Buying a Carlsbad home these days is a huge expense and a major financial decision for most people.

Is YOUR home purchase part of an overall financial plan or do you view it as an isolated decision? Or have you not even thought about having a long term financial plan for your future – perhaps college for kids, retirement, a second home.

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Understanding how your Carlsbad real estate purchase fits into an overall financial plan, and the events leading up to and surrounding the transaction, are significant issues to consider when looking at current and future financial stability and goals. For example:

• There likely is cash you are investing in a home versus in other investments; is there a trade off here?
• If you are taking cash out of the stock market or other investments are there tax consequences?
• There may be tax implications in terms of mortgage interest you will earn, and thus how you finance your home purchase may be important

But in the larger scheme of things, what does this home represent in terms of your overall financial goals?

• Are you planning to sell in a few years and buy again?
• Is the acquisition an investment that you plan to sell in the not-too-distant and then reinvest?
• Do you need access to cash for college in the future and hope to tap into your home equity?
• Is retirement approaching and does this impact what you should buy, when, and how much?

Having a financial plan for the future makes good sense, no matter what your particular goals. If you are anticipating having to pay for college you should certainly be planning ahead, given the costs of undergrad school these days (as an example, we engaged the services of a financial planner many years ago when our kids were young, which enabled us to save enough money to send them both to the schools of their choice [one a private school] without having to take out any loans).

Here’s another component of a long-term financial plan. Many folks have various investments through their employers, such as 401(k)s. While these are managed by the vendor your employer has selected, if you leave your job you likely will have to move the 401 (k) elsewhere, and a financial planner can help you with this. And what about any personal IRAs you have set up? A complete plan regarding all of your investments is a prudent thing to do, especially given our economy.

Planning to retire? Who isn’t?

Will you have enough money to live on?

And what about life insurance?

These are additional reasons to consider financial planning services.

Stay tuned for more thoughts on the value of long term financial planning as it relates to real estate buying and selling. I have some experience personally which I am happy to share but also will provide information from folks I know in the industry.

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If I can provide more information about Carlsbad and surrounding areas, or the housing market in general, or otherwise assist you in your homes search, please contact me by phone or text at (760) 840-1360
or email me at JDowler@remax.net.

All content copyright © 2007 Jeff Dowler Carlsbad Homes and Real Estate Tidbits