The past year has sparked renewed motivation when it comes to homeownership, prompting first-timers to take the plunge and seasoned owners to consider a move to a new space. Those with a steady income, savings, and good credit have even more incentive to make a move while mortgage rates are still low. And there’s your opportunity with a significant group of homebuyers – helping them understand homeownership can be a way to help manage and pursue their life priorities.
Many are juggling expenses like student debt, retirement savings, and supporting family members. And their home is both a place to live and make memories and a key part of their overall financial picture. Finding your clients’ dream home is one thing but taking into account their overall financial goals and helping them get connected to the right financing solution – one that complements their wealth management strategy – can prove even more valuable when it comes to long-term relationships and referrals to friends and family. Connecting your clients to a variety of professionals who can assist with their home purchase and be a resource for their overall financial picture helps establish you as THE real estate resource and professional for future home purchase needs.
Why a primary banking relationship matters
A strong primary banking relationship can make the homebuying process smoother and help your clients maximize their financial position. Working with a professional from their everyday banking institution, your clients can get the advice and guidance they need for financing a home while also ensuring that their overall financial picture and goals are a part of the decision. And, in addition to personalized guidance, many institutions offer eligible existing clients rewards for their business, often in the form of interest rate discounts and reductions in mortgage origination fees. There’s also the beauty and simplicity of having an integrated digital view of one’s finances – from checking and savings to investment or retirement accounts. When it’s time to apply for a mortgage, a digital mortgage application like Bank of America’s streamlines the process, prefilling many of the application fields for existing clients.
Aligning mortgage solutions to the bigger financial picture
Whether your clients’ goals are building roots, supporting family or securing their future, here are some ways to help them find a mortgage solution designed to work with their overall financial strategy.
- Strengthening an offer. A preapproval is a must in many high-demand markets. Bank of America’s purchase preapproval is a benefit for your clients who want to gain a competitive edge when making an offer.
- Preserving cash to fund other goals. With life’s many competing priorities, your clients may want to preserve cash to pay for other life expenses, like a child’s education or retirement. Bank of America can help with that with our Mortgage 100®, a 100% home financing program that allows qualified clients to pledge eligible securities instead of liquidating their assets to make a cash down payment.
- Reducing the down payment. If your client is a medical resident or licensed and practicing doctor or other eligible medical professional looking to move into a new home and need flexible financing, doctor loans offer significant advantages, including low down payment options and the ability to exclude student loan debt from total debt calculations. For buyers with limited savings, down payment and closing cost grants may be the right fit.
- Build a family legacy through homeownership. Depending on how much help they want to provide, your clients can help their children buy a home by gifting money for the down payment, being a co-signer on the mortgage, or buying the home and renting it to their child. Another option is Bank of America’s Parent Power® program, which allows clients to help a family member by pledging assets and financing up to 100% of a primary residence.
- Leveraging home equity. If your clients need to make some upgrades to their home, they can tap into a home equity line of credit which provides the flexibility to borrow as much or as little as they need (up to their credit limit) at a generally lower interest rate than credit cards or personal loans.
A holistic approach
Assessing your clients’ financial health to achieve homeownership is nothing new, but it’s also important to take into account your clients’ day-to-day and long-term financial goals. That way, you’re part of an overall solution that puts them in a new home while preserving their financial goals – an essential part of being an impactful real estate professional they’ll want to refer to their friends and family. With a little planning and being surrounded by the right team of professionals, you can help your clients come up with a plan that covers their homebuying needs without liquidating assets and disrupting their long-term investment strategy. They’ll gain peace of mind knowing that you’re looking out for them today and into the future.
Bank of America helps clients build pathways to credit and meets a broad range of financing needs, including mortgages for home purchase or refinance and home equity lines of credit. Bank of America, N.A., Member FDIC Equal Housing Lender © 2021 Bank of America Corporation. Credit and collateral are subject to approval. Terms and conditions apply. This is not a commitment to lend. Programs, rates, terms and conditions are subject to change without notice.
