Most people don’t purchase their retirement home until after they retire. There are certainly valid reasons for this. You may not know where you’ll want to be living, especially if you move frequently. After retirement, you’ll have more time to go house hunting and think about your options. But just as there are justifications for waiting, there are also advantages to buying your retirement home early, primarily financial.
An important one is mortgage approval. It’s significantly easier to get approved for a mortgage while you still have an income. Unless you plan to pay cash for your retirement home, you’ll want to consider whether or not you can qualify once your income is gone. Not to mention this income is probably also what you’ll be using to pay the mortgage. By purchasing while you still have an income, you’ll have a better understanding of how much your payments are and how much you can save.
If you have the money to purchase a retirement home without selling, that can be an excellent boon for you, especially in the long term. It prevents the need to deal with moving while you are still working. You can turn it into income property, allowing you to use the rental income to pay the mortgage, or just for extra income. You’ll also be building equity in two homes at once, while home values continue to inflate naturally, as they do over time. If you start early enough, by the time you retire you may be able to use the sale of your old home to pay off the mortgage on your retirement home.
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