Buyers Guide: Upsizing Your Home

Upsizing

If you are thinking about upsizing your home and moving into something bigger, we have an important step that could end up saving you 10, 20 or possibly even $30,000. You’ve been in touch with your agent, perusing all the properties for sale, and have even attended some open houses for properties you really like. You’ve finally found the one, whether it be for a growing family, or simply want more space, you found the right home to upsize to.

If you have a mortgage, before you do anything else, pick-up the phone and give your lender a call. Do not do anything else before asking them two very important questions. Number one, ask them if you can move over (port) your mortgage from your current home/property to your next home/property, and if so, how long do you have between the transactions. Question number two is how much your mortgage prepayment penalty is. If you are not allowed to port your mortgage, you will have to pay it off, and often an early payment comes with a penalty. If you do not have this information, you do not have an accurate cost of upsizing from your current home to your new home.

Why is this information so important? Two main reasons. First, it will impact the strategy and timeline of how you will go about not just buying the new home but also selling the old home. Second, this information could alter or change your budget for your next home. That penalty payment may affect your plans.

Today, many mortgages are flexible and any penalties are often low. However that isn’t always the case and you might be surprised to know some of the terms and conditions in your mortgage you did not think you’d encounter. Most often the penalties associated with an upsize may be negligible in the grand scheme of things, maybe only a few thousand dollars. Sometimes though, the penalties are in tens of thousands of dollars, and that amount of money will certainly have an impact on your next home purchase and alter things like budget.

Do not get caught by surprise, do your homework and make sure you understand all of the costs of upsizing your home, not just the ones right in front of you. Jump Realty can help. Our agents pride themselves on making sure their clients are well informed, taken care of, and happy when all is setteld. Whether it be upsizing like discussed or any other buying and selling needs, they will be sure to guide you through the process with the best advice, resources, and tools to make sure your experience is amazing. You can check out current listings here and if you need any help, please contact us and we’d be glad to help.