I'm sure we've all heard that expression. But there isn't a better time to recognize the impact of that saying than right NOW!
The clock is ticking on the home buyer credit, yet it amazes me how many buyers and sellers are still letting a few thousand dollars keep them from getting a contract signed!
I read a recent blog by my AR friend, Jane Peters, written on the subject of buyers nickel and diming the sellers to death. Over a $5000 roof (a roof, I might add, that wasn't expected to cause inspection or appraisal issues, by the way).
Now let's think about this: a $5,000 roof or the $8,000 first time home buyer tax credit??
Simple math points out that if the buyers make the offer with the roof as is (remember, no inspection or appraisal issues are expected) and the sellers accept it before the end of the month, the buyer is $3,000 to the good anyway.
But to take this one step further: let's say they continue to hold off hoping to get the seller down another $5,000, all for a roof that doesn't need to be replaced currently anyway, only to miss the contract deadline date and lose out on the $8,000 credit, they will pay for that mistake for over 25 years!
Here's how I figured that:
The monthly "savings" on a $5,000 lower price/lower loan amount is about $27 per month. If they mess around and don't come to terms on the contract by month end, they lose the $8,000 tax credit. If I divide the $8000 they stand to lose by the monthly "savings" they are hoping to gain of $27, the break even is over 296 months, or over 25 years!
And that's just simple math without taking other tax or financial factors into consideration like the value of current money (the $8k tax credit) vs borrowed money.
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