feel inspired by any of these sites to tackle a project in your own home, please share. Good luck!

Doug Lawrence is a licensed real estate broker and avid DIYer. He’s proud to have inherited his love of tools and woodworking from his dad, Ken, along with a great collection Ken’s tools to add to his own woodshed. Current projects include a farmhouse table for the kitchen and a corn-hole game for family fun next summer! You can find Doug at www.douglawrencerealestate.com where he’d be happy to answer your questions about buying, selling, and investing in real estate in the Great Pacific Northwest … or about DIY!

* List of websites adapted from article by Lars Peterson, US News and World Report, April 2015

(c) 2018 Doug Lawrence. All Rights Reserved.

A New Grocery Store for Gig Harbor!

The last couple of years have been a bit tumultuous on Gig Harbor’s grocery store scene(!). Local shoppers watched not once but several times as stores came, went, came, and went: Safeway became Haggens and became Safeway again. (That one was almost comedic.) Main & Vine opened to packed crowds a couple of years ago, then closing abruptly in early January 2018 to give way to the new Fred Meyer store across the street at Gig Harbor’s most recent development, Olympic Towne Center.

When completed, Olympic Towne Center will be a 57,000-square-foot complex with restaurants (welcome Hop Jack’s, already open), bowling alley, gaming rooms, high-tech meeting facilities, and spaces for visitors to gather to enjoy wine, coffee, and or just hanging out. The developer of Olympic Towne Center, Troy Alstead, is the former COO of Starbucks, who left the international coffee scene to pursue this and other opportunities. He, his wife, and their four children are Gig Harbor residents.

“I grew up in the Puget Sound region and always have loved the mountains and beaches. I backpack in the Olympics and Cascades, scuba dive in the Sound, and at every opportunity enjoy this place around us,” Alstead said in an interview with the Tacoma News Tribune. “We have a responsibility to ensure that all this will still be around to be enjoyed by future generations.”

Troy Alstead may be the most high profile Gig Harbor entrepreneur, but he is certainly not the only one. In recent years, the region has seen new start-ups such as the Olalla Vineyard and Winery, Heritage Distilling Company, Ohana Coffee, Seven Seas Brewery, Wet Coast Brewery, and Zog’s on Fox Island. All that is great news for this rapidly-growing community. In 2016, Gig Harbor experienced a growth in population from 8500 to 9200 within the city limits, and was expected to reach 10,000 in 2017, two years ahead of the city’s previous projections for growth.

That growth was sure evident at the opening of the new Fred Meyer story on January 10th. This writer spent a good twenty minutes circling the parking lot trying to get a spot.  At last—success!  The free samples and cherry-picker specials provided a festive atmosphere and made up for the long lines at the checkout stand. But no one seemed to mind that.  More than anything, it was a resounding community welcome to a new neighbor. And in a small town, which thankfully Gig Harbor still is in many ways, a new grocery store and new neighbors are still a big deal.

Doug Lawrence is a Fox Island resident and licensed broker with Keller Williams West Sound in Gig Harbor. You can put his expertise and love for this region  to work for you for all your real estate questions and needs. www.douglawrencerealestate.com 

Love Where You Live – Volcano Edition

It all started out as a hope-to, an item I wanted to check off my bucket list: to climb a mountain.

I’ve always thought climbing a mountain was a big, hairy audacious goal that many people talk about but never do. I wanted to separate myself from the pack and be one of the few that do it. So, on July 26th, I had the great pleasure (wait, did I say pleasure?), I mean, I had the great gratification of summiting Mount Saint Helens in Washington State.

I picked Mt. St. Helens as my mountain of choice because it’s a true mountain, achievable with only a moderate amount of gear and training. On the surface, it seems like a moderate-to-hard hike; after all, it is “only” five miles up—two through forest, two across a massive boulder field, and one straight up through loose scree (small, gravelly volcanic rubble). It’s the 8,500-foot elevation gain that really knocks the wind out of your sails and gives you pause to consider (or reconsider) most things in your life.

Looking back down at the one-mile stretch of scree

It’s one of those things that’s hard to explain unless you’ve experienced it, or something like it. All that being said, that moment when you reach the top of the mountain—the cloudless sky, the limitless view, the surrounding peaks, breathing all that in, absorbing it, contemplating it, pondering it—makes the trek more than worth it.

On top of the world (looking down at the lava dome, Mount Rainier in the distance)

Mount Saint Helens is noteworthy for its huge eruption in 1980, and is still an active volcano. Standing on the precipice, looking down at the lava dome with plumes of steam seeping out of it, was magnificent. For me, it was a bit of a full circle, having been nearby in 1980 when the mountain erupted. A high schooler at the time, I had been down in the Longview/Kelso area visiting my brother. I slept obliviously through the eruption, to be greeted on awakening the next morning by swollen rivers, a sky full of ash, and horrific traffic jams of panicked and/or curious residents and onlookers. Nearly forty years later, all that’s just local history. But it was very cool to come back and see how quickly the mountain has repaired itself, its beauty and majesty restored.

Whether you live in the shadow of a volcano as I do, there are adventures to be explored in your neck of the woods, as well. Please comment and share your stories: how do you love where YOU live?

Doug Lawrence is a professional real estate broker with Keller Williams West Sound in Gig Harbor, Washington.  Doug’s motto is “Love where you live!” Whether you’re looking to buy, sell, or invest, he’ll put his appetite for adventure and challenge to work on your real estate transaction when he’s not applying it to a mountain.  You can find him at http://www.douglawrencerealestate.com or by phone or text at 253.341.5287.

(c) 2017 Doug Lawrence. All Rights Reserved.


Think You Can’t Afford It? Think Again.

September means back to school, back to routine, and back to . . . home shopping?  Yes, for many folks!

Although, as I mentioned last month, this has been a challenging market lately, affording the mortgage payment for the house they want IS possible for many prospective homeowners. Why then, by all accounts, is a sense of “unaffordability” plaguing the market?

Researchers at Freddie Mac offered several answers to that question in its latest Insight, the first one being perception. Homebuyers struggling to find reasonably-priced listings perceive the housing market in general as unaffordable — a reasonable conclusion, if their only options to date have been out-of-reach stock.

Secondly, the high likelihood these days for competition (i.e., “bidding wars”) is off-putting, both for first-time homebuyers and for sellers re-entering the market. The hesitation of these would-be sellers is notably tamping down already tight inventory.

“Thanks to very low mortgage rates, monthly mortgage payments are affordable for the average household despite currently high house prices,” says Sean Becketti, chief economist at Freddie Mac. “Nevertheless, hurdles to homeownership arise from the difficulty of finding a house. The supply of homes for sale is very tight, especially starter homes, and underwriting requirements are more rigorous than they were in the past.”

Would-be homeowners are also not confident about their prospects because their incomes have stayed relatively flat compared to home prices. Incomes have grown by an average 2.4 percent annually since 2012; home prices, however, have grown an average 6 percent.

“Many potential first-time borrowers are stymied by variable employment and income histories and the challenge of accruing a down payment while simultaneously paying down their student loans,” Becketti says. “In fact, a high level of household debt, particularly student debt, poses perhaps the largest obstacle to first-time homebuyers.”

Homeownership — stripped down to just the mortgage payment — is affordable, the researchers concluded, but challenged by barriers that play a hefty role in the home-buying process. Perception, after all, is reality.

Are any of these factors playing into your decision to buy or not buy, to sell or not sell?  I’d be happy to talk through with you how these issues might affect you (or not), and help you find workable solutions for your unique home-buying or home-selling situation. After all, I’m here to help you “love where you live!” ~Doug

Doug Lawrence is a licensed broker with Keller Williams West Sound in Gig Harbor, Washington. You can find him at http://www.douglawrencerealestate.com, or by email at dlawrence@kw.com, or by phone at 253.341.5287

Source: Freddie Mac , Photo by 2.0 Generic

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Immaculate Gig Harbor Condo

4421 32nd AVE NW #1B, Gig Harbor, WA 98333

$ 360,000          MLS # 1179143

Lovingly remodeled and updated throughout, this condo is a must see! New kitchen features granite counter tops, custom cabinets, all new appliances, and an island for entertaining. New flooring throughout, all new windows, and amazing patio off a large living area with an amazing assortment of plants and flowers for your personal and private enjoyment! Other features include a raised bed garden as well as a quaint sitting area from which to enjoy it all. Truly a step above other units in design and features, as well as easy freeway access and proximity to bus and shopping.

Offered by Doug Lawrence and Keller Williams West Sound

253.341.5287

 

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Love Where You Live: The Adventure

In other posts, I’ve written about the joy of loving where you live, and I certainly do! (When I say “love where you live,” I’m not just talking about the space you occupy, your home, or the town you live in, but also the region you inhabit.)

Loving the region where you live can take a bit more work than simply loving the house you live in, making an effort to get out and discover it to appreciate it. I thought about that recently when I had the privilege of accompanying one of my sons-in-laws on an overnight backpacking trip to one of his favorite places: La Push, Washington.

Not all destinations are easy to get to and this was one of them. La Push is a wild place where land meets water and jagged rock formations make stunning silhouettes against the brilliant red sun when it sets over the Pacific Ocean off Washington’s west coast. First, Second, Third, and Rialto Beaches are highly recommended there; we chose Second Beach, a mile-long stretch with several freshwater streams that meander from sand to sea. It’s one of the few places I’ve encountered where you’re still free to help yourself to driftwood for a fire.

You can’t see Second Beach by just pulling off the freeway at one of those visitor viewpoints and jumping out of your car for a quick look. No, this is one of those places that requires some planning and attention to detail to get there. So, we diligently packed our backpacks, grabbed our bedrolls and—oh, did I mention our bear cans?—and set out.

Once on the beach, we found a place to make camp: close to fresh water but far enough away from other campers to make us feel like we were miles away from anywhere and anyone. The continuous sound of the waves was both our lullaby and our alarm clock. No cell phones, no computers. It is some of the best of the wild that Washington has to offer.

This kind of adventure reminds me that many times, the best things in life take work to experience and appreciate. Loving where you live can require planning and preparation, not at all unlike buying and selling real estate. Buying a home—or selling one—is admittedly a lot of effort. But it also can afford you that sweet spot of being in a place that’s perfect at just the right time in your life.

My ocean adventure was worth every bit of effort it took to prepare for it and get there. It reinforced my conviction that the best things in life require effort—and reminded me how much I love where I live!

(c) 2017 Doug Lawrence. All Rights Reserved.

Doug Lawrence is a licensed broker with Keller Williams West Sound in Gig Harbor, Washington. He loves the opportunities the real estate profession gives him to help people love where they live! If you’d like to buy, sell, or invest in real estate in the Pierce or Kitsap County area, give him a shout (or a call, or an email): dlawrence@kw.com or 253.341.5287.