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My summer Twin Cities to-do list!

May 26, 2020 MaryLeave a comment

I’m posting this on Memorial Day and it’s the start of summer, but we have some different challenges to deal with this summer while we still try to have as much fun as possible in the warm weather. So with that in mind I am presenting my list of 6 things to do this summer that are really fun and still allow for social distancing. #6 is INSANE and the one I most want to do. 🙂

Best things to do in Minneapolis / Best things to do in the Twin Cities

#1: Regular theaters are closed, but this may mean the rebirth of the drive-in! Minnesota still has several that have hung on and our love of movies and lack of theaters may be the shot in the arms that these theaters need. 🙂 My first pick is the Elko Drive-in theater. No, it’s not down the street from my house, but it’s more than a movie. Its a DRIVE-IN! When I was a kid my mom used to take us in the station wagon and we had our sleeping bags in the back and snacks ready. The “kid” movie was usually first and then they would play one for adults – thinking kids would have knocked out by then? The beauty of it then was that you paid by the car, not the person. Mom loved this. Unfortunately, Elko prices by the person $10 for adults and $5 for kids 12 & under. You can see what’s playing here: https://www.elkospeedway.com/drivein/

#2: Minnehaha Falls & Sea Salt Eatery

If you’re in the city head over to Minnehaha Falls and walk the trails. You can really work your glute muscles by climbing the stairs back up from the Falls when you’re done, about a 100 steps – you can challenge your family & see who wimps out – and even if they do they still have to get up there somehow, so see ya at the top! If it’s hot out you can wade in the creek and cool off – there are little “beach” areas that allow you to easily get in and out. While this year is not the same as past years and you won’t get to gather and listen to music and share picnic tables while drinking beer… (memories!) you can still order carry-out from Sea Salt Eatery and pick it up from the window and take it to a spot for a picnic. Check out Sea Salt’s online ordering here: https://www.seasaltmpls.com/

Chillaxing (I know that’s not cool. I’m not cool)

#3 Rent a Pontoon!

Pricier, but a lot of fun if you have up to about 10 people that you want to spend the day with is to rent a pontoon boat and spend time on the water and the beaches of the St. Croix River. It is a MASSIVE river that borders MN, and it’s only about a 40 minute drive to get to Stillwater MN or Hudson to rent one. We have done this several summers in a row. You can take your food on board and just hang out and relax all day long. We love it as a way to bring the “water culture” of Minnesota to guests. It’s especially nice because it appeals to all ages – my senior citizen mom loves it as much as my daughter.

#4 Bike the Midtown Greenway or bike paths

Even if you’re just visiting the city, this is a nice way to spend the day and there are day use bike rentals all over the city – our service is called Nice Ride https://www.niceridemn.com/ . It’s great because you never have to loop back to where you started, you can drop your bike at any station and grab a meal, or catch an Uber or a cab to where ever you want to go next. I love that this is an option now – for people that live here and want to use it for transportation or if you want to explore the Greenway, Grand Rounds bike trails around the lakes, or even make your way through the city in the bike lanes.

#5: Walker Art Center – Minneapolis Sculpture Garden

If you just want to wander and take in some art, the sculpture garden is a great place to go. They recently rehabbed the entire park and added a lot of new art that you can interact with. Then stop in the Walker or okay some mini golf nearby as well. And if you feel like exploring a little more, cross the bridge over the freeway and you’ll be in Loring Park – another little gem in Minneapolis.

#6 (this is my favorite) Drive a tank!

I am so intrigued with this idea. I’m not very interested in anything military, but the idea that you can actually DRIVE A TANK?!?! That just sounds FUN!!

It’s on my bucket list. I really wish I had first hand experience with this one. I would love to hear from you if you do!

They have changed their offerings a little bit for this year, but hey. Still looks awesome. It’s located in Kasota MN, which is about an hour south west of the city, but it seems like an experience worth driving for!

https://www.driveatank.com/

What are your favorite things to do in the Twin Cities?

612-234-5703

Home Buying

Rent or buy?!?!

March 2, 2020March 2, 2020 MaryLeave a comment

If you currently rent and you’re on the fence about whether or not to buy I’m going to lay out some pros and cons for your consideration…

Financial reasons…

You’re not spending your money to make your landlord rich. Every payment you make takes you one step closer to actually OWNING your home.

Rents in Minneapolis are averaging $1850 for a 2 bedroom apartment. If you can afford to pay $1850/mo for space in an apartment building and you have good credit, you could afford a home with a price close to about $300K – even with an FHA loan (3.5% down instead of 20%) and including mortgage insurance, homeowners insurance and property taxes. (According to NerdWallet.com mortgage calculator). The average price in Minneapolis is about $280K!

If the house appreciates (increases) in value – that increase is YOURS. This is more than theory, it’s actual equity in your home. This means that if you refinance or need to rid yourself of mortgage insurance ($100+/month if you didn’t put 20% down) because now you DO have 20% equity – you can have the house reappraised and get out from under that monthly bill. Any money that is going in your pocket instead of someone else’s is a WIN.

In addition to that, if you live in your house 8 years and the value increases by $50,000 while you live there – that money is YOUR money. Not a landlord’s!

There are tax breaks to incentivize home ownership. Mortgage interest (and at first that is most of your payment) is typically deductible on your income tax! YAY!

Rents go up… but your house payment will stay the same. Having that stability can be a very reassuring thing when other things are uncertain.

Non-financial reasons…

It’s your home – want pink walls and green carpet? No one will say you can’t do that. You can choose to live in an environment that speaks to YOU.

Privacy… tired of listening to your neighbors walking on your ceiling? Sick of dealing with someone parking over the line in the lot? Next apartment have a dog that barks constantly? If you have your own place, you don’t have to deal with that.

I’m going to add a sense of community here. Something I love about owning a home is being invested in my neighborhood. Knowing my neighbors. Enjoying local businesses. Having my kid have long term friends nearby.

Reasons to continue to rent!

If you need, or like to, move often – owning might not be your thing. It’s more difficult to sell a home than to break a lease.

You’ll be responsible for maintenance and repairs – if it’s a single family home that likely means lawn mowing and possibly shoveling. If something breaks – you have to find someone to fix it. I recommend learning to do as much of this yourself as possible – it feels good to be able to take care of your own home.

If you have a lot of debt – you may wish to take the time to pay that down before jumping into home ownership. Having less debt when you apply for a loan is a positive and can pay off in the long term.

Do you have questions about the home buying process? Let me know. I like helping people out.

mschumann@kw.com

Home Buying

Do you need 20% for a down payment?

January 29, 2020February 5, 2020 MaryLeave a comment

An FHA loan may be the key to home ownership!

I think this is one of the greatest misconceptions that people hold about buying a home – you do not need 20% down to buy a home!

I did a video on my channel that talks about why an FHA loan may be a great choice if you don’t have 20% to put down. The federal government has long encouraged home ownership and this is one of the ways that they help people get into homes of their own.

FHA all the way!

If you’re thinking about buying a home and you want to learn about the process you can download my free home buyers guide, it’s a link in the description below the video.

If you are in Minnesota and you’re interested in downpayment assistance contact me and I can help you find resources on that.
Minnesota offers up to $15,000 in down payment assistance so it’s a great
resource if you’re looking to get into a house and you don’t have that large down
payment.

Here is why the FHA down payment requirement might make this the right loan for you if you don’t have a large amount of money to put down on a new home…

What is an FHA loan? Well, an FHA loan is simply a loan that is insured by the federal government and it enables people without a lot of money or with less than stellar credit to get into a home in a less expensive way and the price that you pay for that, “the catch”, is that you have to get something called PMI. Private Mortgage Insurance.

It’s required on all FHA loans.

You do not have to be a first-time homebuyer in order to get an FHA loan. The requirements of an FHA loan are as follows:

It’s billed as as little as three and a half percent down and, that’s true, but you should plan to have about six percent of the purchase price of the home available because
you’ll have that three and a half percent that you’ll put as a down
payment and then an additional two and a half three percent that would go toward
closing costs.

Now in Minnesota often we get the sellers to pay about three
percent in closing costs but they are not obligated to do that. So if you
have that money available it just strengthens your ability to purchase
that home.

Before you get an FHA loan:

First the lender will need to verify your income and they prefer to see two years
employment, hopefully in the same field. They’re going to ask for pay stubs and
verification of income.

The mortgage amount that you are able to borrow – the payment on that amount- needs to be less than thirty five percent of your income. And your total debt payments (car loan, credit card, student loan PLUS mortgage) must be less than 48 percent of your income.

In another video I talked about things that you could do to get ready to buy a home and one of those was paying down debt. Another thing you could do is consolidate debt so that you have one payment at a relatively easy interest rate and just make sure that you’re always, always on time with your payment.

Check out the home affordability calculator linked in the video. It’s going to tell you if you can qualify for an FHA loan based on what your payment’s are today. One of the other qualifications that they like to see is two lines of credit so if you have a student loan perhaps and a credit card or a car payment they’ll look at those two lines of credit and check out your payment history and make sure that you are a qualified risk.

Then there is your FICO score. Your FICO score is the credit score that lenders use to determine whether or not you’re credit worthy and you can get a hold of that in your annual free credit report where you can look out there and see what things are maybe pulling your credit score down, what things you could pay off, maybe things that you have paid and need to dispute. That is free – you can get it every year.

One of the last qualifications is how much you can borrow. In 2020 they have changed the amounts that you can borrow. In the Minneapolis metro area you can borrow, this is the actual loan amount, up to $382,950 on a single-family home.That’s a that’s a pretty large amount to take out as a mortgage and you’ll have a lot of options especially if you were to be in the northern part of the city or the suburbs that could buy you a lot.

Then there’s the even a better option, in my opinion, which is if you wanted to do a “home hack” which is this idea of buying a two family home and moving into one side of it and renting the other. You can borrow up to $490,250 and then they would account for that rent on the other side as part of your income and you can, depending on your situation if you get into the right one, be paying most or all of your mortgage through the rent on the other side of your house. It’s a good way to get your foot in the door and build some wealth!

Questions? Leave a comment or tap one of the icons below. 🙂

mschumann@kw.com