Start With the Strategy — Not the Mortgage
When someone is buying a home, it’s natural to start with mortgage questions.
What’s the rate?How much should I put down?What will my payment be?Should I choose a 15- or 30-year loan? Those questions matter.
But I don’t think they’re where the conversation should start.
Before we talk about the mortgage, I want to understand what you’re trying to accomplish—and how this decision fits into the rest of your financial picture.
The Mortgage Is a Tool
Let’s say you have $100,000 available for a home purchase. Should you put all $100,000 down? Maybe.
But before answering that, I’d want to know what that leaves you in reserves. What other financial goals you have. Whether you’re investing for retirement. Whether you’re planning other major expenses. And how important liquidity and flexibility are to you.
The same applies to paying off a mortgage early.
Having no mortgage may be an important goal for you. But before directing additional money toward the house, it’s worth understanding what else that money could be doing.
The question isn’t simply, “What’s the best mortgage?” It’s “What financing strategy best supports what you’re trying to accomplish?”
Understand the Whole Picture First
Two people with the same income buying the same-priced house may make very different financing decisions—and both decisions could make sense. That’s because the right strategy isn’t determined by the house alone.
Your income, savings, debt, reserves, investments, retirement plans, other real estate and future goals can all matter.
My conversations don’t begin with a loan program.
They begin with questions.
What are you trying to accomplish?
What else is important financially?
What do the next few years look like?
How much flexibility do you want to maintain?
Once we understand the bigger picture, then we can decide how the mortgage should fit into it.
After more than 30 years in this business, that’s one of the biggest things I’ve learned:
Don’t start with the mortgage. Start with the strategy.
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