Day: February 24, 2022

6 Common Home Buying Debates

Nate Hedrick, the Real Estate RPh, is back on the show discussing 6 common home buying debates. 

Episode Summary

During today’s episode, Nate Hedrick, co-host of the YFP Real Estate Investing Podcast, joins Co-Founder & CEO, Tim Ulbrich, PharmD, allowing us to tap into his expertise as a real estate agent, helping plenty of pharmacists through the process of buying a home. We discuss six common home buying debates and talk through both sides. Sometimes we think of many aspects of the home buying process in black and white when there are many times when it depends. How you feel and choose to move forward with these decisions that ultimately impact your financial plan often depends on your financial situation, how you feel, other goals and priorities, and many other factors. We talk through the pros and cons of a 15-year mortgage versus a 30-year mortgage, debate why a 20% down payment on a home purchase sometimes makes the most sense and other times not, and consider how you can buy a home while paying off those pesky student loans. Listeners will be able to tap into the pros and cons of buying versus building a home and whether you should consider a starter home as your first home purchase or plan on saving for a forever home. You’ll also hear why renting is not a terrible decision, despite what we may hear about the need to build equity through buying a home.

Key Points From This Episode

• An introduction to today’s guest, Nate Hedrick, co-host of the YFP Real Estate Investing Podcast. 
• Why home-buying decisions are not absolutes, but rather another aspect of the financial plan.
• How there’s no wrong way to go about financial planning, it just matters what you care about.
• Some of the pros and cons of 20% and why the most important question is what your capabilities are.
• Nate’s thoughts on the opportunity cost of money that’s being tied up in low-interest rate debt.
• Building versus buying and who each option is best suited to.
• Buying property with and without student loans.
• Weighing up buying a starter home versus buying a forever home.
• Why the term ‘forever home’ is a bit of a misnomer.
• The benefit of having multiple exit strategies.
• Why renting is not necessarily a terrible financial choice.
• The unforeseen costs of owning a home.

Highlights

“It feels to me like we sometimes treat home-buying decisions as absolutes, as black and white one solution for all. When in fact, it’s yet another area of the financial plan.” — Tim Ulbrich, PharmD [0:02:20]

“[For] the average American, something like 11.5 or 12 times is the number of times they move in their life. The concept of the forever home is actually a misnomer.” — Nate Hedrick, PharmD [0:18:50]

“It’s important to try to factor those pieces in when making that decision because it’s not as simple as comparing the mortgage to your monthly rent. There’s a lot more that goes into it.” — Nate Hedrick, PharmD [0:24:32]

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode

• Real Estate RPh
• YFP Real Estate Investing Podcast
• YFP Concierge Service
• Schedule a Free Call with Nate Hedrick
• YFP 241: The Top 5 Objections to Investing in Real Estate
• YFP 193: Building vs Buying a Home: What to Consider
• Three Strategies for Buying a House with Student Loans
• YFP 113: Is Your Home an Asset or Liability?
• Your Financial Pharmacist Disclaimer and Disclosures

Episode Transcript

[INTRODUCTION]

[00:00:00] TU: Hey, everybody. Tim Ulbrich here, and thank you for listening to the YFP Podcast, where each week, we strive to inspire and encourage you on your path towards achieving financial freedom. 

This week I had a chance to welcome back onto the show, Nate Hedrick, the Real Estate RPh. Now, many of you may know Nate as the co-host of the YFP Real Estate Investing Podcast. But today, we are talking home buying and tapping into his expertise as a real estate agent who has helped many pharmacists throughout the home buying process. On today’s episode, Nate and I talk through six common home buying debates, and have some fun playing both sides of these debates. Some of my favorite moments from the show include discussing the pros and cons of a 15-year versus 30-year mortgage, debating why 20% down sometimes does and does not make the most sense. How one can consider purchasing a home while paying down those pesky student loans, and why renting is not a terrible decision despite what we may hear about the need to build equity through buying a home.

Whether you are a first-time home buyer planning to move or looking for an investment property, get started today by scheduling a free call with Nate, by visiting yourfinancialpharmacist.com, and clicking on “Home Buying” at the top of the page and then selecting “Find an Agent.” From there, you can book a no obligation free call with Nate to see if his real estate concierge service is a good fit to help you walk through the process and to find an agent in your area that has your best interest in mind. Okay, let’s jump into my interview with Nate.

[INTERVIEW]

[00:01:26] TU: Nate, welcome back to the show. 

[00:01:28] NH: Hey, Tim. Always great to be here.

[00:01:29] TU: How are things for you, for the family, for real estate? What’s new and exciting?

[00:01:33] NH: Everything’s good. We’re snowed in Cleveland, Ohio, but that’s nothing new. It will be like this until April, I’m sure. But yeah, we’re good. Real estate is cooking. We just finished up rehab on one project. Actually, it’s funny. On the day we refinance, the next day, we have closer back to the house for a new property that we’re purchasing. We’ve been busy. It’s been good.

[00:01:51] TU: Awesome. And it’s been a hot minute since we had you last on the podcast, episode 241, where I talked with you and David. You’re a co-host for the YFP Real Estate Investing Podcast. We talked about five common objections to getting started in real estate investing. But today, we aren’t talking real estate investing, but rather home buying and common home buying debates. As I mentioned to you Nate before we hit record, it feels to me like we sometimes treat home buying decisions as absolutes, as black and white one solution for all. When in fact, it’s a yet another area of the financial plan. Where if Tim Baker were here on the show today, he would say, “It depends. It depends on your financial situation. It depends on other goals and priorities. It depends on how you feel and many other factors as well.”

We’re going to have some fun today beating up common home buying debates, like 15 versus 30-year mortgage, whether or not somebody should put 20% down. Again, let’s keep in mind that there is no right answer, and certainly no one solution for all. All right Nate, you’re ready?

[00:02:51] NH: Yeah, let’s do it.

[00:02:51] TU: Number one on the list, and this I think hits home for you as you mentioned before we hit record. You’ve had experience in both sides of this debate. Number one, home buying debate is 15 versus a 30-year mortgage. Talk to us about your experience, and then some of the pros and cons of each approach.

[00:03:06] NH: Yeah, absolutely. As somebody who owns a home, I’ve actually gone through both types of mortgages and on this exact house. We bought it with a 30-year mortgage. Again, when we were purchasing our house, we’re scraping together whatever we could just to be able to afford it. So a lower payment and all the other things that go with that. A 30-year kind of made sense. As we got a little further down the road, a couple years into owning the house, we refinance. And at the time, there was a fantastic rate available for doing a 15-year. So we got – I think it was a full point more, or more actually as a reduction on our rate just by going down to a 15-year. We looked at our finances, said, “Yeah. We can actually afford the monthly costs on this, pay off the house faster.” We took it from wherever it was, like 26 years that we had left on the 30-year, refinance that down to 15. 

Well then, more recently, we refinanced again, because the market has gone up, the value of the property has gone up and wanted to tap into HELOC. When we looked at rates, again, they were very much the same between 15 and 30-year rate at this point, so there wasn’t that advantage any longer. When I look at things like a home, where it’s very good debt, in my opinion, you’re looking at an interest rate that’s pretty comparable, why not spread that out over a longer period of time, knowing that I can always pay it faster if I want to, but I don’t have to, right. If one of us decides not to work for a while, we can take a step back and all of a sudden, I don’t have that larger payment looming. There’s advantages and disadvantages to both sides.

[00:04:31] TU: Yeah. I think for folks that haven’t really dug into actually looking at the amortization schedule, if they’re in this decision point, and as you mentioned, there’s some flexibility right as you looked at refinancing and other options going from the 30, to the 15, to the 30. I think that this is an area to me, Nate, where someone really has to take a step back and just like we talked about with student loans, it’s how do you feel plus the numbers, right? Here as well, I think for me emotionally, there’s one aspect, it’s like, “Man, I’d love to have a paid off home tomorrow if I could. It just would feel good. It’d be an asset that I could tap into potentially, in terms of equity and so forth.” But then there’s the more objective analytical side of me, that’s like, “Wait a minute! When you look at these rates, what else could I be doing with this cash flow, right, which gets to comfort level, other goals you’re trying to achieve?” I think your comment about the 30-year, you can pay it off faster, if need be, you’re going to have some flexibility to cash flow. But certainly, an individual decision that folks need to be thinking about. 

[00:05:29] NH: Yeah, 100%. I think there’s no wrong way to go about it. It just matters about what you care about, right? That idea of a paid off house, while interesting to me, when I look at it as a broader piece of my financial picture. It doesn’t get me out of bed just to get that 3% rate washed away.

[00:05:44] TU: Yeah, and I think it’s worth, obviously, Nate, we’re talking about this in February 2022. Interest rates are historically low levels, right? That definitely matters. As we’re thinking about what else might I do with this money? Obviously, we’re doing that in the context of these rates being very, very low. If that were to change into the future, you know the discussion might be different.

[00:06:04] NH: 100%. 

[00:06:05] TU: Okay. Number two home buying debate is 20% down versus something less than 20% down. Maybe that’s zero, we’ll talk about options there. Maybe it’s 5%,10% or 15%. But I think, 20% down for conventional loans is what folks may be used to hearing, that hey, you got to have 20% down to buy a home. But there are lots of options out there that don’t require 20% down. You look at VA loans, FHA loans, professional mortgage loan options. You talked to us about some of the pros and cons of 20% or something less than 20% down.

[00:06:37] NH: Yeah. There are a number of things that can factor into this. The biggest one to me though is, do you have the ability to save up for that amount, right? Twenty percent down in a market where the houses are $500,000 or more, that’s a totally different amount to save up versus a $200,000 starter home, for example. I think part of it is, what are your capabilities in terms of being able to save that money? And then once you start to look at that, trying to figure out how does this affect our budget, right? If we put 20% down versus 0% down, the payment we have every single month is going to be vastly different. Understanding how that affects your monthly budget can really be a big deal.

The other thing is that in a market like this, where housing prices are continuing to rise, and almost getting to the point where I think people are kind of getting nervous at how fast the prices have gone up. To me, it feels nice to have that 20% down that equity built in. Because if there’s a downturn, if things start to move in the wrong direction, I’ve built in some equity into that place. That if I do need to sell it for some reason, I’m not taking a bath going and selling that house for a loss. There’s advantages to that. The other thing, though, on the flip side is that I’ve seen people say, “Well, the market is crazy. I’m going to wait and build up my 20% down.” And in the meantime, the market has increased so much. The amount they’ve saved isn’t even enough to keep up with the appreciation of the market. They actually lost money by doing that, which is crazy to me. There’s again, both sides of the coin on this one.

[00:07:59] TU: Another example too of really taken a step back, Nate, what’s the opportunity cost of money that’s being tied up in low interest rate debt? How do you feel about the risks that are associated with having less equity versus having more equity in the home? I think that again, this gets back to, “Hey! What else is going on in the financial plan? Is there other high interest rate debt? Are we behind on investing or saving for the future? What is the importance of that cash flow? How do you feel about it? I think your comment about the instant equity in a market downturn is good, or the other thing I think about here, Nate is, if pharmacists maybe end up in a career transition that they didn’t anticipate, or perhaps worth thinking about, just the costs of being unable to sell that home, buy a new home, the transition, if there’s no equity in that home, then that’s going to be further expense into the future. Also thinking about what that equity might be used for into the future in the event of something like a home move that would happen.

[00:08:54] NH: One thing we didn’t mention too, with a 20% down, is that a lot of times, with those loans, you can’t avoid things like PMI, or even get a better interest rate. Factoring in all those costs of, if I do the 0% down, or if I do a low money down option, is there going to be built in PMI. Has the interest rate been impacted by that move? It’s not just that upfront financial decision, but it’s the long term as well.

[00:09:15] TU: I think one disclaimer, Nate we should make here. Is that, you have worked with pharmacists nationally helping them get placed with an agent that is a good fit for them and you’re very aware of what’s going on national trends. We got to Ohio guys here talking about real estate, and I recognize even, you’re in the Cleveland area, I’m in the Columbus area and we certainly seen significant appreciation. But this is not Washington DC, this is not New York City and this is not San Francisco, right? As we throw out numbers and we recognize that pharmacist’s salaries don’t necessarily correspond to home prices, right? Pharmacist in Columbus, pharmacist in San Fran, maybe there’s a little bit of income differences, but that housing difference is going to be massive and well surpass that income differences there. 

Obviously, when we talk about down payments and things to your point about the feasibility of the down payment, someone’s looking at a $600, 000, $700,000 home because of the market. Do the math on that in terms of what it’s going to take $120,000, $140,000 to put 20% down. But one counter argument to that is, despite it taking so long to be able to build that up, is that, I do think a lesser down payment can sometimes open up the realm of what is possible in terms of home price that may or may not be within the realm of someone’s budget and long term financial goals. What I mean by that is, if you were to say, “Hey, Tim! You’ve got to put 20% down, whether I like it or not, that’s going to probably force me to really look at that overall purchase amount differently, because I’m going to part ways with a significant amount of cash upfront.” If I don’t put anything down, I’m not going to feel as much of that upfront. So just another reminder of like you as the individual, setting your budget, whether you put 20% down, 15%, 10%, whatever the number is and not letting the bank set that budget for you.

Number three home buying debate, buy versus build. We talked about this a little bit on episode 193, so we’ll link to that in the show notes. But Nate, I think this is a really timely question that I suspect folks might be thinking about, giving the market being what it is. It’s [inaudible 00:11:09] and that seems to not be stopping anytime soon. Folks might be looking at the bidding wars, the competition, all the thing that’s going on and be like, “Man, just forget about it, I’m just going to build a home. Talk to us about some of the considerations here. We’ll certainly point folks back to episode 193, as well, of what might be some of those nuances, and differences and things that people need to think about in the buy versus build debate.

[00:11:32] NH: Yeah. I’ve had multiple clients, have that exact same conversation with ourselves about, “Well, I can’t find a place that isn’t in a bidding war. Maybe I’ll just go build one, this will be a lot easier.”

[00:11:40] TU: I’m out. Yeah.

[00:11:42] NH: Yeah, I’m out. I’m going to do this in nine months, right? That really is an option for some folks, but it comes down to a couple of key things. The first is, the lending and financing on building versus buying, it’s very different, right? Especially if you’re talking about – and again, 193 goes into a lot more detail here. But especially, if we’re talking about purchasing raw land, and building on that specifically. A lot of times, even if you don’t purchase that way, where you’re buying a lot within the development, you still have to obtain a construction loan, which is very different than a typical end loan or a mortgage loan. There are a number of factors to consider in terms of the amount of down payment required, reserves that are required, and all the pieces that go with that. The second thing is timing.

Obviously, building a home takes time. In most cases, you’re looking at a 9 to 12-month window, but I have seen delays of over a year. In fact, I worked with a client that ran into a ton of delays and actually had to walk away from a deal a full – gosh, it was a full eight or nine months after it was supposed to be done and it wasn’t even halfway complete because of supply issues. The timing is definitely a factor. If you are on a strict timeline of any kind, I would recommend avoiding the build, right? You don’t want to be set to what has to be done by June because of X, Y and Z. That’s going to be a recipe for a mess. 

Then the last thing is really the budget and the costs, right? Building a home is generally more expensive than buying an existing home. Of course, you can set your budget lower, and you can make that all work. But it’s very easy to sort of have these escalations take place where you walk into a place, and it’s $300,000 as the starting cost of the home. But once you start adding in all the things that you want, now you push it to 400 without even choosing your cabinet color. It can really get out of hand quickly. And if you’re not able to rein that in, you can easily overspend. I think going into it with that mindset of, “I know my budget. I’m going to stick to it and here are the sacrifices I’m willing to make on that budget.” That’s a healthy way to do it. But most people don’t, most people go in and get that eye candy of what can I grab? What can I add to this?

[00:13:38] TU: Great stuff, Nate. Number four on the homebuying debate is buying with or without student loans? What would a YFP episode be without talking something about student loans? This is a question I get all the time, which is, “Hey! I’m the average pharmacist that graduated within the last five or 10 years. I’ve got $150,000 to $200,000 in student loans. But I’m in the phase of life where I want to buy a home, and I recognize that I’ve got this gorilla of student loan debt and I’m potentially layering on another gorilla of debt in terms of the home. Largest purchase folks are typically going to make. What does that mean for my financial plan? Should I wait until I have my debt paid off? What are some considerations if I’m going to buy a home while I have student loans?”

You wrote a great blog post on this topic that we’ll link to in the show notes, Three Strategies for Buying a Home with Student Loans. Nate, what are some initial thoughts that folks need to be thinking about if they’re in the weeds of that situation, lots of student loan debt, actively looking for home or planning to look for a home in terms of how to balance that, as well as things like how is that debt is factored into the equation of the lending process?

[00:14:43] NH: Yeah. I think the very first thing you want to sit down and do is figure out what your debt payoff strategy is for your student loans, right? This is a totally different conversation if we’re talking about PSLF or some sort of forgiveness, versus actually attacking that debt yourself. For the sake of argument, I’ll assume we’re not going for PSLF on this one, and we’re just going to pay down the debt, right? We’ve got X hundred thousand dollars and we’re going to take care of it eventually. I can tell you that, looking at your budget, looking at what those monthly costs are, is a really great place to start. One of the reasons is, because you need to know how much you’ve got going out the door, one for yourself, to set your own budget. But two, how it’s going to factor into your debt-to-income ratio.

As we’ve talked about in the past, the bank is going to look at that loan as what the monthly payment is, and how that’s affecting your debt to income. We’ve seen pharmacists get priced out of their own market, because their student loan balance, the student loan monthly payment is actually pushing their DTI too high. Knowing those numbers, and really understanding what you’re getting yourself into in terms of those is a great place to start. From there, I think you really need to start asking yourself a few key questions. You can absolutely buy a home with student loan debt writing. I’ve done it. We invested in several other properties before we even paid off our student loan debt. It’s not undoable. But what you have to look at is, are those student loan debts causing me a lot of stress? Am I so hyper focused on that, that I can’t fathom the idea of creating extra debt until those are gone?

I think looking at something like that is a great place to start. And then also looking at some of the key pieces of your financial picture. Like, do I have an emergency fund? That absolutely essential before you get on any other road. And then, how will buying this home affect my other financial goals? Will it shoehorn me into 10 years of all I can do is pay back this debt and not quit my job? This is all I have. I think asking yourself those questions up front, before trying to figure out how can I do this. It’s, should I be doing this and how do I feel about it?

[00:16:35] TU: Yeah, Nate. As it relates to the question you brought forward, which is a really good one. Are my student loans and other debt causing significant stress? I have the opportunity to talk with lots and lots of pharmacists about this topic. Typically, we’ll ask them, “On the 1 to 10 student loan pain scale, which is ten is, these are keeping me up at night, causing me a lot anxiety. It’s the last thing I think of before I go to sleep. First thing I think in the morning.” Versus the one is like, “Nah! It is what it is. It will take care of itself. Where are you on that scale?” My follow up to them, which I think is significant here is how much of it is the dollar amount, and how much of is the lack of clarity on having a strategy and a plan. More often than not, when we can start to put together a plan, and that number isn’t going to change tomorrow, right? If you’ve got $200,000 of student loan debt, and today, we don’t have a plan. Tomorrow, we do have a plan. In fact, you might have more debt tomorrow, because of interest than you do today. 

But the peace of mind that comes from hey, we’ve evaluated all these options. We’ve looked at forgiveness, we’ve looked at non-forgiveness, we’ve dissected the strategies, we understand what’s going to come out of pocket, we know how this is going to fit in with other parts of the plan. That is a game changer. I would say that here and encourage folks, if you’re in this position right now, really getting clarity as Nate mentioned, on the student loan repayment plan, because even though that number may not change, I think that certainly might change your mindset heading into the whole mind decision.

[00:18:01] NH: That’s a really good point. I mean, it’s something that again, we had Tim Baker sit down with Kristen and I to actually look at this stuff and feel like, once we got our head around the plan, the number itself didn’t matter as much. It was just about sticking to the plan and realizing how other things puzzle pieced into that. I agree that’s super important.

[00:18:19] TU: Number five in the home buying debate is buying a starter home versus a forever home, which obviously those terms are subjective in and of themselves. This is one, Nate that I recall my wife Jess and I talking about. Knowing that there are real costs in buying and selling of a home. And as we have seen with the market appreciation over the past few years, waiting might mean paying more. Why not just jump in your forever home right away, I think is the question that we often hear, and talk to us about some considerations here.

[00:18:47] NH: Yeah, it’s a great question and it’s a bit of a misnomer, the forever home. The average American, I think something like 11.5 or 12 times is the number of times they move in their life. The concept of the forever home is actually pretty misnomer. But anyway, if you’re looking at, what should I be doing first? Should I go for that big house right up front or should I start with something a little bit smaller that I can then progress from? It really comes down to what are your goals with that property? I think for me, looking back, when we bought our first house, we really looked at it like this is going to be a good “starter home”. Also, we can grow into it a little bit, right? It gives us flexibility. I really encourage that is you’re never going to know what your life’s going to look like in five years from now. Plan for the unexpected by giving yourself some of that grace and that flexibility. From there again, once you start to realize what you really like in the house or what your goals are with a property, that’s when you can start thinking that forever home type of deal. 

Most people I would argue, for the starter home kind of being an upfront move, knowing that you’re getting yourself into the game, you’re starting to build equity. And then once you figure out what you like, once you figure out what your kind of stable life period looks like, then you can look at that more forever home. But again, there’s no wrong answer here. If you just want to jump right in, go right for the end line. I get that too.

[00:19:58] TU: Yeah. Comment about being a misnomer is a good point, right? I can speak to that firsthand. Jess, and I moved into our current home. Let’s see. That would have been October 2018 when we moved to Columbus. Our first home, which I think you’d consider kind of our starter home, in the booming metropolis of Rootstown, Ohio. We lived in for nine years, and just seeing kind of the jump in our expectations naturally. We didn’t have four boys, and now we do have four boys. So that’s real and that’s different. But even now, when we looked at this home in October 2018, we’re like, “Yeah. That’s our dream home.” It’s got everything and it’s been a fantastic home. 

But human behavior, which is true for us, and is true for many others is, after a while, you’re like, “What about this? What about that?” What about this part of the home? Or could this be a little bit different?” I think really challenging on some level, that assumption of like, if you’re looking to make that move into the forever home, is that really the end point. And then again, thinking about that in the context of the rest of the financial goals that you’re trying to achieve.

[00:20:55] NH: And something else that I think is relevant here that David and I talk about on the YFPREI Podcast a lot is multiple exit strategies. Whenever we’re buying investment property, and I know, this is a little bit different. But when you’re buying an investment property, you want multiple exit plans, right? We can rent this out, we can sell it, we can flip it. But you kind of need the same thing with your own house, right? I think having multiple plans or multiple avenues to walk down, we could eventually rent this out or we could easily resell this because of X, Y and Z factors. Going in with that mindset, rather than just, I’m buying this asset, and hopefully it works out forever. Like that’s not the right plan. So go into those multiple exit strategy approach, and you’ll be set up for success.

[00:21:31] TU: Selling a child account is what an exit – no, I’m just kidding. I love you my four boys. Love you all. Number six, our final one here in the home buying debate is rent versus buy, perhaps saving the most contentious for last. When I suggest to folks Nate that renting isn’t all that bad, I get this look of like, “You said what?” I get it because it doesn’t support their narrative and desire that we often have to buy a home. I think that’s a big goal for many folks. That’s the dream that we have. How can one objectively evaluate this decision and not just blindly accept that all renting is bad and all homeownership is good?

[00:22:09] NH: Yeah. This is a question that comes up all the time. I know we’ve talked about it before in the past. I’ll give you a brief story that I think kind of shows some of the ways to think about this that’s maybe a little bit different. My brother actually lives out in San Francisco and has been looking at buying a house here for a little while. The houses out there, obviously, as everyone on this well knows are in the millions of dollars, at 1.1, 1.8. I’ve seen him looking at. It’s just absolutely outrageous. I can’t even fathom that amount. His argument for buying is that, well, I want to build equity, I want to not have my rent payment “thrown away” every single month. And arguably, he’s right. His rent payment is super high and I totally get it.

But if you took that same amount of money that would be required to buy that home in San Francisco, and you invested in several other properties that then paid you back, you could probably actually cover your own rent in whatever city you wanted to live in, while building equity with four other properties around the country. So this idea of, it’s always better to buy, it’s always better to build equity. It doesn’t always hold water. If you look at the areas you’re buying in, and you look at the factors that go into that right, how much am I putting down? What am I gaining by renting? For example, is there flexibility in that approach? Is there amenities that I wouldn’t be able to get if I were to buy a home like this, and all those factors have to come into play, and it’s not as easy as buying is always better, we should advocate for buying.

[00:23:27] TU: I think Nate, we talked about this a little bit on episode 113. We’ll link to that in the show notes, when we talked about exactly this topic, that American dream of owning a home. Is it for everyone that true costs, really evaluating the true costs of homeownership, when to consider the rent versus buy tips for knowing when the time might be right. But I would encourage folks, objectively evaluating the expenses. This is probably the most common thing I experienced myself back in 2008, 2009. My wife Jess and I were renting a condo. We’re paying by $1,100 a month. For folks that are living in higher cost living areas, I get it, the shock factor when you hear those numbers and we’re looking at a home that was principal and interest, about $1,100 a month. Naturally, I said, “Why are we renting? We should buy.” Then you start to really obviously dig into the other costs in terms of insurance, and property taxes and, “Oh, yeah. We’ve never lived in a home so we have all these things we need to buy to furnish the home, lawn mowers, equipments, other things, maintenance, upkeep, really objectively evaluating it from apples to apples or as close as you possibly can when one is making that decision.

[00:24:30] NH: Yeah. It’s tricky to do, obviously. You don’t know what you don’t know, but it’s important to try to factor those pieces in when making that decision because it’s not as simple as comparing the mortgage to your monthly rent. There’s a lot more that goes into it.

[00:24:42] TU: Great stuff as always, Nate. Love having you on the show and we know firsthand, you know firsthand, the community knows firsthand that buying or selling a home, it’s certainly an exciting journey but can quickly leave you feeling overwhelmed and confused throughout the process. And that’s why we have teamed up with Nate Hedrick featured here on this podcast. Nate, real estate RPH to provide a simple solution to jumpstart your home buying or selling process with a free concierge service that you can take the guesswork out one of the biggest purchases that you’re ever going to make.

As both a real estate agent and pharmacist, Nate has the insider’s view. He understands how busy your schedule can get and how difficult it is to interview and hire a real estate agent on your own. This free concierge service, Nate will take some time to learn about your budget, learn about your goals and connect you with a YFP real estate preferred local agent that he has vetted himself. They will then stick by your side even after closing in case you have questions or need an extra opinion along the way. If you’re ready to buy or sell a home, you can get started today by scheduling a free call with Nate by visiting yourfinancialpharmacist.com. You can click on home buying at the top of the page and then select find an agent. From there, you can book a no-obligation call with Nate to see if his real estate concierge service is a good fit to help walk through the process and to find an agent in your area that will have your best interest in mind.

Nate, continued to have appreciation for this collaboration. Love the perspective you bring on to the show. Appreciate the work that you’re doing on the real estate investing podcast. Thanks so much for joining today.

[00:26:10] NH: Yeah, happy to be here as always, Tim.

[OUTRO]

[00:26:12] TU: As we conclude this week’s podcast, an important reminder that the content on this show is provided to you for informational purposes only and it’s not intended to provide and should not be relied on for investment or any other advice. Information in the podcast and corresponding material should not be construed as a solicitation or offer to buy or sell any investment or related financial products. We urge listeners to consult with a financial advisor with respect to any investment.

Furthermore, the information contained in our archive, newsletters, blog post and podcast is not updated and may not be accurate at the time you listen to it on the podcast. Opinions and analyses expressed herein are solely those of your financial pharmacist, unless otherwise noted and constitute judgments as of the dates publish. Such information may contain forward-looking statements, which are not intended to be guarantees of future events. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements.

For more information, please visit yourfinancialpharmacist.com/disclaimer. Thank you again for your support of the Your Financial Pharmacist podcast. Have a great rest of your week.

[END]

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