Other Article: How to manage credit cards without being a card slave
Congratulations on your purchase and promotion to owner of your own house. Almost every family who buys a house will remember the early years when we thought we could not bear it. The following suggestions can help you get through those miserable years when people sometimes call themselves “poor landlords and house slaves”.
- 1. Start with the garage. If your beautiful car parked in the garage requires you to pay a high installment, you are not only a house slave, but also a car slave. Sell the luxury car and clear the installment car loan. Buy a used car with cash and drive it for a year or two.
- 2. Check your W-4 tax refund application form. After buying a house, you may put yourself in a position higher than the income tax deduction standard, because the mortgage interest can be deducted (if your house is average, and your financing interest is extremely low, you may not have this problem). Consult a tax consultant to determine whether your loan interest allows you to sign another W-4 form with your employer to change the “allowance” figure you declare. Increasing the allowance will reduce the personal tax expenditure and reduce the refundable taxes you declare.
- 3. Sell the big boy toy. As the saying goes, the only difference between men and boys is the price of the toys they hold. This is the truth. If you have 4WD toys, RV recreational vehicles, expensive hunting and fishing equipment, you have to sell some. If you have to pay installments for these equipment, or sell the equipment to reduce the credit card loan balance, this is a good start. Selling RV recreational vehicles that only use three weekends a year and one week a summer is much better than losing your house, isn’t it?
- 4. Cut back on food and clothing. In the first year of becoming an owner of your own house, you will be accustomed to frugality and reduce eating out, entertainment, vacation, hobbies, etc. The days of free spending will soon be gone forever.
- 5. Ask for a raise. Your employer is not interested in your financial situation. Your boss won’t give you a raise just because you bought a house with difficulty. As mentioned above, if you haven’t got a raise for a long time – and most people do – and your company is thriving again, the well thought out request for a raise is not crazy.
- 6. Change to a new job. It is not appropriate to change jobs after buying a house – changing jobs is risky. If you insist that your salary is too low, you can look for high paying jobs. Otherwise, you have to look for part-time opportunities until your income from your current job can cover your expenses.
- 7. Sell the house. This should be your last resort. Mortgage lenders have learned a lesson since the 2008-2010 housing crash. They once let people all over the United States buy houses beyond their ability to pay, hoping that the appreciation of house prices would help them tide over the difficulties. If you recently bought a house, the mortgage lender should be confident that you are able to pay the mortgage in installments. If your income changes, or the mortgage lender is fooled, you can’t actually afford to buy a house. Then sell it. Your down payment will not be returned. But if your house is forcibly repossessed, not only your down payment will not be returned, but your credit will also be lost. If you can’t afford the installment, sell the house before it is forcibly repossessed.
Other Article: Why real estate is the first choice for family wealth assets
Own housing property rights are a wonderful way to establish a stable and happy family, giving you the opportunity to root in the community, establish a lasting long-term friendship, and help your children achieve academic success. It is wise to make your own property right your first choice for financial planning. There’s always a way to live within your means in the first few years of becoming a homeowner. Keep your head high. Many people have done it before you, and you can do it.