For several years now, I have half-heartedly contemplated the purchase of a vacation home. Last summer my wife and I took the baby step of inviting a local realtor in the geographical area that interests us to lunch. We picked his brain and he picked ours. We looked at some properties. We left. We returned this winter and looked at some more properties with a different realtor; we picked her brain, too. We left.
Fast forward to the next baby step. I had been tracking a new development for months and recently decided to call the sales office. The in-house realtor explained that units to be built were being released for sale in phases. Prospective buyers had to join a waitlist.
As each phase would be released, prospective buyers would be contacted from the top of the waitlist and given a chance to bid. The build-out was estimated to be 9 – 10 months from each phase release date.
At the time of entering into the purchase contract, the buyer would be required to deposit earnest money. The balance would be payable upon completion of the build.
In order to get on the waitlist, a prospective buyer had to be prequalified by one of the builder’s preferred mortgage lenders. That’s where I took the next baby step. I wanted to see where I stood and I wanted the optionality of being on the waitlist. Accordingly, I submitted my application for prequalification. In actuality I ended up applying for preapproval, which is a little more rigorous.
Two days after submitting my information online, the lending consultant called me. The guy was fantastic. He spent about an hour and a half going over mortgage options, educating me, and digressing into various related topics that I found fascinating.
The consultant was brilliant and wonderfully transparent about trends he was seeing at the granular level in the housing and lending markets. He shared pros and cons. I fixated on the cons.
Later that day, the lending consultant emailed me and the realtor my mortgage preapproval letter. So I found out where I stood, and I got my ticket to the dance.
The question is, do I want to dance?
When I consider both personal factors and market conditions, I’m in no rush to dance, myself, but I am interested in checking out the scene.
The project is estimated to take about two years. That’s great. No rush. The next baby step will be to tour the models.
In the meantime, I shall remain mortgage free, avail myself of Airbnb, and be as fickle as I want to be… or don’t want to be!
With Love,
P. Gustav Mueller, author of The Present